How do I determine load direction?

[northmanlogging]

I'm really appreciating the wisdom you guys are offering.

I'm kinda addicted to this site and spend WAY too much time here, but there's always just "a little bit more" that I want to check out before I click off. (And not just the WTF pictures!)

I've learned a LOT from this site. One of the biggest things I've learned is that there is a LOT that I don't know. And, more importantly, I've learned that much of what I don't know can kill me.

So when I have a morning like this morning where I realize that there's a lot going on that I don't have enough experience to see, I figure I should run it past guys who actually know what they're doing.

Somebody already said it... but pick the easy ones, watch what happens with each cut, re assess after every cut, work slow and always have an escape route preferably 2, don't start cutting with #### hanging over your head, if possible work from the top of the pile down if not work the edges until everything is on the ground. If its still in the air it can fall on you, on the ground things will roll and slide but that is more predictable to some extent.

Above all stay alert, #### happens and it happens fast, you start getting tired or scared back off or call it a day.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Dammit, there's no DONETTOS emoticon.

 

[paccity]

internet stuff and your hurricane windthrowns isn'tthe place to get basic stuff down.
Find someone with solid experience to show you safe way to saw this stuff up or just leave it be if it's not a danger.

damn strait there,.

 

[lfnh]

nah

needs a chomp taken out and squished

 

[paccity]

throw some vine in to it to make it more of a puzzle .:msp_wink:

 

[lfnh]

yeah, vines. one that got missed is always a doosie.

vines and loaded wood a good reason to have someone along to keep you out of trouble. phone. cool headed lookout.

 

[twochains]

Most timber fellers are nearly useless in handling tangles created by storms.

Seriously? Just exactly what type of storm damage are you talking about? I assume residential? Before you made your rather harsh "blanket statement" you probably should have asked yourself when the last time a "Tree Service" did a Forest Service bid in a blowdown unit.

I just recently cut 54 pole trailer loads in 14 days straight on a Forest Service blow down job... glad to know I'm in the "Nearly Useless" category.

 

[RandyMac]

You need hands-on help from someone with storm damage experience. Most timber fellers are nearly useless in handling tangles created by storms.

I have worked a lot of storm damage tangles and am very picky about the people I work with in that stuff. Some listen, some know it all, most pro fellers fit in the later category. Experience gained from working with people who have done storm work is the only way to learn to read the forces. Even then there are still surprises in the way trees under multiple stresses react when cut. You are very lucky you only got a stuck saw.

This is a double tapered item, best step over it.

 

[imagineero]

You've already received some good answers. The binds are so hard to read in blowdown, and it's often compound bind too. The tree maybe top bound, side sprung, and wanting to twist all at the same time, and as you cut it and other things shift the bind may change again. You can get some good advice by posting pics here, try to include as many angles as you can and you might learn something. There are no rules, because there's so many exceptions to each one... so nobody can really lay out guidelines for this sort of stuff. Do look at it a lot, step back, look more. Think about how it's going to shift. Uplifted root crowns are especially dangerous.

Shaun

 

[Gologit]

This is a double tapered item, best step over it.

Yup, or maybe push it out of the way with the side of your boot so nobody else steps in it.

 

[RandyMac]

Yup, or maybe push it out of the way with the side of your boot so nobody else steps in it.

brown paper flagging

 

[1270d]

One of the guys didn't make it off the landing one day, and left some "brown paper flag" there. A little bit later the forester came by and saw the flagging and not the product. He pocketed the rags. Messy loggers. Always cleaning up after em.

 

[bustedup]

I thought about telling him to start with the little stuff, then I remembered seeing more people hurt from limbs under tension than trunks, so figured the best advice on how to do this one is none.

By the way there are these things called vehicles that transport people and tools all over the country to work or play, just because someone choses to live on the west coast doesn't mean they are idiots that have never worked any other place.

Well for my sins I have worked on both coasts and not just in the states ............I wonder ifn you been fired from a falling crew or never made the grade that you always being rude to fallers???


Well in response to your rudeness ......my answer ......good scots saying (west coast one even) ......Away and raffle yer doughnut ya numpty ............

 

[roberte]

Well for my sins I have worked on both coasts and not just in the states ............I wonder ifn you been fired from a falling crew or never made the grade that you always being rude to fallers???


Well in response to your rudeness ......my answer ......good scots saying (west coast one even) ......Away and raffle yer doughnut ya numpty ............

opcorn:

 

[slowp]

Donut raffle. Yummmy.

 

[1270d]

Donut raffle. Yummmy.

I'll give five bucks for a dozen since it a raffle

 

[056kid]

You need hands-on help from someone with storm damage experience. Most timber fellers are nearly useless in handling tangles created by storms.

I have worked a lot of storm damage tangles and am very picky about the people I work with in that stuff. Some listen, some know it all, most pro fellers fit in the later category. Experience gained from working with people who have done storm work is the only way to learn to read the forces. Even then there are still surprises in the way trees under multiple stresses react when cut. You are very lucky you only got a stuck saw.

You are kidding right? Maybe the "fallers" over there in flat land are ignorant. But a good faller is going to know more about bind and how to deal with it than anyone else I can think of. Lots of timber cutters have had the pleasure of cutting whole jobs of nothing but blowdown timber, some last years at a time. But they wouldnt know right? Jesus...
To the op, get Doug Dents book and read up.

 

[treeslayer2003]

nope, bolwdown on flatland still tricky. I think Randy got it right, jus step over it.

 

[paccity]

:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[hammerlogging]

I cant believe that guy said that and obviously has never hung out among professional fallers.

What, you gonna bring a yard guy and a cub scout handbook?

"#### me dead", as an old aussie friend would say.

Don't forget the rake.


To the poster, I wish I could come do this for you. Maybe you can find a pro thats closer, to take care of the techinical stuff, get everything on the ground for you. Work out a trade instead of cash if its better. Otherwise, be safe and best to you.