Kogafortwo
ArboristSite Guru
A home builder in my area offered to let me have some of the trees off one of his building sites for firewood. So last night, He and I worked together to drop 4 or 5 small oaks (4" to 10" dbh). I had him do the dropping, since I figured it was his property, his liability, and he must have some skills doing this. I thought I would watch and learn. So, I showed up with my Stihl, felling wedge, rope, chaps, safety glasses, axes, and the usual tools.
Each tree we approached, I started talking to him about which way he wanted it to drop, where did he want to start the face cut, let's get a rope in it to pull with my 4wd in case it wants to fall the wrong way, etc. I also told him I would get the wedge in as soon as his bar was buried so he could finish the back cut safely and get it falling where we wanted. Basically I wanted to work safe and use some of the good techniques I've learned here on AS.
So what happened? As soon as we got to a tree, he fires up the saw and starts making random face cuts, none of them at more than a 20-30 degree angle, he never lined up with the bottom of his face cut to see if the hinge would point exactly where he wanted, and he started every back cut in a different place, most of them having nothing to do with the face cut he just finished. No chance to correct him mid-cut, things were happening too fast.
Three trees about 35-40 feet tall hung up in the branches of the neighboring trees. The trunks came off the stumps and stuck in the ground. Then he started carving away at them to get the trunk to fall some more. On one of the trees he did this 4 times in a row until it was low enough to free itself from the canopy and fall. This was the most scary part and there was no stopping him.
Anyway, I figured the best I could do was be there in case he hurt himself and offer as much safety related help as I could. There just wasn't much to be done outside of throwing a fit and telling him to stop, or leaving. He has probably done hundreds of drops like this over the years without getting hurt and figures it's the way to do it. All the techniques and safety precautions I was talking about were probably a big waste of time in his eyes.
The thing is, he is a really nice guy, and was being generous letting me come out there and take the wood. He has gone out of his way to call me and let me know when he's got wood ready for me, and has a rep as one of the most honest homebuilders around.
I'm not mad at the guy at all. He didn't do anything to endanger me and was helping me out getting some free wood more than me helping him. I guess I'm more worried about him and other guys out there working the same way every day.
I should mention that when I showed up at the site, he was about 15 feet up on a ladder, running an electric pole saw one-handed another 10 feet over his head making stub cuts and not wearing a hard hat. Not looking for advice so much as blowing off steam. I spent a good day today cutting, splitting, and stacking what I hauled off his site.
How to get good men like this to come around to the safe and professional way of doing things? He builds great houses, just his woodsmanship is scary.
Each tree we approached, I started talking to him about which way he wanted it to drop, where did he want to start the face cut, let's get a rope in it to pull with my 4wd in case it wants to fall the wrong way, etc. I also told him I would get the wedge in as soon as his bar was buried so he could finish the back cut safely and get it falling where we wanted. Basically I wanted to work safe and use some of the good techniques I've learned here on AS.
So what happened? As soon as we got to a tree, he fires up the saw and starts making random face cuts, none of them at more than a 20-30 degree angle, he never lined up with the bottom of his face cut to see if the hinge would point exactly where he wanted, and he started every back cut in a different place, most of them having nothing to do with the face cut he just finished. No chance to correct him mid-cut, things were happening too fast.
Three trees about 35-40 feet tall hung up in the branches of the neighboring trees. The trunks came off the stumps and stuck in the ground. Then he started carving away at them to get the trunk to fall some more. On one of the trees he did this 4 times in a row until it was low enough to free itself from the canopy and fall. This was the most scary part and there was no stopping him.
Anyway, I figured the best I could do was be there in case he hurt himself and offer as much safety related help as I could. There just wasn't much to be done outside of throwing a fit and telling him to stop, or leaving. He has probably done hundreds of drops like this over the years without getting hurt and figures it's the way to do it. All the techniques and safety precautions I was talking about were probably a big waste of time in his eyes.
The thing is, he is a really nice guy, and was being generous letting me come out there and take the wood. He has gone out of his way to call me and let me know when he's got wood ready for me, and has a rep as one of the most honest homebuilders around.
I'm not mad at the guy at all. He didn't do anything to endanger me and was helping me out getting some free wood more than me helping him. I guess I'm more worried about him and other guys out there working the same way every day.
I should mention that when I showed up at the site, he was about 15 feet up on a ladder, running an electric pole saw one-handed another 10 feet over his head making stub cuts and not wearing a hard hat. Not looking for advice so much as blowing off steam. I spent a good day today cutting, splitting, and stacking what I hauled off his site.
How to get good men like this to come around to the safe and professional way of doing things? He builds great houses, just his woodsmanship is scary.
