Fallen Branch Stuck On Both Ends - Help

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Thanks for the advice. I will see if I can get another saw.
Caution: do not work this in a boat. Your footing must be steady. The single pic is hard to conceive of a reliable work surface. Could a mini-excavator with a bucket & thumb reach it. Could a boom crane truck be used to lift or support the heavy wood while extension pole saws would be used to cut the wood into small pieces? Why not let nature take its course for a few months? Finally could a 30-.06 rifle be used to shoot the wood at the weight junctions? I would consult with an equipment rental or construction yard to ask their opinions.
 
Caution: do not work this in a boat. Your footing must be steady. The single pic is hard to conceive of a reliable work surface. Could a mini-excavator with a bucket & thumb reach it. Could a boom crane truck be used to lift or support the heavy wood while extension pole saws would be used to cut the wood into small pieces? Why not let nature take its course for a few months? Finally could a 30-.06 rifle be used to shoot the wood at the weight junctions? I would consult with an equipment rental or construction yard to ask their opinions.
I wouldn't even think of attempting this job with anything less than a 50 cal... although an A-10 airstrike would be better... Rube Goldberg would be proud...
 
Why not let nature take its course for a few months?
He said he wants to be able to take his boat through there. A willow branch that's still attached to the tree like that could easily grow in and stay that way for decades.
Finally could a 30-.06 rifle be used to shoot the wood at the weight junctions?
😄 What exactly are "weight junctions"?
I would consult with an equipment rental or construction yard to ask their opinions.
Why would someone who works at an equipment rental yard have the faintest notion of how to do a job like that?
 
Oh dear, your overthinking this. Get your axe and chip the branches in the ice loose and then put a ladder up to the busted up hanger and cut it loose. Job done. Yes siree
 
This thread is a great example of the potential problems of getting advice from strangers on the internet. We're talking about a simple job that would take a professional less than an hour. Now we have people talking about chipping through two feet of solid ice with an axe, cutting a big hanger from a ladder with a chainsaw and shooting "weight junctions" (still curious what that is) with an elk rifle. It's hilarious.

OP, you should just start a giant fire on the ice under the branch and burn the whole thing down while you watch from a safe distance. 🤪
 
Thanks for all the replies. I had a good laugh reading through them this morning. I have a pretty nice gun collection and would have had fun blasting away and, in hindsight, should have probably done that.

You guys are alright.

First the good news. We got it done with no injuries.

I'll address a couple questions. The ice was not slippery, we had about 4 inches of old snow on the ice so there was plenty of traction. The canal is only 2' deep, but a very muddy bottom. You cannot wade in the canal and trying anything by boat was eliminated immediately before I even started the saw.

Now the bad news. I got my bar stuck 3 times and my saw is now out of commission. I must have damaged something since the chain came off twice even though it was adjusted properly on the bar.

Now the worse news. I got the first 2 limbs off pretty easily and cleared up the area for the final cut. I saved the biggest one, that was straight in line with the limb, for last, thinking it would be good to have that one stabilze the whole thing as I cut the first 2. That seemed to work, but the last limb now had a massive amount of weight/tension on it. I figured the tension was on the top of the limb, so I started there and cut ~15% into the limb. Then I went underneath to finish the cut. I had my gettaway route planned and a rope on the limb to keep it from kicking towards where I was standing. As I made the final cut, the limb pinched back down on my saw. So the limb was 'free' but in the same position with my saw blade in the closed gap. So, I get another saw and the SAME thing happened. It just slammed closed so fast I couldn't react fast enough. So now, there are 2 saws stuck with a 24" 'free' log in between them and the whole enchilada still in the same position, with a crap ton of weight holding it in place.

We STUPIDLY gathered around wondering what to do, pound wedges in the cuts? Get the THIRD saw in the mix? All of a sudden the entire she-bang goes! I wrongly assumed the top hinge would hold. It didn't. It broke off 15' in the air and slammed down on the ice. Then it pivoted, throwing the chainsaws to the wind, and slammed to the left about 4 feet. If one of the kids had been standing there (and they had at some points in the morning), I don't even want to consider what would have happened. Certainly lives would be forever changed, let's just say that.

Lessons learned: You can never be too careful. Slow down. When you are going too slow, slow down more and study the situation. Like my Dad taught me playing pool, aim twice, shoot once. Never underestimate how bad things can go. The worse case scenario for that log happened and I made a bad assumption the hinge would hold. A tree can fall without you doing anything other than standing there wondering what the hell to do next. 40" diameter willow logs are really really really heavy. Hire a professional next time. This only cost me 4 extra large pizzas and 12 pitchers of beer, I should have spend 10X that and had an expert do it.

Anyone want to buy a Husqvarna 450?
 

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Thanks for all the replies. I had a good laugh reading through them this morning. I have a pretty nice gun collection and would have had fun blasting away and, in hindsight, should have probably done that.

You guys are alright.

First the good news. We got it done with no injuries.

I'll address a couple questions. The ice was not slippery, we had about 4 inches of old snow on the ice so there was plenty of traction. The canal is only 2' deep, but a very muddy bottom. You cannot wade in the canal and trying anything by boat was eliminated immediately before I even started the saw.

Now the bad news. I got my bar stuck 3 times and my saw is now out of commission. I must have damaged something since the chain came off twice even though it was adjusted properly on the bar.

Now the worse news. I got the first 2 limbs off pretty easily and cleared up the area for the final cut. I saved the biggest one, that was straight in line with the limb, for last, thinking it would be good to have that one stabilze the whole thing as I cut the first 2. That seemed to work, but the last limb now had a massive amount of weight/tension on it. I figured the tension was on the top of the limb, so I started there and cut ~15% into the limb. Then I went underneath to finish the cut. I had my gettaway route planned and a rope on the limb to keep it from kicking towards where I was standing. As I made the final cut, the limb pinched back down on my saw. So the limb was 'free' but in the same position with my saw blade in the closed gap. So, I get another saw and the SAME thing happened. It just slammed closed so fast I couldn't react fast enough. So now, there are 2 saws stuck with a 24" 'free' log in between them and the whole enchilada still in the same position, with a crap ton of weight holding it in place.

We STUPIDLY gathered around wondering what to do, pound wedges in the cuts? Get the THIRD saw in the mix? All of a sudden the entire she-bang goes! I wrongly assumed the top hinge would hold. It didn't. It broke off 15' in the air and slammed down on the ice. Then it pivoted, throwing the chainsaws to the wind, and slammed to the left about 4 feet. If one of the kids had been standing there (and they had at some points in the morning), I don't even want to consider what would have happened. Certainly lives would be forever changed, let's just say that.

Lessons learned: You can never be too careful. Slow down. When you are going too slow, slow down more and study the situation. Like my Dad taught me playing pool, aim twice, shoot once. Never underestimate how bad things can go. The worse case scenario for that log happened and I made a bad assumption the hinge would hold. A tree can fall without you doing anything other than standing there wondering what the hell to do next. 40" diameter willow logs are really really really heavy. Hire a professional next time. This only cost me 4 extra large pizzas and 12 pitchers of beer, I should have spend 10X that and had an expert do it.

Anyone want to buy a Husqvarna 450?
Glad everyone is OK. Sometimes those lessons are very expensive. I have always been a little frustrated with a lack of appreciation this industry sometimes gets. There is a reason it is the most dangerous industry in the country.
I have a friend who works at Big Orange, and he says every class is shown a pretty gruesome safety video before they are given their training manuals... I guess some walk out at that point. The instructor says the point of the video is to pound home to the trainees that "these rules were written in blood before they were written in ink."
 
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