Another Man Dies in Tractor Accident

[Dead Horse]

Specop,

There is a technique to felling, and you are doing it wrong. You obviously have a computer..google the technique if you have to.

Wedge and hinge............. makes all the difference in the world.


Man, it makes me wince reading your description of tree cutting........ Harry home maker special. THAT is how people get hurt cutting trees.

 

[Specop_007]

Specop,

There is a technique to felling, and you are doing it wrong. You obviously have a computer..google the technique if you have to.

Wedge and hinge............. makes all the difference in the world.


Man, it makes me wince reading your description of tree cutting........ Harry home maker special. THAT is how people get hurt cutting trees.

I know the technique, the caveat to my way is I dont touch a tree over about 15 feet or so. Those big arsed things? Forget that. NO chance I'm cutting it down.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Cutting the roots with the hoe and then using the loader to push them out can get dicey if they do not go over on the first pass before your front end drops into the hole you just made but it is not as much as a wild card as a tree off the stump. I have seen them do about very thing. The "spin" is about the worse in my mind.

The hinge approach is the way to go. Dad would never let me use the saw when I was home so when I bought my first saw (full size Echo) and read the book I realized he had did it wrong all of his life.

 

[fishpick]

Someone should outlaw trees and tractors... It would be safer.

 

[Dead Horse]

I know the technique, the caveat to my way is I dont touch a tree over about 15 feet or so. Those big arsed things? Forget that. NO chance I'm cutting it down.

Good, I don't want anyone here to get hurt for lack of knowledge.

I cut my own timber and I cut a lot of it. Safety is job one. You cannot be safe without knowing how to do it.

 

[Thomas]

What a shame.

Notch it than cut it..if need be wedges my practice.

Pushing while cutting or pushing tree over,one really doesn't have clue about the roots.

 

[patrick_g]

How to Fell a Tree Using a Chainsaw

How To Fell a Tree

How to Fell a Tree - wikiHow

How to Cut Down a Tree: Video Series | eHow Videos

There are many many other tutorials available. These are but a small sample.

USDA publishes instructions for felling a tree too (with pictures too.)

OSHA has a few words too.
More people are killed while felling trees than
during any other logging activity.
These accidents CAN be avoided!

http://www.dm.usda.gov/shmd/bulletin8.pdf

How to Recognize Hazardous Defects in Trees

There is a considerable difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is the lack of education or experience in a given area and can be cured by (among other things) instruction, observation, and or practice. Stupidity is NOT so easy to fix.

To choose to remain ignorant is an indication of a strong likelihood of stupidity. When are we the most dangerous? When we don't know that we don't know! A possible exception to this "most dangerous" comment is when we do in fact know that we don't know and CHOOSE to remain ignorant.

There is a wealth of available information on the RIGHT WAY to safely trim and fell trees and the safety equipment that makes it less life threatening. To purposely avoid finding out what is available, getting what is needed, and using it is about as smart as playing Russian roulette.

"But I always cross the street without looking either way and I haven't got run over yet!!!"

Temporary survival in the face of bad odds does not PROVE a method to be safe. Even a monkey might flip a coin and get heads several times in a row. Doesn't mean he will NEVER get tails you loose.

Pat

 

[BeeferMan]

Specop,

There is a technique to felling, and you are doing it wrong. You obviously have a computer..google the technique if you have to.

Wedge and hinge............. makes all the difference in the world.

Wedge and hinge w/ strap on large trees is even better, let's you decide *exactly* when the tree will fall...

 

[bstrom]

Sad for the guy's family. Things go wrong even when you know the techniques too. especially if you don't do it every day. Sometimes they just don't go down even with a wedge if the wind is wrong. Sometimes you might get the hinge to thin trying to get it to drop and they twist off. That kind of weight can do crazy stuff sometimes.

I hate the ones that are hung up. I had 3 big Spruce hung up from the last wind storm we had this winter with the roots sticking up out of the ground and the trunks under tremendous tension. It's hard to reach the trunk sometimes without climbing on the roots but don't because as you cut through those roots will fall back and can throw you right in the air with a chainsaw in your hands. That's a good one to remember.

 

[TripleR]

Sad for the guy's family. Things go wrong even when you know the techniques too. especially if you don't do it every day. Sometimes they just don't go down even with a wedge if the wind is wrong. Sometimes you might get the hinge to thin trying to get it to drop and they twist off. That kind of weight can do crazy stuff sometimes.

I hate the ones that are hung up. I had 3 big Spruce hung up from the last wind storm we had this winter with the roots sticking up out of the ground and the trunks under tremendous tension. It's hard to reach the trunk sometimes without climbing on the roots but don't because as you cut through those roots will fall back and can throw you right in the air with a chainsaw in your hands. That's a good one to remember.

Yep, no matter how much you know; how experienced you are things can go wrong. We had a professional logger killed in our area a few years ago when a tree barber chaired on him. I have done a lot of work in the woods, but at my age, I don't drop anymore trees; just too slow.