Skidding logs

[Tollster]

Got some Husky chaps today when I went in for faucet washers, prolly not the best available, but in stock, I learned my lesson, thank you for ya'lls concerns.
I pulled off the hospital dressing today and got it cleaned up,figure I will pull the stiches in 10 or so days, its hard not to bend my knee, as I worry about pulling the stiches through, recon its light duty for a couple days.....faucet repair.... yahaa.

 

[Egon]

Ouch!

 

[hydro2]

That's looks sore. Defiantly be wearing my chaps.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Yikes, a man's hide is no match for a saw chain.
Probably when you were making that back cut the tree settled back just enough to squeeze the rear part of the chain without pinching the saw and that made the bar shoot out of the cut like a rocket. Usually the saw is pulling in towards the cut but if you squeeze the back or top of the bar/chain the bar will want to come out at you.

 

[Tollster]

Yikes, a man's hide is no match for a saw chain.
Probably when you were making that back cut the tree settled back just enough to squeeze the rear part of the chain without pinching the saw and that made the bar shoot out of the cut like a rocket. Usually the saw is pulling in towards the cut but if you squeeze the back or top of the bar/chain the bar will want to come out at you.

I was trying to figure what happened,I know it was windy and I was on the leaward side of the tree, which was a pine, I think the wind did push it back towards me and I either pulled it out in an effort to bush the tree away or it kicked back,the brake did not engage, and its fully fuctional as I clean it every day prior to cutting and then check it.
Since it was windy,I only wanted to work small stuff, all saplings under 5" and 10-13" tall. I had a large oak up against me left shoulder,so it was tight quarters and my leg was in the line of fire.
A valuble lesson was learned saturday.

 

[brokenknee]

Got some Husky chaps today when I went in for faucet washers, prolly not the best available, but in stock, I learned my lesson, thank you for ya'lls concerns.
I pulled off the hospital dressing today and got it cleaned up,figure I will pull the stiches in 10 or so days, its hard not to bend my knee, as I worry about pulling the stiches through, recon its light duty for a couple days.....faucet repair.... yahaa.

You may want to move your knee at least a little. That knee locks up fast. I broke my knee about 3 1/2 years ago, had a plate put in. It was about three weeks before the doc told me I could start moving it, it felt like the knee cap was welded together.

Glad it wasn't worse that it was. It sure looks bad enough.

 

[s219]

It's really risky cutting when it's windy, as it loads a tree asymmetrically and the load will vary unpredictably. I stick to ground work on a windy day. I think you got off easy with that injury -- I have heard of folks killed by a barber chair due to a "light" wind load. Sometimes the skinny trees are the worst.

 

[Tollster]

It's really risky cutting when it's windy, as it loads a tree asymmetrically and the load will vary unpredictably. I stick to ground work on a windy day. I think you got off easy with that injury -- I have heard of folks killed by a barber chair due to a "light" wind load. Sometimes the skinny trees are the worst.

I watch a video the other day showing a "Barber chair" and wondered what caused it, now it makes sense how the trunk could split lengthwise with the grain for 15' or more feet springing the butt up on an unsuspecting loggers head and chest, I don't think the fellow was more than 50% thru the trunk when it sprung in the video.

 

[s219]

I watch a video the other day showing a "Barber chair" and wondered what caused it, now it makes sense how the trunk could split lengthwise with the grain for 15' or more feet springing the butt up on an unsuspecting loggers head and chest, I don't think the fellow was more than 50% thru the trunk when it sprung in the video.

Yeah, and imagine it launching the saw back at you too!

There are special cuts that can avoid a barber chair when cutting leaners or loaded trees. The Coos Bay cut is my favorite.

 

[Short Game]

The alders we have here are especially prone to barber-chairing. The worst of them are the smaller, but tall ones. I know one quadriplegic who can attest to this. However, my closest call came from a fairly large big-leaf maple. It was hollow and had an unseen crack in it. When it jumped off its stump, it landed right where I had jumped from, as I hurled my saw.

For those who don't know, barber-chairing happens with trees that are leaning enough that they split their trunks before the back cut gets close enough to the undercut for it to hinge to break and the tree to fall. The part of the trunk above the uncompleted undercut flies upward as the trunk splits up the log. The part that splits away from the log, springs straight up in the air and when the hinge does finally break, the inertia of the upper, splitting away side, jerks the butt end upward. The top of the tree falls short of its full length and the butt end usually lands several feet backward past the stump, trying to reach out and touch someone.

Here's a tip for leaning trees that you think could possibly barber-chair: take a logging chain and wrap it tightly around the trunk just above where you are going to do your cuts. I use a whole 20 foot chain and take as many wraps as it can reach, and hook it back into itself. This way, if the trunk splits, it can't spring apart. I've done this many times. The guy who told me about it was 8 years older than the 20th century and had worked many years in the woods.