Chunked a 200-year-old oak yesterday and it went sideways

Was dropping a big limb from a mature red oak in Brookline and the hinge snapped way earlier than I planned. Had to scramble to get clear while it swung around and took out a section of fence. Anyone else had a hinge fail on them like that and figure out what caused it?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas_brown9d ago

The 200-year-old red oak I dropped last spring in Concord had a snap on me too, and it came down to that hidden rot you mentioned. I found some punk wood inside the trunk right at the hinge point when I went back and looked closer after the fact (I was kicking myself for not boring into it first). What saved my bacon was having two escape routes planned before I even fired up the saw, so I could slide left instead of straight back when it swung. My advice is to always bore a check hole into the hinge area on old oaks like that, especially if there's any discoloration or moss near the cut line. You'll catch the soft spots before they catch you off guard.

gray_perez529d ago

Man that sounds like a close call... glad you got clear. Hinges can be tricky on old oaks if there's any hidden rot or if the cut wasn't perfectly level.