bad day

[ewoolsey]

hope you guys don't have a day like mine i hope i don't have another one , topped a very large elm , they changed there mind to cut it down, so i first thing this morning stopped by , we cabled it to a winch truck so we wouldn't hit his dog pin , the trunk of the tree was only 18" from his garage, any way when it hit the ground it rolled off the stump in to the side of his garage, i didn't cut it clean off so it wouldn't do that ,but it did ,only have to furnish some lumber, went to the next job , a med, size elm between a powder line and a shed, topped it , looked good to drop, it twisted around on the stump as it fall and a limb on the back side hits the corner on the roof, now i have roof repair to do , then the brake boster went out of my grain truck, on my helper , hauling brush off , at least he didn't wreck , i hope for better days.

 

[Happy trees]

Sorry 'bout your luck!

Misery loves company, so take comfort in the fact that I'm actually having a whole week like that!

I'm working with my brother, dropping a couple of enormous cottonwoods. At first, the body count was a couple of sprinkler mains, a gate, and 2 wood fences. At that point, I started hollering at him "Don't be such a cowboy! Slow down, and get a rope on that stuff, and be more precise about the way you bring it down!!"

So then, I went around to the front of the house, and very slowly, very precisely backed into the A/C compressor, and fried it.

I can't wait for this nightmare to end. We've never had so much trouble, ever.

Oh! and I crushed my phone in the tailgate of the truck!!

 

[randyg]

Not sure about all the particulars, but sounds like hinge not doing what you want? Every now and then when close to fences/buildings/propane tanks/etc., I will build the following hinge. Make the face cut (notch) greater than 90 degrees, and leave the hinge a bit thicker than you usually do. Then wedge/pull that sucker over. Since the two sides of the face cut never come together, the hinge remains intact, giving control. Then you whittle the thing down from the top. Lots of times, the entire trunk will just hang there 2 or 3 feet off the ground once the rest of the top is gone, making it handy to walk along and make firewood sized pieces without bending over. Better days ahead for sure.

 

[Rickytree]

hope you guys don't have a day like mine i hope i don't have another one , topped a very large elm , they changed there mind to cut it down, so i first thing this morning stopped by , we cabled it to a winch truck so we wouldn't hit his dog pin , the trunk of the tree was only 18" from his garage, any way when it hit the ground it rolled off the stump in to the side of his garage, i didn't cut it clean off so it wouldn't do that ,but it did ,only have to furnish some lumber, went to the next job , a med, size elm between a powder line and a shed, topped it , looked good to drop, it twisted around on the stump as it fall and a limb on the back side hits the corner on the roof, now i have roof repair to do , then the brake boster went out of my grain truck, on my helper , hauling brush off , at least he didn't wreck , i hope for better days.

Hey sorry to hear about your day. I went to start a thread like this about the same time as you and I typed out my whole day, pretty much, and noticed that I wasn't signed in. I just went to bed. by the way my bad day consisted of taking down two 80 footers and a huge trim on a Oak, 35 foot spruce right beside the house, then pulling over to get a pie and hitting a 10 inch post for a sign. then had to deal with this twirp that's the manager of this bakery. Anyways I did a job a day earlier and talked with the guy and he is going to fix it. Well he fixed it and the next day to boot..

 

[pdqdl]

Consider your bad day just an expensive education. Figure out what you did wrong, then don't do it any more. That's what separates the good tree men from the not-so-good ones.

Failure to figure out what you did wrong is no different than paying big bucks for admission to a class for "How to do professional tree work", and then falling asleep in class.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Not sure about all the particulars, but sounds like hinge not doing what you want? Every now and then when close to fences/buildings/propane tanks/etc., I will build the following hinge. Make the face cut (notch) greater than 90 degrees, and leave the hinge a bit thicker than you usually do. Then wedge/pull that sucker over. Since the two sides of the face cut never come together, the hinge remains intact, giving control. Then you whittle the thing down from the top. Lots of times, the entire trunk will just hang there 2 or 3 feet off the ground once the rest of the top is gone, making it handy to walk along and make firewood sized pieces without bending over. Better days ahead for sure.

When I'm felling spars or trees close to fences or buildings I always try to put a butt-line on 'em. I've become quite a fan of use that in tandem with a humboldt to help jump the log as far away from the building/fence as possible. If for some reason I eff up the cut or the tree goes wacky I at least have that tagline on the butt to hopefully keep it away from objects.

 

[ewoolsey]

Consider your bad day just an expensive education. Figure out what you did wrong, then don't do it any more. That's what separates the good tree men from the not-so-good ones.

Failure to figure out what you did wrong is no different than paying big bucks for admission to a class for "How to do professional tree work", and then falling asleep in class.

I take it that you have never had any problems with trees ? this was the first time for me to have a tree not go were i wanted it to and it happen twice in one day , my father-in-law told me never start a new job on friday, its bad luck, my dad is one of the best tree cutters there ever was around here in the midwest , he will be 80 years old june 11, he still help's me some and runs the sawmill some, any way he had some close calls but he cut trees most every day since he was 15 years old, he did drop a tree that the top of tree hit his truck ,getting in a hurry he said , even the best do something wrong , i thank getting in a hurry was my problem , any way i hope not to see another day like that any time soon , thanks for the input.

 

[randyg]

hope you guys don't have a day like mine i hope i don't have another one , topped a very large elm , they changed there mind to cut it down, so i first thing this morning stopped by , we cabled it to a winch truck so we wouldn't hit his dog pin , the trunk of the tree was only 18" from his garage, any way when it hit the ground it rolled off the stump in to the side of his garage, i didn't cut it clean off so it wouldn't do that ,but it did ,only have to furnish some lumber, went to the next job , a med, size elm between a powder line and a shed, topped it , looked good to drop, it twisted around on the stump as it fall and a limb on the back side hits the corner on the roof, now i have roof repair to do , then the brake boster went out of my grain truck, on my helper , hauling brush off , at least he didn't wreck , i hope for better days.

Equipment failure, fix and move on. BIG question is: Do you know what went wrong with the trees, and how to prevent in the future?

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana