Even the pros

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ppkgmsy

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Even the pros make mistakes:
My neighbors called in a tree service because a 120 +ft white pine was leaning dangerously towards their house. The crew cabled up the tree and the guy with the saw made a good notch. When he sawed the felling cut, the guy in the skidder must have stopped paying attention for a moment because the tree began to lean towards the house. It leaned and leaned and leaned some more. My neighbors looked ashen. The guy with the saw ran towards the skidder and shouted, "Go, go, go!" I think the skidder must have been in neutral. He threw the skidder into gear but it looked like it was going to be too late as the tree gathered momentum and pulled the skidder backwards. Finally, the skidder grabbed the cable and pulled the tree in the right direction. It fell close to where they wanted it. A very close call.

My 12 year-old son and I watched the whole thing. He's just started to really work on firewood with me and it was a good thing for him to see. He registered that in logging there is very, very little margin for error.
 
Even the pros make mistakes:
My neighbors called in a tree service because a 120 +ft white pine was leaning dangerously towards their house. The crew cabled up the tree and the guy with the saw made a good notch. When he sawed the felling cut, the guy in the skidder must have stopped paying attention for a moment because the tree began to lean towards the house. It leaned and leaned and leaned some more. My neighbors looked ashen. The guy with the saw ran towards the skidder and shouted, "Go, go, go!" I think the skidder must have been in neutral. He threw the skidder into gear but it looked like it was going to be too late as the tree gathered momentum and pulled the skidder backwards. Finally, the skidder grabbed the cable and pulled the tree in the right direction. It fell close to where they wanted it. A very close call.

My 12 year-old son and I watched the whole thing. He's just started to really work on firewood with me and it was a good thing for him to see. He registered that in logging there is very, very little margin for error.
that woulda made a kewl video!!!!
 
Good example of how most accidents are caused by humans, instead of writing it off as "**** happens" like most irresponsible people do or even worse blame it on the victim.
 
Was it a tree service or a logger ?

No disrespect to timber fellers but if I have a hazardous leaner over my house I'm wanting a skilled arborist to do a top down .
Tree service. The team has a good rep around here. The guy in the skidder was the youngest of the three men, for what that's worth.
 
Odd that a tree service would even have a skidder.

Does sound ike it was a pretty small one if it got pulled around by a tree though.
The shop used to sell Rhino skidders along with tractors and dozers. (company is now called Jinma). They were pretty handy for small jobs since they only weighed about 8000ish lbs. Compare that do like a JD 648 which is around 30,000 lbs
 
Odd that a tree service would even have a skidder.

Terminology perhaps?

Over the years, I've heard many folks from around the country, even salesman at equipment dealers, call a skidsteer a "skidder," as opposed to a cable or grapple skidder that you're refering to. This may, or may not be the case, but it would certainly make sense, as a lot of tree companies bring them to the job site.

Take Care
 
Terminology perhaps?

Over the years, I've heard many folks from around the country, even salesman at equipment dealers, call a skidsteer a "skidder," as opposed to a cable or grapple skidder that you're refering to. This may, or may not be the case, but it would certainly make sense, as a lot of tree companies bring them to the job site.

Take Care
You might very well be right about the terminology ... I was envisioning a grapple skidder not a Bobcat. I think I'd want something more substantial hooked to a 120' leaner if my house was at stake!
 
doesn't really sound like a pro to me BUT how handy would it be to have a log skidder on residential work!

pull trees over, winch everything out to the street and chip it up..... hmmmmm

then again ya need a semi truck and lowboy to haul the thing around. guess that's not gonna work:cry:
 
I've only ever known a tree service to hire a skidder for crossover jobs at state parks and golf courses.

There isn't a skid steer out there with gearbox and clutch, but many have safety interlocks that can be troublesome.



Mr. HE:cool:
 

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