How did that fence get there?

WV Sawmiller · June 20, 2018, 07:02:17 PM

Not really a logging thread/topic but it is a tree cutting issue so I figured this was the proper place to post. I am sure you experts never have problems with pasture fences and such ;) or you have big equipment to ensure the trees always fall exactly where you want them to go. More likely you are just a lot better tree fellers than I am but this is a reminder for us amateurs who sometimes read and post - and maybe for you old timers to laugh at.

I cut a dead ash yesterday as part of an on-going salvage operation to convert as many as possible of my affected ash trees into lumber instead of woodpecker dens on my property. The tops and limbs make good home use firewood. Anyway the tree pretty much fell where I wanted it to go and I had correctly estimated the distance from the top of the tree to the pasture fence. What I had not taken into consideration was the big locust tree my ash was supposed to slide down beside. Locusts are pretty shallow rooted and this one just uprooted like a domino and came down with the ash. My carefully considered clearance from ash to fence did not include distance from fence to locust top. Yep, I leaned the fence over and broke one wood and one metal T-post off at the ground.

Not really a hard fix as some go. I cut the locust tops off the fence, stood it up enough to keep the horse and mule in overnight then installed 2 new metal posts and reconnected the fence this morning. Now I ended up with 51' of ash sawlogs, 32' of locust sawlogs, 2 or 3 7' locust fence posts for stock and maybe half a cord or so of ash and locust firewood. (I still don't know what I will use the locust for - pole? Benches? Lumber? At least it is very durable and there is no rush to saw it.) My deer are really happy with the locust tops and the grapevines I lowered to their height as well as a few maple and poplar leaves.

Anyway to make a long story short I guess this is just a reminder to us all to not just consider the height of the tree for clearance but also include a safety factor from other trees and limbs they may take with them.

Southside · June 20, 2018, 07:21:04 PM

We all have done it. The rule of thumb is three tree lengths as a safety measure to objects you don't want damaged, because exactly what happened to you can happen very quickly to anyone.

WDH · June 20, 2018, 08:14:34 PM

Two with one blow........

.

Don P · June 20, 2018, 08:57:11 PM

Been there done that, with the farmer, his wife and 2 friends watching my expert work :D. I saw locust into 6x6, 6x8 and 4/4 lumber whenever I get a good one.

teakwood · June 20, 2018, 09:24:02 PM

Every one who has fallen trees with a chainsaw has had such things happend! That's just normal human error, the important thing of making mistakes is to learn something from them.

I once stucked two saws in a tree and had to go home to get a third saw.

BargeMonkey · June 20, 2018, 09:45:04 PM

Green Locust will saw / split better green I've found. I've done some shady tree work around houses that was pushing my luck and been pretty good. Crushed a brand new 395 about 8yrs ago with a maple in the wind. Broke a tilt cylinder and took out the power to about 15 houses 2yrs ago, got to join that BIG BLUE FLASH CLUB 🤣

WV Sawmiller · June 20, 2018, 10:12:47 PM

Monkey,

Sounds familiar. I cut a big stink tree (Allanthus) a few years ago. Wrapped a cable around it, chained the ATV to a walnut in the front yard got tension on it and cut it. It started falling in the direction I waned then got slack and rotated 90 degrees across the power lines over my creek and knocked out power to my neighbors all up and down the creek for several miles. The bad thing about it was 10 seconds after I knocked out the power my Guardian back up genset cranked up and powered my house till the electric company repairman came and fixed the lines a couple hours later. I caused the problem but was the only one on the neighborhood with power. I bet I could not have got a vote for dog catcher about that time.

Skeans1 · June 20, 2018, 10:34:36 PM

I think the worst one I've had is putting a big fir right down the center of a double alder splitting them right in half towards a property line.

mike_belben · June 20, 2018, 11:51:39 PM

Yeah ive had a few of those days

petefrom bearswamp · June 21, 2018, 07:18:30 AM

Oh that poor atv.

GAB · June 21, 2018, 08:52:55 AM

I hope you fellows don't get too upset with me, however I do not want to join your Power Outage club.
I did misread a beech tree one day and it went ~ 110* CW from where I was aiming. When the dust setled I had 4 trees to cut up for firewwod. A 5th tree was damaged and I should have taken it down also, as it did not make it.
Gerald

WV Sawmiller · June 21, 2018, 08:56:05 AM

Yeah, my basket on my ATV has a sharp bend in it. Same tree "customized" my LogRite. I started to cut one big poplar up the holler behind and above my pasture then spotted another closer, gauged the distance and figured it would miss the ATV so I cut it. It landed dead center on my LogRite and they are tough but a 1600 bf poplar will change their profile when properly (improperly?) placed. The falling tree broke another limb which landed on my Kawasaki 650. I was able to take the winch and pull most of the bend back out and was very lucky not to have done mechanical instead of just cosmetic damage to it.

Skeans1 · June 21, 2018, 09:01:18 AM

Just curious how tall are these trees most of you guys are dealing with?

mike_belben · June 21, 2018, 09:15:02 AM

It was one day after i bought the dang thing.

tree came unglued, bounced off the dozer cab and slid to the side, wedged between the track and a dirt pile which kept it up just enough not to completely flatten it.

Still using it today

WV Sawmiller · June 21, 2018, 11:56:35 AM

Quote from: Skeans1 on June 21, 2018, 09:01:18 AMJust curious how tall are these trees most of you guys are dealing with?

The ash in this case was probably 75-80 ft tall. The big poplar that landed on my LogRite was well over 100'. The Allanthus on the power line was probably 70-80 ft tall.

Most of the time I am also cutting on a steep slope. The trunk of the tree often lands 10-20 ft from the stump it was cut off.

TKehl · June 21, 2018, 12:21:29 PM

I feel for you. Haven't done that... yet, but have had a few mishaps of my own.

bwstout · June 21, 2018, 12:36:35 PM

Did this to my brand new L47 had 10 hrs on it was moving a dead pine that feel across the road on our deer lease and pick it up too high and it slide down the loader and fell on the steering wheel I thought it was going to fall in my lap new I was a goner on this one but it but of it hung on another tree and it lodge had to do a lot of wiggling to get it off

mike_belben · June 21, 2018, 01:47:23 PM

Now thats scary!

bwstout · June 21, 2018, 01:53:53 PM

yes sir lesson learned :

brother says I too old to be by myself do too much stupid stuff not sure if that is age or just me ;D

WV Sawmiller · June 21, 2018, 02:14:14 PM

BW,

Sounds like my wife talking. I worked all over the world in some real remote and usually real sketchy areas and my wife was always worried about me when I was away. Finally my old scuba diving partner told her not to worry about me when I was off in some jungle or war zone or such. He assured her I when I got killed it would be at home on my 4 wheeler or on the lake or by cutting a tree on myself or such. And that was before I got the mill and started cutting a few more trees than just for firewood.

Skeans1 · June 21, 2018, 04:16:17 PM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on June 21, 2018, 11:56:35 AM
Quote from: Skeans1 on June 21, 2018, 09:01:18 AMJust curious how tall are these trees most of you guys are dealing with?
The ash in this case was probably 75-80 ft tall. The big poplar that landed on my Logrite was well over 100'. The Allanthus on the power line was probably 70-80 ft tall.

Most of the time I am also cutting on a steep slope. The trunk of the tree often lands 10-20 ft from the stump it was cut off.

Oh ok short stuff then, the last steep patch I cut we quartered everything out butt up hill and if the tree was larger then the bar you were up on spring boards to reach your cut.

WV Sawmiller · June 21, 2018, 04:54:23 PM

May be short for you but reasonably typical for hardwoods on the east coast I'd speculate. It sounds like you may be talking about cutting big softwood/conifers like spruce or fir or such.

Nothing on my place has the big butt flare requiring use of a springboard or such. My grandfather use to girdle big cypress down in Fla and had to use springboards and such to get above the big flare area. They wanted to kill the trees before felling so they could cut them and float them out during high water periods. I don't know if anybody girdles trees for that purpose any more in the USA or Canada. Probably been a while since anybody rafted logs down our rivers.

Skeans1 · June 21, 2018, 08:07:11 PM

Yes bigger Doug fir, the only time you'll see us get up on boards is a far side is beyond your reach. Normally spruce out here you'll see stair steps put in the sides the guys will use instead of boards. Has anyone here played with red alder before?

thecfarm · June 21, 2018, 09:40:01 PM

I try to keep my stuff far away from what is falling. And I do mean far!! I will drop off the saw and needed equipment to do the cutting and drive the tractor far away.
I have backed into a few trees and wondered who put the tree behind me. :

I did pick a stump way up high once so it would stay in the bucket. But that did not work. It fell out of the bucket onto the hood. The tears was hitting the ground before the stump hit the hood. :(

TKehl · June 22, 2018, 08:57:57 AM

The first time we lit a big pile of Cedar (Stacked and packed with skid steer and grapple), I told dad to keep the truck back a ways as it would burn hot considering smaller piles we'd burned. We both thought we were far enough...

We moved the truck back twice and were thinking about doing it again when the fire finally hit it's peak and started settling down. ;)

Matt601 · June 22, 2018, 10:10:03 AM

Last month I was cutting some sweet gum off a pond levee letting them fall across a fence row in to a field. I would cut on on one side and as my son would cut it up and they would skid it to the truck. When they was doing that I cut another one or two in the other end of the levee. Well Brodie rode back with Gavin on the Tractor to get some water out the truck he left a 2 day old Husqvarna 372 sitting in the top of the last one they skidded. Well I moved back to that end of the levee and cut a 20" sweet gun and yep busted it all up. It landed right on top of that saw. $800 bucks down the toiltet! Needless to say he is back running a old Rancher 455. Mark it up lesson learn!

mike_belben · June 22, 2018, 10:11:56 AM

Owwwwwchhh. That burned.

coalsmok · June 23, 2018, 09:43:03 PM

I had purchased a lot and was clearing it off for a house site. Just bought a new echo saw and started on this project. About 8 trees in I had a tree twist and hang up in its neighbors. No big deal I thought, just cut it of a little ways up and it will slide right out. Nope done that three times and finally turned my bar into a u shape when the trees angle got to steep.
That tree ate a new bar and two chains before I got it out. Due to the landscape and walk in access cutting the other tree or pulling it down wasn't an option. Quick lesson on how important wedges and knowing how to properly cut a tree is.

enigmaT120 · June 29, 2018, 01:06:28 PM

Quote from: Skeans1 on June 21, 2018, 08:07:11 PM
Yes bigger Doug fir, the only time you'll see us get up on boards is a far side is beyond your reach. Normally spruce out here you'll see stair steps put in the sides the guys will use instead of boards. Has anyone here played with red alder before?

I've cut several down, just for firewood as I didn't have enough for a log load. Just about 2 feet diameter. I was worried about them barber chairing or something like that but they all went down nice and were not rotten in the middle.

Skeans1 · June 29, 2018, 03:29:48 PM

Quote from: enigmaT120 on June 29, 2018, 01:06:28 PM
Quote from: Skeans1 on June 21, 2018, 08:07:11 PM
Yes bigger Doug fir, the only time you'll see us get up on boards is a far side is beyond your reach. Normally spruce out here you'll see stair steps put in the sides the guys will use instead of boards. Has anyone here played with red alder before?
I've cut several down, just for firewood as I didn't have enough for a log load. Just about 2 feet diameter. I was worried about them barber chairing or something like that but they all went down nice and were not rotten in the middle.

One trick I was taught well cutting alder is to get the top to just barely move when taking your face out, then a fast even across back cut. Now for the super leaner alder the one that come off the hill side falling it till they search for sun light coos back cut them and run like no other.