SNAP CUT tutorial for arborists

welcome to another beautiful november morning for a job for climbing arborist.com and grizzly tree experts today i'll be taking down a really kind of compromised maple tree behind me the tree is kind of completely decayed from right from the bottom all the way up and you can see huge bits of dead wood and this one is uh is really extensive i haven't seen one this bad for a while so this is good job this tree is coming down really in this video i'm going to talk about step cuts so i'm in this maple tree that i have to take down and it's the perfect one to show some different forms of step cuts or otherwise known as a snap cut the reason why you want to do a step cut um is either for pruning a branch and so the bread the bark doesn't tear down past where you're going to do your final cut or for removal of branches and removal of of trunk wood and you know a large linwood to to be able to have control full control so you've you know you've put your saw away you've got two hands to grab hold of the piece and move it and throw it exactly where you want it so using step cuts are a real fundamental technique that all arbors should really know and practice well and i'm gonna hopefully give you a few tips on how to to make those step cuts really good depending on the size of the wood and depending on you know the species of of wood depending on like the trees profile and that kind of thing it would determine how far apart you do your step so on on smaller branches you want that step wider apart because there's not as much wood holding the branch and with a branch you've got kind of long leverage so it's going to snap off easier with larger trunk wood you want those steps really close together um because if you've got a straight up and down trunk that that wood isn't going to go anywhere so basically the step is there so that your saw doesn't really get trapped and then that you can easily snap it off when you're ready to do so and you've put your saw away so here's uh here's the what you see after you've done a step cut and snapped off the piece um so you can see on this it was quite a large horizontal limb and i was only taking off a short section so there wasn't too much leverage so i wasn't worried about it snapping so i went you know probably three quarters a little over three quarters of the way through with my first cut and then the second cut i just came in about an inch an inch and a half um further out and made the second cut and i was confident that the length of the wood that was taken off it wasn't going to snap of its own accord and then i can put my saw away and then really easily without much effort at all i can snap that off because the only bit of holding wood you know this smaller piece so it's kind of where it's smaller diameter and also the reason why snap cuts work so well and so easy to snap off is because you're snapping down the grain like you would when you're splitting wood with an axe okay so one of the reasons for using the step cut is um what they call the the three stage pruning cut so it means you do an undercut on a branch then a top cut on the branch which prevents the bark ripping snap the branch off or let the branch fall and then do your finishing cut okay so another reason for doing a step cut is just to have control of the piece that you're that you're removing all of it i don't just want to drop and let fall because it's going to end up landing in a load of shrubs other trees that kind of thing so i want to do a step cut snap it off have full control and then throw it exactly where i want it so in in this situation i'm going to make the cut that's closest to the trunk on my side and then i'm going to do the cut furthest to the tips on the back side that means it's easier to snap and pull towards me because the lower side is on my side okay so i've got a nice uh thin diameter branch here so i'm going to do a side step clip [Music] so i'm going to go through about two thirds on the lower side because that's the side i'm going to pull it towards me and then i'm going to go up about another three inches because it's quite thin diameter [Music] now just make sure that the steps are overlapping put my saw away now i've got two hands okay so this one i've got about a five foot long piece you know it's about five four five inches in diameter so i'll make my first cut [Music] so i've gone about three quarters of the way through and then i'll make my second cut this one i'm going to make about two inches above and you just need to make sure that they completely overlap each other because if they don't overlap then you're not going to get that snap off whereas if as long as you know that you know you can go as far through as you need to to make sure they overlap and that you're happy that the vulva overlapped and then once you once you're familiar you do it over and over again you'll know how far you need to cut through but this will make a nice easy snap for this piece and then i can just throw it exactly where i want it [Music] okay now it comes to blocking down the stem so the step cut is my go-to cut for whenever i'm blocking down i don't want the saw to get pinched so i'll cut as far through as i can until the gap starts to close then i'll pull the saw out and then i can come in from the other side put my saw away and then i've got two hands free to to maneuver the piece wherever i want to put it when it comes to blocking down a stem especially if you're on something quite upright you haven't really got the worry of the the piece actually falling off just of its own kind of weight the larger the stem the closer the step should be um until you know even unlike some huge stuff it's until it's almost touching so like i say yeah go through like three quarters um or even more until the gap starts to close um i also like to always use wherever possible use the bottom of the bar because the chain pulls the saw into the cut so you're not fighting the saw um and you're in a much more kind of comfortable position so if i can so i'll always do my first cut from the bottom of the bar because that's the cut that i'm you know going to be cutting the longest and then if i'm in a comfortable position i'll flip the saw over and i'll come in with the bottom of the bar from the other side but some situations it's just way easier to do the first cut bottom of the bar and then second cut just do the small cut with the top of the bar and then when the pieces start getting larger i'll always try and have the the lower of the step on my side so when i pull it i pull it towards me and then the piece of wood doesn't have to fight that little step you don't have to lift it over you just kind of slide it off when you're blocking down the stem you see it so often where somebody will do the step cut either the step is too wide or they don't overlap or they only overlap on like one corner and so you you see people put the saw down and then they try and snap off the piece and then they're driving it and pushing it and pulling it and using all their energy and they're getting really frustrated and they just like it it just won't go so then they pick the saw up again and then they have to get the saw up and and make the second cut and if that happens like more than once or twice while you're blocking down it just can create so much frustration be a waste of so much energy so just make sure that your first cut goes all the way through until you start seeing it close the second cup make sure it overlaps make sure it's not too far apart just so that like i say you do it right the first time every time so you put your saw away you snap it off onto the next one do the step put your saw away snap it off because there's nothing worse than fighting the piece of wood and then having to re-cut it [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you

Channel: Climbing Arborist

Views: 110,358

Rating: 4.9455781 out of 5

Keywords: arborist, tree climber, tree surgeon, step cut, snap cut, tree removal, tree pruning, tutorial, tree trimmer, chainsaw, safety

Id: f3IVxhOBoPk

Length: 10min 59sec (659 seconds)

Published: Sat May 23 2020