How NOT to fell a tree

[SOAR]

Your right addo, they are bad, bit of a con really and those anti vibe gloves are expensive!. Grippers are the best really, good for climbing too. The hand held leaf blowers are really bad like addo said, the new Stihl ones have a good anti vibe system in them but dont have the power of the older models.

 

[Professor Gordon]

That video is comedy gold!

Here's a personal favourite of mine:

[video=youtube;qpJTJ5OA4HU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpJTJ5OA4HU[/video]

 

[Peter_t]

No one Ive met in the industry wears gloves except cheap grippers. The last I heard anti vibe gloves increased the problem of white finger as the vibs were of a different and worse type than the origonal ones. Anyhow leaf blowers and strimmers are far worse than chainsaws for vibration. Ive had two chains come off in 12 years from being too loose but not any snap, they just go limp after the chain catcher gets it.

Peter, Watch out for rotten Birches you'll come across many more. On smaller ones when theres no vehicle nearby, best to carry a piece of rope in your felling bag, tie it round the tree above your cuts (which are side to side ones) stand well back and pull, watch it drop to the floor and go over.. I got fed up with being clobbered on the head by the tops as they separate.

thanks for the tip addo, i really don't fancy that happening again. do you meen a step cut or two cuts that almost meet?

i too know what you meen when it comes to blowers, a bloke i sometimes work for has an old stihl and it neer enough shakes you to death!


thanks
pete

 

[addo]

Hi Pete, if you can get away with it ok a step cut. If you manage to pull the section out ok then it tends to drop down first and then away. Wouldn't try it in a residential area though if theres targets all around

That second video is a beauty! only thing to hit for miles around by the looks of it.

 

[jamin]

the saw should have anti vibe on it anyway. my dad brought some of those anti vibe gloves home from work. was that still couldnt close your hand properly.if your woried about the vibe cut down on the time using the saw.at the envirnment agancy(were my dad works) they have cut down to using a large saw 32" to just 1.45 hours a day. small 15" to 2.5 hours. its madness. but stops people claiming for white finger.

 

[Glen]

It can all go very wrong very quickly without the proper gear and training. Look at the following vid. No boots, no ballistic pants, no chainsaw gloves, no helmet, cutting on a ladder and above head height. This is what we call an "organ donor" in the trade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI5W7Mw67QU

Ballistic pants? I want to be able to tell people "It's a Health and safety requirement that I wear ballistic pants"

Mad Dave meet Mad Chat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbMvxLRdpm0

Anyone wanting to skip on safety equipmentneeds to prove they can do this first.

 

[Deleted member 7976]

In the original vid I was waiting with bated breath for a kickback followed by a leg becoming detached...

Hoping to have enough money to learn chainsaw next year, but it's something to do all the way or not at all.

 

[Dave Budd]

After watching the first vid I was left hoping there would be a Part 2 of them cocking it up again

 

[CaptainBeaky]

Good grief! Are these people allowed to breed as well?

 

[pete79]

Yes that was horrible to watch. Bad techniques, bad saw (Poulan....not a big fan). To be fair though, that was a nasty tree to try and bring down; rotted to bits and already hung up in another tree before they started cutting.

 

[Ph34r]

Surely these have got to win some kind of oscar?

 

[tobes01]

A fireman mate dealt with an incident like that several years back. Numpty had attempted to fell a much bigger tree solo. He'd had to work from a stepladder because his chainsaw wasn't big enough to tackle the base. Just like this one it kicked and landed upright - but with the numpty underneath it. Apparently his legs were sticking out, but it had rammed his upper body straight into the ground. Yuck.

 

[EddBamber]

Golden... that is the only word to decscribe this..

Golden.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

I love the way idiot number 1 keeps looking to the camera for some kind of moral support.... had me in creases!!!

TBL.

 

[ukbushmonkey]

I was cracking up when that guy started laughing at the end lol That was a classic beaver cut He should have done a dog tooth cut, do the gob cut, bore in through the middle, leaving enough for the hinge, then once you have done that you'll be left with just a little bit of holding wood at the back, stand aside then cut to meet the other cut. This cut is used to stop the tree splitting and possibly the loss of a head

 

[Cypress]

Hello!

First post here. Thought I might ask a question. On my job I often have to use chainsaws, leaf blowers, and the like. After reading this interesting thread and watching the videos, I'm wondering what 'white finger' is, and how do I guard against it.

Thanks!

Rick

 

[ukbushmonkey]

I am new to the site as well mate but I am sure you will like it here

I am a Tree Surgeon so I know a fair bit about white finger. I have never got it because nowdays the chainsaws are so much better, the body is actually sat on springs to help prevent the vibration on your hands.

Leaf flowers I wouldnt worry about to much, you hardly use them enough to be affected lol

Now if you are using the smaller stump grinders then after a while you might possibly start to get white finger (shattered nerves) I know a few people who have it and they are in absolute agony during the winter months because the blood curculation is pretty poor.

All in all I wouldnt worry about that these days.

 

[tenchu]

the saw should have anti vibe on it anyway. my dad brought some of those anti vibe gloves home from work. was that still couldnt close your hand properly.if your woried about the vibe cut down on the time using the saw.at the envirnment agancy(were my dad works) they have cut down to using a large saw 32" to just 1.45 hours a day. small 15" to 2.5 hours. its madness. but stops people claiming for white finger.

How on earth is it madness?

I work as a Health & Safety advisor on construction sites and you see people who can barely do their own buttons up anymore due to HAVS.

I think having to rotate tasks between people is a small price to pay to prevent that. Otherwise, we might as well get everyone snorting asbestos again, or are the controls on that madness too?

 

[pete79]

I was cracking up when that guy started laughing at the end lol That was a classic beaver cut He should have done a dog tooth cut, do the gob cut, bore in through the middle, leaving enough for the hinge, then once you have done that you'll be left with just a little bit of holding wood at the back, stand aside then cut to meet the other cut. This cut is used to stop the tree splitting and possibly the loss of a head

I see what you are saying with the plunge cut in the gob, and removing wood to let it roll out of the other tree, but I'm not sure if there was anything substantial enough at the back for a dog tooth cut. It looked pretty much rotted out at the rear of the tree. Very evil tree to fell in my opinion (if you've not got much experience). I'm always a bit sketchy about trees with a lot of rot going on in them; I had one collapse into sections and come straight downwards once a few years ago.

 

[Cypress]

Thanks ukbushmonkey, now that I know what it is I don't think I'm in any danger of getting it.

Today I had to fell a mimosa but all I had with me was a small axe (two foot handle) that I keep in my truck. I don't know if it's the silence or the physical effort or what, but felling a tree with an axe is very satisfying. I enjoyed it.

Nice forum you all have here. Think I'll stick around and learn some things.

Rick