Fishin' Rod
ArboristSite Lurker
I was felling trees in our old shelter belt today, when I received a sharp whack in the back from a mulberry that toppled out of an area that I had cleared about eight minutes earlier.
[The "forest" in our shelter belt is 80-90 years old, and half the trees I need to fell are already hung up in another tree.]
I had a small, dead cedar (10" x 30' tall) that was just barely hung up in the branches of a mulberry tree. The mulberry tree (18" x 40' tall) was a stem off of the base of a much larger mulberry. The stem was leaning at about 5-10 degrees as they tend to do when growing off a larger central tree. Both the central tree and the stem looked green and healthy with full leaf coverage.
I felled the cedar just as I expected it would go, and it rolled nicely out of the mulberry branches on the way down. I checked my overhead (all clear), then limbed the cedar and moved off. After cutting a few smaller trees to clear space, I went to work on a large cedar about 30' away from the mulberry. (Everything was open air at this time between the previous trees and the current tree where I was working.)
I was just starting the back cut on the large cedar, when I was given a hard lashing across my back by some large branches. (It happened so fast, that I did not lose control of my chainsaw or soil my pants!)
I shut down my saw and looked around to figure out what the hell had happened. At that point I realized the central leader of the 40' tall mulberry "stem" had missed my head by about eight feet. It was pure luck that the spot I was standing avoided the main weight of the falling wood. I don't know if it fell with enough force to crack my helmet and skull, but it was probably close to that level.
I went back to examine the mulberry "stem". It had broken off just below ground level. The root flare was about 80% eaten by carpenter ants. However, the above ground portion of the tree appeared perfectly healthy.
I had previously thought the mulberry tree would be stronger in the air after I felled the small hanging cedar and got that weight off of the branches of the mulberry. In hindsight, I think when the cedar rolled out of the branches of the mulberry tree, it gave a bit of a tug to the mulberry before the weight of the cedar came free. By my estimation - the mulberry then fell eight minutes later (give or take a few minutes).
What advice would the experts give to avoid this near calamity in the future?
I was wearing all of my protective gear. However, if I had been 10 feet closer to the mulberry tree, and the trunk would have hit me squarely on the head, then I don't think my helmet would have made one bit of difference. [Those mulberry trees are so wet and heavy in the spring.]
The farm is in south-central Kansas. We frequently have spring days with 30-35 mph winds (and higher gusts). I picked the calmest day (5-10 mph winds) of the week to clear timber. I hate clearing in windy conditions, where you add one more variable on how the trees will come down. There were no winds of consequence in the low area where I was working today, but I will be even more leery about wind conditions when I am working in the future.
Finally, I was working by myself - but I was just doing the smaller, easier trees on this trip. Two weeks ago, I took my son as a spotter when I did the risky trees. (I had one tree that had six other blow-downs caught in its branches.) I hate working by myself when felling, but the is frequently my only option.
Thanks for any opinions from the experts,
Rod
[The "forest" in our shelter belt is 80-90 years old, and half the trees I need to fell are already hung up in another tree.]
I had a small, dead cedar (10" x 30' tall) that was just barely hung up in the branches of a mulberry tree. The mulberry tree (18" x 40' tall) was a stem off of the base of a much larger mulberry. The stem was leaning at about 5-10 degrees as they tend to do when growing off a larger central tree. Both the central tree and the stem looked green and healthy with full leaf coverage.
I felled the cedar just as I expected it would go, and it rolled nicely out of the mulberry branches on the way down. I checked my overhead (all clear), then limbed the cedar and moved off. After cutting a few smaller trees to clear space, I went to work on a large cedar about 30' away from the mulberry. (Everything was open air at this time between the previous trees and the current tree where I was working.)
I was just starting the back cut on the large cedar, when I was given a hard lashing across my back by some large branches. (It happened so fast, that I did not lose control of my chainsaw or soil my pants!)
I shut down my saw and looked around to figure out what the hell had happened. At that point I realized the central leader of the 40' tall mulberry "stem" had missed my head by about eight feet. It was pure luck that the spot I was standing avoided the main weight of the falling wood. I don't know if it fell with enough force to crack my helmet and skull, but it was probably close to that level.
I went back to examine the mulberry "stem". It had broken off just below ground level. The root flare was about 80% eaten by carpenter ants. However, the above ground portion of the tree appeared perfectly healthy.
I had previously thought the mulberry tree would be stronger in the air after I felled the small hanging cedar and got that weight off of the branches of the mulberry. In hindsight, I think when the cedar rolled out of the branches of the mulberry tree, it gave a bit of a tug to the mulberry before the weight of the cedar came free. By my estimation - the mulberry then fell eight minutes later (give or take a few minutes).
What advice would the experts give to avoid this near calamity in the future?
I was wearing all of my protective gear. However, if I had been 10 feet closer to the mulberry tree, and the trunk would have hit me squarely on the head, then I don't think my helmet would have made one bit of difference. [Those mulberry trees are so wet and heavy in the spring.]
The farm is in south-central Kansas. We frequently have spring days with 30-35 mph winds (and higher gusts). I picked the calmest day (5-10 mph winds) of the week to clear timber. I hate clearing in windy conditions, where you add one more variable on how the trees will come down. There were no winds of consequence in the low area where I was working today, but I will be even more leery about wind conditions when I am working in the future.
Finally, I was working by myself - but I was just doing the smaller, easier trees on this trip. Two weeks ago, I took my son as a spotter when I did the risky trees. (I had one tree that had six other blow-downs caught in its branches.) I hate working by myself when felling, but the is frequently my only option.
Thanks for any opinions from the experts,
Rod