Walk of shame

[Old2stroke]

For any Newbees this is what happens when you misjudge the forces on what you are cutting and get the saw pinched so tight in the cut that you have to walk to the truck/house for another saw to cut it loose. Happens to everyone, hopefully less often with experience. Sometimes, if you have tools, you can unbolt the power head and just leave the bar stuck in the tree but this can be difficult if the sprocket is inboard of the clutch drum or if the power head is tight against the wood. So 'fess up guys, what is your worst "stuck in the tree" story?
I'll always remember a late afternoon day when my brain was thinking of a cold beer and I cut into a dinky little tree just to clear it out of the way and the damn thing twisted and pinched the bar solid. It was a heavy saw on a long bar that was stuck near the tip and I couldn't just leave it without risk of bending the bar (no tools) so I yelled for a friend to support the saw while I went to the van for a spare one. Spare saw was empty and had to be refueled (stupid again). Friend was unhappy about the long wait and had stored up a few harsh words.

 

[user 122190]

A 5 ton come-along from Harbor Freight has saved me a few times.

 

[Colt Marlington]

Getting a pole saw pinched is the worst.

 

[merc_man]

I had that once when i only brought one saw to bush. Had to use block of wood and long stick few inchs round and was able to dig under log enought to get under and pry up as my son pulled saw out.
That was the last time i went to bush with one saw.
Was a lot of extra work for a stupid mistake.

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[merc_man]

Getting a pole saw pinched is the worst.

Yes it would be.

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[James Miller]

I was cutting up some mulberry with @farmer steve and got my 7910 stuck at the stump end. Grab the 590 and figure I'll go out about 8 feet or so and make a bore cut to keep from pinching this saw also. Didn't work. There were 3 more saws sitting there but the best option was to just use the tractor to rescue both saws at once.

 

[Eskimo]

I'm a relative newcomer to using a chainsaw, and my experience so far has been limited to trees blown down in my yard by hurricane Michael.

The shame has been limited to a few (3-4?) walks back to my garage to get a scissors jack. No bystanders were present to enjoy my "lesson".

I'm getting better at reading the compression, and I'm not too proud to pop a wedge in if I'm not sure.

 

[Big Red Oaks 4 me]

I once had 3 saws pinched in the same tree. That was years ago. Fortunately, I had a 4th!

 

[user 122190]

I'm a relative newcomer to using a chainsaw, and my experience so far has been limited to trees blown down in my yard by hurricane Michael.

The shame has been limited to a few (3-4?) walks back to my garage to get a scissors jack. No bystanders were present to enjoy my "lesson".

I'm getting better at reading the compression, and I'm not too proud to pop a wedge in if I'm not sure.

Compression or tension, and still the how to deal with it on the really really big stuff can be tricky for trees suspended across a road and at chest high. Wedges are the first safety measure to prevent a bad situation from becoming a giant problem.

 

[Cycledude]

For about 30 years I only had one chainsaw, got it stuck quite a few times but always managed to get it unstuck somehow.
I finally bought a second and third saw a few years ago, well one day I cut down a pretty big tree and managed to get my saw stuck while cutting some big limbs, had to go home and get another saw, well I very quick and stupidly managed to get the second saw stuck ! Had to go home again to get chainsaw number three, luckily I didn’t get the third saw stuck in the same tree ! Don’t know how I got by for so many years with only one saw.

 

[TBS]

My uncle was trying to fall a lightning struck pine at our cabin, thought he could do it with no face cut and the tree sat back on the bar and it was the only saw. We left for home tree still standing but no risk to anything...or so we thought and came back a week or so later to see tree on the ground with most of the top half cut and gone.....some guy pulls up the driveway and asks if we need some wood cutting then tells us about the tree that fell into the road and looked like someone tried to fall it before.....and that's how we met our good friend Mark.

 

[NCPT]

Getting a pole saw pinched is the worst.

This is true.

 

[U&A]

Me.... noooo..... iv never got it stuck and had to get it out by chopping through the tree with a hatchet.

Never once

I only have one saw[emoji4]


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[jakethesnake]

Got a tree stuck in another tree weeks ago. Wasn’t hung bad but hung no less.

Cut away side of the hinge to let the tree twist out of the other.

When it went it took my saw with it.

Honestly I didn’t care if it smashed my saw just so long as it didn’t smash me.

Saw was fine. I’m glad of that. It’s s nice one

 

[pioneerguy600]

I will come clean, started running chainsaws back in the early60`s, spent an awful lot of time in the woods running saws. Only got a saw stuck real bad just once and of course it was a very long distance from home. After hurricane Wan blew through here it took so many trees down that every trail in the forest was blocked solid. I had this one trail I have looked after for 35 years so after the majority of the trees were removed in the neighborhood , about 3 solid months of cutting for me , I began cutting this trail out each weekend. This trail is a four hour hike when open. Each weekend I would average about a mile of opening up, trees of every size down like tiddly winks sticks piled up 10 - 12' in places. I threw a chain once just as the sun was setting, tossed the saw in the backpack and went home, 3 hour walk. On the final day of completely opening the trail, about a half hour before sunset I made a big hurried mistake reading the forces acting on a 20" dia spruce tree laying across the trail suspended 4' above the ground. Had cut hundreds like it before but with 4 - 5' of snow down covering everything I missed a critical pivot point buried beneath the snow. I figured the trunk would fall down so I cut from the top down to about center, pulled the bar and began the matching cut up from the underside and all was looking good til the bar neared breaking through into the top kerf, the pressure was so great the remaining fiber crushed closing the kerf jamming the bar vice like solid. Now leaving the saw there did not bide well with me, would be a whole week before I could come back, gave the situation a bit of thought and then worked my way up the stem to find the pivot point causing the jam, the tree was over 12" at that point when I found it. I decided to cross the lake to our campsite, get the pole axe out and returned to chop the jammed saw out cutting directly on top of the point it was supported by another downed tree. Twenty plus mins later the tree fell at the saw kerf releasing the saw, stem did not hit the ground, saw was not damaged any. I cut the center block out just as darkness fell and the coyotes began to howl. Still had a 4.5 hour walk out in the dark over iced over lakes and flowing rivers.

 

[cus_deluxe]

This fall i made the same mistake (only one saw). Top of a good size red maple broke out and was hung up in another tree. A friend with a bucket came and got the top untangled, i was just cleaning it up. The tangled mess shifted, pinched saw, so i spent the next 10 minutes hacking away with the dullest hatchet ever. Glad nobody drove by and saw me goin at it Lol

 

[Marley5]

Will never forget this.

Was way behind on my wood supply so took a day off work, rode up in the mountain and found a nice Red oak I could back right up to.

Instantly pinched my old metal cased homelite, couldn't budge it.
I made a knotch in the side of Oak with my axe and wedged a limb in my pickup bed up to knotch and while in 4x4 pushed tree backwards and saw fell to ground.

Problem now is, this Oak wants to fall my direction so as I'm racing away.....Oak is falling and lands on my 87 S-10.

Times were hard and money was tight back then so wasting a day really sucked.

 

[TBS]

My uncle was trying to fall a lightning struck pine at our cabin, thought he could do it with no face cut and the tree sat back on the bar and it was the only saw. We left for home tree still standing but no risk to anything...or so we thought and came back a week or so later to see tree on the ground with most of the top half cut and gone.....some guy pulls up the driveway and asks if we need some wood cutting then tells us about the tree that fell into the road and looked like someone tried to fall it before.....and that's how we met our good friend Mark.

Might as well share my mistake(s) too. Knock on wood I've never stuck a saw while felling, ive hung up more than a few in tight areas but those are easy for me to deal with by sectioning them down, but the worst thing I've ever done was use a hand winch to get an oak to fall the direction i wanted. I anchored off to a manzanita, tightened the cable, made my cuts, winched it over but the hinge wood held, i went back and cut the hinge more, tree went right were I wanted, as i watched it fall i realized it would've driven me into the ground like Wile e coyote getting hit by a boulder where i previously stood.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I had two bars for my first saw. Got it stuck, took the power head off, mounted the second bar and chain, and cut the first bar out.

 

[Sepia]

Years back I was scouting out a spot for a new tree stand. Found a good spot, but there was a menacing looking Poplar in the vicinity that surely would come down at some point and crush my stand. Walked back out to the truck and got the saw. walked back in and started to cut a notch and the dang Poplar (about 60' tall) squished down on my saw. Back out the camp and wait for buddy whose was due to arrive at any time. He gets there and we walk back in with his saw. He starts cutting and sure enough, he's stuck in no time. SO we both walk back out to the camp and get the axe - pretty sure it won't get stuck lol. Took the tree down the old fashioned way and never hurt either saw.

10 minute job took about 3 hours.