Hinge cutting large maples

[CentralKyHunter]

I'm wanting to hinge cut some large maples along some food plots to put some ground cover down for small game and some browse down for deer.
These trees are probably 14-16 inchers, any advice on hinging them? Use same technique as smaller trees?

 

[Fish]

Like most large diameter hinges, youve got to land em' pretty softly or they are gonna break off. Leave as much wood as you can and pull them down, or drop them softly through some other trees. Wedges can help tip them over.

So yes, pretty much like smaller stuff that you want to hold a hinge. Just accept some will break.

 

[dogghr]

As for me no way would I hinge that size DBH. That's thousands of pounds on stack and I would notch and fell. Not worth the risk my opinion. Maple will stump sprout quite well.

 

[HB_Hunter]

It would be a little more work, but if you really want to hinge them you could tie a rope just past halfway (?) up the tree, attach it to a come along (snatch block might help too), make the hinge cut then start putting pressure on it with the come along. This should allow you to leave more holding wood and decrease the likelihood of a break. It would also work with a snatch block and a winch if you have one on your ATV or truck. Obviously taking great care to not drop the tree on your vehicle .

 

[Chummer]

Wait for them to leaf out and cut them half way and wait for the wind to bring them down. I find maple of all sizes are easier to hinge after leaf out. They seem to snap more when I hinge them in winter.

 

[JDunham]

I have hinged some larger trees the way that have been suggested over the years. The older I get the more cautious I become. I would just fell them and walk away to do something else. The downed tree will provide browse for this year and cover for considerable time, especially with the added sunlight getting to the forest floor around it. Maple stumps sprout pretty well as dogghr stated. If you are hell bent on doing it and want to have the best chance of it not snapping off, Chummers method is what I would do. Cut it halfway after green up and drive a wedge or two in it and let the wind take it down, provided it is somewhere that shouldn't have people around it.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Thanks for the advice guys. These are actually not In a wooded area there just a random row of three or four big maples that I guess used to be a fence row dividing two food plots

 

[Chainsaw]

I have hinged some larger trees the way that have been suggested over the years. The older I get the more cautious I become. I would just fell them and walk away to do something else. The downed tree will provide browse for this year and cover for considerable time, especially with the added sunlight getting to the forest floor around it. Maple stumps sprout pretty well as dogghr stated. If you are hell bent on doing it and want to have the best chance of it not snapping off, Chummers method is what I would do. Cut it halfway after green up and drive a wedge or two in it and let the wind take it down, provided it is somewhere that shouldn't have people around it.

Times 3.

 

[j-bird]

It can also depend on the type of maple as well. In my experience soft maples hinge easier than hard maples - hard maples tend to simply snap off for me. I will have to try it after leaf out sometime and see if that helps. You would hinge the same way - but obviously the risk is greater with larger trees. Larger ones I simply tend to just cut off, leave the top and pull out the log for fire wood.....mother nature will do the rest with ample sunlight.

 

[kansas-Andres]

Never pull bigger maples with a hook, it's a recipe for death. Use wedges but be extremely careful. I always hinge cut bigger trees in the direction they want to fall. Some I've even let the wind finish the job for me, like this maple in the photo.

 

[Weasel]

Dogghr is spot on, maples stump sprout like crazy. Even with smaller ones, and I have a lot, that I want to hinge, I don't get too worked up if they snap off. If you have a bunch of fresh cut maple stumps, put up a trail cam in the area when they start to sprout. I couldn't believe how many deer I sucked into one area of maple sprouts.

 

[Tap]

It would be a little more work, but if you really want to hinge them you could tie a rope just past halfway (?) up the tree, attach it to a come along (snatch block might help too), make the hinge cut then start putting pressure on it with the come along. This should allow you to leave more holding wood and decrease the likelihood of a break. It would also work with a snatch block and a winch if you have one on your ATV or truck. Obviously taking great care to not drop the tree on your vehicle .

It better be the right kind of rope.
Check out this Terry Hale video on choosing the proper rope for logging. A rope that breaks under tension can snap back at over 800 mph. This is a pretty technical video, but don't get bored with it... it's well worth learning the complexities of the subject. This is serious stuff.

Here's another informative video on using winches and chain.

 

[Tap]

Like most large diameter hinges, youve got to land em' pretty softly or they are gonna break off. Leave as much wood as you can and pull them down, or drop them softly through some other trees. Wedges can help tip them over.

So yes, pretty much like smaller stuff that you want to hold a hinge. Just accept some will break.

I've wondered about trying something with trees that are prone to break.
What if the tree is cut very low at ground level? From splitting firewood, I've realized that the grain pattern just above the roots is usually strong as heck. On some species, it's almost impossible to split the lowest foot or so of a tree, even with a hydraulic splitter. I assume (and you know what they say about assuming) that the odds of breakage during a fell should be minimized with a ground-level cut.

Also, I assume (again) that there should be less shock to the cut/hinge if the tree gets supported by the ground as it hits the ground at the end of the fall. When the height of the cut is a few feet higher, the tree trunk has zero support at the cut and should be more likely to break-off at the cut. It's usually the shock of the impact of the tree hitting the ground that breaks the hinge. If the hinge can stay intact until the entire length of the trunk contacts the ground, there should be less shock to the hinge, and that depends on the terrain (ground humps, etc). Couple that with the fact that the low-to-the-ground grain is stronger (is it?), I assume (there I go again) we would have less breakage of trees of any size with low cuts.
This sounds logical to me, but I'm not a professional tree feller and I have not experimented with it. Any opinions on it?
The down side (if it works) is that a tree would not have that high hinge that we tend to like. But if it stays alive, we can then hinge any manageable re-growth in a couple years.
BE SAFE!

 

[Fish]

I've wondered about trying something with trees that are prone to break.
What if the tree is cut very low at ground level? From splitting firewood, I've realized that the grain pattern just above the roots is usually strong as heck. On some species, it's almost impossible to split the lowest foot or so of a tree, even with a hydraulic splitter. I assume (and you know what they say about assuming) that the odds of breakage during a fell should be minimized with a ground-level cut.

Also, I assume (again) that there should be less shock to the cut/hinge if the tree gets supported by the ground as it hits the ground at the end of the fall. When the height of the cut is a few feet higher, the tree trunk has zero support at the cut and should be more likely to break-off at the cut. It's usually the shock of the impact of the tree hitting the ground that breaks the hinge. If the hinge can stay intact until the entire length of the trunk contacts the ground, there should be less shock to the hinge, and that depends on the terrain (ground humps, etc). Couple that with the fact that the low-to-the-ground grain is stronger (is it?), I assume (there I go again) we would have less breakage of trees of any size with low cuts.
This sounds logical to me, but I'm not a professional tree feller and I have not experimented with it. Any opinions on it?
The down side (if it works) is that a tree would not have that high hinge that we tend to like. But if it stays alive, we can then hinge any manageable re-growth in a couple years.
BE SAFE!

Well, Tap, I'm not a professional either and really cant add to what your hypothesis is on this one. I think some testing is in order.

 

[dogghr]

Good videos Tap. As for hinging I've found that the trees I Jst cut at ground level really resprout better than those I've hinged. So if it's more than 6 dbh I Jst fell tree and let nature do its stuff. Jst not much need to take unneeded risks for deer. They won't know diff.


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