cutter injury

[lync]

notch

Murphy I think i see your point, are you saying that the tree started to fall, closed the kerf on the bottom face cut, which may have gone deeper than the top face cut, then the tree stopped pivoting at the hinge and stopped falling, the notch could not close and the force and torque of the tree abruptly stopping caused it to split out?

Corey

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I was not trying to asses how the barberchair happened, I don't do enough felling to be guessing at that from a few pictures. All I was doing is saying how I would have done the face, wide and deep.

If I were felling it into the leacn I dont think I would use a boarcut. Seems to me that might lead to an explosive release.

IMHO (seriously this time) a heavy ratchet strap would be a good peice of eqiupment for this type of operation. Cheap insurance.

Marty, would you be able to write up a short article to submit to the trad mags without identifying acompany, person or region?

 

[chainsawworld]

do to the heavy lean and size of the tree, a deeper knotch, be it conventional, v or humbolt, the saw would have become pinched right in the very beginning of the task. the weight of the tree would have closed the kerf the saw made on the bar and chain. struggling to free the saw would have put the cutter in more harms way should the tree slab. what would happen if a second cutter and saw were introduced to free the first? for some reason most new cutters put the safety of the saw ahead of themselves.
this tree should have been cut at ground level for safety. at ground level the bells could been removed for less risk and better controll. a plug could have been left on the back cut for a safer release.

THIS IS BRIEF NARRATIVE AND NOT INSTRUCTION!!

john, i am not sure what you would like. send me an e-mail, marty

 

[viking]

While a tree leaning the direction you wish it to fall seems ideal, It should be a time for extra precaution if it is leaning heavley. Refered to as a "heavy head leaner" in my area. No matter how good or bad your face cut is unless your saw can cut the back cut very fast the tree will "Barber Chair" "Slab Out". Common practice is to make "standard" face cut. Then bore in behind face leaving your holding wood (hinge) and cut back towards the back cut side. Stop back cutting leaving an amount of holding wood in the back cut area. Start standard back cut and cut quickly.
Yes it is a fast fall when it starts, some times you get some grain pull, but the chance of barber chair is greatly reduced. Any falling must be done with care and thought. Clean escape routes,brushed out work area, good equipment, well rested, alert training, experience ect...

Work safe
This info is not formal training or tutorial

 

[murphy4trees]

Lots of good input here.... this thread can save lives.... so thanks to AS for openning this new forum.
Responding in no particular order

"do to the heavy lean and size of the tree, a deeper knotch, be it conventional, v or humbolt, the saw would have become pinched right in the very beginning of the task"
I agree here... I think a deep notch is not required on heavy front leaners... though that is more an intuitive call than a result of any training. Again what is most important is that there be no bypass in the notch cuts.

"the best way to have taken this down was at ground level, open-face bore-cut, flat and level with no by-pass any place"
I Absolutely agree with this. I think any well trained logger will tell you that an open face notch with a bore cut and back release is the safest way to fell this tree. The back release technique adds between 2-5 seconds to your escape time.. in the woods that can save save your life... I have never done any logging as I do mostly residential work... Felling in the woods is a world away from what we residential arbos do. There are so many unseen potential hazards... that 2 seconds means a lot!!!

"IMHO (seriously this time) a heavy ratchet strap would be a good peice of eqiupment for this type of operation. Cheap insurance"
No doubt this is true and it's always nice to have good gear and take a few extra minutes to set up a job right.. if only so you can FEEL safer when working. And setting up a good hinge here and adding the strap is like driving 55 and wearing your seatbelt.... Bypassing the cuts on the notch and using a strap is like driving 110 and wearing your seatbelt. I personally would prefer to drive 55 w/o a seatbelt than 110 with one.

"Murphy I think i see your point, are you saying that the tree started to fall, closed the kerf on the bottom face cut, which may have gone deeper than the top face cut, then the tree stopped pivoting at the hinge and stopped falling, the notch could not close and the force and torque of the tree abruptly stopping caused it to split out?"
That is exactly what happened... no doubt about it... And Corey that is a very good description.

"Have at least one clear escape route"
When working in the woods 2 escape paths should be cleared, preferably at 45* from the felling plane. And you don't wait around to see what happens. Bore cut with a back release, cut the tab and get out of there quick. Had this been done chance of injury would have been very close to 0.
God Bless All,
Daniel

 

[geofore]

lean

Ash and silver maple both like to split out, ash more so with the strait grain. I would like to see pictures of the other side of the tree and cut. Did it hinge at the first big limb that changed the direction of the grain? Ash needs to be handled with care even after it is cut to boards, drop it and it splits, throw it on the stack and it can split. I don't doubt that by the time he heard it split, the split was a done deal all the way up. It does pinch the saw in place and hold it tight with the cut that was made. Two or three wraps of rope around the trunk three feet above the cut would have made a differance. Most of you disagree with that but I will do that on leaners and on limbs in silver maples that have a split from storm damage. On the split limbs it keeps the split from heading towards the trunk and sends it towards the tip away from your position as you make the under cut. I've had the splits on big limbs run out 20' to 30' before the limb falls off. The same idea comes into play when you are cutting out a tree with more than one leader and you take the time to cable the leads together just in case they want to split while you are up in one side working. I've had them split to the ground as one side was cut off and the cable held.

 

[murphy4trees]

Geo,
Thanks for the tips... your experience is showing here...
So do you use bore cuts with a back release much???
Thanks,
Daniel

 

[koyaanisqatsi]

Very helpful geofore. I still can't get over how easy it *looks* to bring a tree like that down, but everything seemed to go wrong.

It would be useful I think if there was a team whose job is was to investigate accidents like this nationwide, to determine the precise cause, but *not* to blame someone. That may not be possible, but it may save some lives and prevent injuries if there were such a team. Alternately, it would seem that a local team of very experienced cutters might try to break free to try to reconstruct on site exactly what happened, if possible. The findings might be presented in a forum such as this one. Crazy idea perhaps.

Pete

 

[geofore]

boring in

The first few times I did the cuts, I thought it would mess up the tip of the bar. Years back they taught you not to do a boring cut and said you would burn out the tip of the bar, I found out the tips did not burn out if done properly. There is safety in the different cuts, you need to know when to use them, this guy did not.

I'm glad to see someone else started the Jacknife thread, though I have folded down trees I would not show someone how it is done. There is a special cut to use when you want the tree to fold in different directions as it comes down upon itself.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I just figured that the proper face cut was already hashed out, not needing any repetition on my part.

I now see strapping a tree as simple insurance, just like using a pull rope on a residential removal. Howmany of you would forgo the 1/2 inch insurance policy in there were the slightest chance of structural damage?

I like the anology to speed though, a sloppy cut means you are going too fast. Go slow, and use all the simple safety precautions you can, along with proper basic technique.

As for a nationwide board that reveiws accidents, that is what OSHA is for. With this accident, sisnce it was one worker seriously injured they would not be called to the seane. I belive it is 3 seriouse injuries or one death which will trigger an OSHA investigation. NAA will assist its members durring an OSHA investigation.

Tim could comment on that more.

 

[Ryan Willock]

Thats a nasty one for sure!!! I use the bore cut almost exclusively anyway (probably 85% of the time) i also would have plunged out the heart and placed sapwood cuts just above the hinge.

THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS INSTRUCTION!!!! SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION IF UNFAMILAR WITH FELLING!!!!

 

[whiteoak]

I just found out about this forum about an hour ago. been reading all about these problems that people have had
well i've been cutting nearly 30 years and all this that i've read so far I can relate to and then some.so expect the unexpected when you fire up your saw. have a nice day

 

[chainsawworld]

whiteoak,
welcome aboard. hope you find all of us here helpful.
marty

 

[Kevin]

You can expect that to happen on any head leaner.
The face notch wasn`t a problem here, it was the lack of a bore cut that caused the tree to seperate.

 

[koyaanisqatsi]

Hi Kevin:

Would you suggest a bore cut with any type of tree leaning that much, or just certain types of trees leaning that much, or with just certain types of trees regardless of lean? To shorten the question, when is it better/safer to use a bore cut?

TIA,
koyaanisqatsi

 

[StIhL MaGnUm]

I bore cut any leaner with a slightly modified open face notch,as many will state the open face bore cut is the safest way to fell timber,but there are plenty of times where you don't need to use this method..


later Rob..

 

[Kevin]

I use a bore cut on any head leaner where the lean is towards the lay and it is large enough to take the gut of the bar.
It saves wood and prevents barber chairs.
A leaning tree is under tremendous pressure, you want to relieve the tension as much as possible.

 

[murphy4trees]

Kevin,
Why do you say it wasn't the notch (face cut)?
Are you saying that, based on the picture of the hinge, or based on your experience felling head leaners or for another reason?
The tree might not have barberchaired with a back released plunge cut, but it's clear to me from the pic that the face cuts overlapped causing the hinge to sieze, which resulted in the barberchair.
God Bless,
Daniel

 

[Kevin]

Daniel;
I don`t see a dutchman in the photo but if it is there they usually cause the hinge to fail prematurely.
They are sometimes used intentionally on one side or the other.
It appears to me the felling cut is a little too high and the hinge a little too beefy which enhanced the chance for the barber chair.
A narrow face cut can cause the face to close and pull the wood and sometimes cause a barber chair.
Wind is another factor that doesn`t get mentioned often.
It doesn't look like the back cut got very far into the tree before it failed.
My guess is wind or weight from the lean or a combination of both caused the barber chair.

 

[koyaanisqatsi]

Review Images

All:

I just received Kevin's last Post and it caused me to go back and look at the Images again. It's not clearly evident in the first image, but in the 2nd and 3rd images I seem to see a horizontal (actually slightly tilted down/right) line just below his final felling cut. It could be nothing--I can't say for sure it is a cut, or how deep it might be. But, perhaps the cutter first started a felling cut below his final one, decided that is was way off bad due to being off horizontal or the tree was already beginning to show slight signs of slabbing. He then started a new felling cut a couple inches about the first felling cut, thinking that would make things right. Could this first felling cut closed causing the collapse? Any thoughts? Just speculation.

koyaanisqatsi