tripping a widow maker

Back to the video discussion, you say prior to cutting the tree that the strap at the top will allow you "a little extra escape time" and another time you say "you can step back and watch it go, you don't have to be anywhere near the cut."

Then in the video, the strap lets go before you are able to even remove the saw from the trip cut at the bottom. So you got the benefit of not having the bar pinched, but in hindsight, wouldn't you have wanted a bit more meat on the top strap?

-Tom
 
Oh Daniel , you post a good video and than you can't help but put a foot in your mouth . The way you bolt from a tree when you dropped them in your compiliation video was a joke . Looked like you got stung by bees in every cut . Stand there and take it in , to me is back off , slowly , and watch the tree fall . I 'll bet you this , If you placed a heart monitor on each of us and we made cuts all day . Your heart be bouncing like a basketball. You cut a tree over and it looks like a little kid playing ding dong ditch . Anyway that was a good video , didn't run like Forest Gump that time. Tony , good job too .
 
This is how the USFS teaches how to "Walk Down" a hung up tree. It should work the same for a partially uprooted tree. Its a pretty effective, safe, and ergonomic approach. The farther up the tree you reach, the more drop you will get, however you need to work in a little less ergonomic way, and the tree has an increased chance, though seemingly little chance of dropping on your foot. By cutting this way, you only need to get close enough to have the bar tip at the halfway point across the tree, if you have stopped cutting with Cut 2-offside at the half way point. If you wanted to cut Cut 2 further, you may, in some situations, need to use a wedge to keep it open. This would allow you to stand a few inches further back.
 

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Daniel,

It's O.K I am not afraid of the fact that we disagree. In my arboricultural career, Riggs has been a source of inspiration and humor as well as a respected mentor. I am not afraid to disagree with him either.

If I am looking for advice on driving fast, I'll give credence to a professional race car driver's opinion every time. It would be kinda like asking a logger about felling trees!!
wink.gif


We all move through this world the best way we can. I'll hold you to that standard if you hold me to it.
thk.gif


Tony
 
I was logging today. Naturally hung up a few trees. In my opinion, blocking down a tree from the ground is always sketchy business.
When cutting (I am a contracted sawyer) I have only a saw, axe and wedges, no machinery to help, unless its a merchantable tree, then I flag it and the skidder can pull it out. Other then that I am on my own, so, I am always open to new ways to get a tree on the ground.
With that in mind I tried out Daniels method today. I liked it. thats all I am gonna say. It didnt seem to leave much time to get the hell out of there after the hinge let loose, but I havnt come across to many methods of blocking down hung trees that do allow for escape time (with the tools I have)...
So, tomorrow I will try out Seans method he posted, see how it goes.
Thanks for adding tricks to my bag guys!
Be safe
 
[ QUOTE ]
I was logging today. Naturally hung up a few trees. In my opinion, blocking down a tree from the ground is always sketchy business.
When cutting (I am a contracted sawyer) I have only a saw, axe and wedges, no machinery to help, unless its a merchantable tree, then I flag it and the skidder can pull it out. Other then that I am on my own, so, I am always open to new ways to get a tree on the ground.
With that in mind I tried out Daniels method today. I liked it. thats all I am gonna say. It didnt seem to leave much time to get the hell out of there after the hinge let loose, but I havnt come across to many methods of blocking down hung trees that do allow for escape time (with the tools I have)...
So, tomorrow I will try out Seans method he posted, see how it goes.
Thanks for adding tricks to my bag guys!
Be safe

[/ QUOTE ]

You should consider buying a few extra rigging lines and a GRCS... Just thinking outside the box a bit, I think you could make your job more efficient and more safe!

-Tom
 
Depends on how they get hung up.
Sometimes you can hinge it and cut one side of the hinge out and the tree will roll out.
Sometimes you can use a cant hook and twist it out if you happen to have one.
Sometimes you can face the tree on the side or back and allow the weight of the top to push the tree over or you can pull it over with a rope.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I was logging today. Naturally hung up a few trees. In my opinion, blocking down a tree from the ground is always sketchy business.
When cutting (I am a contracted sawyer) I have only a saw, axe and wedges, no machinery to help, unless its a merchantable tree, then I flag it and the skidder can pull it out. Other then that I am on my own, so, I am always open to new ways to get a tree on the ground.
With that in mind I tried out Daniels method today. I liked it. thats all I am gonna say. It didnt seem to leave much time to get the hell out of there after the hinge let loose, but I havnt come across to many methods of blocking down hung trees that do allow for escape time (with the tools I have)...
So, tomorrow I will try out Seans method he posted, see how it goes.
Thanks for adding tricks to my bag guys!
Be safe

[/ QUOTE ]

You should consider buying a few extra rigging lines and a GRCS... Just thinking outside the box a bit, I think you could make your job more efficient and more safe!

-Tom

[/ QUOTE ]


tom, no disrespect but i highly doubt he would want to punk all that crap all over the woods.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I was logging today. Naturally hung up a few trees. In my opinion, blocking down a tree from the ground is always sketchy business.
When cutting (I am a contracted sawyer) I have only a saw, axe and wedges, no machinery to help, unless its a merchantable tree, then I flag it and the skidder can pull it out. Other then that I am on my own, so, I am always open to new ways to get a tree on the ground.
With that in mind I tried out Daniels method today. I liked it. thats all I am gonna say. It didnt seem to leave much time to get the hell out of there after the hinge let loose, but I havnt come across to many methods of blocking down hung trees that do allow for escape time (with the tools I have)...
So, tomorrow I will try out Seans method he posted, see how it goes.
Thanks for adding tricks to my bag guys!
Be safe

[/ QUOTE ]

You should consider buying a few extra rigging lines and a GRCS... Just thinking outside the box a bit, I think you could make your job more efficient and more safe!

-Tom

[/ QUOTE ]

Tom,

you kidding me? yeah right. way to much weight to be hauling around. maybe a short rigging rope and fiddle block set up would be light enough.

you've never cut timber before?
 
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-Tom

[/ QUOTE ]


tom, no disrespect but i highly doubt he would want to punk all that crap all over the woods.

[/ QUOTE ]

oh, i see others already addressed it....
 
I learned a good trick for rolling out hung up trees from a logger.

You bore a square hole the width of a bar through the trunk at about waist level. Then you find a limb or something long and lever-like, shove it in the hole and and crank. You can combine it with the half cut face if necessary.

It's not an everyday thing but damn handy when you need to roll a tree and don't have a peavey.
 
[ QUOTE ]
"Getting out of the immediate area of a falling tree just makes good sense to me and seems a wise, simple precaution. Hence, I do it, every time, every tree and recommend it to others unabashedly."

I AGREE!!!



[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, i always try to walk or sometimes run away as well. I think it is good to do so.

A few weeks ago, well maybe 3 or 4 weeks now, I felled a really really really brittle dead oak. Put a throw line in it, with some guys pulling.

I said, as soon as I cut into this back cut, it will start going and I'm going to run like a little girl because it might start dropping some of those brittle limbs. And you guys gotta keep up with the pull because there is practically no wood that will hold up as hinge wood.

I cut in about 2 or 3 inches and it was going and I ran like hell. Smashed my right hand on a fence post cause I ran so fast.

when the tree hit the ground the trunk emploded into strips.

Looking at the cut stump and fallen trunk, you couldn't tell anything about the cut, everything broken apart. One of those trees that I have no idea how it was standing still.

I wish we recorded as much as Daniel, so much stuff is left only to our memories.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I learned a good trick for rolling out hung up trees from a logger.

You bore a square hole the width of a bar through the trunk at about waist level. Then you find a limb or something long and lever-like, shove it in the hole and and crank. You can combine it with the half cut face if necessary.

It's not an everyday thing but damn handy when you need to roll a tree and don't have a peavey.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice!

simple and effective.

Sounds like something I should have come up with.

Thanks for sharing Blinky!
 
No Norm, I haven't done it in significantly larger wood. maybe some in the 24" range, but its been about 5 years. Can't say what the largest was.

When I was running a fuel reduction crew in Lake Tahoe, I had to "walk down" trees if my crew members missed their felling lane and hung it up. Mostly, the more qualified feller took on the larger ones, so they were less likely to hang them. It works really well, IME.

We thought about putting a clothing hanger in the one guy's tent, as a joke. He got called the Hangman a few times.


Why do you ask about the >24" trees? Do you think that the mechanics would be significantly different?


I'll Paint a picture of what we did when the tree was becoming too vertical to have a predictable falling direction, and if we wanted to kick the butt out to one side of the other in order to try to adjust the way the hung tree came down the stationary tree.
 
The way trees hang up in logging will be on average much different than storm damaged trees faced by arborists.. Rolling a big tree that is jammed up or sitting on a roof is not going to happen.. still good to know that little trick...

Tony's analogy of asking a race driver about driving safety was a good one.. Their safety concerns are much different than street driving..

Its a big mistake to blindly follow the lead of out big brother loggers in many situations.. Great to learn technique from them, and very importnant to understand when and WHEN NOT to do as they do.
 
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