Stupid hurts

[Cascade Failure]

Spent the morning working on a tangle of trees which was created by a red oak dropped by one of our winter storms. The oak fell taking down a pine and a couple smaller ash. Typical New England terrain - about a 15' high, 150' long pile of ledge and loose boulders (thank you glaciers) bordering a swampish area. The oak had been rooted at the top of the pile.

Started on the tops just to get the area clear enough to work safely. Went to the top to cut away a large enough section of the trunks so that I could use the King Quad to pull sections of the tree of off the pile so I wouldn't be cutting in the rocks. That tends to be rough on chains and ankles.

Here's the stupid part. About 16' of the oak is cantilevered off of the ground at about waist height. Instead of cutting from the stump end I got lazy and cut about 14' up. I knew this section might roll towards me as it fell. Fine, a smart guy like me will position myself out of the way. Made my cut and that log showed me my first "barber chair". It split about 6' past my cut and rolled right to me.

Damn that was fast. No time to move and no where to go. Caught me just above my knee in a rolling downward motion. Log's motion was stopped by a little pine. No real damage; just swelling the size of a grapefruit and some nice scrapes.

The afternoon will be spent enjoying some of Mr. Daniel's fine product and an ice pack.

Be careful out there.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Ouch. I like it when the balance like that so you can cut off rounds without hitting dirt or bending down, but it takes planning.

 

[Cascade Failure]

So do I. My thinking today was that the tops and rounds in the rocks would fill the trailer. I would deal with the 14' section later. Oh well.

 

[Danno77]

you aren't busted in half and learned a lesson. At the rate you and I are going we're gonna be really wise old men, but we'll be aching all over from lessons like these.

 

[Cascade Failure]

you aren't busted in half and learned a lesson. At the rate you and I are going we're gonna be really wise old men, but we'll be aching all over from lessons like these.

Yup, but I'll take sore and old over young and dead any day!

 

[Duetech]

That's a good analogy CF and I think I can echo that. When a tree is down like that I have learned to try to put a wedge cut underneath, if there is room for the saw, then cut slowly down from the top if the tree dont yaw on me and I usually try to leave the top for after the log has been sectioned. Each felled tree is an oportunity for new twist. Glad you are alright. Hurt my shin once and the blood drained down to the ankle. Made it near impossible to walk. So while you are thinning the blood try to keep the foot elevated. Hate to have you miss all the cutting that can be done on the weekend. %-P

 

[-PB-]

The afternoon will be spent enjoying some of Mr. Daniel's fine product and an ice pack.

Be careful out there.[/quote]


Glad you are OK. Makers Mark and motrin work well together also.

 

[bogydave]

That one is "filed in long term memory"!
Learning it well sometimes means you do it knowing it's not good & hoping to get by just one time.
If you do it one more time, don't. First; just kick in the last memory & how much worse it could be,
cause it will be next time (worse that is)
Good post,
we all need a reminder every now & then, even if we know "stupid hurts"