Widow-Maker....Almost

[WDH]

Today after work I was felling some oak that had expired from the drought.  These trees had died earlier this summer, so I thought that I was being extra careful in felling them.  I looked each of them over very good, picked the best spot to fell them, inspected the escape route, etc.  I also made a point to exit hastily at the first sign that the tree was falling to get away from the stump.

Well, I felled about a 12" DBH scarlet oak.  The felling went OK and I hit the spot perfectly.  Even so, there was a full canopy 360 degrees around the tree, so the dead limbs kind of hung up in the green surrounding limbs as the tree fell, but it all fell in the little gap, or so I thought..  The tree hit the ground and the top broke up in several pieces.  I waited for the dust to settle, maybe 15 seconds, before I approached the stump.  I was looking at the butt log to determine if it was worth trying to saw.  I never looked up before moving to the butt of the downed tree. 

That hard hat saved my numb skull.  Maybe that branch knocked some sense into me.

As I was walking up the butt log looking it over, BANG, I took a blow to the head and left side of my shoulder.  The hard hat cushioned the blow to the head, but my shoulder took a good lick, right on the left side of the collarbone.  It was a dead branch about 1"- 2" in diameter at the big end and about 8 or 10 feet long.  It had broke off the dead tree, got hung up in the limbs of the green surrounding tree, and nailed me perfectly as I walked by.

My shoulder hurts as I type this post.  I am embarrassed that I did not look up to check for hanging limbs before walking up to the tree.  Although I waited for a full 15 or 20 seconds, I should have looked up before approaching the area that was under the former crown.  That is why I am making this post, because I feel stupid and knew better, and hopefully tomorrow someone reading this will not do the same thing.

[woodbowl]

WDH, that reminds me of a time when my kids were waiting for the school bus in our yard. We have SYP and they are tall. After the bus left, I heard a loud crash. A large dead limb fell 40' straight down and landed in the space they were standing. It was a freak thing and am very thankful that it didn't have a bad outcome.

[dancan]

Hopefully someone learns from your mistake .
sometimes i find myself doing things opposite of what the safety manual  says and get those little taps on the shoulder .
i've got a clearing job to do next week with some standing dead wood so i will keep your tap on the shoulder in the back of my mind and pay attention .

[WDH]

Good on ya, Dancan.  That dead stuff is nasty and full of surprises.  We have to learn from each other's mistakes .

[thecfarm]

Maybe you might not of seen it anyways.I've had stuff come down around me and I know it wasn't there when I looked.  You won't forget to look up now.Maybe that was a little reminder so a big one won't really hurt you.

[beenthere]

WDH
Exact same thing happened to me prolly 35 years ago, and it was a real convincer to continue wearing a hard hat in the woods. About the same length of time, and as you say, the dust had settled..I walked up to the stump admiring the drop..when wham!! Drove that hard hat down around my ears.

I often think that a hard hat for just casual walks in the woods, be it the kids or grand kids, would be a real smart thing to do.. so many dead limbs fall all the time.

A good reminder for us all. 

[OneWithWood]

Glad it was mostly your pride that got hurt.
Thanks for posting this.  You know I will think of your experience when I am out there tempting the fates.

[Ed]

I know the feeling. I got beaned by a small Elm branch last winter. It really takes you by surprise.
I kinda felt like Marvin the Martian from Bugs Bunny, standing there with my hardhat pushed down over my ears.

Ed

[pbuehning]

+1 Thanks for the reminder-any time we get complacent we're setting ourselves up to get hurt!

[Warbird]

WDH - Glad you are okay.  Thanks for sharing this story for us all so we can be reminded about how careful we should be felling trees.

[SwampDonkey]

Well lucky in deed. I refuse to mark out thinning with dead over head chicos in the lot. I know some guys had to work in that stuff for forest companies that should have more common sense. The worst are dead standing birch.

Be careful out there.  ;)

[sgtmaconga]

WDH

sorry to hear about this. you doing any better now? was that you that crashed his car into the local emergency room?

[RSteiner]

An experience with a dead branch about the same size prompted me to upgrade from just hearing protectors to a hard hat with hearing protection.

I was felling a live tree with a few very dead branches.  As I was finishing the back cut the vibration from the chainsaw caused a branch to fall which just grazed my head and hit me on the shoulder.  I want to tell you that really gets your attention when you are not expecting it. 

My first thought after looking at the branch that hit me was I'm lucky that didn't fall straight down on my skull cause it could have inflicted a lot of hurt.  Now I look up before I cut to see what is over head that could fall while cutting.  I also watch the crown of the tree as it falls to see what is happening and keep looking up until I've looked all around.

Your experience is a good lesson for everyone, glad you only ended up with a sore shoulder.

Randy

[GW]

The logger who cut our pond sites took a hit on the back of his shoulder by a 3 - 4 inch limb. He had a real pretty purple bruise running down his back. I have no doubt that it would have cracked a bare head.

I've had someone laugh at my hardhat and say that they don't help keep you safer. I'm going to propose a test to the next person that says something like that. I'll climb up on the roof of a two story house with a 2 X 4, and they can stand below me and hold my hardhat in their hand. Then I'll count to 10 and drop the board directly onto their head. I'll record how far into the count I get before the hat is on their head. ;)

I don't have a problem with someone who chooses not to wear a HH, but I can't see why they would try to discourage someone who does. :

I'm glad you're alright WDH!

[Greg]

WDH
Exact same thing happened to me prolly 35 years ago, and it was a real convincer to continue wearing a hard hat in the woods. About the same length of time, and as you say, the dust had settled..I walked up to the stump admiring the drop..when wham!! Drove that hard hat down around my ears.

I often think that a hard hat for just casual walks in the woods, be it the kids or grand kids, would be a real smart thing to do.. so many dead limbs fall all the time.

A good reminder for us all. 

Yup, especially on a windy day...

[Don P]

14 stitches in my wifes head just walking in the side yard one calm day, a gum shed a limb, it wasn't particularly large or high. Gravity is a powerful thing.

[WDH]

WDH

sorry to hear about this. you doing any better now? was that you that crashed his car into the local emergency room?

Richard,

No car crashes for me, just limb crashes  .  You know how it is with all the hardwood around my place trying to find a good spot to fell a dead tree in.  Everything wants to hang up, dead limbs included.  I am sore and have a nice bruise (also, a new best friend called Mr. Hardhat :.

[Mooseherder]

Glad you're okay WDH. This is a timely reminder for me.
Got 7 dead Pine and 3 live ones that have to come down soon because of the pine borer. The limbs come down more frequently recently with minimal wind and when it rains.
Been waiting for things to cool down but that ain't happened yet. Not looking forward to this at all.
I have a Homelite XL with a 14 inch bar. It is a great limbing saw but am leery about using it for these trees. I left my bigger Saws at Camp because I didn't think I'd be needing them here again. : Not a great thing to bring on an airplane the way we pack. I'll try one with this saw to find out if it'll work. If not, I guess a rental might be the best way to go.

[weimedog]

Great for you to be able to relay that story!

We ALL should have these little conversations and revelations to help each other not have those wake up calls.

I got my last "tap" on the shoulder when cutting Honey Locust out of my hedge rows for a fence project this summer. One (Most did!) really had its goofy twisted branches all entangled in a dying cherry tree..and my typical "mode of operendi" was to cut the tree with a notch horizontal on top and a steep angle on the bottom then make a final downward angled cut matching the bottom of the notch as those tree's typically wouldn't fall, they just drop straight down (on your saw if you didn'd think your way thru)..needed to let them "slide" off the stump when my final cut was made..(I know I know!! Stupid way but what other way is there???)

After these tree's would....DROP..I would hook onto them with my tractor & 50ft of chain and just rip them out of the hedge row! Understand these tree are typically 12-14inches & 40-50ft tall. This one was closer to 16. So it did as was predicted...my final cut just about touched the notch and the tree dropped straight down hit that "angle" at the bottom of the notch, releasing my saw; and slid nice and easy off the stump onto the ground....Nothing fell. I looked up and didn't see any thing looking like its was going to come down.....went out and got my chain and began to hookup to that tree; stood up to get a look at how things were..and TAP! a 4-5 incher from the cherry tree came down butt first and glanced off the back of my Stihl Helmet, knocked it off my head;..(left me seeing those little lights arcing in my vision)....scratched my back & bruised to top of my butt pretty good and stuck straight in the ground.


I added a pic to my gallery of the hedgerow and a bunch of those locust on the ground after the event..and a different hard hat...

[sawguy21]

Yikes Why do we have to keep learning these lessons the hard way?

[dancan]

Worked on a clearing job today , kept looking up and over my shoulder all day , no incidents  8) .
I put the saw and the helmet away and started clearing the brush and branches and then it happened  right in the center of the forehead a maple branch thinner than a pencil got me and drew blood  :-[ , good thing nobody was around so my pride was still intact so i put my hard hat back on and finished cleaning up  . A fellow needs a rotating head like the smiley  :D .

[WDH]

Looks like we need a limb-falling-on-head smiley.

[Warbird]

Looks like we need a limb-falling-on-head smiley.

Totally.

[Furby]

When doing this
Don't let happen to you.
Or is what you'll feel like instead of

[WDH]

Furby, you are a visual type of guy :D.