Stupid Human Tricks Pt 2

[Anonymous Poster]

I've always felt that one can learn from another's mistakes, so that is why I'm not shy about relaying my idiotic tractor exploits.

Today was no exception. Was cutting some fir trees down, as usual in the woods sometimes they can hang on another tree. I'm not a professional so I have to then go get the tractor and chain drag the bottom of the tree away from the stump so it will fall.

Was only able to pull it for a limited distance due to other trees, ground problems etc. I had the forks on the bucket as I was planning on cutting the tree in to 8 foot lengths and piling elsewhere. Decided to put the forks under the leaning tree and lift gently (just so it would drag going forward). Everything fine, just a few inches off the ground, was able to drive forward helping to free the top of the tree so it could fall.

Hadn't been able to see (dedicated forks are better than on bucket!) don't know if it would have donned on me or not (will next time!). The tree had gone under the right fork and was on top of only the left.

As the tree fell, the leverage on the forks was tremendous and pulled the right side of the tractor off the ground until the treetop hit the ground. I put the forks down and the tractor gently went back to four feet on the ground.

I don't mind hearing screaming, as long as it's not coming out of MY mouth! /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif I then of course nonchalantly looked around to see if anyone saw or heard me. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

Moral of the story...6000 lb tractor no match for tree, leverage, and goofball operator!

del

 

[GlueGuy]

<font color=blue>I then of course nonchalantly looked around to see if anyone saw or heard me.</font color=blue>

We had a cat that used to do that all the time. Then when he saw you were looking (and maybe laughing/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif). He would give you that look that said "I meant to do that!"

<font color=blue>6000 lb tractor no match for tree, leverage, and goofball operator!</font color=blue>

Lesson learned! Even though I'm about 3000 pounds short of that mark! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The GlueGuy

 

[Harv]

Del -

I don't know whether to be comforted by the fact that I'm not alone in my inadvertent tractor stunts, or to be distraught that even experienced operators can have lapses. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

I'm glad everything turned out okay (specifically, right-side-up), and I can certainly relate to what you just experienced. I have a natural dead leaner on my property that I've been a little afraid to tackle so far. It's hung up rather solidly in the 'Y' of a larger tree, so I'm not worried about it coming down on its own, but the experienced folk on this board (I actually thought you were one of them) have cautioned about the dangers of bringing down such a critter.

I, for one, am glad you're willing to share such experiences. I am now armed with one more piece of knowledge of how not to do things. (I hope that doesn't sound disrespectful 'cuz I am truly thankful for that knowledge.) /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[AndyR]

Yowsah! Yeah, gravity has an unfortunate tendency to be quite persistant. Your cottonwood doesn't sound like much fun either.

Keep Safe!

Andy in NH

 

[Jag]

Harv, two other things you need to look up for when you are working in timber... I have my tractor in thick trees often doing one thing or another... Watch for large dead limbs on a tree that is just waiting to fall when you bump the tree. This is very true when backing up in tight places. I have dropped several big limbs this way... The other is a dead tree hanging up in the air. I have a 20 foot long 12 inch diameter part of tree that is hanging about 20 feet up in two other trees beside one of the forrest tractor trails I use.

 

[Harv]

Good post, Del! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I'm saving that one for future reference.

That part about chaining to the bottom of a leaner and pulling with the tractor -- didn't somebody post a caution about that? Something about if the falling tree flips, bounces, rolls, etc., it could take you and your tractor with it?

<font color=blue>Watch for large dead limbs on a tree</font color=blue>

Excellent point, Jag! I've got widow-makers galore in my back forest, and I never thought about the dead branches that are just waiting to snap off. Accidentally bump a tree with my tractor? Nah... it could never happen. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[dmccarty]

Harv,

I had a contractor on my property last year a couple of times to bid on land clearing, driveway building, house site clearing, etc. I really liked the guy and he was highly recommended by several people but I never could get him to do the work for some reason...

Anyway, he almost go killed a few years ago when a widow maker branch fell on him. He was in the hospital for a couple of weeks....

I had another contractor bidding on the same jobs come out last fall. Same day the JD arrived as a matter of fact. I took him into the house lot and were standing in the septic field to be and I noticed that he was standing under a leaning tree that was about 15 feet above his head. The tree was leaning in from my neighbors lot and had been blown down in a big thunderstorm that had moved through a few weeks back. I got him to move.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Some of my widow makers have been blown down in storms. Which is good. They get replaced with new ones unfortunately. Which is not good. I have lots of standing dead trees, leaning trees, bent trees, and oak tops that have to be cleaned up from storms and logging. Those leaning and bent trees scare the heck out of me. Some of the ones I have had to cut down where real, real, bad. I had one bent tree that when it finally fell off the stump it snapped to the side to fall down. That trunk moved so fast that if I had been in the way I only would have had time to say OH SH. I would not have finished the four letter word! /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I don't think it would have killed me but I would have busted a bunch of ribs. I had thought about what the tree might do and thought some more before cutting it down. If I had not been thinking or thought wrong it could easily have gotten me.

I guess all this rambling is to drive home how dangerous dropping trees can be. And has Del pointed out, what I have always heard, is that most of the accidents happen when the tree is on the ground. I wear chain saw paints, helmet with ear and face protect, and steel toe boots when I'm working with the chainsaw. I paid 175 dollars for the boots which is a lot of money. BUT they are excelent quality boots that will last a few decades and they had two VERY important safety features. One is the steel toe. But the steel in this toe covered much of the lower foot. Far more than the cheaper boots. The other safety feature is that it did NOT have the quick lace eyelets. Those quick lace eyelets are great for getting snagged in brush. When you are cutting up the top of a tree with branches on the ground, footing is bad enough without your boots adding to the problem.

I won't get my tractor near a tree I'm cutting down. I keep it far, far away! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

When I cut a tree down I plan a couple of escape routes. I clear out those escape routes if they look bad. Not only do I plan on WHERE I can run but where I can THROW the chainsaw BEFORE I start running! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I refuse to run with a chainsaw. Knife maybe. Chainsaw noway! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Enough rambling from me. This is my third 11 hour day in a row so I'm sure I'm rambling.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Be careful in them thar woods!

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[Anonymous Poster]

dmmccarty

Right on with that post, I was going to mention the throwing the chainsaw bit, but thought too many would think I was a wimp. I've done it a number of times when I thought I wouldn't have time to get it turned off safely. When I am cutting anything I keep the tractor away too, unless it is a small tree that really couldn't hurt the tractor if it hit it, and that's just if the tractor is "helping" make sure the tree goes where it should. My tree guy has told me lots of stories of people dropping trees on their truck, house etc. I tell him I like to cut trees at least twice the distance of their height away from anything I care about. Then I can do a precise fall plan, and when the tree goes 180 degrees the wrong way I can say..."Hmm, it's going that way...JUST as I planned!"

My tree guy does all kinds of weird things where he cuts the tree funny, I've seen him take a LEANING tree and make it fall a different direction, the tree actually twists and rights itself, then falls!

As I've posted before when I first got my Ford NH I was working in the woods and although I thought all the dead ones had been brought down there was one that you couldn't tell was dead (dense canopy). No signs on the trunk, (holes, unhealed wounds, fungus etc), backed into it and a BIG chunk of the top THUMPED down beside me. Needless to say I had a STRONG four post roof put on the tractor that puts the Kubota one on my L35 to shame. Probably does the CG no good on the Ford but if I ever hear a meteor is coming that's where I'll be, under the FOPS on my FordNH!

del

 

[TraderMark]

It's not just felling the trees guys......
I've said before about all the oak saplings I"m trying to clear...... well, there are vines GALORE around here... some with thorns, some without but the tree canopy is covered in many places with vines. The largest one I've measured was just under 4 inches in diameter at chest height and stretched for almost 100 feet when I drug it down.
Anyway.... I was looking back, speared a tree with the Brush Brute on the back of the tractor and when I started forward again, one of those vines about as thick as my finger got looped around my neck. I thought there was going to be a hanging before I could get my foot on the clutch and get that vine from around me. It all happened so quickly..... and the thing that amazed me was..... I was in second range, second gear at about 1000rpms so the tractor was hardly moving.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Republicans, Democrats, Tax Cuts, World Hunger, Nuclear Waste..

None of matters against VINES! The entire county should stop and join together to eradicate blackberry vines, I've had them on my face too!

Yikes

del

 

[GlueGuy]

Re: Stupid Human Tricks: with a chainsaw

A fellow that was up here doing some work for us told us about a guy he worked with (this may be a rural legend /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif) that was using a chainsaw working overhead in a tree. The chainsaw apparently backlashed, and because he was in an awkard position, it came back & hit him across the neck. Didn't cut his head off, but the effect was the same.

The GlueGuy

 

[richfromPA]

Re: Stupid Human Tricks: with a chainsaw

hey all,
my chainsaw story was when i was 17 and me and my crazy farmboy buddy used to sell fire wood. we were cutting and i heard him hollar over to me. i went over and he said " i think i cut my leg" well then i looked in the rip on the knee of his pants and saw what appeared to be a gutted deer. i told him to sit down and i ran 2 miles to get his dad cause all we had in the woods was his tractor. we got him to the hospital and he was gettin stiched up when the female doctor came out and said " yer buddy wants some company" i went in as they were cutting small hunks of meat out of the ragged wound and he was gigling and reachin to grab the female doctors butt every time she turned around. i almost passed out and she told me to go out and sit down. this boy is amune to pain and aint afraid of nuttin. our other friend accidently shot him with an arrow that missed his heart by an inch and he said "what the hell did you do that for Dunbar", years later he survived 3 buckshot wounds. ill never forget the chainsaw cut and i have never got bit yet. he ended up with 47 stiches and of course busted them open when 3 of us were wrestling on top of 8 foot high fodder piles. anyway i just realized i was having flashbacks of the good ole days.
rich

 

[Thomas]

Re: Stupid Human Tricks: with a chainsaw

As lucky as your friend is he should play the state lotto or buy powerball tickets.
Wonder out of 9 lives how many he got left.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[AndyR]

Re: Stupid Human Tricks: with an axe

One of my Swiss ancestors swung an axe near a limb that was too low --- once.

Andy in NH