cedarman
ArboristSite Operative
My FIL, wife and myself were in the middle of a hardwood forest getting firewood.
I felled a nice 24" white oak and of course it missed where I wanted it to land (by a ft) and got hung up in a big maple.
So my FIL being the more experienced chainsaw operator than myself began cutting the maple. So he cut 3/4 way threw and backed off. We were standing there just watching it (at the time, I had thought was a safe distance and angle away from where we anitcipated the trees to fall), the whole time you could hear the maple kreeking and cracking from the weight of the oak. We knew it was just a matter of seconds before both the trees fell.
After about a minute of cracking sure enough both trees came crashing down. The catcher is, the weight from the white oak caused the maple to spin coming right towards me!!!!!!!
I took off running and dove to the left as the top of the maple came crashing not 10 ft. away from me. I hit the dirt and covered my head. Thank god I never got hit.
now I wasnt at a safe distance, but I figured it wouldve been impossible for that tree to come at me from the angle I was standing at. boy was I wrong!!!!!!!!
I learned alot from that day!! and Ill probably remember it till im dead. Just when I get thinking Im getting the hang of dropping trees and handling a saw........ Its hard to believe just how dangerous getting firewood can be.
I felled a nice 24" white oak and of course it missed where I wanted it to land (by a ft) and got hung up in a big maple.
So my FIL being the more experienced chainsaw operator than myself began cutting the maple. So he cut 3/4 way threw and backed off. We were standing there just watching it (at the time, I had thought was a safe distance and angle away from where we anitcipated the trees to fall), the whole time you could hear the maple kreeking and cracking from the weight of the oak. We knew it was just a matter of seconds before both the trees fell.
After about a minute of cracking sure enough both trees came crashing down. The catcher is, the weight from the white oak caused the maple to spin coming right towards me!!!!!!!
I took off running and dove to the left as the top of the maple came crashing not 10 ft. away from me. I hit the dirt and covered my head. Thank god I never got hit.
now I wasnt at a safe distance, but I figured it wouldve been impossible for that tree to come at me from the angle I was standing at. boy was I wrong!!!!!!!!
I learned alot from that day!! and Ill probably remember it till im dead. Just when I get thinking Im getting the hang of dropping trees and handling a saw........ Its hard to believe just how dangerous getting firewood can be.
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