Tree felling vids

I can think of another close call we had some years back... I had a straight tree with a line set in it and had almost completed the back cut before the line was tied tot he skid steer.. if I had looked the tree over well I would have known I just needed a couple wedges, but the line was set and its almost an instinct to pull over with a machine at this point.. so the skid steer op jumped out of the machine and was tying on withing striking distance ... Just then a third crew member let out a loud whistle.. looking up the tree was starting to go without a pull. Machine op stood back, and the tree fell doing no harm, but it would easily have killed him if he had been struck.. That was way too close for comfort and I made up my mind then to never allow anything like that to happen again...

PS now I'll really let it go... :)
 
Safety zone or no safety zone why would you even start a back cut before you had tied off your pull line...
 
Not a vid, but a close call I had this week felling a spar, and (in true American tv style) the lesson learned.

So, a spar of about 25 ft/2 ft diameter, so not a twig, to be dropped in a relatively easy lay avoiding my chipper on one side and a shrub on the other, the chipper clearly higher value than the shrub, pulling on a line with the loader.

On a side slope with an earlier stump in front in the lay.

Anyway I was a bit nervous of it as it started to come over slowly, I walked forward a step in the fashion of a golfer sort of willing it to pull right or left.

The hinge broke as it should and when it hit the previously cut stump it shot sideways very fast, the hinge fibres brushing my trousers as it passed me.

Another foot forward and it would have rolled over me like a steamroller.

I remembered something Stig wrote on here, that once it starts to go, get away, nothing you can do can change what’s going to happen in the next second.

Second lesson, it’s usually the mundane that’ll catch you by surprise.
 
Bermy said:
Safety zone or no safety zone why would you even start a back cut before you had tied off your pull line...
Click to expand...

this was 10 years ago.. don't recall the exact details.. we were dropping a bunch of trees that day... whether I was distracted or just trying to keep the job moving efficiently, definitely over-cut the back cut. IN retrospect I should never have started it. That's when I made the rule. Its so easy to die in this business by not paying attention to the details. With so much on the line, it's best to have a system...
 
Not a vid too, but not a close call either, a real one in a similar situation as Mick's.
Some years ago, I was felling the spar of a big willow. The trunk had some odd shape, plus side and back leans. Buddy found that I took too much time banging on the wedges and he decided to do it himself. His business and job. Me, always a little rookie feeling at this time. I gave him the axe and watched. Almost all the work was already done to lift the trunk, so it didn't take long to push it over. Problem, he stayed right at the stump to see the crash. The banana shape of the trunk got him : when the trunk landed, its butt jumped up and to the side, caught his leg sideway and pinned it on the ground.
Somehow twice lucky : for one, the butt continued to roll a little more and barely fried his leg. Secondly, the ground was covered by a mattress of thin limbs, I think that did saved his leg, only breaking it under the knee instead of crushing it.

That prints some pics in the memory !
 
Steve Austin has to use his bionic powers after gassing out on the climb up but throws a huge top to redeem himself. They don't make tv like they used to.:lol:




https://youtu.be/u1vzLWp9eSA

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u1vzLWp9eSA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That was AWESOME, I can't believe I missed that episode! I like how the trunk diameters change from shot to shot, or the "15 feet!" I was especially curious to see how he was gonna get around all those limbs, but I see it was easy! They just used another tree! :lol:
 
Did you see the Log Rolling one?
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rNjTaug1hF8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
We will be using a simular set up.on a clean up of a gulley here soon. We cleared it of old brush piles earlier in the year. Small tree of heaven needs cut now. We'll extract the brash using a high line tensioned with the hobbs. A haul back through a porty up top for friction to help raise the loads to a trolley using a line from the portable winch. The brash will then be landed by the chipper. See if i get a chance to video it.
 
That was cool. Thanks for getting my mind wondering on something else. Add that to the list of stuff I need to look more into
 
Some strategies to keep limbs from swinging back into the bucket or boom...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GzUWcCyBau0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
They got themselves a fine feller for the job.

Not half-wrap-ville.

Seems that hinges and wedges work!

Thanks for posting... Got to see you're upright and breathing.
 
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