Barber chair?

Can somebody explain what happens when a tree barber chairs? I've seen this mentioned in several posts here but am not sure what it actually does. Is it like when a building collapses on itself?

As the tree is falling, the trunk splits skyward. The falling tree mimics a barber chair reclining. if the trunk breaks there is a violent release of tension. If the trunk doesnt' break the resulting semi fallen tree is aunder tremendous stress. In either case it's a horribly dangerous situation. If a tree is barber chairing there is no sure fire safe exit path.

Here is a link to a most useful booklet. barber chair is covered in detail

link refer by Tom D

Thanks sedman. During felling is a barber chair the worst case scenario? (other than dropping the tree on your car or house from a wrong cut)

046-tried the link but it doesn't work. Can you repost it?

Thanks again guys for your input!

Sorry about that, I should have checked the link. The original post was from Tom D on Tree_buzz

here it is again.

http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/treefell.pdf

The link didn't work because it's a site with competitive interests to this one, or at least the owners/operators here feel that way.

There is thread with pictures of a detached barberchair on this site <a href="http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=7451">here</a>.

One really should seek hands-on instruction from a knowledgeable (read not just lucky for many years) source.&nbsp; This is no substitute for that, though a good 470 KB PDF document can be fetched from <a href="http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/treefell.pdf">here</a>.

Glen

(okay, so I started this a while ago and walked away...)

The pre-edited link was of the form "http://?????????????/something/somewhere" as happens when this forum software filters the "nasties".&nbsp; With three good links to the document here now it should be fetchable.&nbsp; I actually had no idea the resource I was linking was the same one until I'd already posted.

Glen

Yeah the original link was not working. That pdf is a good read, I'm going to print it out at work tomorrow.

You don't need acrocbat (big money for that program) all you need is the free Adobe reader.

Thanks again guys.

glens, thanks for your excellent links. a good read and time well spent!

worst case?

Originally posted by crabster
Thanks sedman. During felling is a barber chair the worst case scenario? (other than dropping the tree on your car or house from a wrong cut)

046-tried the link but it doesn't work. Can you repost it?

Thanks again guys for your input!

Click to expand...

IMHO, Worst case, widowmaker set in motion by slight movement of the tree, whether it be from the wind or the saw. It is falling at 32' per sec squared aiming for your head. Your mistake was not looking up to see if there was a widowmaker hanging over your head. If it hits a limb on the way down you now have to dodge multiple pieces coming at you from different angles. How fast can you run? Let go of the saw and run! Do Not make a second mistake by trying to save the saw. Run! The same is true with the barberchair, let go of the saw and get out of there. Do Not try to save the saw.
Barberchairing is not the only or worst thing that can go wrong, it is one of the things that can happen. You can avoid most by asking yourself what can go wrong and doing something to correct it before you act (cut). Biggest mistake you can make is trying to save the saw once things start to go wrong. Think first (save my skin), act second (gather up saw parts after the tree is down). Most here will tell you if you add the mistake of trying to save the saw to the equation your odds of surviving just went in the toilet. Leave the saw and GO!

I barber chaired my first tree within the first 3 months doing treework... read that... I didn't know $hit. I could have EASILY DIED THAT DAY.

Barber chairs happen, usually in heavy head leaners. The more it is being pulled(man or limb weight), the greater the chances.
Dull saws also increase the risk.
When in doubt, chain the sucker, remove some limbs, or use a hotsaw.

Things sure get exciting when you got saving your saw in mind, bottom line, it ain't worth it.