I was falling big Doug Fir on very steep ground, a fair amount of the timber was "goosenecked", meanin' the stump was square with the ground, and the tree turned upward to grow straight up. Often the trunk was oblongated (is that a word?) or oval in shape. On the uphill side, as the tree "leaned" back, the wood is often compressed, gnarled up grain and such.
Anyway, it was late in the day when I came across such a fir. It was close to 60", sittin' on 100% slope, I wandered around it guessin' the lean with a bullet on a string. The uphill side was cut pretty close to the dirt, as the drop-off on the downhill side was maybe 6 feet. I whipped a Humboldt cut into it without too much stretchin', but when I started the back cut, I ran out of arm length. So I cut a couple toeholds in, and anchored my self with a Bowie knife, stuck my corks in the slots, grabbed up my saw and swung out. I jammed the spikes in, managed to properly start the backcut. It wasn't long before I was havin' little problems, the saw had more leverage than I did, I couldn't pound the wedges in very well while using the saw to cling to the trunk, the yellowjackets I had stirred up earlier were still after me. It was hot, I was sweatin' and filling my shirt with chips and the dammed tree was oozing sap copiously. I was havin' so much fun, I decided that I needed to switch the saw around, so I could reach the far side better. Out with the Bowie again, while I one armed the saw back into the cut, it seemed like a good idea at the time. "Cept the saw was takin' up some of the room I needed to stay put. I slid to one side, using one foot and the knife, continued sawin'. This is where things went to hell, quickly. The saw bucked some, like it was hittin' something real hard, it was, a couple centuries worth of leanin' backwards had compressed the wood something fierce and put abit of a twist in the grain. I tapped at the wedges some more, it was like swingin' an ax under water, I had no power what so ever. I went back to sawin', the tree started popping, it was only then that I considered an escape route....hmmm. Wasn't given much time to think about it, with loud snap, crackle, pops, the SOB started over and grabbed the tip of the bar. I gave a try at tossing the saw out of the way, didn't go so well. The last I saw of it (intact that is) was as I was jumpin' (fallin') off the tree. The poor 050 was embeded right behind the hinge, bar was bent, it was still idleing. I didn't get to see the whole thing, I was rollin' downhill at the time. I'm guessin' the tree tossed the saw off, then rolled and skidded on it. I stood and stared at it for a few moments, kicked some dirt over it, went back up the hill to get the Mac 250. Oh yeah, I learned a couple things alright, and still continued to do crazy things.
