When you first start training as a tree surgeon, you start hearing the term "barber chair" a lot. It's not obvious what is meant by this but it never sounds goos, usually whispered as a word of warning, or yelled in a sentence such as " Stop that! You'll barber chair it!!!". Of course you soon find out what it means (hopefully not from experience) and it's pretty scary stuff.
A barber chair is when a tree which is being felled splits up the centre of the trunk. This is not cool for a large number of reasons;
1. Once a tree barber chairs you no longer have any control of the tree whatsoever, it could literally fall anywhere.
2. The tree can split up the trunk and then pivot much further up the trunk than the cut, causing it to swing up and or around and whack the forester. These lumps of tree can be several tons in weight.
3. The tree can literally explode! As the tree splits forces of tension and torsion are released completely uncontrolled which can cause the tree to swing wildly, or even explode.
There are ways of minimising the risk of this happening but it cant be completely eliminated and is much more of a risk to non professional tree fellers.
Kent Arboreal provide professional tree surgery, hedge cutting, and garden clearance services in East Kent, Thanet and Medway. We are fully insured and excellent value for money.
As well as being tree surgeons, Kent Arboreal are also bloggers, writing regular blogs of wildly varying quality on all things arboreal.
Give us a call on 0800 772 0159
or email us at info@kentarboreal.com