What is the most bonehead mishaps you have seen in logging?

[jocco]

Been wanting to ask this for awhile (Do no want to get in to serious injury or fatality)  (Example skidder fliped over on a flat wood yard)  I have seen many, most as a particepent.

[jocco]

Many years ago was clearing a road on a property  2-3 man crew WE sat large brush cutter down and went ahead with chainsaw First tree i drop bent the cutters shaft up like a u. Me had to go to the boss and exsplain it (plus pay for it)

[T Welsh]

Most of them done by me! and no one saw it happen other than me. so I say they did not happen! But I sure did learn some lessons on what not to do again . putting my saw in back of the rear tire of the loader so no one would run over it. some one parked the crawler in front of the loader and I forgot about the saw and backed over it myself :D. Tim

[Decked]

On the way home one afternoon, we stopped to visit a logging crew. They were telling us about the skidder being on its first day back since they rebuilt the motor in their shop. It was coming up a slight grade to the landing with a good hitch behind it. I said"boy, it sure sounds nice!" The words were barely out when BANG!!!

The starter knocked the side cover OFF..then flew another good 20 feet into the bushes. Smoke, steam, anti-freeze, oil & hyd. fluid all running out of it 

There was a fist sized hole in the block where a rod came thru punching the starter.

I've neveh heard anything stop that quick in my life!!!!

A few weeks later they told me they figured they missed a snap ring on a wrist pin...

Telling on myself, I've been known to run over a chainsaw or few :

[Decked]

Another fun time..

I loved to get my cutter guy under a hemlock tree loaded with snow. Now & then he'd get the saw pinched & need a 'push'. I couldn't stop myself from crankin' the wheel enuff to jar the tree with the blade dumping all the snow down his neck ;D

One time, I was coming in to grab a hitch...there he was...humped up taking a poop..HE CAN"T RUN AWAY with his pants around his ankles :D..I kinda carefully dropped the blade & rolled snow up on his feet :D

A few days later..he got even....I went for a large tree..went to throw a choker on it ..THERE IT WAS...steaming like a pot of hot coffee...he CRAPPED on the log where the choker should go...he's a few yards away..GRINNIN! :D


Then there was the time I slipped & fell into a huge pile of porcupine poop...

Then the time my 540D was new out of the box..cutter lost a tree & it hit my new Deere..put a dang dent in the roof ..just bad enuff that the rain dripped down MY neck...had to put a pc. of plastic on the rear of the cage to stop that. I was *pithed for a day or 2 over that one...

I could go on & on.............

[Banjo picker]

Picture of me with blood running down my face from not wearing a hard hat. Banjo

[Red Pill]

Most of them done by me! and no one saw it happen other than me. so I say they did not happen! But I sure did learn some lessons on what not to do again . putting my saw in back of the rear tire of the loader so no one would run over it. some one parked the crawler in front of the loader and I forgot about the saw and backed over it myself :D. Tim

Now THAT'S funny!

[Bobus2003]

Was pulling wood in to the landing, using a tree to help slide the trees around the 90* turn. Made the trip many many times before, came in to the landing tree hung up before i could drop the winch and punch in the clutch i had pulled the skidder part way over.. Slow flop over, had enough time to reach down shut off the key and brace for the fall.. Whoops. Used the Skid steer to flip it back over on its wheels



 

[jocco]

Well a few more: on a crew (mountain ) guy went sidehill and flipped the skidder over they righted it, later that after noon he did it again Boss sent him home. Numereous people hit with a pinched choker when it came lose and numerous spring pole mishaps.
   One crew got 1 new saw Went to work later in the day the saw was missing. Some one had put it on the skidder AM and it came off in deep mud never to be seen again funny part everyone though the other person  had it.

[Decked]

Was pulling wood in to the landing, using a tree to help slide the trees around the 90* turn. Made the trip many many times before, came in to the landing tree hung up before i could drop the winch and punch in the clutch i had pulled the skidder part way over.. Slow flop over, had enough time to reach down shut off the key and brace for the fall.. Whoops. Used the Skid steer to flip it back over on its wheels



 

MIGHT AS WELL GREASE THE U-JOINTS ,SINCE IT'S EASY TO GET TO THEM...

[sawguy21]

It is not a matter of if a skidder will roll, it's a matter of when.  ;D

[inthewoods]

Not exactly logging related
Once when I was about 16, a buddy and I had a brake caliper off a truck in the woods without a clamp or anything similar to push the pistons in.  We tried some leverage in a few ways unsuccessfully and finally decided to place a bar across em and stand on it.  Worked well & perfectly shot brake fluid in both our eyes! 

Just a few years later I too started perfecting the run your saw over with your skidder move.

[Woodchuck53]

Happy early New Year to all. As long as we learn from our past challenges. Right? I now on a good pair of Stilh chaps. And wear them when I work.

We will take no further questions from the audience.

[jocco]

We will take no further questions from the audience. I like this one may have to put it in my archive. teeter_totter

[lumberjack48]

One of my pulp pilers had a mishap!

I was felling Aspen for a couple peelers, i had an Ole 800 Homelite, i threw the chain off, the saw was still running when i was walking by bill, he was peeling like a mad man, his butt up in the air, he didn't notice me. I just couldn't help my self, i sunk up behind him, put the bar up between his legs and pulled the trigger. Now i have to tell you i have never seen a man move so fast and disappear in the woods [ he was flat butt gone]
Now, when he came back out of the woods he wasn't a very happy camper. He was a big boy, for while i thought i was going to get the worst end of it, he broke down and started laughing, lucky me.  [ 1965 ]

[sawguy21]

 :D I have seen that stunt pulled, the poor guy just stared toward the ground waiting for the blood.
One of our ground crew decided to show off his prowess with a chainsaw so he and a buddy dropped a fairly large spruce. The top snapped off as the tree fell drilling him, he is now a paraplegic. He was not employed as a feller, his audience was not supposed to be within 100' feet of the tree and he did not move far enough as the tree fell. Compensation did not fully cover him if at all, I never got the details.

[lumberjack48]

I had no Compensation coverage , thats why the wife is out cleaning houses. My van is broke down , i have no way to go anywhere, i have no way to go to the doctor. We have no idea how were going to pay for heating fuel.
But you know guys life goes on, the wife looks at me, she says , things will work out. Shes been one tough girl, it will be 23 yrs in Feb. that she was taken care of me.

[Taylortractornut]

I was running a D7G with a KG blade clearing a ROW for a company I was working with.     We had 120 acres to clear and we couldnt give the timber away at the time.  Several hundred 20  to 35 inch syp on site and several hardwoods.   We were digging the stumps and  shoving the trees over with  excavators and track loader.    I was to cut a perimiter with the D7 and make a buffer for the  Vegetation zone.      It was getting late and I had to make 2 more passes around the whole site to finish for the day.    On my last round I could see the truck and I  let my blade  grazed a 30 inch  pine that had been dead a while.  Ii didnt have a limb the whole  length of the tree.   When grazed it I slowed down for a  swale I was  about to cross.     

That whole tree seperated from the core and filled the cab full of rotten wood.    About  knee deep.    I walked the dozer to my truck and a friend  had to help clean it out.      The next day my friend that had  the laugh out of me   was helping me re cable the winch on the back of one of the TD15s on site.    He det a gallon bucket of cable lub on the fuel tank withthe  dozer idling.  The bucket vibrated off and fell straight on his head.      He wore his new color  for about a month.     

Same job the logger we gave the logs to was using a skidder  with a pintle hitch on the rear pulling a converter dolly for a pullout truck.              His head honcho wa pulling a load out threw the cables over the load so he could drop the. load for the truck.      He threw the last cable over and it hit a powerline and the blat burnt his mustache off.       Also saw them pulling a load out with this set up and jackknifed pulling up   hill and spilt logs. 

For the same company I was working for on another job a logger asked me to  make short road  and a landing for him.        I got the  landing knocked out  and waiting for a load of 3 inch stone I was watching the skidder operators  going through a  wet patch.  They had 518 Cable rigs and  were dropping the drags and getting to the other side to winch out  almost without stopping.      All of a sudden one of the skidders went a little farther without  pulling the load up then I saw the cable  dancing on the ground coiling up.     That skidder didnt have the  drum wedge to lock the cable in the drum.   

I was at the local chipmill a few years ago and the crane operator   had a young  schooltrained truckdriver  dropping a load off.     They  use a big gantry crane to unload and the  guy had comm off the road driving a van body.     He didnt use the  unbinding station and  just pulled into the crane. He also didnt get out of the cab either. About that time we heard on the radio him screaming.   The cran grabbed the tied down load  and had the trailer about  7 feet off the ground.   Pretty funny at the time.   

I saw a friend of mine that  was a  mechanic in the woods pull an arch off a  Prentice skidder for a repair.  He got it  back on and  hadnt unhooked the ling off the arch and  it was still hooked  on his  service truck crane.    He got on the phone and told the operator it was ready to go.  He took off and luckily looded back to see the truck leaning over on the service bed outrigger.    It also unped out a few trays of tools.

[HiTech]

Dragging the cable and choker chain down a very steep hill to get a nice cherry log. Hooking the choker to the tree and never to the juice harp. Getting back up the hill and on the skidder and starting to winch and finding out the cable is coming back with no tree attached to it. lol Talk about some bad words....lol

[lumberjack48]

I ran over my partner two times, NO, NO,  my saw guys  :D

I had just bought it, a new 70 Plus Partner, i had it back in the tool box on my C5. I was decking wood, i rolled back, i thought i saw something yellow, i give the trees another push, rolled back again, more yellow.
I got off the skidder, there was my saw push in the ground, you know what goes though your head [ JUNK]
Lucky the ground was soft, a new rewind, new handle and chain guard, off an running.

The same skidder, my son was running it, he was carrying my 266, yes, don't ask, same place. I was up by the pickup, he came walking out of the woods carrying two pieces of the 266, he says that he doesn't have a clue what happened. It looked like something bite it in two, it took use awhile to figure out what happened. I finally found a kink in the mainline, Sure enough the mainline lassoed the saw and when he winched in, it cut the saw in two, there was nothing usable

[Randy88]

Brings back some memories, back when I was in high school, a local farmer bought a brand new pickup and the same week he cut the tree down in front of his house, not sure just how it happened, been told several different ways it came about the end result was the large maple tree landed between the cab and the box and it was a total loss, the picutres of it  hung at a local business for decades.   

Another one was some drinking was involved and a joy ride with a pickup on the way home and a stream to cross to get out of where they were at, well to see just how far up and down the stream you can drive the pickup resulted in finding a hole in the stream bed and after it sank and the stuff floated out the windows that was in the cab and the occupants swam to shore.............................. it was determined that you could drive about 300 feet beyond the creek crossing before dropping it into a hole and losing your pickup.

Another was also alcohol related, some wood cutters were cutting wood and one just happened to own a wrecker as well, a smaller pickup sized one that fit on the back of a 3/4 ton pickup, he was using the wrecker to winch out logs so he could cut the firewood up after it was pulled out of the brush, well after one too many beers and one too large of logs for his wrecker, he upended the wrecker while pullng out a large log from an angle he never should have attempted in the first place, don't recall the outcome other than the next week he had a differenct wrecker to use for his towing business.

[jocco]

Was cutting one day near a river and a bunch of boneheads came down the road with 2 jeeps and tried to cross a beaver dam. They ruptured it and was stuck bad, road flooded. Had all we could do to get them out with c 5 tree farmer.

[saltydog]

when i was in my teens i worked for a crew there were 6 cutters. we rode to work in a van they supplied saws, gas ,bar oil .we picked up feul on the way to work filled saws at jobsite took to the timber for about 5 min all back at the truck saws wont run.boss never mixed the gas. i sure double check it in my own saws.i did have cutter on my crew fill his saw with my ice tea .he thought it was my saw gas it was in a milk jug.i had a cutter cut a large spruce and hang it up.he was a young guy and as many do they try to cut the biggest wood first.i tried to pull it down with the forwarder but couldnt. it was about 20 inches at stump limbs to the ground.i told him to go start a strip somwhere else i would get it down it was a 400 acr job he did but cut his way right back to it and it got him along with 11 other trees he had cut trying to get the first one to fall.they all fell on him.needless to say it was a trip to the er.worst thing about it all the cutters strips were going east west he decided to go north south right into his old strip.theirs more but my one finger typing is done for now.

[John Mc]

Saw a YouTube video of a guy using his skidder to pull down trees that weren't leaning the way he wanted to go. Space was limited, so he was operating in the fall zone. His technique was to hook up and drive in the direction he wanted the tree to fall. Then, as it started to go, he'd turn 90 degrees and drive like hell to get out of the path.

Worked out pretty well for him... at least for 3 out of the 4 trees he took down in the video. The last one could have made him a candidate for the Darwin awards. He survived, but the skidder was heavily damaged.

Wish I could find that clip now.

[Tom L]

not in logging, but I had a guy one time start up the forklift that was kept inside the shop
and then proceed to back up right thru the garage door. the door was 10ft x 20 ft and the whole thing came down on top of the cab. all we could do was laugh.

had another guy last year on a forklift at a marina.(not my guy luckily) he was too lazy to carry the garbage can to the dumpster so he put it on the side of the lift and took a ride,
he drove thru the cones and proceeded to take down all the power lines with the mast.
I yelled to him not to move.as the lines were live. then apologized and then called the cops on him. 4 firetrucks, 6 cop cars and a crowd of 30 people stood there looking at him until the power company came and shut the power off. we did have some fun with him after the machine was moved out of the way.

[RobbyRob]

I know someone who's crew member went astray and cut down like 25 trees on someone else's land. Owner was *pithed not to mention a local judge who set the bail at 250,000 cash.
The dude sat in jail for 8 months waiting for trial.

[semologger]

I use a 221 hydroax with a shear head. would use the head in the front to haul gas oil jugs and chainsaw out for toping. well after lunch went back to cutting. opened my head up and droveing to a tree seen plastic parts come out. After a few minutes of bad words heard for miles. Headed back up the the landing and had to explain to dad what happened. good thing the saw was old and we needed a new one.
also one of my employes put a saw down behind the skidder one time and i didnt know it. Good thing the ground was wet. Dug it out of the ground and started right back up. Nothing broke some how.

[justincase]

This past Friday I was excited to hit the woods with my new husky 555 I mean brand new. Cut a hemlock starting limbing and chain came off damaging drivers on the chain. Luckily had another chain put it on and continued finishing first twitch. Set saw down and couldn't restart it. Grabbed old saw continued cutting and grabbed new saw and started first pull. Helped pull cable for 2nd twitch grabbed new saw and wouldn't start. I was fuming mad. Grabbed old saw continued cutting so on and so forth. Happened five times throughout the day and finally I said last twitch and was gonna head to saw shop. New saw started first pull cut a good size hardwood and it hung in another tree.  Saw wouldn't restart so my brother went to skidder to get other saw. I sat down regained my composure gave new saw one pull it started, I cut through hinge of tree to get it to fall and tree slid back and crushed my new saw four tanks of gas and it was fully broken in. $300 repair bill and oh by the way the ignition was bad. I shoulda stayed home.
ps. anybody wanna buy a 555 husky for $900

[beenthere]

That is a real bummer. Not that that saw didn't deserve it, but the outcome is much too painful to your pocketbook.

[Maine372]

i didnt witness it but was told the story.

crew was taking a s7 hough apart to redo center pins. put blocking under the front of the back half. just as soon as they pulled to two frames apart the back tipped backwards. apparently it was weighted behind the axle more than in front.

same crew was hauling up an icy hill with an f600 single drive axle and pin down dolly wheels. guy took a run for it on bare rubber and got stuck half way. proceeded to put the tire chains on the dolly wheels...... and drive out! not sure how that works but there were witnesses.

[Randy88]

I witnessed this one personally, still laugh every time I think of it, there was a repair shop doing work on a dump truck trying to remove the box hinge pins in back, they were not taking grease and in order to get them out the idiot had raised the box on the truck to full up extension, it had a multistage cylinder that mounted on the front of the box or as I call them the end dump style hoist.   When he had it up he then proceeded to pound out both hinge pins, one at a time and worked back and forth between the two, he had hoped to remove the harder to get out one first which he almost had pounded out before I stopped him to ask him a question, the question I asked him was this.   If your sitting on a three legged stool and someone pounds out one leg what will happen to the stool and you sitting on it, the answer he gave was this, any idiot would know the stool would fall over and I'd fall off.............................. to which he proceeded to go back pounding out the hinge pin, well I told him to wait one minute so I could leave the building he had the truck in and the hoist up at the time and I had no more than got back into my truck and was backing out when apparently he got the hinge pin out because the shop wall slowed the tipping over of the box and hoist, but just momentarily but then the wall supports gave way and the whole thing fell outside as it brought down the rafters as they too fell onto the truck.   

Some things in life are really scary, especially when they walk upright, vote and also reproduce.      He is in business to serve others and it was a customers truck and his own shop building.       

[snowstorm]

as the story goes there was a chip truck on the dumper when something on the dumper broke. it all came to the ground rather quickly. i saw the picture the trailer broke bent a lot truck is junk even bent all the wheels motor broken came out down looked pretty bad. happened a few days ago

[midwestlogger]

Working on very soft landing and skidder would give the truck a push to get started. The ol boy that hauled for us would sit in the truck till skidder came out with a hitch . If u came out and load was bound down he was ready. Skidder pushed, truck fired, skidder driver got off to unhook chokers and hurd one heck of a noise ! Driver came screaming out of woods with britches half down just in time to see the old truck hitting the work truck  rolling it half way over then smashing it in to a tree. Everything was a total wreck !  The ol truck had a pull cable to kill the engine . After engine would die he pushed the cable back in . And said that he always left the truck in gear till that happend!!!

[sawmillsi]

i was sitting in my 'office' (read shipping container) in the field in png a few years back.

we were clearing a block for agricultural uses.

the cutting crew were nearby felling a tree and straight after the chainsaw stopped i heard a whistling noise, a very familier noise.

then a tree landed about 10 feet from the container (a good sized tree, about 4 foot diameter and about 60 feet to the first branch).

after i cleaned out my shorts and gathered myself i went outside to see how close i was to getting squashed and there was nobody in sight. even the camp cook had gone bush.

whe they came back we have a discussion about directional felling techniques...

last year, a mate of mine working with a local tree cutting company (triming trees to close to the power lines) doing stop and go told me that he saw the chipping crew leave their leaf blower in the bandit 18" chipper, then run it through accidently. the cummings 220hp motor didn't even slow for a moment and the fully fueled leaf blower turned the chipper into a massive flame thrower. haha

[sawguy21]

Some of these are downright hilarious in the telling after the fact but the pucker meter would have been pinned at the time.

[donny hochstetler]

heard of a guy that hauled chips, one day his wife decided she wanted to spend some quality time with her hubby, so she goes along, soon gets tired, climbs into the bunk, for a little nap  8) trucker gets to the mill, backs up to the dumper, n, decides to play alittle trick on mommy, n, just let her sleep, well, when this thing got to stand up, she rolled around in the bunk,  long story short, she woke up real fast,  :D :D story goes that there marriage never was the same after this happened :D :D :D

[Dave VH]

My Dad (great salesman, lousy with tools of any kind), had a sears chainsaw that he would rarely use.  My mom added up the emergency room visits associated with that chainsaw to over 200 times the price of the saw, 4 seperate ocasions.  His business partner stole the saw, (at my mothers request) and to this day only the partner knows what happened to it.  When I moved out, I walked out to my truck and found every powertool, and ladder from the house in the bed.  My mother didn't trust my father with anything if I wasn't there to supervise.  That was 15 years ago, and he still isn't allowed any tools, and I run a construction company, my family still laughs about it.

[WH_Conley]

What does he play with?

[jd540b]

A week after I bought my shear, while clearing a piece of land-was almost done and had one lonely birch tree to cut.  I sheared the tree and figured since it was small I'd save skidding and carry it back to where I was piling the trees when......wow LIGHTNING!  Hmmm where did that come from.....well I carried it right under the powerline I'd been crossing with the skidder for 3 weeks.  What an idiot!  Now my kids call my shear "sparky"........

[celliott]

Saw a YouTube video of a guy using his skidder to pull down trees that weren't leaning the way he wanted to go. Space was limited, so he was operating in the fall zone. His technique was to hook up and drive in the direction he wanted the tree to fall. Then, as it started to go, he'd turn 90 degrees and drive like hell to get out of the path.

Worked out pretty well for him... at least for 3 out of the 4 trees he took down in the video. The last one could have made him a candidate for the Darwin awards. He survived, but the skidder was heavily damaged.

Wish I could find that clip now.

This one John?
Don't think they realize how dangerous what they are doing is....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3F2SkNArTE

[beenthere]

For certain I wouldn't ask the cameraman to make a video for me.

The rest may have been just for show. Call it "reality". ;)

[shelbycharger400]

i tell ya what...after words were said,     
only one would be walkin out of the woods.   smiley_hanged

[John Mc]

That's not the one I saw, but roughly the same idea.

The one I saw the guy had the cable tied up high, and started maybe 30 feet from the stump. He just started driving. Once the tree started coming down (straight at him), he would turn 90° to get out of the path. The skidder was moving along at a pretty good clip. On the last tree, he didn't make it out of the way. Since he was further out from the stump, the tree was moving pretty good when it hit the skidder. Did some significant damage, if I recall.

[thecfarm]

I think that is pretty stupid and than some.

[clww]

No, I would not have him working for me. Playing with too much fire there! Somebody is going to get burned up.

[MJD]

Well the only ones ive seen were mine, always worked alone. I was taking my skid steer to a landing to pile logs, it was a real small landing. I parked the pick-up and trailer on the road which was slightly down hill, calked the back tires( thats the stupid part)and started backing the skid steer off the trailer when the back tires of the pick-up came off the ground and were rolling the truck and trailer jack knife in the road with me still in the skid steer. A good thing no damage except pride. #2 felled a couple ash trees and were topping them, I noticed a 6 maybe 7" springpole and started taking the presure off but failed to see how it was wedged in a few trees, the next thing i know i get wacked in the hip and fly for 10 feet, picked up the saw and called it a good day, I didnt die. Im sure I will think off a few more.MD

[Woodchuck53]

WOW. Very infomative guys. I cut alone all the time and use cable's to pull suspect trees away from house, power lines and other things. I hope I have used good judgement on these things as I feel I am still learning. Thanks for the read and lessons learned.

The only thing I can add to the list is a friend gave me a new Homelite XL12 a few years ago because he new I had a spare saw I take to the woods with me. It seems after a hunt he and his dad are going to cut a load of camp wood and had two saws working. He decided to help his dad and sat his down on a stump. Yep they took aim on the stump and got it. I had a lot of spare parts for my saw. His wife wouldn't let him buy another. Stay safe. Chuck

[WDH]

I was with one of my field Foresters one day to go see one of his contract logging jobs cutting timber on our Company land.  We were instituting some new environmental and safety standards, so everyone was a little on edge, as I, the Boss, was going to the woods to check things out.  When we got there, my Forester told me that, "You might not like what you see."  So we got there, wood was being cut, skidded, de-limbed, and loaded.  We heard a shout and saw that the fellerbuncher was smoking.  A minute later, it was on fire.  The operator tried to put the fire out with the water tank on the machine that was there for exactly that purpose.  It was empty.

They called for the skidder to come over and spray out the fire using the skidder's water tank.  The skidder got there, but its water tank was also empty.  Now the fire is really getting going.  As this was going on, at the landing, the loader operator was loading a truck.  There was a guy topping and de-limbing trees on the deck.  The loader operator swung a log around and it smacked the saw-man on the side of the head, and he was down with a head injury.  Called 911.  By now the $250,000 fellerbuncher is burning up.  Plus, now the woods are on fire.  Called the Forestry Commission.  They dispatched a fire-plow tractor to come and plow out the fire.  The Ambulance comes and takes the saw-man to the hospital.  The fellerbuncher, it totally burned up.  The Forestry Commission got the woods fire contained.

We left the site and as we were driving out, I turned and said, "You were right."

True story.

[MJD]

This one came to mind, same site as the spring pole, 2years later. Site is a huge swamp, with very nice soft maple/ash, big stuff(cut/skid a load a day with 1/2 mile skid) it was mid january and I needed to get a couple tracks in the swamp to get it froze in, I got almost to the lake where I needed to clear all trees with somthing in them from this point when the front tires broke through then the back and sat right down on the belly pan well its only getting deeper the more I tried to get out, so I pulled the cable and hooked it to the base of a tree and pulled that tree over onto the skidder (440c), so now I got a tree on the skidder stuck in the swamp. After cleaning that tree up the 2nd tree held in the ground and was able to winch myself out.

[MJD]

This Boneheaded one is pulling trees away from mink buildings, the mink farm wanted to clear for more sheds, I got to log the whole woods in exchange for removing the trees leaning over the buildings where they wanted to add mink sheds( most leaners were cottonwood), had 2 trees left to pull so backed the skidder to a 16" cottonwood stood on the arch to get the cable up as high as I could, pulled away and put some tension on the tree. Started to notch the tree  and o cr*p its rotten on the bottom, before I even got the notch done the bottom broke loose and crushed the fence and landed on the building. The farm owner was ok with it as the fence was coming down and the building was empty and was going to be re-tined anyway. The last tree I paid to be topped($500) because it was 40" and it could of reached more than one building. Still made out real good as the woods held nice oak and walnut.

[Ken]

I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who has seen (or done) some bonehead things while at work.  I too have run over saws, upset machinery, broke things as well as many other stupid things over the years. 

[Maine372]

a guy i worked for off and on had a brilliant idea one time. he would drop the tree, drive around to the top of it, put the blade down and drive up it breaking limbs off. all he ended up with was a radiator full of branches and repair bill.

[treejoe]

I wedged a tree to hook it around this ladies trailer. It didn't want to hook and after looking at it closly it was caught by another tree. so to the truck i went to push it over. I left the truck in nutral, got out to move my saw. When i got back in i decided to push the tree from another angle. So 1 click down with the shifter for reverse, punch the excelerator and. . . hit the tree pushing it off the stump and what happends? Landed right on the cap.

I skint the side of a tree to drop it so the branckes wouldn't hit the house. Well the TV tower had a bent pole on it and when i dropped it . . . it hit the pole up top, twisted on the stump and took the overhang off the guys house. I missed the flagpole though. lol. Latter the guy had me take down 3 more for him. He told me "19 years and only hit one house is a prity good track record."

[mike_belben]

Some good ones in this old gem of a deceased thread.

[Lumberjohn]

Was dropping gypsy moth oak back in the 80s. We all remember how limbs shower you from them. Well, if I had a chance I would duck behind a tree nearby. A limb hit my 'SHIELD TREE" head high horizontally, broke, the NOW 2 pieces came around the tree and slapped me right across the face. Didn't think it was a boneheaded move but more a victim of circumstances.
I wasn't there to witness this one but heard of a guy retreating after cutting a tree. He fell, his head was against a limb laying there, and a forked limb fell and both ends stuck in the ground perfectly securing his head guillotine style.

[sawguy21]

We were hauling a few loads for a gypo logging outfit on a Sunday, being SDA they wouldn't let us work Saturday. These guys were a real piece of work. I ran out and frantically signaled the loader operator to stop pointing to the truck. He lowered the forks and shook his head, the bucker was on the load knocking small branches off with the saw. :

[Ohio Dave]

I left my truck with my folks so they could use it to move while I was on vacation.  They put it in their garage  (I never used the garage at home).  When I got home I jumped in to the truck put it in drive and drove into the back of their garage.

[Texas Ranger]

Most off them.

[Wudman]

Since this thread has been resurrected.......Years ago, the company that I was working for financed a guy to get him in the logging business.  I put him on a nice piece of stumpage that I had purchased.  They cleared their decksite and set up to work.  They had left a large hickory tree standing for shade.  Swinging some long tree length pine, they decided that the hickory was in the way and needed to go.  The sawhand commenced to cutting.  They had the skidder against it to give it a nudge.  The guy cut through his hinge and the skidder pushed the tree off the stump.  It fell back across the length of the skidder and fell squarely on the cab of the loader.  The loader cab was destroyed.  The skidder survived without significant damage....and they had yet to load a single stem.

I had another crew that turned a Timberjack over on a steep slope.  It was laying crossways and wedged against a stump.  They hooked a second tractor to it and attempted to upright with the winch.  At maximum pull, the cable broke and the Timberjack proceeded to cartwheel down the slope.  It rolled 5 or 6 times before coming to rest at the bottom of the hill.  She was bent up pretty bad.

Wudman

[timberking]

Recently, loader operator swung the machine with a back outrigger raised.  Made a mess off some lines.

[dgdrls]

Was surveying an old brick works site at Dennings point, along the Hudson river.  Logging crew was in clearing, at the end of the day we watched an operator
with a log loader try to offload a drum of diesel.  Yup, he crushed the drum.

D

[nativewolf]

I was with one of my field Foresters one day to go see one of his contract logging jobs cutting timber on our Company land.  We were instituting some new environmental and safety standards, so everyone was a little on edge, as I, the Boss, was going to the woods to check things out.  When we got there, my Forester told me that, "You might not like what you see."  So we got there, wood was being cut, skidded, de-limbed, and loaded.  We heard a shout and saw that the fellerbuncher was smoking.  A minute later, it was on fire.  The operator tried to put the fire out with the water tank on the machine that was there for exactly that purpose.  It was empty.

They called for the skidder to come over and spray out the fire using the skidder's water tank.  The skidder got there, but its water tank was also empty.  Now the fire is really getting going.  As this was going on, at the landing, the loader operator was loading a truck.  There was a guy topping and de-limbing trees on the deck.  The loader operator swung a log around and it smacked the saw-man on the side of the head, and he was down with a head injury.  Called 911.  By now the $250,000 fellerbuncher is burning up.  Plus, now the woods are on fire.  Called the Forestry Commission.  They dispatched a fire-plow tractor to come and plow out the fire.  The Ambulance comes and takes the saw-man to the hospital.  The fellerbuncher, it totally burned up.  The Forestry Commission got the woods fire contained.

We left the site and as we were driving out, I turned and said, "You were right."

True story.

I know that was an old post but since the thread was resurrected I was glancing through it...that sounds like a day out of a movie script.  

[Maine logger88]

Man this is an interesting thread! Here's a video I saw the other day lolhttps://youtu.be/QpW20lY03iU

[sawguy21]

ROTFL. That tree was trying to slap some sense into him. :D

[Maine logger88]

Hahahahah! Yup! Wonder if it succeeded 

[Ed_K]

 I know that guy! looks like my BIL  ;D.

[Resonator]

Reminds me of the old joke, His last words were: "Hey watch this! Hold my beer..." :D

[RPF2509]

Recently one of our contract crews flopped their Timbco over.  Cutting on a steep hill, the operator decided to walk up an even steeper section with the boom all the way up.  He walked over a flat rock and started to slide, when the tracks hit dirt, over he went sideways.  The cab was turned enough so he landed right on the engine compartment.  The hydraulic pump was pushed into the motor breaking it off its mounts. The operator, a veteran of 30 years,  was not wearing his seatbelt but got off lucky with a few bruises.  The Timbco was not so lucky and was totaled.  It took an excavator and a D7 Cat to get it back upright which were luckily in the area.  Another few days with the shop truck and they were able to replace enough bits to get the hydraulics working and were able to walk it down the hill.  This was right in the prime time of summer logging.  Three weeks of production lost and they had to fell the rest of the unit by hand further slowing the skidding.  They found an idle Timbco (rare in the summer) to rent and finally got back to work. 

[timberking]

Back in late 90's early 2000's truck brought brand new Tree Farmer skidder to the job and driver thought he could unload it.  You know what comes next.  The belly pan is catching sun.  still got the picture somewhere.