Guys, don't get complacent out there!!!

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Guy I used to work with had a saying "is better to watch a man take a **** than watch him work".

I think he meant safer - but you don't argue with big, ugly Croats.
 
Thanks for sharing guys.

That is so true, don't let yourself become complacent.

Also, know when you're tired and you need to quit for the day. The one accident I had, I pushed myself past when I was too tired to keep going and made a mistake.

Thankfully I was wearing my helmet at the time and didn't get injured. :)
 
Never cut myself with chain except when sharpening it, but got smacked really good by a loaded branch once, and I was standing on a log and reaching when it happened, really knocked my on my keester.

Was glad I was wearing a helmet, (never used to back in the day). I only skimmed my head, but hit me full in the shoulder. Was black & blue for a few weeks, but finished cutting the tree w/o missing a beat. If I were not wearing a helmet, I think I really would have known about it.
 
Agree 100%. Always have a pre planned (pre cleared) escape route that you go down as soon as you see that back cut start to widen (diagonally off the back preferred). Don't pose for pics till the tree is down & still.

And always look up before you drop a tree to determine it any branches from your tree or an adjacent tree are likely to fall when the tree goes down. I know someone who is paralyzed from the waist down because he was struck by a dead branch from an adjacent dead Elm. This is also a reason to always wear a helmet when dropping trees.
 
No disrespect Brad but I think sometimes you "hot shot" it up for the camera. Slow down and be safe. Show off the speed of your saws when cutting rounds. You lost 30 seconds of your cut when you were knocked out anyway. I'm glad your still on the right side of the grass.
 
Sometimes its not about being complacent.

Let me share a little incident that happened to me today.

I was up on the edge of a clear cut area skidding the last unit in the row way up at the top of the hill.
There were no trees hanging over it that caught my eye and the tree line was close but not too close.
as I was feeding the choker under the unit I heard a small "crack", sounded like the logs were just settling so I waited a second.
Just then a tree top landed 2 ft from my head as I was leaning over the pile.
Didn't see it coming
it was a pine snag about 12" in diameter and the top that would have hit my head was about 3"
Can you say Lights Out.

Could that have been avoided? Maybe. The area is riddled with deadfall and snags. I maybe could have looked a little more thoroughly, but still may have missed it as my guess was that it was standing fairly upright and the feller buncher must have loosened it up.

If I did see it and recognized it as a hazard I probably would have kept my eye on it but done nothing about it in reality. I cannot go grab my saw and cut every potential hazard out around a pile everytime.
that being said, It is still a production environment.

why did it decide to go at that particular time? Who knows.

Being in the woods can be dangerous in its own right, but when you work in the woods... lets just say there is calculated acceptable risk that is always present.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do
Sometimes You just have to have trust that God is looking out for you.

In the end there are times you just have to thank God for saving your butt, as I did today, and learn not to share the close calls with your wife.



Oh, and make sure when you do cut the tree and are stepping away, or running, away from the thing... Keep an eye on it. I didn't once... never again
 
Ac
No disrespect Brad but I think sometimes you "hot shot" it up for the camera. Slow down and be safe. Show off the speed of your saws when cutting rounds. You lost 30 seconds of your cut when you were knocked out anyway. I'm glad your still on the right side of the grass.
Actually, that's just the way I'm wired. I would love to slow down sometimes when I see myself on video.
 
Sometimes its not about being complacent.

Let me share a little incident that happened to me today.

I was up on the edge of a clear cut area skidding the last unit in the row way up at the top of the hill.
There were no trees hanging over it that caught my eye and the tree line was close but not too close.
as I was feeding the choker under the unit I heard a small "crack", sounded like the logs were just settling so I waited a second.
Just then a tree top landed 2 ft from my head as I was leaning over the pile.
Didn't see it coming
it was a pine snag about 12" in diameter and the top that would have hit my head was about 3"
Can you say Lights Out.

Could that have been avoided? Maybe. The area is riddled with deadfall and snags. I maybe could have looked a little more thoroughly, but still may have missed it as my guess was that it was standing fairly upright and the feller buncher must have loosened it up.

If I did see it and recognized it as a hazard I probably would have kept my eye on it but done nothing about it in reality. I cannot go grab my saw and cut every potential hazard out around a pile everytime.
that being said, It is still a production environment.

why did it decide to go at that particular time? Who knows.

Being in the woods can be dangerous in its own right, but when you work in the woods... lets just say there is calculated acceptable risk that is always present.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do
Sometimes You just have to have trust that God is looking out for you.

In the end there are times you just have to thank God for saving your butt, as I did today, and learn not to share the close calls with your wife.



Oh, and make sure when you do cut the tree and are stepping away, or running, away from the thing... Keep an eye on it. I didn't once... never again
sounds familier............that little voice that says MOVE, i always listen. IDK who's voice it is but i trust it.
 
This past winter I was cutting on my log pile next to a big white pine I heard a snap above me even over the chainsaw noise. I dropped the saw and dove over the log pile, about a 20 foot 10" dia. pine branch cashed down from about 50-60 feet up landing less than 20 feet away. I should have known better cutting under that tree after a wet heavy snow. There are other stupid things that have almost killed me, things that only me and god know about, I'm not telling.
 

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