Keeping Big Wood High When Bucking a Log

Here is a cut I used to keep the bar from pinching and breaking pieces free but not having them move so the log stays up off the ground for the next cut

[@rosswmccallister4866]

Daniel, You may not know it, but you saved my life. I was going to go about bucking all the wrong ways and would have probole had the log fall on my leg, or on top of me... after seeing your video, I used your approach and it was very safe and more methodical. You are doing a great service by instructing us! Thank you very much for taking the time to care about others... very appreciative !

[@murphy4trees]

Great to hear! glad to know it helped

[@swampyankee8806]

thankyou so much for this--I have 3 very large trees on the ground with similar issues and was unsure how to proceed ---its now going smooth and safe,thanx again

[@Slippindisc]

You still alive Ross?

[@johnkomosa4089]

Because I do not have the experience of these plunge cuts, I like to start at the top, small branches, and work my way towards the big stuff removing the complications and simplifing as I work towards the trunk, removing the funny pressures. Thanks to Mr.Murphy to explain this technique, I will have to use it more when appropriate. Though it's important for us to stay in our comfort /experience zone as long as we get the job done in a safe manner is what counts. Serious Oak! Thanks

[@edibleacres]

This is a channel that deserves SO many more subscribers. So much good information and clearly a very long career of skill developed here...

[@deesestrees]

I like the no BS approach to your videos. Lots of valuable info. It’s blatantly obvious that you are a production arborist and well seasoned at that.

[@rodneyty4361]

instablaster.

[@firewoodwarrior4396]

One of those cuts that every firewood cutter needs to know.

[@AdventuresAtHome1]

Very cool tip! I’m an amateur chainsaw user and I am constantly binding the chain when cutting downed trees. I had no idea on how to cut logs like this without binding the chain. This will be very helpful!

[@NyphronRising]

Im a beginner too and found using wedges a great solution to pinching the bar

[@silviofontana5144]

A beast of a saw and someone who knows how to use it, well done.

[@SpynCycle57]

I had a large tree fall in my yard 3 weeks ago. I used your technique and it went well. Thanks!

[@johnkomosa4089]

Yep, beautiful. Green sawers caution, Mr. Murphy makes it look easy. Caution with kick back and the log coming down on your lower leg. Yrs and yrs of experience at work there, making it look easy. Beautiful work, beautiful logs, I Love it. Thankyou Mr.Murphy. Safe and Sound work , Harmony. .

[@dontcare3430]

The best ojt is pinching your bar a dozen times! Fun times.

[@j.b.4340]

I always need two saws. One to make the cuts; The other, to cut my pinched saw free. Thank you for this video. I'll be trying it next week on a 30" pin oak the hurricane knocked over.

[@CharlieKellyEsq]

Lmao, I know what you mean. We bought a piece of property in the winter with a lot of ash trees, and we didn't know the beetles had been through, so before spring we bought a really cheap chainsaw cause we are property owners, we needed one. Once we realized the damage, we got a stihl 20". But I get it pinched all the time, I use the cheap saw to cut it out. After these videos I don't think that will be much of a problem anymore

[@BandoDNC]

I have one of those splitting wedge and I use it a lot to open up the cut because I constantly get it pinched too lol

[@davidmaxwell7275]

Great information and video for those of us that get their saw pinched, I also just purchased another saw to cut my first saw free, if I had seen your video and couple of weeks ago I would have tried your technique before buying the saw. Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge and experience

[@kevingalusha2210]

I like the justification for having a second saw! A cheaper alternative is to buy another bar and chain. Swap them out and bail yourself out! Don’t ask me how I know 😂.

[@dougreese9122]

@@kevingalusha2210. So true. 👍

[@patriotarborist711]

I've never thought of doing this. I will now. Thanks Daniel!

[@DavidN23Skidoo]

This is also useful for keeping your cuts lined up when a log is on the ground. Watch for the color change when you reach the bark and you will stay out of the dirt. Extra-Good Demo!

[@firewoodwarrior4396]

Couldn't agree more.

[@gps9715]

Great tip on the color change.

[@flyingfisherman100]

Amen brother, thanks awesome work.

[@larnedtree12]

Thanks for the video Daniel!

[@patriotarborist711]

wow that is some high-level saw work!

[@daemn42]

I used this technique to clear some good sized (20-25" diameter) trees that had come down across a 4x4 road in the back country. Only had a Home Depot 20" rental saw, so not very powerful and could not afford to get it stuck. No equipment to move the pieces, so had to make the cuts pretty close to each other so I could roll the pieced off the road by hand. Saw got the job done though. I have limited experience so was a little concerned about the plunge cuts, but shouldn't have been. They went smooth and fast. As in this video I ended up with 4 cuts, with the tree remaining off the ground. To finish it off, I drove wedges into the crack of two cuts, and cut through the tab in the center from below. First of those two hung up under compression, but on the wedges not the blade. Second one dropped, and that released the first. With the tree now on the ground, went back and cut through the last two tabs from below without the blade ever touching the ground, which was the whole point. One tree was larger diameter than the bar length, so I started it as shown in this vid, crossed to other side and finished the back half depth cut from the other side, crossed back over, and finished top, front, plunge and bottom cuts. Not the most efficient I'm sure, but felt pretty conservative.

[@murphy4trees]

great story and glad to har it.. You have a pretty good head on your shoulders to apply the lessons of this video so quickly and efficiently.

[@heathLC200]

Super impressive - I'm dealing with very heavy (eucalypti) wood here in Australia - avoiding the pinch is challenging - loved what you shared Daniel.

[@murphy4trees]

Thanks.. makes me smile

[@teacherhaggis6945]

Brilliant thinking Daniel. Cheers and thanks from New Zealand.

[@murphy4trees]

You're welcome. how are the trees doing in OZ?

[@PEACHPIG]

Thank you sir.

[@KaiserSoze-dp1hw]

Great work and vid

[@thomasgallant9908]

1st and last video I will need to watch pertaining to this method. Great job

[@murphy4trees]

Glad it was helpful!

[@harrykhadoo8205]

Thanks sharing the experience safe day buddy.

[@graysquirreltreeservice7299]

Awesome 👍, you have some good ones with age comes knowledge 🤣

[@Tiyani440]

I'm loving the technique

[@samday6621]

Great technique. But what if you don’t have a skid steer to finish the job? Also, I was surprised at how you start your saw. If standing, I’d grip the end handle between my knees, so the saw doesn’t swing about while pull starting.

[@marcosmota1094]

Sweet work!

[@heresmytake2782]

Great tip thank you!

[@ashland71]

great info! Thanks so helpful!

[@mvblitzyo]

Excellent !!

[@brentmckee5111]

Very skilful cutting

[@antonlampe2272]

2:13 *ultimate dad moment*

[@matthewqueirolo1987]

Taught me something there thank you

[@climbe4422]

Nice job

[@JanBartos24]

Pretty helpful, thank you!

[@adventurerhoades]

Nice tip with the plunge cut

[@henryalvares7672]

good video, lot to learn , tel me new chain , type of chain , do you sharpen it, by hand , with electric grinder , big chips flying , nice. I have watch by tree times.

[@RoryVanucchi]

Good strategy

[@david.6040]

Good stuff

[@fricknjeep]

hi there just dropped in looking at other you tubers doing the same thing good job john

[@wateringsatoshi9616]

Chop it up! Dan the man 🌿

[@murphy4trees]

nice camera work!

[@annaaron3510]

Nice Kevlar jeans Dan ! Why many You Tubers doing "expert" show and tell don't use FULL PPE is not clear. Good job explaining tension/compression cuts however.

[@gr8dvd]

Best of a few good techniques I’ve seen but ALL have this in common…. 1st cut compression, 2nd cut tension portion of tree/log. Key detail, perhaps obvious… "tree well off the ground" b/c supported at BOTH ends. If cutting a free cantilevered end, last cut would be on top.

[@mikerobinson8284]

Thanks bud, appreciate you taking the time to share! Where do you get all the stihl apparel?

[@murphy4trees]

They sent me those double-sided sweatshirts over a decade ago... I think I have two left and they're too cheap to send more, but I hope that advertising manager got promoted for all the millions of views they've gotten for the price of a few sweatshirts

[@brianquigley7336]

Chock some smaller wood under the log to keep it off the ground. Save yer chain . Learn what "Ream the cut" means. It'll save you a lot of screwing around.

[@tommymcweedface229]

I really like that. Lots of hard as nails Blackjack here. What chain do you use? Please. And thanks.

[@murphy4trees]

It's a stock stihl chains off the dealer's shelf

[@MK-ph8pf]

For the final cut, which way would you approach it? Kerf opened up on top v. Opened up on bottom? That tree had both.

[@MattJonesYT]

This video is on the same kind of cut and he finishes going upward but as a rule the compression side is cut first and it might make a difference on a large log like that kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXXKipaaodWVh5Y

[@mulekicker-ut5jl]

That chainsaw is cutting some wood fast .

[@jbuck1975]

Why did you use face shield on first cut but failed to use it on the second cut

[@Nartacahndeso]

Hi.. I'm Narta from Indonesia, I'm also a woodcutter but the tree in Indonesia is small, the tree I cut is the sengon tree. Are there sengon trees in your area? 🙏

[@murphy4trees]

no. I have never heard of segnon

[@sideskraft]

Great advice, but how do you cut up a large 20"+ diameter tree that's completely on the ground without getting dirt into the chain? Any videos would be helpful (I can't find any).

[@josephmountford2292]

Use magic

[@murphy4trees]

Generally cut almsot all the way down thru, until you are close but sure not to touch the dirt, then roll the log. Sometimes I look for light at a little lift in the trunk and cut there to start with. You can also score a portion of the tree when standing and let that part of the trunk hit the ground. Then just match cuts. Or easiest of all is simply lift it with the loader ;)

[@sideskraft]

@@murphy4trees Thanks for the tip Daniel. Unfortunately the tree has been down for several years and is almost embedded into the soft soil, there are no gaps and it's too heavy to roll. I think your loader idea will be the one I'll end up using.

[@Tailspin80]

@@sideskraft I find starting at one end (the thinnest) helps. The more wood you can remove, the easiest it becomes to deal with the rest as the forces reduce and a roll becomes more possible. Not a pro, but I’ve had a lot of practice extracting fallen wood from woodland using a basic chainsaw and no special equipment.

[@jaredstanfield686]

do you let your saw warm up before cutting? The most dangerous part is cutting with the nose of the saw?

[@murphy4trees]

funny you should ask... I just bought two new stihls today and the mechanic said most important thing is to let every saw warm up.. I obviously was just running the saw before we took this video.... thanks for the reminder for everyone too!

[@jenniferlovell1968]

How did you remove the stump and root ball in this video??

[@murphy4trees]

Good question. I've got the biggest baddest stump grinder (Rayco rg-100) you can get into a backyard, but even that wouldn;t be able to ride up on this rootball.. so We used the biggest baddest skid steer loader (Bobcat A300) you can get into a backyard to lift the nose enough to stand the stump up back into the hole enough to get the dirt and roots low enough to reach with the grinder. It was all pushing the limits of what was capable with the equipment.

[@edsmith4414]

So what did you do with the root ball ?

[@murphy4trees]

used the skid steer to stand it back up enough to get the grinding done with the RG-100 and used the skid steer to drop the chips off in the wild area.

[@JoesFirewoodVideos]

So much better/easier when it’s like that.

[@murphy4trees]

ya, that whole day went so smoothly.. its often the details that make the difference

[@ojekekstrem8172]

Bravo 👍👍❤️

[@murphy4trees]

thnaks

[@ojekekstrem8172]

@@murphy4trees you welcome 👍

[@jolkraeremeark6949]

Man, I would like to see those sections cut the rest of the way. So, to finish the cut, you would come up from the bottom with the top of the bar and the wood will slide by the bar without pinching?

[@murphy4trees]

yes, generally an undercut will neatly finish the cut. I cut slowly though as one time I was racing through a big log and when the bar got pinched to a dead stop, the engine was ripped apart.

[@jdboy9]

Would want to watch the kerf to decide if you were going to release from top or bottom. The log changed part of the way down from the stump.

[@mattnelson9123]

Glad you asked the question, I was going to do the same. Right at this moment, I've got an enormous eucalyptus arched up off the ground out the back. I've followed the excellent tips in this video which worked a treat (except for one cut where I somehow managed to bind the bar up at the bottom of the cut somehow) and now I've got a lovely suspended arch of big heavy chunks of log floating in the sky and was thinking "now what?". I reckon I can probably tackle the rest of it now.

[@northeastslingshot1664]

If you cut from top....halfway thru and drop 2 wedges in top of cut.....you can saw straight thru no pinching

[@MK-ph8pf]

For the final cut, which way would you approach it? Kerf opened up on top v. Opened up on bottom? That tree had both.

[@sweettaterpie7009]

Yeah right! I'll do it mañana. Or maybe wait for my son.

[@TheToolnut]

Good saw skills, but jeans Murph??

[@murphy4trees]

YA, not a great image ... I'll have to break out the chainsaw pants, but they're so bulky

[@TheToolnut]

​@@murphy4trees They could save your legs some Day. Try the Clogger Zero's, 👍💪🪓🌲🇮🇪

[@aaronjohnstone2800]

Why would you do this?

[@rhubarb6565]

So IIUC the intention here is to snap and grab the pieces with a tractor (loader), so the saw never needs to go near the ground

[@thetreeguy7387]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@ivantimuli1986]

Like Like👍👍

[@ferrallderrall6588]

Giant trees

[@Snowle1952]

It’s nice that a log that big is on uneven ground so you can easily fit the chainsaw under the log and still clear the ground by several inches. How bout a video of a log that is flat on the ground it’s entire length.

[@murphy4trees]

old school, just keep the saw off the dirt and then roll the log to finish all the little uncut tabs

[@Snowle1952]

@@murphy4trees I guess I should of been more specific. It has a 30+” diameter, it’s not totally round, and one person is not going to roll it even part way over. I believe I have learned how to use my surroundings (tools, come along, other trees, fence post, truck bumper,etc.) for leverage in some way if possible in my 50+yrs. of adult life. I’m not trying to stump you or say aha, your wrong. This is a real situation. And I’m “stumped” 😁

[@nephilly87]

Got a a300 now ?

[@murphy4trees]

ya, Had it since late spring. LOVE the extra lift. it comes in so handy on jobs like this.

[@66Cashius]

Did you get rid of your asv?

[@murphy4trees]

@@66Cashius no . sitting in a friend's backyard. has a dead short. hoping to get it back to work next spring

[@mapleridgefarm1026]

What kind of saw are u using?

[@murphy4trees]

stihl 461

[@havardpedersen1138]

Never use the tip of the bar unless you know what you're doing.. it can come flying in a blink of an eye..

[@fatimahmohad7620]

Wowww..did you throw you chainsaw.. hahahaha

[@stevengates4437]

I know this guy ,and he wears his leg protection UNDER his jeans....he also always drives with his wallet even if he's just driving to the neibors.....

[@montegb2951]

Oh no.... the Safety Nazis are gonna get you for cutting with the visor up.

[@SuperColoradokush]

Drop starting no chaps

[@robhendricks5347]

And advocating cutting with the tip of the saw

[@MrThenry1988]

Lol

[@aaa123583]

Wear protective clothes