I may just be a tree worker but I learned how to fell trees because of you. I've been watching you for almost 6yrs. I've watched all your videos, most twice. I have cut down hundreds of 80ft+ monstrosities and the vast majority of my ability to handle giant trees is from you. I truly appreciate you. I love this work and I'm good at it because of you. Thank you
@@stinthedude The day we stop learning from other people, we are most likely six feet under or heading that way imminently. I am a "mediocre" tree worker at my own farm, but I try to be open minded for just about anything. A tip I saw in the comment was that you should really learn basic physics to understand what is going on with forces etc. Now, I do not have to go to school to learn more physics, but it is important to have a decent amount of understanding the way forces propagate and gets amplified certain ways. Still, the tip is useful as it reminds me to think physics. I think those who get killed or seriously hurt are those that do not understand what forces are at play. The "hold my beer"-kinda guy that has bought the top of the line saw and really has no experience in using it. So we keep on learning, and I am sure this Billy is still learning something new too. By sharing videos like this, we can get an idea of the complexity of certain operations and if we know limits we understand when to throw in the towel and back down. That is probably the most important knowledge. Last week, I had set my mind on several large trees in a slope, but as I prepared and cleared out the site, I got a bad feeling, thinking about all those forces and factors I could not control. So I left it and went for some other trees instead. Maybe I'll be back later, but thinking about what I have seen and learned through these videos made me back down until I feel ready.
I gotta say you remind me of my uncle how you can "read" a tree. He would absolutely amaze me how he could convince a tree where to fall. I wish he would have been more forthcoming with his wisdom like you are. Thank you Buckin Billy.
I’m no logger, just a treehouse builder and carpenter. But whenever our sites need trees removed, I’m the guy thanks mostly to you, Buckin’. There have been many times when I have had a tricky situation and you providentially posted a video containing just the specific information I needed to pull it off safely. God has blessed me and the rest of this community as He has used you to spread knowledge and wisdom. God bless you, Buckin’.
Thank you for the drawing at the end. We all learn in differing ways and that drawing was Amazing for me. Now I understand better of how you achieved that professional fall.
Really liked how you talked about and wrote down how you cut the back in different 1-3 sections. Really helped me understand more than if you just tried to explain it
I really like the diagram and I'm start to understand what your saying. If possible can you do more diagrams and while still showing the cuts can you add where the weight of the tree is during the cuts.
I learned about the bow/lean combo the hard way last year. I cut the light side first and the tree sat right down on my saw. I recovered my saw… I think the swearing helped:) Always a pleasure Buckin Billy.
Perfect! What an amazing work! I’m a city girl and I’m happy that I saw your post because I find your work to be quite fascinating. It’s a combination of Art, Math, and Science. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. May God bless you and keep you safe out there.
I used this technique on an identical leaning Douglas Fir after seeing it in that Balsam you did recently. I too added the wedge even though I was already seeing the tree wanting to go where I had directed it. Truly a back saving technique because I'd have been hero-slamming some wedges if that big bugger would have set back on me.
Hi buckin, good vid and excellent explanation of that process you did especially the drawing at the end. I definitely get it ! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain to us to ‘get it’ and sharing your knowledge with us, mean’s so much my friend.
Billy Ray you are right arborist are arborist not loggers long as the job gets done which you do I'm a old school logger from New Zealand and I really love your channel
Details of this falling video may be your best I have watched. I continue to learn in my old age, enjoying life thank you my friend. Bunyan anticipation is getting stronger day by day. 😂
Nice video Buckin! I really enjoy watching them and always learning something. The explanation plus the drawing also helps. Thank you for sharing this with us!
So the notch placement is essential. That "low"part of your undercut helped the weight of the tree starting moving to the right. ... The "plate" or "plane" of the cut had to be removed so the tree can start leaning into the undercut. And yes, don't take out that standing hingewood especially at the far corner of the cut. It has to hold up that corner of the tree, off of your bar tip first of all and then be there to help "push" that log/ tree around to the right of the undercut. A great tip for arborists and other tree guys with less experience, is,; Use that rope as insurance to pull that tree over the back corner of your undercut.! And/ or use a wedge to push it...! It will helped immensely if that is leaning back a little or a lot more than this one was!!! I call it insurance.... Also a tag rope around the butt of the tree, tied back up the hill, can keep that bucking bronco of a log from going like a wild brombey down the mountain!😜❤
Brilliant work Buckin. Thanks for adding the music, narration and multiple views. The drone adds a lot of context and scenery. Stay strong 💪🏼, get your sunshine and eat more meat 🥩 🥓 🥚 🦐.
Thanks so much for this! The bingo light just went on with your drawing at the end. I've always been good at reading tension when bucking but never thought about tension (as tree weight too!) while the tree is standing. Brilliant!
Hi Mr Bill, thank you for the awesome video. A truly instructive demonstration of what to do with a challenging tree like that. I am an arborist and I wanted to say I greatly benefit from your videos. Yes, we are different animals, especially because we live in different habitats (forest vs urban/suburban areas) but arborists also do have to knock over a tree every now and then. I do tie in twice and I like all the colorful flashy devices that I get to use, but I truly appreciate and respect your work and I am thankful that you share it with us! Keep them coming! With love and respect, Big Cloud
When the big universal force handed out character Buckin' Billy Ray Smith was first in the queue. Smith is one of the most common names in the English speaking world but when it comes to Billy Ray Smith that's where commonalty ends as there is nothing common about him. He is special in more ways than one and I'm not just talking physical skills here. This man is Special with a capital S. Take care Billy and most importantly, have fun.
I was almost sure that this trunk would fall to the left of the place where the heat actually was. I was almost sure that it was simply IMPOSSIBLE to put the trunk down the way it fell!!! I watched, listened and wondered: is this guy sure of what he says and does? It turned out that he was sure - like hell! Billy, for me you are the truest grandmaster!!!!
Keep preaching! People need to know how to listen to the trees and wood! I’ve used this technique many times because of you! It connects in a spiritual way. Where ya just know it cause you can feel in.
Hello from Western Pa ...l have been logging hardwood for 20+ years now and l found you on RU-vid have been watching your videos for a long time and I am a big fan and I have MUCH respect for you and what you do....and what got my attention was that I could immediately see right from the start that you knew exactly what you were doing..... you are among just a handful of people on RU-vid that are actually showing people how to do things the correct way that is so good to see ..... however this video today got my attention and not in a bad way it's just that I have never turned a tree by cutting the upper side first l feel like a hardwood tree would pop off of the stump if I didn't leave some meat on the upper side and l have seen and had it happen many times..... what l do is pretty much opposite l bore through create my hinge and come out the back keeping a wedge in place in the middle center back side so it can't pinch the saw and then from the face cut leaning side of the hinge l will little bit at a time cut away the hinge which allows me to slowly steer the tree in the direction that I want it to go ......but I am always open to new ideas and now I am going to have to give this method of yours a try and see if it works out here on these East Coast hardwood trees....l will let you know how it goes.... until then be safe , keep the saw dust flying and keep making those awesome axes and tree cuttin videos .
Nice shot, man. When you’re on the stump, I watch. You have no idea how much safer you have made me with a saw over the last few years. Before YT, it was when in doubt gun it out, felling 10” trees with nothing but an angled slash cut.
As always, just a fantastic video. You make it look easy and we all know it’s not easy at all. You explain it very well and I have continued to learn a great deal from your videos and commentary. Keep up the great work. Love your Chanel. I’m nowhere near your talents but I am improving from your examples. Big fan!
How does a180 man pull a tree over with 2000lbs of force, and 30 Tons of Torque by using a very long rope secured to the tree, and anchored to a 2nd tree? Using wedges and a 180lb pull a back leaning tree can fall in the opposite direction easily and safely. As the angle of the rope increases the force decreases however the advantage is that if the pull is continuous then the continuous force will help to ensure that the tree falls in the desired location. I doubt this scientific method is OSHA approved. Rope A needs to be much longer than the height of leaning tree for fairly obvious reasons. 🙂 I would say that this energy is more than enough to break the holding wood at the stump and bring the leaning tree into the opposite direction of the lean. Well, OK I dropped the tree in my yard before I did the math here based on the principles of physics and mathematics. But I drew up a diagram i can attached as a photo if interested as the forces at work are fantastic to see via the diagram I drew up. Thanks for being an inspiration to so many Buckin ! @@BuckinBillyRaySmith
Took down a big ash tree for my neighbor the other day and it was the biggest I've ever dropped. Couldn't have done it without your vids! I much prefer your humboldt cut for the undercut. Even thought I'd use your trick and leave a little extra post on the one side so the tree would pull that way and it did just what I wanted. Appreciate all your content!
Your a legend buckin Billy ray you can read those trees an land them exactly where they need to go I love those worked saws they sound better then mx bikes
Me and my best friend from high school are Residential Climbers, loggers and currently cutting timber full time for the same outfit. I don’t know many others around here that can say the same. There is a lot of fellas that talk like it though, I’m glad that you set this topic straight.
Buckin, to me, will always be rembered for love and kindness. Truly an inspiration to anyone just to be better, do better, and make better. Love wins, friends. My favorite quote ive taken away from this channel, "prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child." I could not agree more. Thanks man, for everything...
You can go to school for as long as you want and you won’t learn a things until you make mistakes or are lucky enough to work with a knowledge individual such as yourself. Great freaking lesson!
Arborist type tree guy here who DOES climb on mechanical devices and who ties in twice. I love watching you in trees specifically because you climb the way men did 30 years ago. There are more efficient and safe ways to do everything you do. But rather than sit in the comments and judge… it’s a lot more enjoyable to simply admire a man work in the manner he has a love and passion for. You have a lot you can teach new climbers, if they’d shut up about OSHA and open their ears.
@wulf67 .. respectfully, Wildcards isn't telling you to ignore OSHA, he is just pointing out the fact that commenters who go on and on about this guy's OSHA violations are possibly missing or downplaying the knowledge and skillsets being described.
@@rickwilson478 precisely. Take the good. Leave the bad. Expect everyone’s safety to be their OWN responsibility, and stop lecturing people on line to spoon feed only perfect technique.
That was a good solid tree still. I had one with my nephew he made the back cut and the blasted tree actually sunk straight down even with the wedges keeping the back cut open. Fortunately I had a cable attached 40 feet up and come alongs so I could crank on the tension on the come alongs and add more wedges to keep the tree from falling on a cabin or taking out a high tension line if the cable broke. I cranked up the tension and still could not get that tree to fall. I used a riifle to shoot a 12inch hole in the top of the tree so if the tree fell the top would snap and not take out the power line. I got lucky and a local faller with a bucket truck come up and hooked on another cable to give it another nudge. The local faller showed me his special ammunition that he carried for his rifle for some special occasions.
11:25 Play at quarter speed - you can see when the tree was at about 45 degrees falling the right sandside broke and the tree started spinning counter clockwise then "fell" into that left side front cut Buckin showed - the tree trunk was ROTATING along it's length as it ripped off that left side, so when it hit the ground it got "traction" and "rolled" itself to the left. It made a quarter turn by the time it hit the ground, you can see the cut line is vertical on the end of the trunk. At 11:29 you can see that log on the ground closest "caught" the drop trunk and ABSORBED some it's leftward energy, it got climbed on and rolled to the left - it SAVED the day.
I see what you mean.. "Fell into" because, by then, it was degrading into it's natural gravitational path. The bounce of the left edge probably leaned it back right some while imparting the counter clockwise momentum.
@@_SYDNA_ Yeah. If you set quarter speed you can hit the numbers and it will play slow. At 11:26 about midway through that second the tree trunk bottom has moved left a foot or so off the stump center, while it is still airborn it has rotated along it's length 90 degrees 11:27 Yes that far limb on the ground helped stop it too. LOL That whole thing rotated about 285 degrees counterclockwise.
I haven’t seen ur videos for a long while and really miss them as I had learned tons from u as no one ever will ever stop learning as I do enjoy falling and cutting up trees and making firewood even with my bad back and legs Hope someday u talk about why long bars just helps on the backs
I cannot wait to have that experience and knowledge. Im so far behind it stinks. Ive been living on 105 acres for two years. I draw all my firewood from the land. I dont have anyone to show me. Dont get me wrong ive worked with power heads since i turned 18 but the bush is a way different beast. The only thing i have out there is power saw handling and full safety gear boots pants good gloves and my hard hat. The rest im learning through "The Tube". You have the best overall vids. Somehow you are able to keep my attention on the money. Thank's Bucking
I hear ya, I've been cutting firewood for about 15 years, and only recently bothered to learn how to fell properly. The crazy thing is, while I consider myself to laughably green, I'm starting to realize there is huge percentage of "serious" chainsaw guys that know even less than me. I never realized so many people only ever buck wood thats already down and in a convenient spot, rather than take trees down in tight bush themselves. Huge benefits to the new knowledge though, I used to just pick my battles and try to strategically take trees down in a specific order. Sometimes I had to take trees I didnt really want just to get them out of the way, other times I had to leave tree's that I did want. Amazing how much more efficient I've gotten over just one winter.
