Sorry to hear about the eye, Jed...I have gotten hurt before, too, not doing the "tree work" but the ancillary "safe" stuff...like coiling ropes, pulling my snap back to me thru a crotch and almost getting busted in the face, etc.
I have started wearing the TreeStuff mesh glasses pretty much all the time...no fog and constant eye protection.
Though I went to a chainsaw safety class last week and the instructor made me realize the mesh is probably not good for projectile protection (like if a piece of chain metal breaks off at speed and hits you...I had not thought of that scenario until he brought it up...I always figured wood chips were the main worry...guess plastic wedge chips could be a problem, too).
Was that fractured top cut a Coos Bay type cut...the hinge wood looks triangular.
Was the trunk fractured before you made your cut?
Thanks you guys... really appreciate the warm wishes.
Nah, Gary, it was just a double-cut. I've only got a 14" bar on my top-handle right now, and where I wanted to take the top was about 17", so I was whittling from both corners. On the back cut, I had cut-up my far corner really well, so that I could hammer my first wedge in nice and far without having to worry about coming back to cut up more wood on that side. Thing is: I really misjudged now much limb weight I had in my favor, and the darn thing busted out before I could get very much cut up on my near corner.... that, AND I cut in on a completely different plane as the pic indicates.
I mean... all's well that lands well, I guess... I just consider it really shabby workmanship. To me: every hinge that you cut up should be a nearly perfect reflection of your original intention. If not: you could end up putting the top into another tree that would flip it back into yourself, unnecessarily bang up other trees, or worse.
I'm thinking about running mesh too Gary. The penetration possibility really doesn't worry me much, but now might be a good time to admit that earlier this fall, I was running a 660 without chaps when my chain came into contact with a small rhododendron stem that was pinned under a big, windfallen Hemlock I was bucking. Dang square grind chain (with low stops) I was running, bucked through the log, bucked through the 3/8's" diameter Rhodie stem, at a nice sharp angle, and then drove the dang thing through some Wild Ass jeans and about 2" into my right calf muscle.
Healed like a champ though...
Still... skipping Personal Protective Equipment in this trade is just extremely stupid. Learn from the inbread. Oh yeah... I'm not inbred anymore! Time to start wearing what the smart guys do.
