Dodged a bullet logging last week

[Nick Mystic]

I'll be 69 next month and have heated with wood that I've harvested for the past 35 years or so. A couple weeks ago when I was working up a large oak tree on my property I had something happen that could have resulted in a very serious injury, but luck was on my side and I learned a valuable lesson. Here is what happened: The oak tree I was working up had blown over in a storm, so it was up off the ground with the root ball supporting one end of the tree and the large top limbs supporting the top of the tree at the other end. As I was cutting off the larger limbs I encountered one that was about four or five inches at the trunk and extended out from the tree a good 20' or more. This particular limb ended up being wedged behind a smaller sourwood tree about 8' from the trunk and I could tell there was tension on the limb since I couldn't move it when I tested it.

I was going to cut the limb off at the trunk, but the tension on it made me leery of getting my chain bar pinched if the pressure on the limb was forcing the limb upwards instead of letting gravity pull it downward. Instead of risking getting my saw stuck I decided to first make a cut just beyond where the limb was pinned behind the sourwood tree since I knew that part of the limb would fall to the ground in the normal fashion when I cut it off. Once that added weight was gone I thought there would be less chance of pinching my saw when I made the final cut down at the tree trunk.

Here is where I did my bullet dodging. The limb was about parallel with the ground about five feet up in the air. I was making my cut about three or four inches beyond where the limb was pinned behind the sourwood tree. As luck would have it I was positioned to the side of the sourwood tree toward the end of the tree limb which extended another 10' or 15' out in the air. The limb was about three inches in diameter where I was making my cut. I cut straight down on the limb and as soon as the saw passed through the limb the 8' of limb still attached to the tree sprang free of the sourwood tree and shot out like a released catapult with tremendous force and traveled about 4 or 5 feet before rebounding for several more swings back and forth. Had I been standing with even six inches of my body to the left of the sourwood tree where the limb was pinned I would have been nailed and there is no telling how seriously I would have been injured, or even killed.

It all happened so quickly that it took me a few minutes to reconstruct what must have happened. I was certainly correct in my assessment that there was tension on limb being pinned behind the sourwood tree. What I didn't consider is that the limb could possibly be released from it's pinned position by me cutting off the section that was several inches beyond where it was pinned. Since the remainder of the limb that was attached to the main tree trunk was still going to be pinned in place I didn't consider any risk of it springing free as it did. What must have happened is the sourwood tree it was pinned behind had a slight angle to it leaning in the direction of the end of the limb. The weight of the section of limb that I cut off must have been pulling downward enough on the limb that once it was cut free the loss of its weight allowed the part of the limb pinned behind the sourwood tree to slide upwards enough to come free from the sourwood tree since the tree was angled away from where the limb was attached to the tree. That upward movement was just enough to let the limb move those 3 or 4 inches so that that part of the branch that had been pinned behind the sourwood tree was now released and the limb could spring back to its normal position in space, which was several feet in front of the sourwood tree.

I'm a fairly cautious logger and try to think things through before I take action. I had never before encountered this exact situation I guess and I thought I had reasoned things out safely. The only risk I was thinking about was the risk of getting my chain bar pinched and my saw stuck in the tree limb. It never crossed my mind that the limb could come free from behind the sourwood tree when I was cutting it off beyond where it was pinned. Lesson learned.

 

[begreen]

Glad you are ok. One always has to expect the unexpected. Stay safe brother.

 

[mrd1995]

Thank you for sharing your experience, I am glad you are safe and able to share it.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

Thanks for sharing, it's always good to hear stories like this as I will try to file this away mentally to use if I ever encounter a similar situation. Nice description too.

 

[Sodbuster]

Thanks for the reminder about safety, it's good for all of us. I am in the process of clearing about 2-1/2 acres filled with Honey Locust. I cut a relatively small one, about 6" in diameter and when I did a branch about 3" in diameter cracked me right in the head. I always scan the canopy, but missed this one obviously. Fortunately, I was wearing my cutting helmet, but it shoved the sweat band down over my eyes, other than that I was fine. Friend gives me crap about wearing one, and wears no eye or ear protection when he cuts :/ . That's the third time that helmet has saved my noodle. I'm sure my friend will have hearing aids by the time he's 50 and one glass eye.

 

[Nick Mystic]

Thanks for the feedback BIGChrisNH. That's the reason I made the post, so others might recall reading about my incident if they ever encounter something similar. All of my years logging and this was the first time I ever encountered such a situation. Had I read about a similar account I would have known to stand clear of the area where the limb could shoot out instead of just getting lucky and standing in the clear by chance alone. I knew the limb was under tension and I could even predict where the limb would move to at a high rate of speed if the tension was suddenly released. Where I made my mistake was thinking that the limb would not be set free by my cutting it beyond the point where it was pinned. As far as I thought it through the limb would remain pinned in place since it was still going to be up against the tree it was wedged up against. I never anticipated that it could find a way to get free of the tree holding it in place by my cutting part of it away beyond its point of contact with the restraining tree.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yikes! Glad you were able to "live and learn."
I've gotten lucky more than once. Time to quit relying on luck or I might find out when exactly when it is that my luck is due to run out. Time to start wearing the helmet, too. I try to have a spotter there when I'm cutting one where I think limbs might fall, but you can't be too safe..gotta pull out all the stops when it comes to safety.

 

[kennyp2339]

When cutting, nothing is routine. While not even the closest thing to a pro cutter or even a good ameture, I've learned a thing or two from watching our forestry guys at work clear fallen tree's or limbs during storms, the most valuable tool they have besides there brains is a stick saw, I had to buy a new weed whacker last year so I bought the stihl multi one, with the stick saw and extended rods, its been a savor when trying to clear something that has pressure on it.

 

[xman23]

I know how we get focused on the forces that create the pinch. We tend to not fully understand how the weight change might change everything. I'm careful and believe I see all the issues. But I had a similar weight change that caused the complete tree to rotate. It's been a while, but I recall sitting for a a 1/2 an hour trying to figure out why I didn't know this was going to happen. Hopefully we use what we learned.

 

[Ashful]

Been quite awhile since we've seen Nick Mystic, who used to be such a regular here. Hopefully he hasn't stopped dodging bullets!

 

[begreen]

You can not be too cautious. An early mod here, Gooserider, and a seasoned woodcutter had a tree turn on him and the results were bad. They left him paralyzed from the waist down. Be careful out there folks.

Where is Gooserider?

I am Gooserider's long-time girlfriend. He has had an accident involving a piece of tree falling on him. It has broken his leg just below the knee and broken some ribs, which tore his aorta and may have slightly punctured a lung. So, he is in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Lahey Clinic...

www.hearth.com

 

[Nick Mystic]

I'm still alive and kicking! I'm getting ready to start a bit of logging with cooler weather arriving. About a month ago I had an unusual occurrence when a large oak tree out behind my shop snapped off about three feet up the trunk and fell, taking out two large pine trees before getting wedged at a 45 degree angle by two other oak trees. One of the pine trees (about 16" in diameter and 80 feet tall) also got hung up at a 45 degree angle with its top hung up in yet another large oak tree! To complicate matters even further hanging above the pine tree were two large portions of the original oak tree that broke free and they were 20 feet in the air right above the widow maker pine.

All of this occured on a clear, sunny, wind free day! The oak tree revealed insect damage at its base that extended 20 feet up its trunk.
Then two days later I heard another crash in the woods and when I went to check it out I was surprised to see that the large oak tree that was hung up at a 45 degree angle on two other oak trees had apparently exerted so much force against the bigger of the two trees (16" in diameter) that is snapped the healthy tree in two about ten feet up from the ground and in the process fell to the ground taking out the second smaller oak tree with it. I'm now left with four trees on the ground and the large pine tree still hung up as a widows maker. Unfortunately, one of the huge pieces of the original oak tree is still suspended about ten feet in the air above the pine tree, so need to get that to the ground before I can start cutting on the pine tree in attempt to bring it to the ground. The oak tree it is pushing against is on a slope leaning towards another few trees and if it gives way and falls it could start a domino effect bringing down some trees that could hit the house.

 

[Nealm66]

Yuck!

 

[MEngineer24]

Glad you’re okay OP! Thanks for the story as a reminder for us all to keep our head on a swivel.

 

[Ashful]

Glad to see you again, Nick! Don't be such a stranger.

There's no shame in using a pole saw to make those cuts under tension. The ability to stand ten feet away sometimes makes all the difference. I got a lot of practice with that after Sandy blew thru here in 2012.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I had a successful morning tackling that widowmaker. I spent about 2 1/2 hours carefully working from the outside nibbling away at the limbs that were pinned under another tree that had fallen. I was able to get a strap around one suspended limb and pull it free so that it fell to the ground. Then my approach of cutting away the pinned limbs eventually succeeded and the biggest limb still suspended also fell down.

I got very lucky with the huge pine tree that was hung up at a 45 degree angle in a big oak tree that was leaning down a slope toward the house. The roots of the pine tree were still in the ground and it had snapped just above the ground level, but was still attached to the stump. When I started cutting on the splintered wood from the top of the trunk could tell right away the tree wanted to barber chair. However, I was cutting so near to the ground level that I was able to stay clear of the snapping wood as I cut through it. As soon as I cut through it the tree fell free from the stump and dislodged from the oak tree and fell straight down without hitting any other trees.

When I did a close inspection of the leaning oak tree it had been pushing against I notices some stress cracks that run verticle about 18" and have opened the bark up around 1/8" - 3/16". Do you think I should attempt to fill these cracks with caulk or something similar to prevent insects and water from gaining entry?

 

[Nealm66]

You could try pruning tar but is this the tree that could potentially hit the house?

 

[Nealm66]

Glad to hear you were successful letting off the pressure and that it fell free. That didn’t sound good

 

[Nick Mystic]

You could try pruning tar but is this the tree that could potentially hit the house?

This tree is too far back in the woods to hit our house if it fell. However, it is on a slope behind our house, my shop, and a storage building. If it were to fall in the direction it is leaning there are several other oak trees it would likely impact on its way down and either get hung up, or start a domino effect bringing those trees down, as well. It's hard to predict. We're talking about oak trees all 75 years old or more from the growth rings I've counted on similar size trees in the same area. At any rate there is nothing I can do since there is only one direction the tree can fall since it has such a pronounced lean to it. Fortunately, it looks healthy and has been standing on this same slope for nearly a century!

 

[Nealm66]

Well I don’t see a reason trying to seal it up would hurt anything. I’d probably use an arousal tar on the inside you can’t reach and the outside with a can of the thick stuff and maybe run a hose of water to it a few years during the dry

 

[Nealm66]

You might tie it back with something you can gradually relieve the support as well if its worth the trouble

 

[EbS-P]

Just watched this last night. Fast forward to 51:40 if just want so see what happens. In general I like his content.

 

[MEngineer24]

Just watched this last night. Fast forward to 51:40 if just want so see what happens. In general I like his content.

Wow! Id have been changing my pants.

 

[Nealm66]

He looks pretty green to me, like maybe a few years but could just be the lack of old growth logging since they shut the federal down with the owl. I bucked for about 5 years behind a bunch of different fallers before I started single jacking occasionally double jacking if the ground allowed it. It helped a lot being around the old timers and all they’re knowledge and grumpiness. I didn’t watch the whole thing but the first tree he cut you can see his chain trying to run on the back cut which tells me he’s trying to run 3/8’s instead of 404. I watched him miss 2 shots and sawing his low corner after his top was finished, a few other things that made my stomach hurt and couldn’t watch anymore

 

[EbS-P]

He looks pretty green to me, like maybe a few years but could just be the lack of old growth logging since they shut the federal down with the owl. I bucked for about 5 years behind a bunch of different fallers before I started single jacking occasionally double jacking if the ground allowed it. It helped a lot being around the old timers and all they’re knowledge and grumpiness. I didn’t watch the whole thing but the first tree he cut you can see his chain trying to run on the back cut which tells me he’s trying to run 3/8’s instead of 404. I watched him miss 2 shots and sawing his low corner after his top was finished, a few other things that made my stomach hurt and couldn’t watch anymore

I appreciate the expert/informed opinion. He’s up in BC. The scenery he cuts in is spectacular. I never got the sense he was an expert faller. seemed too excited to measure the the diameter of the stump and not much in including the audience in how he approaches on the job safety, but that may not be what the YouTube algorithm wants.