Good have been bad

Took down some trees with my FIl today. He is less methodical than I and less concerned with safety. I wear chaps and helmet and he doesn't feel it necessary. I take my take my time, watch my footing and move at a pace that allows me to be safe. He rushes, doesn't watch his saw, etc. He hooked a rope up to this walnut and pulled it with his backhoe as I cut, as I neared finishing the cut the tree snapped.......instantaneously this happened....Like a broken rubber band.....thankfully I was safely to the side making my cut. Scared the bejeezus out of me. He had pulled that rope way to tight with the machine....I learned a few lessons today while working with him. He is a great man and he heats with wood for the past 30 years but he is a hard headed Italian immigrant who has his own way of doing things.

For sure that is always a bit scary. This also is why I really hate to work with someone for doing this. You don't know for sure how much pressure they will give nor if they will increase it. This probably what happened. Looking at where you were with the cut, he probably thought it was about ready to go so gave it a bit more.

Just a little hint too. You might consider making that cut a bit higher as it should be above the notch and it appears yours would have came out about even with the notch. This is okay with small trees but could get you some problems as the trees get bigger.

Hopefully too you pulled that down with the tractor before cutting as that part can be really scary. On this one it would not be particularly hard because of the angle but many times it really pays to pull them down before cutting.

Glad everything came out safe for you two Boom. Those dam Italians! Oh. Ahhh haaa wait. I happen to be aaa. Never mind.

Yeah, the posts and wire in the pic are for.....you guessed it....his grape vines.....makes about 50 gallons a year of his own wine!

Oh my Coulda been much worse, lucky the saw man didn't get killed by that bad boy.

Let's see.....FIL......he's on the safe end.........you're not.
Exactly what did you do to piss him off?

Yikes.You are very lucky.Its certainly difficult to work around someone that's a different 'speed' as yourself.That would've been it for me.I would've quit for the day after that incident.

Now after things have calmed down tonight,I hope you're enjoying a glass (or 5) of that homemade wine.

Glad you are ok. That could have been a fatal accident. I would have thrown some gabagul @him

We had one more tree after that....literally right next to his garage....we did same thing except this time I made sure to explain the "not too much pull" thing to him. Went fine. The reality is that I do not cut many trees so every tree is a learning experience. That one I will never forget. Had it hit me I would have suffered a serious, if not fatal, injury not to mention I had my stihl going full bore at the time. But, I was wearing my helmet and chaps!

Married his daughter?

HehHeh . . . I was thinking the same thing Papa Dave.

Ya I saw your other cut too, looks to me like you're not doing your back cuts proper. Your back cut should be an inch or so above the base of your notch, so as to maintain a pivot point for the trunk, so it doesn't sit back or snap back or slide back on you. This here tree in this thread is a definite man killin' situation.......good thing you weren't behind that sucker.

Noted.....I stay safely to the side. Thanks....next time I will make back cut higher....

We had a very experienced guy around here die in a similar circumstance.

Gonna leave that "barber chair" there for a while as a reminder ?
Glad it missed your chin !
Now one hurt, & some learning was done.
All in all a good & lucky day.

Who gets the fire wood?

I got the wood...I did learn something today, that is for sure. A lucky day for sure!

Well that would have me questioning the whole endeavor
I hope you're done logging at his pace so you can make your OWN mistakes next time

If you do happen to have him (or anyone else) on the tractor again while felling you can wrap a chain or sturdy strap around the trunk above your cut just in case he gets over-eager with the tension. Another thing to think about: what if the rope breaks from too much tension?

The rope breaking was on my mind as well. Trees, ropes, saws, backhoe.....gotta be slow and be safe. A lot to think about!

Tree like that I prolly wouldn't have used the backhoe. Wedge it over.

Your back cut needs to be higher as others have said, but pulling on it was the major cause for the barber chair. Scary chit for sure! You obviously learned something here...hopefully he did too.

Others say pulling on it was a mistake but I do not agree. It is just how you do the pulling that counts whether it is good or bad. I fondly remember watching a crew take down some huge white pine as a neighbors place. I was really impressed by his preparation and then how we went right to the truck that he hitched to and going slowly told the driver when to stop with the right tension. Then he spent time explaining how he wanted him to operate the truck and worked out the hand signals. He was very meticulous and impressive. I congratulated him when it was all done too.

Yes, we were pulling it to avoid it falling on a wall. The amount of tension created was tremendous prior to starting to cut. In hindsight, all we needed was a taught line to persuade it to fall in a specific direction. He was pulling so tight on it that it snapped. Back cut should have been higher but pulling so damn tight with machine really caused the barber chair.

I'll trade with you any day. When I first told my FIL years ago I was buying a Chainsaw to drop a tree in our yard, he said "What do you need a Chainsaw for, just cut around it with your Circular Saw.....and to clean the Chimney....tie a bunch of branches together and pull it thru the Chimney".....now I have heard of the branches being used way back when....but why would anybody do that today ???