When it all goes wrong

[micky boy]

Something happened to me in the forest the other day and all I can do is look back and snigger realy. :D Every now and again when things are going great some little gremlin manages to pop his head out of a tree and make it all go wrong, surely this can't be down to cocky operator error or can it !  ;D
I was felling two Douglas Firs on an 8' banking and they had to stay on the banking (behind the tree line) and not in the extraction track. The first one measuring 4/5 cubic metres went perfect and the new colleague with me thought that it was a good fell, as did I. This put my ego up a bit as I thought that I had given him a good lesson in "how to".  The next tree (of same size) started off good. It headed toward the tight gap it had to fit between and then stopped. I looked up and saw a couple of limbs from the tree beside were just clinging to it thus preventing it from falling. Now looking bemused  :-\ I had to get this tree down in a professional manner in order to keep the respect of my so called trainee. So do you think the tree came down as planned .............NO  >:( The winch was a short walk away and I thought I would save time and atleast put the tree down the track by gently cutting the hinge on one side to turn the tree, this usually works well but the wind thought different. (so he says) The tree broke off the hinge and fell 90 degrees sideways towards two semi mature oaks. We both swiftly moved out the way incase it jumped or kicked up, but no, it smashed through the oaks as if they weren't even there. Pushing one over and the other shattered  as if it was blown up by a bomb. What a mess ! So I turned to my colleague and said " there, that is not what to do. Lets see if we can clear this up before the boss sees" But the mess was a bit too much and I had to get the forwarder to assist in the clean up operation. It does knock your confidence a bit but the next day I was back in true form with all trees going just where they should.

So I was just wandering if anyone is man enough, or brave enough to tell there "gone wrong" stories or tell on someone else. It can create good reading and chuckle if nothing else. If you have never got it wrong then you are either lying or just damned good.

Happy felling all

[Furby]

You may want to check out this thread for a laugh or two.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=14521.0

[twoodward15]

SNICKER.  It's snicker, ya can't say that word down here.  You'll be in court in a new york minute if ya say that.

[JimBuis]

According to www.dictionary.com:

snig·ger   n.

    A snicker.


intr.v. snig·gered, snig·ger·ing, snig·gers

    To snicker.

There you have it.................the rest of the story. ;D  The word story that is.

[Chris J]

Where I live you'd best pronounce it clearly as snicker.

[dennisinmo]

My dad worked for the city at the "prison work farm" running a sawmill in KCMO. In the early 50's he had a log too big to cut with the circular sawmill. He bored holes in the log and packed them with either dynamite or black powder. They had split logs before like this with success. When this log exploded, half flew up into the air and landed on top of the saw. Superintendent took it lightly and put in a PO for a bigger saw.

[timberjack240]

one of my gone wrong stories. theres so many to pick from im not sure which one to choose  ;D . oh yea i no this doesnt have to do with sawin but i drag trees for pap. we had just put a new motor in the old jack and i thought i would see how far up the hill it wood pull in 3rd so instead of shiftin down on the brigde i was gonna keep goin. i was borin away and seen one of paps "riggins" which is a rope goin from the winch lever to the grabhandle was tangled in the heater hose so i was tryin to untangle it while diggin away through the mud  to see "what it wood do". now everything was goin good till i got to the bridge and there was a slight bend. of course with me no lookin  i was headed strate and never truned and all at once woomp down she went bout 6 ft hangin just above the water. i got er stopped an went to get pap when he saw it he just shook his head and when we got it out he sed "i pulled yur uncle ouuta alot of places but ive never had to get him and his skidder back on the road cause it was hangin off a bridge"  ;D what a fine day that was  :D  8)

[micky boy]

Thanks Furby, I didnt realise there was a recent post on the subject.

Timberjack240.  I have driven a 230 often in the last three years, it has seen its best days now.  Each of us in the gang have all had our mis haps whilst driving it. Once the forwarder driver was in control of it.......and soon lost control. He was winching a heavy pull out of some thinnings over a very steep coastal hill- very nearly a cliff really. (I don't know if it was the same for all but this models hand brake was engaged when you stepped on the brakes and pulled the lever back thus locking out the foot pedal) any way the jack started sliding backwards  the brakes weren't holding and the driver got no response from the foot brakes so he swiftly steered the back into a tree which went into another tree with the jacks ass end finishing 10' up in the air with 2 pushed over trees. Had the trees not been there then he would have been down the cliff (200'/250' drop almost straight down). My scary journey in the old beast was when it jumped out of gear going down a 40% slope into a clearfell, eventually when the blade went down and dug in I stopped against a cut stump- with a bang, I got out expexting to find 2 broken pins on the arms that hold the blade, but they were o.k.  Wow, what a ride.     8)
Timberjack rules !

[timberjack240]

Timberjack rules !
hey i like the way you think   8) another wonderful day was when i backed ofver a birch tree and i thought  my pap was a little bit more to the right. well he wasnt. and just he fine tips smacked him and i could clearly see that he was mad cause his face was bright red . and you older fellas know what gettin switched feels like well after pap got cooled down he came over and sed i ahvent been switched like that since i was a kid  ;D

[alderman]

I was clearing out some small Alder trees on my place.  I finished clearing up one side of a small draw and decided to cross over and drop one on the other side.  I left my gas can across the draw but eyeballing it I just knew I couldn't possibly hit it.  When the tip of the tree hit it, it split right down the middle.

[sawguy21]

 :D :D :D :D Let's see you do that a second time.

[micky boy]

You're not the first to hit your can. I always used a a gallon can for my fuel and a seperate can for my chain lube both joined by a strop but the boss kept on about a combination can and I wouldn't buy one as I was happy the way i was, so he bought one anyway for me and I used it, certainly easier to carry one can, any way only two days later I put a Douglas tip right across the middle and broke it. Got it fixed and after lots of near misses I haven't hit it since.
Going back to the timber jack. Its owner had a lucky escape in it last year, after winching a big oak tree up a grass slope (in a field) the brakes failed sending the jack backeards down hil like a bolt from a cross bow. He jumped clear as it went. It hit the hedge at speed and cartwheeled twice and landed on its roof 2' deep in the soft earth- still ticking over ! Surprisingly no damage was done- only pride.

[timberjack240]

Surprisingly no damage was done.... thats a purebred jack right there boys  ;D  8)