Dodged a bullet logging last week

[Nealm66]

We never gave it much thought when we were cutting old growth and never had time to make any videos during the hay days but I did make a video in the early 2000’s in the Tacoma water shed cutting an old growth patch. Made a couple vcr tapes. I’m not positive where it’s at. He obviously has cutting experience but not many around with much old growth experience. I really don’t miss it on that steep ground and don’t like thinking back about it if I’m honest

 

[Riff]

Tree tension is a crazy thing. Release the tension on a trunk that was stuck between multiple other trees and watched the trunk swing a good 3-4 feet in the opposite direction. The firefighter who was spotting for me had some really wide eyes and couldn't stop commenting on how that would have been a one way trip to the ER for anyone standing in it's way.
Either way, glad to hear you're safe. As others have noted, a pole saw might be a good tool to keep in the arsenal for dealing with situations like that. They are damned handy tools and well worth the cost compared to a trip to the hospital.

 

[gzecc]

Unfortunately you never know which way the accidents will come from. Last week I was preparing to take a tree down. Parked my Deere 430 garden tractor on a slight uphill from me. I was 20 feet to its rear. It rolled back and hit me in the back. My back was turned and of course I had ear plugs in. I was hit, pushed back and able to hop on.
You never know. I wasn't hurt.

 

[Ashful]

Unfortunately you never know which way the accidents will come from. Last week I was preparing to take a tree down. Parked my Deere 430 garden tractor on a slight uphill from me. I was 20 feet to its rear. It rolled back and hit me in the back. My back was turned and of course I had ear plugs in. I was hit, pushed back and able to hop on.
You never know. I wasn't hurt.

Glad you're okay, but we should take a closer look at this sentiment.

1. With care, you can foresee and predict most accidents. Obviously not every scenario, but the vast majority of things that have injured acquaintances are things I would never leave to chance. Not that I'm perfect, I've done stupid things, and mostly been lucky.

2. Experience helps with foresight. The more you've seen, the more you will be able to predict potential danger. If you've ever worked with someone a generation younger than you, then I'm sure you've seen this, watching them do things that you might have been inexperienced enough to have done twenty years prior.

If I ever parked my tractor uphill of where I'm working, and it rolled on me, I'd be dead. Not only is it tipping the scales around 5000 lb., but it has a concrete-filled 1200 lb. square steel box on the back, and a very sharp hardened edge on a 400 lb. loader bucket on the front. Because I've seen tractors roll, I try to never work downhill of it, or to keep one eye on it when I have no other choice.

I also used to work on things (eg. bucking trees) held up by my loader bucket, until one day I saw how fast the thing can crash to the ground if a hose bursts. Not the slow bleed-down you'd expect, but the bucket and the 600 lb mower deck I had lifted with it came crashing down like they'd been dropped off the roof. I was lifting it in preparation to pressure wash, and admit I may have been dumb enough to get up close and do some scraping if it hadn't fallen first, a practice I haven't repeated in the ~5 years since that occurrence. The more you know...

 

[gzecc]

Mine is maybe 1200lbs. Still lucky I didn't get hurt. It hit me just right. Wasn't going very fast.

 

[Ashful]

Mine is maybe 1200lbs. Still lucky I didn't get hurt. It hit me just right. Wasn't going very fast.

Just enough you hope the neighbors didn't see it!

 

[Nealm66]

Lol

 

[ohlongarmisle]

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.

Glad you made it last June I had the same thing only the limb smacked my left side fracturing every free floating rib, a hit in the head might have been fatal.The doctors said the blunt force against my heart could have. Treework is dangerous. I no longer work in trees , $300 a day cash gave it up it was part time.

 

[gzecc]

Just enough you hope the neighbors didn't see it!

True, but my neighbors hire everything out. Doing the work has its risks. I actually saw a neighbor trip and fall getting tangled in the leaf blower cord. I pretended like I didn't see it.

 

[Toasty-Yote]

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.

Agree on your friend's glass eye, especially if he cuts honey locust...

 

[Ashful]

Hearing loss is one to which I'm sensitive, ever since failing one of those state-run in-school hearing tests around age 14. Between playing drums, performing live, several years-long stints into shooting sports, bagpipes, building hot rods and race cars, and now chainsaws and mowers, each decade of my life has come with new and very loud hobbies.

Thankfully my most serious damage was done at an age young enough where my hearing had a chance to (mostly) heal, that's not typically the case for adults. Tinitus is no fun, when you know it's going to be a permanent thing for the rest of your life.

One thing you can all do is get a reasonably-priced set of inner-ear monitors. I started wearing these back when I performed live with bands, but now they're used constantly for mowing, chainsawing, and other noisy chores. They allow you to block out the background noise while listening to your favorite podcast, audiobook, or music. I've re-"read" most of the greatest works of mankind while mowing my lawn, the last several years.

Even the cheap Shure SE215 PRO will knock down outside noise 5000x (37 dB), and have all the power you need to hear over a mower or chainsaw, for under $100. I will warn you their SE215 Bluetooth transmitter is a little under-powered, to the point where I have trouble hearing spoken word over the bigger chainsaws, but I'm also the guy who can never hear conversation in a crowded or noisy room. The plug-ins are better, if you don't mind feeding a cord down thru your shirt to plug into a phone/pod.

Also note, most earbuds are not really noise-blocking, and all the off-brand stuff tends to vastly over-state their noise blocking capability, I've tried more of these than most. Buy a brand like Shure (or any other pro musician brand), and you'll know the dB rating on the box is real, if not conservative.

 

[mark cline]

I like to start at the trunk of the tree to cut off any branches. For the reason you can stand behind the trunk and the limb will not have a huge arc to move when released. I always have 2 saws with me so if one gets pinched, you can cut with the other saw to release it. Every situation needs to be assessed and proceed slowly and methodically. Been cutting for over 45 years and have seen a lot of situations where the wrong cut can kill or cause serious injury. Cutting off the root ball is one of the last cuts you should make which gives you the most stability.

 

[Roundgunner]

Glad you're okay, but we should take a closer look at this sentiment.

1. With care, you can foresee and predict most accidents. Obviously not every scenario, but the vast majority of things that have injured acquaintances are things I would never leave to chance. Not that I'm perfect, I've done stupid things, and mostly been lucky.

2. Experience helps with foresight. The more you've seen, the more you will be able to predict potential danger. If you've ever worked with someone a generation younger than you, then I'm sure you've seen this, watching them do things that you might have been inexperienced enough to have done twenty years prior.

If I ever parked my tractor uphill of where I'm working, and it rolled on me, I'd be dead. Not only is it tipping the scales around 5000 lb., but it has a concrete-filled 1200 lb. square steel box on the back, and a very sharp hardened edge on a 400 lb. loader bucket on the front. Because I've seen tractors roll, I try to never work downhill of it, or to keep one eye on it when I have no other choice.

I also used to work on things (eg. bucking trees) held up by my loader bucket, until one day I saw how fast the thing can crash to the ground if a hose bursts. Not the slow bleed-down you'd expect, but the bucket and the 600 lb mower deck I had lifted with it came crashing down like they'd been dropped off the roof. I was lifting it in preparation to pressure wash, and admit I may have been dumb enough to get up close and do some scraping if it hadn't fallen first, a practice I haven't repeated in the ~5 years since that occurrence. The more you know...

Yep, at 64 I spend more time trying to see and anticipate things that could go wrong. once in a while stuff happens and I say "I sure didn't expect that!" Last week my 1987 Ford 6.9 IDI ran away (full throttle) while in my garage after trying to figure out a injection pump problem. I only had 6 injectors connected thank god! I got it slowed down with a towel over the intake but it took a while to get it shut down. Talk about thick grey black smoke! I never saw that coming.

 

[Nealm66]

Yikes!