Came too close to having a very, very bad day today...

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CountryBoy19

Minister of Fire
Jul 29, 2010
962
Southern IN
I was cutting up a BIG honey locust (28" DBH). I was cutting one of the larger limbs off, it was about 12" diameter. I was cutting fast, not really paying too much attention (that would be the mistake) and I didn't fully survey how this limb was going to fall. My plan was to just cut it enough so that it bent towards the ground, and then cut it up while it was still attached to the tree. It had a big bend in the middle. As I was cutting through it (on the uphill side), it went down to the ground all at once, the bend hit the ground and acted as a fulcrum, the weight out beyond the fulcrum was enough that it sheared what was left of my hinge wood, and the limb came right at me. I would say at it's highest point it was about chest height. I tried to jump back out of the way, but seeing as I was cutting on the uphill side (pretty steep hill right behind me) I couldn't do a whole lot. The limb hit me pretty hard right in the side of my left knee, then the end landed on my right foot, just high enough that the steel toes didn't do squat. I thought my foot was broken, I couldn't feel it, then the throbbing came, and then it all went away. I went back to cutting and was fine the rest of the day (even loading the big stuff I didn't have any aches or pains in the effected areas).

When I got home, my foot was throbbing and it hurt to take my boot off, maybe it's just because at that point it had rested some, and then putting it back to work again hurt. What really surprised me was the side of my knee, when it happened it really didn't hurt much, and I thought that the limb had just grazed the side of it. I've got a huge (almost baseball sized) bump/bruise there. No pain in my knee so I don't think it did damage to the joint, just popped me hard enough to give me a bump and bruise.

I feel very lucky, had I not been able to jump as far as I did I likely would have ended up with at least 1 broken leg.

Lesson learned, ALWAYS, survey exactly what you think is going to happen when you cut something. I got in a hurry and just glanced at the limb and didn't really think it out and didn't realize that the bend was going to act like a fulcrum and break the hinge, I just thought it would rest nicely on the ground.
 
kenny chaos said:
Think it hurts now? Wait till you mature.
Click to expand...

Mature as in the typical definition of mature? Or mature as in, get "up there" in age? I hope the latter, and yes indeed, I'm sure it will hurt more.
 
It scares me at 40 years old to think there was a time in my life when I was even more of an idiot than I am right now.
 
+1 btuser , from 1 40 yr. old to another!
 
CountryBoy19 said:
I was cutting up a BIG honey locust (28" DBH). I was cutting one of the larger limbs off, it was about 12" diameter. I was cutting fast, not really paying too much attention (that would be the mistake) and I didn't fully survey how this limb was going to fall. My plan was to just cut it enough so that it bent towards the ground, and then cut it up while it was still attached to the tree. It had a big bend in the middle. As I was cutting through it (on the uphill side), it went down to the ground all at once, the bend hit the ground and acted as a fulcrum, the weight out beyond the fulcrum was enough that it sheared what was left of my hinge wood, and the limb came right at me. I would say at it's highest point it was about chest height. I tried to jump back out of the way, but seeing as I was cutting on the uphill side (pretty steep hill right behind me) I couldn't do a whole lot. The limb hit me pretty hard right in the side of my left knee, then the end landed on my right foot, just high enough that the steel toes didn't do squat. I thought my foot was broken, I couldn't feel it, then the throbbing came, and then it all went away. I went back to cutting and was fine the rest of the day (even loading the big stuff I didn't have any aches or pains in the effected areas).

When I got home, my foot was throbbing and it hurt to take my boot off, maybe it's just because at that point it had rested some, and then putting it back to work again hurt. What really surprised me was the side of my knee, when it happened it really didn't hurt much, and I thought that the limb had just grazed the side of it. I've got a huge (almost baseball sized) bump/bruise there. No pain in my knee so I don't think it did damage to the joint, just popped me hard enough to give me a bump and bruise.

I feel very lucky, had I not been able to jump as far as I did I likely would have ended up with at least 1 broken leg.

Lesson learned, ALWAYS, survey exactly what you think is going to happen when you cut something. I got in a hurry and just glanced at the limb and didn't really think it out and didn't realize that the bend was going to act like a fulcrum and break the hinge, I just thought it would rest nicely on the ground.
Click to expand...


Yup, no truer words spoken in your last 2 sentences. Taking the time to do it right saves your butt from being DEAD WRONG..........................
 
"CountryBoy19" I'm glad it wasn't to bad but it will get worse before it gets better.

zap
 
Country Boy, I had a large limb barberchair on me & come 4' right back at me. A year later I still feel it. Thats why I bought the big pole saw, it would have never happened with it, Randy
 
Here's wishing you good luck and fast healing.

Two very important rules when cutting trees.

1. Never cut if you are tired.

2. Never hurry.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Here's wishing you good luck and fast healing.

Two very important rules when cutting trees.

1. Never cut if you are tired.

2. Never hurry.
Click to expand...

and

3: ALWAYS survey the cut before cutting. I had a simple 5" cut barberchair on me because I was not paying attention!

Gary

Edit: Oops I think everybody is saying that! :)
 
I've almost finished cutting and splitting a 32"+ bur oak that fell in a windstorm a few weeks ago. The trunk was about 7 feet off the ground, propped on the crown on one end, and on the rootball on the other end. Scary job, cutting properly and safely to get that gigantic trunk to set down on the ground, but everything went well. Now, last December, a couple days before NYE, I was doing a little clearing of a scrubby area and took down a gnarly, bent-over tree maybe 5-6" diameter. I still don't know what went wrong, but somehow the cut end whipped back and knocked my right hand from its grip on the saw and bent the three biggest fingers of my right hand in ways they were never meant to go. I still feel it every time I make a fist, push hard with a pencil or a steak knife, or pick up a big chunk of firewood with that hand, and it has been almost a year. So: it doesn't take a very big tree to hurt you, and it might be a hurt that will stick with you a good long time. Thanks for the reminder of these things, CountryBoy.
 
btuser said:
It scares me at 40 years old to think there was a time in my life when I was even more of an idiot than I am right now.
Click to expand...

Haha +2. 39.83 years old and I shake my head when I think about the stupid sh!t I did.......last week.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Here's wishing you good luck and fast healing.

Two very important rules when cutting trees.

1. Never cut if you are tired.

2. Never hurry.
Click to expand...

Also never cut in the woods without a "buddy" to rescue you or call "911". I am officially "the pot calling the kettle black" because I have done all of the above. Your story is a wake up call to all of us idiots.
 
After cutting another load yesterday, I'm feeling pretty good. The knot on the side of my knee is gone, and just light bruising. My right foot feels fine, and only has a small mark, like the skin was bruised.

Still too close of a call.

The worst thing was my cell phone was in the truck too. So if I had been pinned down I would've been screwed. Or, if it would have gotten me but I got it off then I would have had to crawl about 30 yards over all the brush and bucked firewood I had already cut, then tried to get up high enough to reach my phone. I think I'll keep my phone in my pocket from now on.

I know it would be ideal to have a cutting partner, but it's just not possible with my weird schedule, and the fact that I've only lived here for a little over a year and I don't know anybody else that cuts firewood.
 
Rockey said:
btuser said:
It scares me at 40 years old to think there was a time in my life when I was even more of an idiot than I am right now.
Click to expand...

Haha +2. 39.83 years old and I shake my head when I think about the stupid sh!t I did.......last week.
Click to expand...

Yup... I sometimes wonder how I made it to 40 :shut:
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Here's wishing you good luck and fast healing.

Two very important rules when cutting trees.

1. Never cut if you are tired.

2. Never hurry.
Click to expand...

A good rule to remember . . . which is why I called it quits yesterday after 4 hours . . . my last two trees were hangers . . . and I realized then that my ambition and amount of daylight were quickly being surpassed by my ability to keep working safely . . . and so I packed it in, headed home and spent a nice afternoon with my wife.
 
And don't drink the yellow snow . . . it doesn't taste like a lemonade slushee. :) ;)
 
Oh yeah . . . also the chocolate covered raisins you see scattered in the woods are not chocolate covered raisins.
 
Glad to hear no real damage was done. sounds like a real scare. Reading the OP I think I can picture quite well what happened & how. So my brain automatically goes to thinking: How would I have done it if thinking clearly or, more acurately how SHOULD I do this so the same thing wouldn't happen? In this case I'm thinking I very likely would have done the exact same thing.
If the limb was too high to buck-up comfortably I'd do a partial cut "or 2-3" to let it bend down & then cut from the end, moving toward the trunk.
I'd stand on the uphill side for better reach & so I wasn't down-hill if the limb broke-off.
With a big, bent limb & many branches coming off I don't think I could accurately judge how it would react if it fell rapidly.
I suppose if there was another spot further out on the limb that was low enough that a releasing cut could be made then that might be a better initial cut...

CB, How would you approach that limb if you had it to do over again?

Anyone else have general advice for those situations?
 
midwestcoast said:
Glad to hear no real damage was done. sounds like a real scare. Reading the OP I think I can picture quite well what happened & how. So my brain automatically goes to thinking: How would I have done it if thinking clearly or, more acurately how SHOULD I do this so the same thing wouldn't happen? In this case I'm thinking I very likely would have done the exact same thing.
If the limb was too high to buck-up comfortably I'd do a partial cut "or 2-3" to let it bend down & then cut from the end, moving toward the trunk.
I'd stand on the uphill side for better reach & so I wasn't down-hill if the limb broke-off.
With a big, bent limb & many branches coming off I don't think I could accurately judge how it would react if it fell rapidly.
I suppose if there was another spot further out on the limb that was low enough that a releasing cut could be made then that might be a better initial cut...

CB, How would you approach that limb if you had it to do over again?

Anyone else have general advice for those situations?
Click to expand...
Big gas pole saw, mine cuts like a regular chainsaw, Randy
 
CountryBoy
Where abouts in Southern Indiana are you??
 
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