Close call this weekend... love cutting down trees!

[mattw]

I had a very old, tall cedar tree that went down this weekend. It partially landed on a wonderful 15 to 20 foot tall oak and bent it in a "U". So, I really needed to stress relieve the oak to save it. The cedar had branches up to about 6 inches and several of them were holding down the oak. So, I cut the cedar branches short to make steps up the 40 degree trunk in the rain and worked my way up the trunk cutting side branches as I went. I worked from the top of the oak down toward the trunk. The last large branch was cut about 2/3rds. of the way thru when it broke under tension and kicked me in the face and eye. At 53, I maintained my balance and kept my grip on a 3' bar chainsaw and only swore a couple of times. Did not want to look, wanted to finish so my kid and I got all the branches off the oak and it stood back up! :) Then she saw my face and told me my eye was bleeding!

So warm rag and mirror, eye was not bleeding but did have a nasty hematoma and some surface swelling on one side. The girls and my wife made me go the the ER on Sunday night, it was late by the time we got there. They confirmed what I thought, gave me antibiotic drops and sent me home. Yesterday I followed up with the doc I trust, opthomologist that treats my glaucoma. He confirmed no foreign bodies and only a bunch of scratches.

Got lucky, this time. I have had a wire from a wire wheel in my eyeball before, I could tell this did not penetrate as there was no pain. I had safety glasses on, but can't wear the full face shield and work in a tree as it badly distorts my field of view and affects my balance. Part of the problem with being near sighted at 20/850 and having astigmatisms.

I am very thankful that it was not worse!

[NSB]

It can be dangerous. I had a friend of mine who went about three hundred yards from his house to cut down some trees he wanted for firewood. When he didn't return for supper his wife went looking for him. Somehow the tree he was cutting got hung up on another tree and when it came down a limb hit him on the back and broke his spine. She found him sitting up, but he was leaning over and was dead. He couldn't breath or stand due to his spine breaking. You never really know where everything's going to go when it gets caught and you cut to break it free. You're lucky, you could have got hurt a lot worse. Be careful out there.

[mattw]

Yup NSB, I never cut trees alone. I always have one of the kids or the wife with me. I have cut so many over the years from a few inches to just over 6 feet in diameter and there is always that short time window when things can go wrong. Experience is a good guide and owning the right saw is a big plus, but there is always a tiny bit of unpredictability.

[osteodoc08]

Glad youre none the worse for wear. Stay safe.

[CastingFool]

I love cutting wood with a chainsaw, and also enjoy climbing trees especially when I was a young kid. Later, on I found out mixing the two activities was a whole different ballgame. I'm leery when I get up on a tree with a chainsaw. Glad you didn't get hurt any worse.

[bedbugbilly]

I no longer cut wood but for many years, we heated with wood which meant a lot of time out cutting - either in the woodlot or cleaning fence rows out. I had a few close calls as well . . . most were because of me rushing to get done or taking a chance knowhing that it was not "wise move". I never got injured but did get "slapped" a couple of times pretty hard . . for which I cursed myself for being so foolish. You just never know when the unexpected is going to happen.

Glad you got out of it O.K. without serious injury . . . I'm sure what you got out of it was bad enough though . . never fun. The one thing I ALWAYS made sure of when I went out on the farm to cut wood was that someone knew exactly where I was and the anticipated time I would be back . . . and even then I would;d take breaks and give my wife a call (when I finally had a cell phone) to just let her know I was doing O.K. Cutting wood, building fence, mowing and all the other "outdoor chores" have the potential to cause injury - be wise and be safe.

[fatelk]

I’ve cut a lot of trees down in the past. My uncle was a faller , and I helped him and my dad log the back 40 on the farm when I was young. I’ve known a lot of loggers, and have known several that got seriously injured or killed in the woods. It’s dangerous work.

I’d still cut a tree down myself if I needed to, but only after making sure it was safe every which way. Anything risky and I won’t touch it.

[mattw]

Can't agree more with most of what has been said... To that end, I just love to run a chainsaw and the satisfaction of putting the tree down where I want it.

[shdwlkr]

decades ago a widow maker broke my back and now I enjoy arthritis in my spine and all my joints. Only thing for sure with trees is you never know which one is out to get you. Glad your ok

[gwpercle]

There is something to be said for hiring a professional to remove trees.
1.) I know my limitations
2.) I'm already blind in one eye... I NEED the other one .

[lightman]

Trimming and cutting trees is dangerous work. Glad you were not more seriously injured. I've trimmed lots of trees in my former profession and I've had a few close calls. Everything from hand saws to hydraulic circular saws, hydraulic chainsaws, gas chain saws, hydraulic loppers, they can all surprise ya.

[fixit]

I had a 10 inch diameter black locust sweep me off my feet when it can cantelevered off a limb of another black locust nearby. I expected that one to put me in the hospital but God was with me that day, and when I open my eyes I was holding desperately on to the tree that knocked me off my feet and I was about 4 feet off the ground. The tree that gets you is never the one that you expect it to be!

[Handloader109]

Had a co worker after katrina cutting trees that had fallen. Didn't see the telephone pole tension line that one was across. Kicked up the large limb when he cut it off tree and the saw almost got his whole leg. Luckily he didn't lose anything but blood and time off to heal. be careful.

[jmort]

At my age, trees get cut if they are leaning in a safe direction
Otherwise, I hire it out
I do like saying "timber"

[quilbilly]

They call those leaners widow-makers for a reason. My neighbors and I get a couple every winter so when we cut them down, on of us stands 15 feet behind the saw man with a rope to his belt and an eye on the top of the tree for any unplanned tree movement. Alders around here are the worst.

[trails4u]

Training is your friend. Understanding lean, particularly side lean, as well as judging limb weight which will alter your measured lean...this is critical in actually getting a tree down where you want it. If you don't already know it, study up on using an open face cut, as well as plunge cutting the bole to set your hinge prior to back-cutting your holding wood. IMHO it's the only way to safely fell a leaning tree with complete control of the when and where things happen. I've very lucky in having worked with some of the best sawyers east of the Mississippi, and I'm amazed today at what I didn't know, when I thought I knew something about felling. Limbing and bucking can be just as dangerous if you're not constantly aware of potential bind and body position x saw position. And...please don't think I'm judging, I've been surprised by a few myself. I will say, though, after being retrained by those who really know it, I'm not surprised nearly as often these days.

Be safe ya'll! It only takes one.

[Pete44mag]

Really glad you were not hurt worst. I'm in the construction business and the older I get the less I like felling or trimming trees. My Dad was right when he taught me many years ago, "trees, saws and tools don't bark, they just bite!".

[Wis Tom]

I had a cherry tree, this last fall, that almost got me. Just missed me going back at me, after sticking a limb into the ground, ripped the side of my pants, and enough leg skin to bleed pretty good. Had on chaps but they had turned alittle on my leg, and the rest was history. Glad you didn't get hurt worse than you did. That tree has slowed me down alittle in my old age, that I think, and overthink, the rest of the trees I'm cutting now. The storms we have had this last couple of years, have broken of alot of my trees, 8 to 10 feet up, and I hate those.

[mattw]

All good words of wisdom... My dad felled trees for a living for a short while, taught me a lot but age is not my friend. I love felling trees, but hate working on trees that are already down naturally and were not a controlled drop. This tree was at about a 40 degree angle to the ground and everything was under lots of pressure at unusual angles. I knew going into this that saving the oak was going to be a challenge, but I could not bring my self to saw the oak down because it was going to be a pain. I was ready for the snaps and kicks, but this one had more kick than expected in the last branch. I should have climbed to the high side and cut up, but was tired, cold and a little lazy and cut the angle from below the branch and paid the price. I expected a minor kick and got about 3 feet of kick in a 4 inch branch that was not contacting anything other than the tree I wanted to save.

My drop targeting is good, but approaching an already downed tree always makes me think more and work more slowly.

[samari46]

Been living in Louisiana for the past 23 years. 4.5 acres and lotta trees. Now 72 and don't get around as well as I used to. Two trees are dying and dropping tree limbs. Use my Kubota tractor with the front end loader to get them out of the way when doing the lawn. I let mother nature do the work for me. Sometimes I throw a rope around the limbs and drag them to the burn pile. What with all the rain we've been getting some spots slip and slide in the mud good old 4 wheel drive. Frank

[blackthorn]

Several years ago I needed to fall about ten mature pines at my lake property to make way for the new cabin. My son and I used a rope-and-pulley system in concert with my truck to pull the trees over. Doing it this way, nobody was any where near the tree being felled, and it gets the whole tree, including the roots out. Over the years I have used this method on some fairly large girth trees, the secret being to get the rope (with the top snatch-block) as far up the trunk as possible. Placement of the snatch-blocks will also give you good control of where the tree will land.

[Markopolo]

Wow.. talk about a replay... I had the exact same thing happen... actually deposited a real nice splinter near my eye.. thank God I was wearing safety glasses....

240019

[fatelk]

That spring back can sure be a huge pain. I was clearing some brush many years ago, and there was a lot of vine maple in the area. Vine maple is as much a weed as a tree. It grows in clumps with multiple trunks/branches sprouting out quite long, draping out over each other. The wood is hard and tough, and rarely more than two or three inches thick. These long branches or vines can tangle and drape over each other with a tremendous amount of tension.

Long story short, I cut into one and it let go with all that tension. It felt like a baseball bat across the bridge of my nose. A crack of something breaking, blood everywhere, no fun. For years I’d just tell people that I broke my nose in a bar fight, only funny because I don’t go to bars and I don’t get into fights.