# Treetop pinball flipper, bad cut



## freezerburn (Nov 10, 2021)

Well shoot. It’s been 20 years+ ago but here’s my contribution. 
I was 50 foot up doing a removal of an elm as I recall. The whole tree was pretty much ready to drop but needed to be a bit shorter to land inside the target area. Anyway, I was up there cutting one side of the last fork off. The saw was cutting right in front of me and a bit above and the fork, very quickly, tipped over to the other fork and started sliding down the other fork (it was still not quite severed through) and was about to pinball flipper me right out of the tree! I reached up to stop the sliding fork and stopped it but I pushed a bit to hold it so I could think a minute and the saw jumped out of the pinch and I got a very life threatening saw cut(s) right where they draw blood when you donate at the blood bank. It was bad.
Among the things I did wrong here the biggest was that I was in a hurry. Don’t do that with this stuff. 
When folks find out I used to to trim trees they’ll sometimes ask about different things for a beginner. I always reply with this- “If you live through your first year you’ll probably be alright.” I do not encourage the endeavor. 
ps- Never forget that the small saw can kill you just as dead as an 065!


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## Dave1960_Gorge (Jan 31, 2022)

I have learned to always think about where a piece is supposed to go, and where it might go; either way, you have to plan out where you are going to be in relation to the piece in motion (I am sure you have replayed this incident in your mind many times!). 
Two worst incidents AI had with falling pieces were first, the time the rigging rope caught on a clip on my saddle, and the time my saw caught on a splinter as a big piece broke away. More subtle forms of error, but it was there.

In the first case, it was around a 40 ft. dead cottonwood trunk, maybe 20 in, thick and I had an 066 stuck in it because I made a poor cut (and I was around 50 ft. up the tree); probably cut through the hinge on one side and pinched the bar, causing the chain to get caught on a splinter. Nearly jerked me off my hooks (I did have a high line and wire core flip line rigged). Also didn't have a break-away saw lanyard. At the time I was annoyed that I had to lower the saw to get the chain on, and only thought about the danger later. If the piece had somehow hung on to the saw for even a few seconds, could have broken my back. 

Second case, the elm branch probably weighed 150 lbs.; I considered lifting it (too awkward, and it was already well below me); considered cutting the rope but then just had the groundie send it quickly to the ground. Learned not to cut a piece with the haul rope touching my back! I hardly ever use those two brass clips on the back of my saddle, and have considered cutting them off, but having one to hang the ring on your topping saw lanyard is handy.


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