Just out of curiosity, do you guys just cut firewood for some extra money?
Do either of you have any real experience felling standing trees?
What kind of protection gear do you all use?
Felling wedges? Any other gear?
Just curious.
This is my first year cutting while my friend is in his fourth year of cutting. We only cut for our own domestic use. I cut to help offset the high cost of propane which, threatens my ability to finance the ever increasing cost of tuition.
As for PPE, I wear boots, ear protection, gloves, and a hard hat when felling. I usually carry two plastic wedges and a sledge hammer. On this day, I brought the two wedges but only had a framing hammer.
It does take me a considerable amount of time to fell a tree as I look over the tree from four sides trying to determine how the weight of the top of the tree, and the lean of the trunk, will influence which direction it will fall. I then clear two escape paths and take out any small trees that may cause the tree to hang up. Next, I make my bottom cut and angled cut trying not to penetrate more than 1/3 of the total diameter of the tree, less if it is leaning. Lastly, I make a level back cut at about 3 inches from the top of my angle cut. I also try to look up as much as possible. When the tree starts to move, I try to shut off my saw while starting down one of the predetermined escape paths while, glancing back toward the tree. Sometimes it feels like it takes more time to fell the tree than to cut it up.
My friend is not nearly as cautious but somehow always manages to place the tree within five feet of his mark. In regards to the tree in question, I asked him where he intended to fell the tree, he pointed toward the south, this concerned me because there was a large branch on the north side coming off almost parallel to the ground. I remember commenting "wow if you can do that, you really are good." While he was making his back cut, the tree started to twist due to the counterweight action caused by the large branch on the north side. I yell out for him to "stop" but, he kept cutting until the saw was completely stuck. I tried to wedge the tree over however, due to his steep angled back cut, the wedges had little effect. In hindsight, I should have removed the bar from the saw and continued to fell the tree in a correct manner. Unfortunately, that thought never occurred to me yesterday. He thought he could cut the saw out. I wasn't sure how that would work and watched as he made cuts underneath the stuck bar. I now realize this was a bad idea, as the tree started to crack and slowly fall back toward the saw. It was my idea to abandon the saw, it can be replaced, we can't be. Of course, we already know the rest of the story, the tree crushed my saw.
I really wished I had thought about removing the bar from the saw as I have seen this mentioned on AS before.
I'm not sure what to expect, if anything, in the form of repayment. If I had damaged a friends saw, I would sell mine if I had to in order to cover the expense. Even though my friend and his wife, make about $12,000 more a year than my wife and I do, they never seem to have money. In fact, we were cutting on my parents property for him. I've already cut about 12 cords this year, by myself, for my use.
I'm good friends with the Solo's dealer son and he said I can get the parts at cost. If my friend won't help pay for the bill, I think I'll finish cutting up the trees and deliver the wood to my dealer. Heck, he might even knock off a little from my bill.
