Widow-maker trees!

[Halifax]

Just got off the phone with my brother. He was cutting wood by himself saturday. He was bringing down a 100 ft tall poplar that was dead.
He said that it fell into another tree, that broke off several of the dead limbs, that came flying back at him. He said that he saw a 10' x 3" branch flying at him and side stepped it, he said that he didn't see the one that hit him.
He was struck on the face at his left eye. His eyelid was torn loose and glasses smashed. He couldn't see out of his left eye. He found one of his lenses and held it and a rag up to his face, while he drove himself to the landowner's house.
The landowner is a Dr, so she did some preliminary assessment, then they took him to the emergency room.
The left eye was scratched, but the vision loss was attributed to blood clouding the fluids, blocking light.
The retina is OK and Dr said that vision should return in a few days.


At that same time, 70 miles west, I had a 100 ft dead locust get 'hung up'. It's refusing to fall. I tried to pull it down with the PU. I was not alone, but we couldn't get it down. The vines have it stuck! It's still hanging. I know that if I try to cut the tree it's stuck on, it will splinter and try to kill me, then the big one will fall where I would be working..
I'm going to get the biggest, nastyest chain 'come-along' I can find today and pull the base till it comes down. I managed to get it off the stump, but it won't fall.
I told Jack that if we get nothing else done today, that tree was going to hit the ground.
The tree is located 100 ft up a hill, so the only vehicle we can get near it is a 4 wheeler. We were using 100Ft wire rope hooked to the pickup to tug it.
The chain come-along is supposed to be here in 1/2 hour.
WATCH yourself!! Try to take someone with you when you cut! Trees are dangerous!

 

[powerpace]

When I was with the Fire Department I responded to felling accidents every year. Most were slaps by branches but a couple were fatal. Homeowners cutting old Oaks always came out badly.

I have been hit by limbs and slapped by limbs when cutting under tension. I ALWAYS wear head and face protection when cutting.

 

[MadJack]

This is exactly why you cut a falling lane for big trees and learn to use the 'sights' on the saw to aim a tree! A good helmet with ear and eye protection is a MUST, as well as seeing your tree all the way to the ground.

I hope your brother will be OK.

 

[SensibleNick]

Both my brother and a close friend are licensed tree surgeons. One in the UK and one in Sweden... and they amount of training they have had to go through to get certified is stunning - and I've heard a LOT of horror stories.

Another one to look out for is a "barber-chair" scanario, one that is leaning hard before you start to cut, and splits up the grain of the wood the moment you relieve the strain in the back-cut. My brother has a colleague who's helmet was taken off his head by one, and has also lost a colleague to one: his head was flicked off his shoulders in a fraction of a second.

Here's a video of a SLOW barber-chair....
Know your safety zones, and plan your escape routes, and if in doubt, drop the saw and run.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YAf61zz5VU]Falling a tree gone wrong (Barber chair) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[deezler]

^ Yikes, that looks terrifying. Never seen that happen in person. I am getting set to cut my way into my new parcel of overgrown land and appreciate the warnings of safety. Thankfully most of my trees I need to cut are only 30-40 feet tall, max. Going to start by removing all the underbrush so that we have room to work safely and a clear fall lane for each tree that's coming out.

 

[SensibleNick]

^ Yikes, that looks terrifying. Never seen that happen in person. I am getting set to cut my way into my new parcel of overgrown land and appreciate the warnings of safety. Thankfully most of my trees I need to cut are only 30-40 feet tall, max. Going to start by removing all the underbrush so that we have room to work safely and a clear fall lane for each tree that's coming out.

Clear two escape routes too... and Never stand behind the tree you're felling. It's also worth doing a search for "tree felling basics"

 

[ncnurseryman]

My Ethiopia helmet has surely paid for itself more than once. I never cut without it.

 

[ncnurseryman]

Ethiopia????, I hate text correction on the phone. I meant the sthil helmet. Sigh.

 

[SensibleNick]

Ethiopia????, I hate text correction on the phone. I meant the sthil helmet. Sigh.

LMAO.

Are you familiar with this website? Damn You Auto Correct! - Funny iPhone Fails and Autocorrect Horror Stories

 

[MasseyWV]

I once had a tree I was cutting get tangled in some kudzu vines that prevented it from falling so I used my shotgun to shoot the vines. It was an easy and relatively fun way to solve a most perplexing problem.

 

[psdx]

The OP created 5 new threads in 12 hours. Those are the only posts. It doesn't seem plausible that the posts are real. ...buying a house and need to move a tree, getting a come-along in 30 minutes to pull down the tree in this thread and it's 11:28pm when it's posted, rebuilt a manure spreader. Doesn't this look like SPAM?

 

[deezler]

Hmm, that is certainly curious, however, none of the posts really smell like spam. Perhaps the OP can explain for us.

 

[ncnurseryman]

that website is reallyh funny:laughing:

 

[turnkey4099]

Both my brother and a close friend are licensed tree surgeons. One in the UK and one in Sweden... and they amount of training they have had to go through to get certified is stunning - and I've heard a LOT of horror stories.

Another one to look out for is a "barber-chair" scanario, one that is leaning hard before you start to cut, and splits up the grain of the wood the moment you relieve the strain in the back-cut. My brother has a colleague who's helmet was taken off his head by one, and has also lost a colleague to one: his head was flicked off his shoulders in a fraction of a second.

Here's a video of a SLOW barber-chair....
Know your safety zones, and plan your escape routes, and if in doubt, drop the saw and run.

Falling a tree gone wrong (Barber chair) - YouTube

That is one excellent example but most aren't that slow. I have had two happen to me in over 30 years of 'wooding', both Willow, both only ran up about 15 ft and the tops stayed on. The experts recommend bore cutting to avoid that.

Harry K

 

[KYboy]

Halifax, I had the same thing happen to me that happened to your brother. I was cutting down a 25' black locust sapling down in a fence row that was about a couple of feet away from about a 70' tall black walnut. I notched the locust to fall back out into the field, but when the locust started to fall some of the top branches of the locust became entangled with some of the dead limbs of the walnut. The next thing that I saw was the butt end of a 3" dead walnut limb swinging though the air like it was on a pendulum. Although I had plenty of maneuvering room, I couldn't get out of the way of it. It just happened to fast for me to react. Needless to say, it hit me dead-on in my left eye.

Unfortunately, I did not have on any safety glasses. Prior to cutting down the locust I actually looked for them, as I have gotten more safety conscious over the years, but I could not find them. I thought to myself it was only one small 4" diameter tree and I have cut down hundreds without safety glasses in my life. Also, I thought that it wouldn't take but a minute, so I proceeded to go ahead and cut it down. Well, that one minute has turned into seven years of numerous eye operations. The first operation was to fix a detached retina and torn macula and the last operation, which was last April, was to remove cataracts that developed from previous operations. I can see out of this eye, but my vision isn't great.

All I have to say is that it only takes a second for an accident to happen, but the rest of your life to regret your decision. Can you plan for every eventuality, No!, but can you usually spend a little more time to think your decision though, Yes!

Safety First!

 

[SensibleNick]

That is one excellent example but most aren't that slow. I have had two happen to me in over 30 years of 'wooding', both Willow, both only ran up about 15 ft and the tops stayed on. The experts recommend bore cutting to avoid that.

Harry K

It's the only example I know of on youtube... rather glad there aren't more to be honest.

borecuts: - Indeed they do recommend them ... but I'd rank deep nose-cuts as a little too advanced for beginner chainsaw work.

 

[Pete Judd]

We have a lot of problems with "barber-chair" here when cutting western red alder that is leaning, will do it every time on the back cut. I will wrap and secure a chain a foot or two above the cut before doing the back cut, but also make sure that I have an escape route. Some get very scary.

 

[bcp]

Here's one:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9j6GpNJZ_c]Tree Cutting Accident - OH GOD! OH CRAP! - YouTube[/ame]

Bruce

 

[s219]

Just got off the phone with my brother. He was cutting wood by himself saturday. He was bringing down a 100 ft tall poplar that was dead.
He said that it fell into another tree, that broke off several of the dead limbs, that came flying back at him. He said that he saw a 10' x 3" branch flying at him and side stepped it, he said that he didn't see the one that hit him

This is a classic example of what's called "throwback". What happens is that the other trees bend back and load up like a catapult, and then launch broken limbs back at you. That's one reason you should always be looking up and retreat at an off angle. But step 1 is to not knowingly fell a tree into other trees. You really need to clear a lane first, or use ropes and pulley blocks to dictate the exact direction of fall.

 

[s219]

If you need to cut a leaning or loaded tree and want to avoid a barber-chair scenario, lookup and practice the "Coos Bay" cut. It will allow you to get the trees down without any drama.