Guido Salvage
Supreme Saw Whoreder
Let me start off by saying that I have owned and run power saws for well over 30 years but this proves that anything can happen. I took off on Tuesday to retrieve a trailer that I had left at my mother's house several weeks ago. While I was there she mentioned that she wanted me to remove a large cedar tree as well as a multi trunked dogwood that squirrels were using as a launching pad to get on her roof.
I offered to limb the cedar, but she decided she wanted it gone. I notched the cedar and then proceeded to make my backcut. When the saw started to pinch, I drove in a wedge, cut a bit more and then drove to wedge again. To my surprise (and horror), the tree hinged 90 degrees to the right and landed on her house! I felt like I was in a movie, everything happening in slow motion and absolutely nothing I could do. Here is the result, the butt end is over 20 inches in diameter.
In all my years of cutting I have never misdirected a tree in this fashion. The only saving grace was the fact it was alive and the limbs cushioned the fall. No windows were broken and no holes created in the roof. Now the challenge was to safely remove it without doing further damage. My plan was to rope it and then pull it off the roof hard with a truck. However, in order to do this I had to remove the small holly tree it was leaning against (in the foreground)and when I did so the tree rolled resulting in the trunk now resting on the roof rather than the canopy that was supporting it. Consequently, I limbed the rest and mulled over my next step.
Not having my forklift or loader there, I had no viable option to lift it. As all the weight was now on the edge of the roof, pulling it would have torn the shingles off. I called a friend of mine down the road who owns a backhoe service and finally got him on his cell. About an hour later, he showed up and by extending the boom on the hoe was able to lift the tree off the house.
He was able to successfully lower it and I finished limbing it up after the picture below was taken. Got to use the Homie Super XL I just got going and it did a nice job. My plans are to mill this in 8 foot lengths and air dry the lumber.
I am happy to report that the 4 dogwood trunks came down without incident. Other than paying for the hoe, I came out of this a lot better than I thought I would as the tree arced towards the house. If it had been dead or limbed there would have been serous damage.
It just proves you always need to be careful and alert and that it only takes a couple of seconds for a situation to dramatically change.
I offered to limb the cedar, but she decided she wanted it gone. I notched the cedar and then proceeded to make my backcut. When the saw started to pinch, I drove in a wedge, cut a bit more and then drove to wedge again. To my surprise (and horror), the tree hinged 90 degrees to the right and landed on her house! I felt like I was in a movie, everything happening in slow motion and absolutely nothing I could do. Here is the result, the butt end is over 20 inches in diameter.
In all my years of cutting I have never misdirected a tree in this fashion. The only saving grace was the fact it was alive and the limbs cushioned the fall. No windows were broken and no holes created in the roof. Now the challenge was to safely remove it without doing further damage. My plan was to rope it and then pull it off the roof hard with a truck. However, in order to do this I had to remove the small holly tree it was leaning against (in the foreground)and when I did so the tree rolled resulting in the trunk now resting on the roof rather than the canopy that was supporting it. Consequently, I limbed the rest and mulled over my next step.
Not having my forklift or loader there, I had no viable option to lift it. As all the weight was now on the edge of the roof, pulling it would have torn the shingles off. I called a friend of mine down the road who owns a backhoe service and finally got him on his cell. About an hour later, he showed up and by extending the boom on the hoe was able to lift the tree off the house.
He was able to successfully lower it and I finished limbing it up after the picture below was taken. Got to use the Homie Super XL I just got going and it did a nice job. My plans are to mill this in 8 foot lengths and air dry the lumber.
I am happy to report that the 4 dogwood trunks came down without incident. Other than paying for the hoe, I came out of this a lot better than I thought I would as the tree arced towards the house. If it had been dead or limbed there would have been serous damage.
It just proves you always need to be careful and alert and that it only takes a couple of seconds for a situation to dramatically change.
That's the important thing, milling that beautiful log. Don't sweat the small stuff. 
