Tractor Safety

[Harv]

To add to the list of dangers when dealing with the woods, have any of you encountered trees that fall up? If you have ever seen this happen you immediately know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, well, read on --

For many years our family spent the entire summer (6 or 7 weeks) at our cabin at a place called Kirkwood Lake off of highway 88 in the Sierras, about 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe. This area has some of the deepest snowfall in the country (30 feet or more) which produces some interesting problems, like pushing cabins off their foundations (I hated that one) and sometimes making trees quite top-heavy.

So, one summer when I was about 10, a large pine tree (3-1/2 ft diameter) was discovered to have fallen across the main lake trail. An otherwise healthy tree, it was apparantly the weight of the snow combined with heavy winds that brought it down in one piece. The roots were still attached, but the tree itself was laying flat on the ground.

Attracted to the sound of chain saws as I was, I came running to watch them limb and cut the tree into sections. The man running the saw was someone I knew, so I made myself comfortable sitting on the lower section of the tree a safe distance from where he was cutting. After he lopped off a couple of 10-foots sections I got off and walked around to what had been the top of the tree so I could count the rings (and get sap all over myself). I then watched from that vantage point while he cut off the next 10-foot section. As soon as he finished that cut, we were both shocked and stunned when the remaining 20 feet of the tree shot straight up into the air, back to its original vertical position.

We both stood dead silent with our mouths hanging open for several minutes as we looked first at the tree and then at each other and then back to the tree. I saw the color drain from his face (mine too, I suppose) as we slowly realized that if I had remained seated on that tree I would have been quite literally launched into the next county.

Not sure what the lesson here is -- just one more reason to expect the unexpected and try to think things through when dealing with trees, even after they have fallen.

 

[gordon]

Well it sure sounds like you learned a valuable lesson and the good thing was nothing was damaged other than a dent in the old ego.

After spending alot time in the woods I have done quite a few things that weren't so high on the smart scale. The woods as pretty as they are can come out and bite you quicker than a junk yard dog. You must always be aware of the surroundings both at ground level and what is in the crowns above. Keep a constant eye on your load if your skidding and also forward in a sweeping motion. Listen to your tractor it does talk to you if you listen. For engine strain and why, any creaking and why, tires spinning and why, front tires raising and why. The and why's are the things that are about to ruin a productive day. Another thing to watch out for is limbs and stumps that jump out of nowhere. I can vouch for that more than one time a stump wasn't there a minute ago then there it was---must keep an eye on everything everywhere around you every second.

Your new so I will bore you with my famous rule it's the ten ten rule meaning. I start the day with ten fingers and ten toes and I'm darn sure going to end the day with the same amount!!! If you have been pushing brush more than likely you have been using a chain saw so take this rule to heart. Remember this think safe be safe might sound like crap but it's how I've lived this long. Another thing if it feels unsafe it more than likely is so stop what your doing and regroup.

I do alot of work in the woods and have added quite a few safety items that also help me be more productive---less things to worry about. I've added a skid plate under the tractor, a mesh front tube steel heavy duty grille guard, brush bars going up to the top of my cab, wire mesh over the windows and pipe welded over the valve stems. Each one of the items above was added after a small problem happened---Live and Learn.
Bottom line go slow and keep on your toes!!!
Gordon

 

[Bird]

Harv, I can just picture you sitting on that catapult./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif If you'd stayed on it, that would have been quite a sight to see.

I guess most of us remember our "near misses" pretty well. Several years ago my dad wanted a limb cut off that was out over his driveway, so I got his 28' extension ladder and put it up against that limb with the top of the ladder sticking about 2' above the limb, climbed up, and cut it off with my chain saw. Limb was heavier than I thought, when it fell off, the tree straightened up and only the very tip of my ladder was still against the stump of that limb. Just a few more inches and I'd have come down with that limb.

But of course, I also never forgot the dumbest stunt I ever pulled with a tractor, and my only excuse was that I was 13 or 14 years old and stupid. We were going to have a big bonfire/weiner roast at our place for the kids in our church and I was home alone using the little old '38 two cylinder John Deere to pull little dead trees, logs, etc. in place for the bonfire. There was a big old oak still standing that had been dead for at least a couple of years, about 2' diameter, and I figured that would really be good for the bonfire if I could pull it down. I had a good heavy log chain, but the little tractor would just spin its wheels. So I decided that if I got a good run at it . .. I backed right up against the tree, put it in high gear, and took off. Now of course, if you killed the engine you had to get off and go around front to crank it, so I had my foot on the clutch to hit the clutch as soon as I hit the end of the chain. And I did. Only a very dumb kid would try to pull down a 70' tree with a 30' chain. It came right down by my left wheel; 2' to the right and you'd have never heard of me./w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif And all I could do was sit there, look at that tree, and hope dad didn't ask how I got it down.

Bird

 

[Jag]

Yes, just bumping a tree with a dead limb can case it to fall. Most timber cutters will not touch a dead tree at all even if it is in their way. The will just go way around it, reason is you can never tell how it will break up and come down. The huge hydro-saw (40,000 lbs) that the timber people had out cutting timber on my place had the cab frame noticably bent where a new man used it to cut a dead tree and dropped a large limb. I was impressed just seeing the bent.

 

[scruffy]

Bird, you had me laughing hard with that tale of pulling the dead tree down with the JD. My two brothers and I used to use an old 39 IH P/U my Dad had for pulling old fir and cedar stumps. I did the same thing, backed up to the stump and let fly, boy when it it the end of the cable, the rear end went up in the air, I hit the steering wheel, and the frame got bent about three feet behind the cab. Sure had my Dad puzzled as to how that frame got bent! None of us were going to own up to anything on that one! My Dad wouldn't give it to the next to oldest brother so he could make a dune buggy out of it, until he dropped two cedars across the bed...lowering it approximately a foot and a half. Dad gave up, and in, and the brother got his dune buggy.
Oh yeah, we finally had to use the old CleTrac to get that stump out.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by scruffy on 10/17/00 00:12 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[TomG]

There were some lengthy discussions on tractor logging here and CTB as well. A hung tree is a very dangerous thing to work with. It would be a very good idea to read the archives.

To illustrate, A good sized tree may weigh more than the tractor. The tractor is chained to it, and on a hill, the tractor goes where the log does. A guy said he saw a log going down hill at good speed, and towing a skider behind it. Another comment was seeing the but-end of a hung tree come up more than 20' off the ground when the tree finally fell. You don't want to have a small tractor chained to a tree when it finally falls. The but-ends come up hard and also can come back at you. One guy said these things are so dangerous that he simply marks off an area with warning tape and considers the tree as next year's firewood. He said 'Let the wind do the work.' Again, the archives on this subject would be a very good thing to read.

 

[Bird]

Scruffy, you mean I wasn't the only dumb kid running loose on the farm?/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif You ever wonder how we survived to adulthood?

Bird

 

[Bradey]

Awhile back we would occasionally make firewood out of dead elms. These trees were upright but most the bark was stripped away. Besides the downside that a long dead tree provides little fuel, these trees can break halfway up during the fall, with the top actually falling the opposite direction as the trunk. I'd be especially wary of hung up trees of this nature, since some energy is stored up in the branches of the tree it's leaning against. I would avoid using chainsaw altogether on these fragile stems. As has been stated use caution and a long enough chain/rope to stay out of reach. Better yet let them come down on their own, if you can afford the risk of letting them fall where they may whenever they want.

 

[scruffy]

Bird, all I can say Sir is: NOPE!!! Yes it is a wonder we survived childhood! I can think of many 'dumb' things I done as a child, wouldn't dream of it now-a-days. I raised my older four with the admonition of: "If you do half the things I did as a kid, I'll whup the daylights out of you myself!" The little one (12) is so mouthy (chatterbox) I can't get a word in edgewise, and if I could, all the "T's and I's" must be crossed and dotted, as he's been busy finding loopholes since he was less than 18 months! Kid's smart, but boy is he exasperating!

 

[dmccarty]

I'm cleaning up lots of trees downed by hurricane Fran and Floyd. I have had several trees fall up after cutting off enough weight from the top of the tree. The nice thing about some of these trees is that they are at hip height so they are easy to cut up with the chainsaw. I can tell that a particular tree is going to fall up since I'm cutting off a small junk at a time so I don't get suprises since it will sorta shudder as the firewood comes off. Taking off 10 foot logs would make it a suprise event.

While the big trees are dangerous, as other people have illustrated, so are small saplings and tree tops. A sapling that is bent over and cut off at ground level is going to wack the heck out of someone if they are in the wrong place.

I had a four inch pine tree that had been downed by heavy snow and was all but on the ground. We had 24 inches last year in one set of storms. Unreal in NC. The tree had a slight bend in the trunk. I was a worried about the tree so I was a bit carefull. When I cut the tree from the stump the tree jumped straight back about two feet. Anyone standing there would have been in for a big ouch if not a broken bone.

I had another downed tree that had been slightly bent around another tree by a skidder. The bent tree's top was buried and held in place by other timber. I was looking and thinking before I cut and noticed the bend in the trunk. It was not much of a bend and if you were not paying attention it was easily missed. I did step over the trunk to get to the other side to make my cut 'cause I figured this thing was going to move when the tension was removed. Sure enough that trunk slamed shut like a log door. There was a 12 inch trunk moving a couple of feet inches of the ground. If I had not noticed and cut from the other side it would have taken my feet out from under me. I'm sure I would have had broken bones.

Cutting up trees is a think'n man's game.... Or a hurt one.

Later....
Dan McCarty