Tree Lessons Learned the hard way

[Marc-Antoine]

I had the opposite with the trunk of a big cedrus. It had some back lean but not that much. I expected to push it with my wedges. The wood looked fine when cutting the back cut, but it was actually a little decayed. The wedges just sank in it when their real work had to come. The mini-ex came to the rescue and tried to push it. Nothing. I thinned the hinge as much as I dared, next to nothing really, still nothing. He tried various angles of push. The more he rised the bucket to increase the leverage, the less the mini-ex had a pushing capability. In a position to give a good push, the bucket was too low on the trunk. So he went around the pile of logs left as a cushion, I tied my clim line still up the trunk's top to the bucket. I was madd at it but no way I would climb up there again to set a bull rope. I asked to pull very gently, as it would be surely well over its WLL, but just try to not go too close of the BLL. He did pull gently (for once), the line stretched quite a bit. A couple seconds before I wanted to ask him to stop and reconsidere, the trunk went over. Pfew !

 

[Bermy]

Glad you got it done!
But could you have tied throw line on to your climb line, pulled it down and swapped it for a bull rope?
Or was time of the essence, cuts already in tree and fiddling about might have been more dangerous.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

It's the downside of srt when chocked at the top. I can't see a way to play with the rope afterward. If I knew before going down that the stump's wood was questionable, I surely took the time to set my bull rope or a way to do it from the ground. But the fell with the wedges seemed very doable, so why bother?. After, the felling cuts done and the hinge even more thined, climbing it again was too risky for my taste. Maybe it could have held, given its mass and mine, but no, thanks.

 

[Bermy]

Makes sense.

 

[frans]

Cutting a big fat 3’ horizontal pine limb and having it jerk up and smack my jaw onto my tongue.
damn I spoke with a lisp for several weeks lol

 

[Bermy]

😬 yikes

 

[Ryan]

My first winter as a bucket baby line clearance guy, I left the gas can on a hook at the back of the bucket truck with 3 inches of broken spout on which allowed all sorts of snow and sawdust to drift into the fuel. Why is the saw running like shit?! I got really good at pulling the carb apart on a 335 that winter but still took way too long for that moment of realization that I'm an idiot pouring dirty, watery fuel into the saw.

I was even bringing the saw into the motel room over night to "thaw it out." Sweet dreams breathing gas fumes all night. Oy vey.