buddy got lifelined today

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
ok i will try and post pics later but the tree was not a leaner but it did have a little bow in it and the tree was about 16-17 inches in diameter and about 50 ft tall so pretty tall and skinny

Wow, just this week we did this one. Started to crack when we had weather that was -35 for a few days. I will post more pictures later, but this one was one of the harder ones I have done recently, we carefully removed the leader branches going from one side to the other as we didn't want to take to much weight off one side, and the other would cause it to crack more. This was a nasty tree, we started it was -18, very hard to get the spikes into. Hydro dropped the service line for us.
 
Last edited:
My tip on the one pick wasn't the highest because the crown and upper sections of the tree were in very poor shape and i wanted something strong to be swinging from in case of trouble. Almost every leader branch going up had some sort of crack in it. I took every step up very carefully and was careful how much weight I was lowering down. Once I thinned the crown, we rigged and dropped the rest of it.
 
A few more as well. As you could see when the tree hit the ground it split into 2 and broke the 10,000 lb rated strap clean. It dropped exactly where we wanted it to with no issues. This was definelty not a home owner do it yourselfer! I went over on how I was going to do this tree in my head over and over. Took my time thought out every cut I made, and turned out exactly how I planned it! Homeowner wanted just the tree down and no clean up. Those last pics are of the hydro dudes....had to take a pic of them! They were great at being on time dropping the lines and coming back after 4 hours to re-connect! It was a fun day! Cold but fun! Don't mean to high jack this thread, but since you were talking about cracks in trees and barber chairing, this was for sure the tree to show, as a lot could of went wrong with this tree, especially for a novice! Hope your friend makes out ok. If you are ever in doubt of a tree, ask first before you do anything. A lot of of on here are willing to help, and give some advice to an extent
 
Last edited:
Hope your friend makes a quick recovery.

Sounds like your motivated to learn what went wrong it would be a great time to get some books and let all that knowledge sink in.

For what its worth the only tree Ive seen barber chair was a hickory.
 
This is one of the best threads I've ever read because everyone is empathic.

As I went through these posts and photos I relived some of my close calls the past 18 years. Of 4,000 takedowns I had two white oaks twist unexpectedly in 2004 and '05 doing $4,800 property damage which I had to pay for out of pocket because my business had not produced enough $ to afford liability insurance. No one was injured but my pride.
Back in 1999 I fell 20' with safety belt and hard hat on, broke a hip and earned no income for five months while recuperating. I had health insurance but it was 80/20 coverage so my co-payment obligation totaled $9,000.
I have never had a tree to barber chair and I attribute that to this book: Faller's and Bucker's Handbook subtitled "Practical Methods for Falling and Bucking Timber, WORK SAFE". The ISBN number is 0-7726-3456-4 on the 1993 edition from the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia telephone 1-888-621-7233 (SAFE). I go back through the book at the beginning of each season.
I pray your friend will recover and regain some abilities and you can forgive yourself for making a mistake.
On the woven webstraps I prefer the 3" wide 27' webstraps and would strap a codominant tree in four places real tight rather than two. I had to do this two years ago for an 80 year old codominant red oak 49" dbh that had steel pipe, twisted shank nails, barbed wire, welded wire fence and a horseshoe inside. It was a beast of a job taking 106 two man crew hours, a crane, and we ground the stump nine feet in diameter. Even with use of my Lumber Wizard we could not tell the metal was in the trunk base. I praised God that the job went okay and no injuries occurred.
May all of us pledge to keep helping each other through this web site and email.
 
mistake was "i was making my back cut my buddy was driving a wedge, the tree started to go so we step back about 10 ft" never step back always to the side for a few reasons, if you are backing up you are either A) not looking where you are going B) not looking at the tree ...both bad. Anytime I have had a tree go sketchy on me I always go at a angle from the stump that way I can move quick and see where my feet are going and keep an eye on the tree. Also stuff happens some of the worst injuries I have seen/heard of have been by people that have many years experience.
 
one feller at a time

Also, you NEVER have two fellers doing the same tree. It's an industry rule, part of the Z133.

One guy felling, others are AT LEAST a treelength away. Two people is too many.

Sorry about your friend.
 
well i just found out that he is paralized from the waste down. thats still not gettin my hope down bc i have heard several stories of doctors telling people they are paralized and they will never walk again and over time they come out of it, and i also dont undersrtand how they can tell if he is paralized if he is laying in a bed cant even talk and can barely move his arms. i guess time will tell and hopefully he will come out of it. thanks everyone for your support
 
I will pray that you never loose hope, and that your friend recovers way sooner than "they" expect. I want more than ever as well as most following this I'm sure, to be able to help you figure out exactly what went wrong. Several pictures of the stump, some close up, some different angles, and we can more often than not, tell the story. We all have room to learn, and most are willing.

randy
 
Prayers sent for your friend. I know the feeling. I have had 2 close personal friends who have been paralyzed by climbing accidents. One was only 22. I have lost others.

Stay safe.
 
well i just found out that he is paralized from the waste down. thats still not gettin my hope down bc i have heard several stories of doctors telling people they are paralized and they will never walk again and over time they come out of it, and i also dont undersrtand how they can tell if he is paralized if he is laying in a bed cant even talk and can barely move his arms. i guess time will tell and hopefully he will come out of it. thanks everyone for your support

That's too bad, never know like you said, maybe he will defy the odds
 
deevo please tie off higher, we dont want to be reading about you in here
http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=171184&d=1296955203

Read the thread! Couldn't because the crown higher up was in very poor shape, and the other side there was a large crack and wasn't too stable. Took my time with everything I did. Thanks for your concerns, post some of you jobs, not the easy ones....if you have them! Ever climbed when it was -20, trees frozen like a concrete block? Then come talk to me.:msp_tongue: Did you look at the pictures of the tree when it was on the ground? That's why i posted it on here, the split could of been a bad barber chair, but it didn't because it was done right!
 
Last edited:
Camaro--We are praying for a fast and full healing for your pal. God still performs mighty miracles through the marvels of medicine. Please keep us posted and we will keep praying for him and you too. Hang in there!
 
he has surgery on his heart a couple days ago and he is still doing ok now. they changed all his meds and are going to start winging him off of them and he has been moving his toes a little so that def a plus. Its just going to take time for him to heal. Its a miracle he is still alive, god must have a reason for him to still be here. The doc said it helps that he is young and a bigger kid or they pry wouldnt hasve made it off the operating table. thanks eveyone for your support!
 
Prayers and thoughts for your friend and a fellow tree worker. I had a Hickory tree barberchair on my about 10 years ago. Sounds similiar to yours. Pretty much straight up and was about 50' high and about 12-17" dia at chest hieght. I think it's in how a hickory tree will lean and bow as it's falling that causes it to snap like that. I read on here a year ago about useing straps and since then I have used them a couple times on leaners. Didn't seem to work on Deevo's tree, but I think in some circumstances it would work, depending on the size of the tree, the size of the straps, and how many you use. I don't know....again thoughts and prayers to your friend.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top