Dangerous things that maybe don't get talked about so much

True. I did have to run off the guy writing the check on a project we were doing. We were setting a big overhead bin at a dairy on a Hutterite colony.

If the guy writing the check is in the death zone and making a damn nuisance of himself, he gets removed or the crane goes home. Losing a job because of safety concerns is cheaper than killing someone.

I do not however have any chipper experience, but have heard of folks getting chipped. I would think the same thing applies.
 
As mentioned earlier, a rope entering the chipper. I think for most crews doing typical residential work its only on rare occasions that you can back the chipper right up to the tree, its not a hazard that needs frequent management so easily overlooked at times.
 
A rope went through a chipper once on my job, it just chipped and shredded it, it didn't wrap round the rollers.
Just my experience.
 
Well from my work experience removing trees [actually mean "felling trees"] , the biggest no no was making the felling cuts and leaving the tree stand due to back lean, then going on to fell the next tree.

Mother nature with her wind power will decide what your fate is............
 
La becasse said:
Clients who despite clearly worded warnings/pleadings/entreaties will stand in front of or to the side of the grinder.
When you mouth to them to clear away over the noise they say "OK" and move 1ft further back.
I console myself that grinding is so boring to watch they feck off after two minutes max.
Click to expand...

as soon as anyone, especially a civilian gets anywhere close tot he grinder, I immediately idle down, and shut off the cutter wheel and give them a look like, I just saved your life, now get the ... out of here...
They usually get the idea pretty quickly...
 
Chris E said:
As mentioned earlier, a rope entering the chipper. I think for most crews doing typical residential work its only on rare occasions that you can back the chipper right up to the tree, its not a hazard that needs frequent management so easily overlooked at times.
Click to expand...

I've seen a rope go through a chipper.. my guys think it took about 5-6 seconds to suck in a .5" true blue 200' rigging line... I think we did a rough calculation that the rope was going 100-120 mph... I happened to be standing on it with low top shoes.. I was on may ass before I had any idea what happened and it turned my ankle so hard, it broke the twist bone. Fortunately, I wasn't the stand bone, so I was back to work in 10 days.That was the last time I ever stepped onto a job with low tops!!!my other co-worker was standing next to the rope bin and it got sucked out so fast, just grazing his leg, it burner a hole right through his pants.... There is NOTHING that will stop a rope once its got into the chipper.... if its a climbing line chances are its going to break the rope or rip the top out...
 
Dang...good share, Murphy. Paints a good picture of the forces involved...sounds like getting the tail end of a climbing line in the chipper could yank you A$$ out of a tree in a hurry...along with a top or limb. Bad juju.
 
The scariest to me isn't cutting a tree. We used to climb and rig large Redwoods on "pull settings" These were cut blocks where every tree had to be pulled over at a 90 degree angle to the blue line stream at the bottom. To pull these bad boys over we used a triple drum winch off an old Skagit yarder mounted on a 2 ton truck The trees weighed 30 to 60 tons or more.. These things just had a manual friction brake, no guarding, with the main drum open and next to the operator. Well just try to imagine for a moment, if you will,standing there and getting the signal to "pull her over" and the tree doesn't hold to the stump and takes off down the mountain. Still gives me the chills after more than a few years.
 
With the rope going in the chipper deal there are very different scenarios depending on what type of chipper you have. Disk chipper= lots of 1' prices in the back of the chip truck, drum chipper= insanely powerful and fast winch
 
Free climbing. Its the way I was first introduced to setting a high tie-in. Mostly i try to avoid it, but other times, especially where theres a hundred limbs to climb up i.e. cedar, I just climb up.
 
All depends I guess, a tight branched fir where you struggle to force yourself through the branches....difficult to resist.
 
HolmenTree said:
Well from my work experience removing trees [actually mean "felling trees"] , the biggest no no was making the felling cuts and leaving the tree stand due to back lean, then going on to fell the next tree.

Mother nature with her wind power will decide what your fate is............
Click to expand...

Yup. I know of several guys that got killed doing that trick. . We call it Domino falling up here. Lots of guys think its really cool. Right up to the point that all thot leaves their brain forever.
The biggest unreasonable fear I've had topping is the tree breaking off underneath me. At least it was unreasonable until late this past summer when a friend had a poplar break off at ground level as he topped it 50+' up. He rode it down. It crossed a timber frame swing set and he bounced on a small chicken house roof which is what saved his life.
From the pics of the tree and stump I could see no indicaters it would break off and have taken down many that looked worse.
 
How big a top? Locked up rope or was it let run?

I did all my work from the ground today, essentially in a 15 sucker clump of bigleaf maple, from an old stump. One lead had peeled with no warning or wind according to the HO. I didn't trust it.
 
The tree failing below me has been a concern I have experienced, too...you mentioned pictures of the stump? Can you still access them?

Was the tree dead? For how long? etc.
 
Even without roping off a lot of pressure can be applied to the remaining stem/spar when taking a top, at the apex of the fall. How it's cut up can play hugely into this.
 
I believe it snapped as he started his backcut. Not sure, I'll have to look it up again. A friend of mine told me about it after watching me halving a bunch of beanpole Cottenwood.
 
squisher said:
Even without roping off a lot of pressure can be applied to the remaining stem/spar when taking a top, at the apex of the fall. How it's cut up can play hugely into this.
Click to expand...


Yes, large tops can push hard against a big lever, the spar. How do you suggest to minimize this?
 
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