dumb beginner ran new saw for 2-3 min with brake on...

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If you can fill your boots with a single piss, my hat's off to you.

I can never hold it that long..

I thought he said "fill your boots with water". Then you said piss, then I tried to be funny. Sad.
Although I don’t drink in the woods how ever, I don’t relish the idea of being piss soaked from arsehole to tea kettle.
I don’t mind dying in the bush, but I don’t wish to go this way unless I’m rocking to “Thunder Struck.”
 
At that distance off the ground, it's probably a residential line. In the US we use 110v AC, but (if memory serves) the incoming current will be in two wires, each at 110v, but 180 degrees out of phase, plus a bare supporting cable as we see here. The other smaller wire is probably a phone or cable TV line. The 2 incoming lines will each go to one side of the power bar in the box and will each feed roughly half the breakers. Canada may use 220v, I don't know. Here's the safe and sensible thing to do: Call the power company and get them to handle it. Here's what I would do: Wear rubber boots and stand on a non-conducting substance. Use a saw with a plastic rear handle and a plastic or rubber covered handlebar. Wear thick gloves. Position the non-conducting substance where you want to make the first cut. Stand on it and tap the underside of the tree with the bar. If OK, start the saw and make a shallow bouncing cut on the underside. If OK with the bar touching the wood of the tree, and assuming the tension is downward, carefully make a cut on the topside a little more than halfway through, then carefully cut the underside until the tree gives - you planned for where the two halves of the tree would fall right? Repeat until you get to where you can get a dry rope over a branch and pull the top of the tree off the line, staying insulated as before. Do not touch the tree with your hands. This sounds like a sensible plan to me, but the most sensible plan would be to let those who know what they are doing handle it. Having said this, I would invite anyone who really knows what they are talking about chime in. I will be glad to delete this post if it is grossly in error.
 
Or just grab all that insulated wire with one gorilla arm while using your saw in your other gorilla arm to just cut that fricken tree off. Hang on tight for the ride! Woohoo!

Seriously, just undercut that thing from the ground and be prepared to move quickly. The ride won't be as good, but your gorilla arms won't be so tired from all that hangin' around and sawin' with one arm.

Or just forget all that and call the power company.

Whatever you do, don't listen to my advice because that one picture does not tell me enough of a story to figure out what to do with that **** anyway.

:chainsaw: :laugh:
 
I dont know what the single strand is.

The other wires are insulated. Assuming 240v, you can handle that live while standing in a pool of copper connected to the centre of the earth.

I have exactly that all over the farm. I have taken innumerable trees off it. Well many, anyway. Usually live.

Where's the lineman around here?

But like I said, that picture does not tell enough of a story to decide what to do with that tree. Or those wires.
 
I dont know what the single strand is.

The other wires are insulated. Assuming 240v, you can handle that live while standing in a pool of copper connected to the centre of the earth.

I have exactly that all over the farm. I have taken innumerable trees off it. Well many, anyway. Usually live.

Where's the lineman around here?

But like I said, that picture does not tell enough of a story to decide what to do with that tree. Or those wires.
The single strand is a telephone wire.
Thanks for all the funny and serious replies, I appreciate it.
I’ll get more pictures.
 
How big is the tree?

Who owns the line?

Is the tree still attached to the stump?

In my world that looks, as my Dad would have said " like a piece of piss". Though that evaluation is based on not nearly enough information .

However, lots of things can go way sideways (literally) when you are dealing with a loaded tree on a tensioned line. I've had a couple of moments where I am lucky I'm still pretty quick when I have to be. There WILL be an equal and opposite reaction to the load coming off the line (and the tree). It's pretty much like dropping any leaner, but worse in some ways.

Oh, and i would be more worried about destroying the phone line than anything there.

The other option is to drop the lines and the tree along with them. I've done that. It is way scarier than just dropping the tree. I forget why I thought it necessary way back when, but I will endeavour to avoid that.
 
View attachment 767807 Speaking of doing dumb stuff I was getting some firewood for a friend and it seems I dumped a fir on a power line.
Anyway, I need to know if I’ll get electrocuted if I try to buck it off?
The line was originally 10 feet or the ground and I didn’t see it.

Here in NS that line is called aerial cable, 240 volt house current and only the two black insulated wires are live, no fear of getting a shock off them. The ones you need to avoid are the 3 bare copper wires at the very top of the poles, well avoid the ones on each end of the cross arm, they are high voltage and feed the transformers that reduce the current to 240V.
 
The single strand is a telephone wire.
Thanks for all the funny and serious replies, I appreciate it.
I’ll get more pictures.
So it's a tap.
Your conductors have insulated cases. The bare one would be your neutral then as you say tel line below and usually cable drop can often be on the very bottom
With single fase distribution lines that are not insulated then the lower conductor (line) is your neutral. You can hit the neutral or cut trees off the neutral but not supposed to ever cut within 3 metres (10ft) of the top conductor or have a falling tree come within that distance (Limits of Approach) because it can have a flashover (ark) more likely to happen in fog. The LOA changes to 15ft around the 138 KV including 230 & 287 lines and I believe the 340 KV & 500 KV both have a 20ft LOA.
Then you have "Step potential" & "Touch potential" and insulated tools and platforms.
I have seen very dry trees rest on
Non insulated distribution conductors and not burn. It won't blow the power without an ANRP, it just keeps pulsating and destroys everything generally. When a Certified Utility Arborist has called for permission to have an ANRP on the line (Assurance of No Reclose Permit) then that's to protect the lines not you life. You can only die once. It you do have a tree about to hit the line then you want to keep your feet together. So need to hop or shuffle 33ft to 66ft away from the base...depending on the V - KV.
As soon as your boots separate then it completes the circuit. When electricity goes in from a foot then it will go through your vains and arteries and may blow off an arm or hand or vice versa.
I guy blew of his prick in B.C. some yrs back as a Utility tree worker.
 
I'm sorry if I've offended any of you, I'm in CT helping a friend out, I got a replacement and cut 6 trees. I will say the replacement was different than the original as far as the brake.

I apologize again, I told them what happened they said don't worry about it.
 
Probably a great example of why consumer goods cost what they do. Big chain store customer service desks maned by some sub 20 year old on minimum wage, more interested in a smartphone screen than the real world, accepts all returns without question- warranty fault or purchaser fault..... who cares, pulls another from stock hands it over and nobody kicks his ass for doing so, nobody even bats an eyelid.
Someone somewhere has to pay for that item......... :omg:
 
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