First rope failure of my career today......

[Nailsbeats]

I've used a combo of wedges and a rope/winch combo to pull over a spar. Use the wedges for a bit of lift and then re-tension the pull line. Seems to me that this practice could have prevented exactly what happened in this situation. And it lets you whittle your hinge down to just the right thickness to prevent barberchair if you drive them in as you saw as opposed to guesstimating and yelling "pull".

Yep, I rarely fall a tree without wedges, even if I have a pull rope set. That way I know there is no possible way the tree can sit back on the saw. Take this case for example: rope breaks and tree sits back on wedges instead of rocking back over center, breaking the hinge, doing a balarina twirl and going wherever it wants. Bottom line is, if your using a rope you need to feel the tension on it with your hand periodically.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Take this case for example: rope breaks and tree sits back on wedges instead of rocking back over center, breaking the hinge, doing a balarina twirl and going wherever it wants.

Yep. I was gonna try and say that but I had a few too many.

 

[Nailsbeats]

Speaking of, I might as well get an Old Mil going!

 

[Blakesmaster]

Speaking of, I might as well get an Old Mil going!

Me, I'm done for the night, got some storm work bright and early. Cheers.

 

[Nailsbeats]

Good deal, we supposedly have an ice storm/blizzard headed our way, I'll believe it when I am cuttin it.

 

[treebilly]

ive been there with the overpulling and threatened to quit because of it. I`m not quite sure of how bad that winch rope was. My boss has a bc1800 w/ winch and it couldn`t snap that line at all.
using a truck or winch is just another tool. takes knowledge and experience to get it down. the man with the saw is the man in charge and everyone needs to be clear on the signals.
by the way Bearcreek been to the "red dog" lately

 

[Rftreeman]

With that much damage I would not let him within a mile radius I was working on, much less near a chainsaw.

lol....he's a good guy really, he has been doing this for 30 some years and was at one time one of the best around but the older he gets the worst his judgment gets, he is still a good climber and old friend but he'll never fall a tree for me again.

 

[pbtree]

The main things from where I sit typing is you learned a lesson, shared it with us, and most importantly, no got hurt...

 

[Sunrise Guy]

I just had to weigh in, here. The hinge, at 4", sounds way too thick, to me. I never use mechanical devices on pull ropes unless the dz is wide open, the cuts are looking good, and the cutter/climber has already gotten out of the tree. If I can't rely on my ground guy to pull when the time is right, and to pull with the right amount of force and run time, then the tree isn't getting pulled, at all. I know the use of winches is increasing, as previously stated, and I will bet dollars to doughnuts that the number of bad accidents and fatalities will also increase because of this activity.

 

[smokechase II]

How to make a 3 inch wide hinge OK - sometimes

"A couple weeks later he tells me the story. He was starting a backcut on a big tree and signaled for a little pull just to tighten up the cable, but the guy at the controls thought he said pull it over and the tree barberchaired and almost took his head off."

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One of the best ways to reduce barber chair risk is with a face center bore.
Essentially you make a solid wood tree into a hollow one. This does two things; 1) breaks up the continuity of the hinge - that decreases the vertical split potential and 2) Removes the heart wood from the equation - that is the portion of the stem that naturally wants to split.
(Caveat: your particular tree and species mileage may vary)

*************

Some fallers will tell you that the strongest part of the tree is the heartwood. It has a rigid characteristic and doesn't want to give. Holds the tree up, they say, and you've got to cut enough heart to get it over. (Don't get upset at the heartwood guys on this issue. They are very big out west on maintaing the corners for control. If you've cut enough Doug Fir - aka Red Fir because of the heartwood color - you'll understand its heartwood strength quickly. That is the best tree I know of to illustrate this point.)
Others fallers will tell you that the sapwood is the strongest part because it doesn't want to break and stays intact longer and therefore controls the fall more than heartwood.
They are both right - in a way - if you utilize those pieces of knowledge in tandem. This is the nylon vs. Kevlar discussion. Nylon is strong and part of that strength is its stretch, (opening shock loads on a parachute for instance). Kevlar is strong(er) partly because it doesn't stretch. {Time to pour another beer and move on to instant replay.}

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Removing the center heartwood will allow for a wider hinge in the flexible sapwood and can add to the time the hinge will hold and control. This heartwood removal will also reduce the winch mistake pard investigation event rate. {WMPIER}

The first rub is doing those face bore cuts up in the tree is difficult.

Other issues include, but are not limited to:
Making those cuts on the ground can be difficult or unsafe.
Drought stressed or recently dead trees have sapwood that behaves like heartwood because of how dry / brittle it has become.

 

[booboo]

We use ropes to pull tops, spars, and whole trees all the time, I've only ever seen 1 bull rope break and it was being pulled by a heavy winch. I don't like using winches or equipment to pull rope because it is too easy to over tension the pull line. Generally we use a mechanical puller if there is too much to safely pull by hand. It goes something like this...cut notch, pre-tension line, start back cut, set wedges (if necessary), re-tension line, continue back cut with steady pull, boom...tree comes down right where it is supposed to! You can put some big stuff into small DZ's doing this but it takes experience and good communication for both the faller and the puller. One really nice thing about using a mechanical puller as opposed to a winch or truck is that you can feel exactly when the stretch is out of the rope and how much tension is on the line.

 

[ropensaddle]

Another reason I love my big winch's steel cable it will skid the bucket
with air brakes set if you over pull ! I seldom pull that hard but it definately
is overkill in the pull realm! With ropes and mechanical pulling tension
checking is a must and a rope upgrade also. Was you using 1/2 rope?
I would use nothing short of 3/4 for serious rigging.

 

[SLlandscape]

I got enough to pack my freezer and I don't buy beef, lol.

You don't buy beef. WTF! :jawdrop: