Got burned by a hidden hinge crack on a big oak in Portland last month

I was up in a 60 foot red oak near Mt. Tabor, and a hinge I thought was solid turned out to have a hairline crack hidden under some bark. The tree started to go sideways on me before I could get a proper pull line set. Lucky for me my groundie saw it and yelled, but now I always shave a test strip of bark off the hinge face before I make my final cut on anything over 30 inches. Anybody else ever had a hidden defect almost cost them? I'm wondering if there's a better way to check besides just scraping bark.

2 comments

2 Comments

jessica_ross3819d ago

That 'hinge face' area is actually the hold wood, not the hinge itself.

terry_jones19d agoTop Commenter

Huh, never thought about it that way. Guess I've been calling it wrong this whole time.