For everyone that cuts wood!
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There has to be a worse way to go. He knew it was happening for what, a second or two and it was over? Not a bad way in my book.
Matt
Matt
Similar thing happened to a friend, only he lived. He is getting out of the hospital today after seven weeks. Broken all kinds of bones, organ damage, brain damage. Can't be too care full out there folks. By the way, this guy is a seasoned wood burner with his own wood lot, who cuts 10 or more cord a year for his home in Wasila Alaska.
Safety First+2! I am in no way an expert in taking down trees but have taken a few down. One rolled on me while cutting and crushed my Stihl. It is always better to be a little scared when your doing this and have respect for what that tree can do when it goes the wrong way. Jesh.....its easy enough to get hurt with the saws! I know the first thing I do before cutting is have the "escape route" cleared so I can run like hell
!!.....lol
!!.....lol
I've often wondered how this kind of thing happens. Typically I will step back to fully stretched arms length once I see a tree starting to move, basically barely hanging on to the saw to finish the cut. Do you figure folks are simply "hugging" the trees when they roll the wrong way at the tail end of a cut? Or does the tree break well before they expected it to give up? Perhaps it's both....either way, it's not good. And I'm sure there are plenty of pro's out there that have had close calls...
Hard to say what really happened. I think some people might get their saw stuck as the tree is starting to go and foolishly not let go of the saw, like a monkey with a greedy handful of nuts in a small mouth jar.
I live in a logging town and I've know a few professionals killed in the woods - some felling, some bucking, some yarding - and these were professionals. Guys who cut timber 5 days a week. Everyone in Shelton knows a few people killed in the woods.
Point is, it's not a safe pass time. Be careful. And even if you're careful, have your affairs in order.
Point is, it's not a safe pass time. Be careful. And even if you're careful, have your affairs in order.
I'm very safety conscious when I'm out in the bush, but once I was trying to fall a tree in amongst some other trees (branches were touching), I was cutting the back cut and pounding in a wedge to get it to go over, but the dang thing refused to fall. I cut a little and pounded the wedge a little until I got to the point where there was almost no hinge left. At that point I didn't want to risk cutting anymore and put a steal wedge in and started pounding. The cut was opening up, but it still wouldn't fall so I just kept pounding,,,,,,, in a split second, and before I had any time to react, the hinge broke and the tree literally jumped off the stump, on my side, and planted itself into the ground an inch or two from my foot and then proceeded to fall in the direction I was trying to get it to fall.
Lesson learned from that was always do a steep downward angle to the back cut (I had left some angle, but obviously it wasn't enough), and leave plenty of hinge wood.
I got off easy that time. I'm always watching for the next way I might get bit.
and then proceeded to fall in the direction I was trying to get it to fall. Lesson learned from that was always do a steep downward angle to the back cut (I had left some angle, but obviously it wasn't enough), and leave plenty of hinge wood.
I got off easy that time. I'm always watching for the next way I might get bit.
Carbon_Liberator said:
The "pros" look at me like I am crazy when I do that instead of going straight into the back of the face cut. I don't even remember where my wedges are.
I know it is not a good idea to cut alone, but I have heard of accidents where the person with the saw cuts the other person, or worse yet, drops a tree on them. I know the pros work within sight of each other but out of harms way. And my problem is I don't have someone to go with me most of the time anyway. I understand most accidents are from delimbing or bucking. I can see that since branches seem to be the biggest hassle. When a tree gets hung up on a fall, that is a big problem, trying to figure out how to get it down without getting killed. Recently I bought 400 feet of rescue rope and a come along, this seems great to encourage a tree to fall the right way from a distance, when things don't go right.
No question, felling trees and chain saws are dangerous play, but lets not get carried away. Whoever's afraid to look at a chain saw, fine for him. However, with proper focus and reasonable knowledge felling, bucking and limbing are not strictly for professionals. I use my chain saw every day. No chaps, no ear muffs, no special gloves and often in sneakers. No accidents. Just be very careful, have full attention on what your doing and don't take unwise chances. I love my chain saws. For me, it's part of the wood burning process.
wendell said:
Who died and left you in charge? :coolmad:
There's the rose colored world we all should live in, and there's the real world.
Let's not play make believe. I've seen plenty of loggers (true professionals) run chain saws just as I described.
All I'm saying is that a chain saw is a dangerous tool, not the devil. Use your head and work with confidence within your limits. :coolsmile:
basswidow said:
I prefer the dead down wood too, but I also have a "rule of leg" - I don't cut anything larger around than my thigh. And I don't attempt to cut anything that could fall on the house. I wouldn't mind having the confidence to cut down larger trees, but I'm just not there yet
Everybody has their own safety threshold, some are gona need (and probably should have) all the protection gear, they can comfortably wear, others can (and do) get by with the minimum. A lot depends on where you are, and what you're use to.wendell said:
I wear gloves because I have always worn gloves when I work with machines or things I need a good grip on. I wear ear protection because if you work with a chainsaw you WILL damage your hearing without ear protection. I don't wear a safety helmet, but I use to when I worked cutting cedar shake block in the bush, up in Northern Vancouver Island. But then I mostly wore the helmet because of the constant rain. Up there the one piece of safety equipment you didn't want to work in the rainforest without was your Corks. Nothing worse then slipping on slimy logs and branches when you are running a chainsaw, heck even with out a chainsaw you could have some nasty falls just walking around if you weren't wearing a pair of Corks. Totally un-necessary where I live now though, heck I'd feel more comfortable working in my bare feet than working in the rainforest without Corks on my feet.
BrotherBart said:
I'm a newb. so I asked on Arboristsite about this. I got decisive advice against it. Lets be safe out there.
An angled back cut is a bad idea. If you put a wedge in there you're not lifting the tree and you could split the stump.
It will likely not prevent the tree from kicking back after you ruin your hinge. Again, the stump will probably split.
Use a flat back cut above the face notch and leave a good hinge. If it won't go over with a wedge use a rope, a push pole, a felling lever, etc.
I personally use the angled back cuts on tree's that already have a touch of a lean to them (prolly 70% of the trees I drop fall into this category). I'd never plan on using a wedge with an angled back cut. On trees that are straight or that I'm really trying to push in a certain direction I go with the more traditional notch and flat back cut.
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