Your biggest blunder?

[Brimmstone]

Well went back over there tonight and dropped a 120 ft pine that had been struck by lightening in another storm and was bare of any bark from about 10 ft off the ground to the very tip. Used my throw bag to set a bull rope about 80 ft up around trunk and a couple of branches. Tied another rope onto the first on to give his truck some room to get out of the way if needed. Cut my wedge and told him to apply some light tension to the ropes. As soon as the ropes were in a straight line and I knew no limbs were going to fall I started my back cut. Got about half way through the back cut and told him to pull on it. Tree laid down right in the little alley we wanted it to drop in. He paid me 150 for getting them both down and my headache with the lines. Haven't heard anything from electric company yet so here hoping they file it away as an accident.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

As we are speaking on acer in the "gunning sight" thread, I have to tell you the mistake which impressed me the most.
It was a pretty sized acer (for me), with a wide crown, slightly backleaning over a fence-wall. For me I would rope it down (easy), but we were in a hurry. There was a good landing zone between an apple tree and a baby cherry tree. So we wanted to lay it down directly. Knowing the brittle wood, I didn't trust the hinge with wedges to overcome the backlean. We tied in the cable puller and started the cut. The cable pulled the tree over easily. As I waited it, the hinge broke soon, just after the tree went over the balance point. It went down freely (almost) after that. What I didn't noticed is that the crown was partly mixed with an other tree. One limb not so big, maybe a little over 1", hanged in a crotch and gave a small yank to my tree, at the wrong time, just after the hinge broke and the tree began to free fall. The limb broke (I found it later in the second tree) but it manage to stir the tree to the right and ... crac !!! straight over the apple tree.
It looked very sad after that.
I felt very sorry, and my pride got a big slap !

 

[Burnham]

The only person who never has had a fell go differently than planned, just hasn't felled enough trees yet.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I've never done anything like that before.

 

[stehansen]

A lot of the trees I cut on have real brittle hinges. They break when the tree tips about 5 degrees.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) comes to mind.....

 

[stehansen]

Those are the kind of junk trees that people want to get rid of most often in my experience.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

My question is ...... then why wait until they are dead

 

[Old Monkey]

I am currently in the middle of a stupid streak. I had a pine tree with no power lines directly under it, so what did I do? I swung a branch 15' behind me and took out the house drop. Today I was driving down the highway telling my ground guy how I really need to replace my chipper tires in a big way when, you guessed it, it blew a tire. I thought the truck had lost power and down shifted and continued down the highway another quarter mile until someone pointed and mimed that I blew a tire. I am just going to have to ride this stupid streak out until it ends and hope my brain reengages.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Come on vacation .....

Way things have been of late here as well...

Must be a moon phase....

One year right before vacation we blew the chipper motor...........

I see a trend.

 

[Old Monkey]

Going camping in Nor Cal in two weeks right behind Mt. Lassen.

 

[NickfromWI]

The only person who never has had a fell go differently than planned, just hasn't felled enough trees yet.

My first 20 were PERFECT! I thought it was just super easy. Then one day I was cutting down a cedar 40' tall between house and powerline. Plenty of room to drop it though it was leaning slightly to the power drop. The groundy and I disagreed on how I should notch it and I did it HIS way and sure enough: straight into the lines. Took service out to half a block and there was a sparking energized line flopping in the street. Knocked on clients house to call for backup (this was before everyone had a cell) but WHOOPS- I also took out his phone line. Anyway- the power company came and cleaned up the whole mess and didn't charge the company a dime (they said they give each tree company 1 freebee per year).

I'm not cocky enough to say I shouldn't listen to what other people think, but this guy was a raging aloholic pot head putz and I shouldn't have listened to him. Lesson learned.

 

[Highclimber]

I ran over a coffee shop in willies bucket truck on his anniversary

 

[MasterBlaster]

No coffee for YOU!

Damn Darin, did you take out the weatherhead too?

 

[woodworkingboy]

I ran over a coffee shop in willies bucket truck on his anniversary

Yeah, we saw the pics. Nice going!

 

[Old Monkey]

Is the weatherhead the pole that attaches to the house? If so then yes I did.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Going camping in Nor Cal in two weeks right behind Mt. Lassen.

Thumbup:

Shaver Lake here. They called yesterday and the boat is ready

 

[flushcut]

Today I was driving down the highway telling my ground guy how I really need to replace my chipper tires in a big way when, you guessed it, it blew a tire.

I think it is your sixth sense kicking in telling you something you just gotta listen. My story was with my chipper as well I kept saying I gotta get those replaced. When I took them in finally before they blew the guy said they fell apart on the tire machine.

 

[stig]

Going camping in Nor Cal in two weeks right behind Mt. Lassen.

That ought to fix that tired brain of yours right up.

The great backcountry is what I envy you Americans the most.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Is the weatherhead the pole that attaches to the house? If so then yes I did.

Yea, the expensive part. Bummer.

 

[Old Monkey]

Yep.

 

[MasterBlaster]

300 bucks? Two fiddy?

 

[sotc]

If your going to do something, do it well!

 

[stehansen]

I ran over a coffee shop in willies bucket truck on his anniversary

Stupid Coffee Shop. What the hell was it doing there?

 

[Cobleskill]

Coulda just hooked on the thing and made it disappear. Coffee shop, what coffee shop?