barber-chair

barberchair, barber chair

From the resemblance of a tree split in this way to a barber chair.

barber-chair (third-person singular simple present barber-chairs, present participle barber-chairing, simple past and past participle barber-chaired)

1. (Western US, of a tree being felled) To split vertically upward from the partial cut and fall or kick outward.
   • 1998, Jim Deaton, Crosscut Saw Reflections in the Pacific Northwest, page 15:

     Once when a tree barber-chaired, this was on a steep hillside, it was a dramatic display of a diving tree.

   • 2000, Lloyd Keeland, The Lusty Life of Loon Lake Lloyd, page 251:

     It would have barber-chaired on him. The little ones had barber-chaired but they weren't split up very high.

   • 2014, Jesse W. Thompson, Samson & Delilah's Haunted B & B:

     He made the first cut, the notch, and then as he made the back cut, it barber-chaired and kicked back on him.

2. (Western US, transitive) To split (a tree) in this manner.

barber-chair

1. Alternative form of barber chair (when used attributively).
   • 2011, Michael Levatino, Audrey Levatino, The Joy of Hobby Farming:

     Cutting through a limb that's bowed under the weight of the tree will create a mini barber-chair effect and the limb could shoot out at you when you release the pressure by cutting it.