burlman
ArboristSite Member
prayers and speedy recovery for your sidekick. when I was a young pup with chainsaw in hand I had an underwear filling expieriance with a large red oak. we were clearing a roadway and had a beauty of a red oak to take down. 24in. and clear trunk for 40 feet. based on what I know now I can tell you what I did wrong. I cut my notch to shallow and did not check to see that my undercut and face cut met properly. I jumped right into the back cut, got about 1/2 way through and the tree started to move, feeling like a pro lumberjack, I started to exit the area when a gunshot went off, the weight and momentum of the tree closed on my to shallow poorly made notch. the full length of the tree sheered in two halves. the front went off 45degrees left from its intended target. the right side did the opposite 45 degrees.I walked away thank the lord, and sought out all the info I could on falling if I was going to stay in this business alive. Here in frosty cold quebec, trees easily split with the frost in the wood and snow loads in the tops. every tree we make our notch, then we make a cut along each side about a 1/4 depth of the trunk, at the same height as the back cut. then proeed to cut the backcut. most trees will want to split if pressure to fall exceeds your speed to cut. I now work residential tree removal, as logging prices suck. if we are winching on a tree to pull over ,or a dangrous hollow or seam is present. we wrap a chain or straps around the trunk to contain a barber chair to protect the faller. an ounce of prevention. speed kills in the tree business, good luck and hope you keep at it. it is unfortunate that we learn the most from this section of arboristsite.
