What is the most bonehead mishaps you have seen in logging?

jocco · December 27, 2011, 03:37:28 PM

Been wanting to ask this for awhile (Do no want to get in to serious injury or fatality) (Example skidder fliped over on a flat wood yard) I have seen many, most as a particepent.

jocco · December 27, 2011, 03:51:11 PM

Many years ago was clearing a road on a property 2-3 man crew WE sat large brush cutter down and went ahead with chainsaw First tree i drop bent the cutters shaft up like a u. Me had to go to the boss and exsplain it (plus pay for it)

T Welsh · December 27, 2011, 03:57:09 PM

Most of them done by me! and no one saw it happen other than me. so I say they did not happen! But I sure did learn some lessons on what not to do again

. putting my saw in back of the rear tire of the loader so no one would run over it. some one parked the crawler in front of the loader and I forgot about the saw and backed over it myself :D. Tim

Decked · December 27, 2011, 04:20:53 PM

On the way home one afternoon, we stopped to visit a logging crew. They were telling us about the skidder being on its first day back since they rebuilt the motor in their shop. It was coming up a slight grade to the landing with a good hitch behind it. I said"boy, it sure sounds nice!" The words were barely out when BANG!!!

The starter knocked the side cover OFF..then flew another good 20 feet into the bushes. Smoke, steam, anti-freeze, oil & hyd. fluid all running out of it

There was a fist sized hole in the block where a rod came thru punching the starter.

I've neveh heard anything stop that quick in my life!!!!

A few weeks later they told me they figured they missed a snap ring on a wrist pin...

Telling on myself, I've been known to run over a chainsaw or few :

Decked · December 27, 2011, 05:05:46 PM

Another fun time..

I loved to get my cutter guy under a hemlock tree loaded with snow. Now & then he'd get the saw pinched & need a 'push'. I couldn't stop myself from crankin' the wheel enuff to jar the tree with the blade dumping all the snow down his neck ;D

One time, I was coming in to grab a hitch...there he was...humped up taking a poop..HE CAN"T RUN AWAY with his pants around his ankles :D..I kinda carefully dropped the blade & rolled snow up on his feet :D

A few days later..he got even....I went for a large tree..went to throw a choker on it ..THERE IT WAS...steaming like a pot of hot coffee...he CRAPPED on the log where the choker should go...he's a few yards away..GRINNIN! :D

Then there was the time I slipped & fell into a huge pile of porcupine poop...

Then the time my 540D was new out of the box..cutter lost a tree & it hit my new Deere..put a dang dent in the roof ..just bad enuff that the rain dripped down MY neck...had to put a pc. of plastic on the rear of the cage to stop that. I was *pithed for a day or 2 over that one...

I could go on & on.............

Banjo picker · December 27, 2011, 05:10:31 PM

Picture of me with blood running down my face from not wearing a hard hat. Banjo

Red Pill · December 27, 2011, 05:27:05 PM

Quote from: T Welsh on December 27, 2011, 03:57:09 PM
Most of them done by me! and no one saw it happen other than me. so I say they did not happen! But I sure did learn some lessons on what not to do again . putting my saw in back of the rear tire of the loader so no one would run over it. some one parked the crawler in front of the loader and I forgot about the saw and backed over it myself :D. Tim

Now THAT'S funny!

Bobus2003 · December 27, 2011, 06:00:58 PM

Was pulling wood in to the landing, using a tree to help slide the trees around the 90* turn. Made the trip many many times before, came in to the landing tree hung up before i could drop the winch and punch in the clutch i had pulled the skidder part way over.. Slow flop over, had enough time to reach down shut off the key and brace for the fall.. Whoops. Used the Skid steer to flip it back over on its wheels

jocco · December 27, 2011, 08:38:01 PM

Well a few more: on a crew (mountain ) guy went sidehill and flipped the skidder over they righted it, later that after noon he did it again Boss sent him home. Numereous people hit with a pinched choker when it came lose and numerous spring pole mishaps.
One crew got 1 new saw Went to work later in the day the saw was missing. Some one had put it on the skidder AM and it came off in deep mud never to be seen again funny part everyone though the other person had it.

Decked · December 27, 2011, 11:31:20 PM

Quote from: Bobus2003 on December 27, 2011, 06:00:58 PM
Was pulling wood in to the landing, using a tree to help slide the trees around the 90* turn. Made the trip many many times before, came in to the landing tree hung up before i could drop the winch and punch in the clutch i had pulled the skidder part way over.. Slow flop over, had enough time to reach down shut off the key and brace for the fall.. Whoops. Used the Skid steer to flip it back over on its wheels

MIGHT AS WELL GREASE THE U-JOINTS ,SINCE IT'S EASY TO GET TO THEM...

sawguy21 · December 27, 2011, 11:50:29 PM

It is not a matter of if a skidder will roll, it's a matter of when. ;D

inthewoods · December 28, 2011, 12:46:56 AM

Not exactly logging related
Once when I was about 16, a buddy and I had a brake caliper off a truck in the woods without a clamp or anything similar to push the pistons in. We tried some leverage in a few ways unsuccessfully and finally decided to place a bar across em and stand on it. Worked well & perfectly shot brake fluid in both our eyes!

Just a few years later I too started perfecting the run your saw over with your skidder move.

Woodchuck53 · December 28, 2011, 07:30:31 AM

Happy early New Year to all. As long as we learn from our past challenges. Right? I now on a good pair of Stilh chaps. And wear them when I work.

We will take no further questions from the audience.

jocco · December 28, 2011, 09:32:36 AM

We will take no further questions from the audience. I like this one may have to put it in my archive. teeter_totter

lumberjack48 · December 29, 2011, 12:01:59 PM

One of my pulp pilers had a mishap!

I was felling Aspen for a couple peelers, i had an Ole 800 Homelite, i threw the chain off, the saw was still running when i was walking by bill, he was peeling like a mad man, his butt up in the air, he didn't notice me. I just couldn't help my self, i sunk up behind him, put the bar up between his legs and pulled the trigger. Now i have to tell you i have never seen a man move so fast and disappear in the woods [ he was flat butt gone]
Now, when he came back out of the woods he wasn't a very happy camper. He was a big boy, for while i thought i was going to get the worst end of it, he broke down and started laughing, lucky me. [ 1965 ]

sawguy21 · December 29, 2011, 12:24:38 PM

:D I have seen that stunt pulled, the poor guy just stared toward the ground waiting for the blood.
One of our ground crew decided to show off his prowess with a chainsaw so he and a buddy dropped a fairly large spruce. The top snapped off as the tree fell drilling him, he is now a paraplegic. He was not employed as a feller, his audience was not supposed to be within 100' feet of the tree and he did not move far enough as the tree fell. Compensation did not fully cover him if at all, I never got the details.

lumberjack48 · December 29, 2011, 02:27:59 PM

I had no Compensation coverage , thats why the wife is out cleaning houses. My van is broke down , i have no way to go anywhere, i have no way to go to the doctor. We have no idea how were going to pay for heating fuel.
But you know guys life goes on, the wife looks at me, she says , things will work out. Shes been one tough girl, it will be 23 yrs in Feb. that she was taken care of me.

Taylortractornut · December 30, 2011, 02:03:50 AM

I was running a D7G with a KG blade clearing a ROW for a company I was working with. We had 120 acres to clear and we couldnt give the timber away at the time. Several hundred 20 to 35 inch syp on site and several hardwoods. We were digging the stumps and shoving the trees over with excavators and track loader. I was to cut a perimiter with the D7 and make a buffer for the Vegetation zone. It was getting late and I had to make 2 more passes around the whole site to finish for the day. On my last round I could see the truck and I let my blade grazed a 30 inch pine that had been dead a while. Ii didnt have a limb the whole length of the tree. When grazed it I slowed down for a swale I was about to cross.

That whole tree seperated from the core and filled the cab full of rotten wood. About knee deep. I walked the dozer to my truck and a friend had to help clean it out. The next day my friend that had the laugh out of me was helping me re cable the winch on the back of one of the TD15s on site. He det a gallon bucket of cable lub on the fuel tank withthe dozer idling. The bucket vibrated off and fell straight on his head. He wore his new color for about a month.

Same job the logger we gave the logs to was using a skidder with a pintle hitch on the rear pulling a converter dolly for a pullout truck. His head honcho wa pulling a load out threw the cables over the load so he could drop the. load for the truck. He threw the last cable over and it hit a powerline and the blat burnt his mustache off. Also saw them pulling a load out with this set up and jackknifed pulling up hill and spilt logs.

For the same company I was working for on another job a logger asked me to make short road and a landing for him. I got the landing knocked out and waiting for a load of 3 inch stone I was watching the skidder operators going through a wet patch. They had 518 Cable rigs and were dropping the drags and getting to the other side to winch out almost without stopping. All of a sudden one of the skidders went a little farther without pulling the load up then I saw the cable dancing on the ground coiling up. That skidder didnt have the drum wedge to lock the cable in the drum.

I was at the local chipmill a few years ago and the crane operator had a young schooltrained truckdriver dropping a load off. They use a big gantry crane to unload and the guy had comm off the road driving a van body. He didnt use the unbinding station and just pulled into the crane. He also didnt get out of the cab either. About that time we heard on the radio him screaming. The cran grabbed the tied down load and had the trailer about 7 feet off the ground. Pretty funny at the time.

I saw a friend of mine that was a mechanic in the woods pull an arch off a Prentice skidder for a repair. He got it back on and hadnt unhooked the ling off the arch and it was still hooked on his service truck crane. He got on the phone and told the operator it was ready to go. He took off and luckily looded back to see the truck leaning over on the service bed outrigger. It also unped out a few trays of tools.

HiTech · December 30, 2011, 04:25:43 AM

Dragging the cable and choker chain down a very steep hill to get a nice cherry log. Hooking the choker to the tree and never to the juice harp. Getting back up the hill and on the skidder and starting to winch and finding out the cable is coming back with no tree attached to it. lol Talk about some bad words....lol

lumberjack48 · December 30, 2011, 03:32:07 PM

I ran over my partner two times, NO, NO, my saw guys :D

I had just bought it, a new 70 Plus Partner, i had it back in the tool box on my C5. I was decking wood, i rolled back, i thought i saw something yellow, i give the trees another push, rolled back again, more yellow.
I got off the skidder, there was my saw push in the ground, you know what goes though your head [ JUNK]
Lucky the ground was soft, a new rewind, new handle and chain guard, off an running.

The same skidder, my son was running it, he was carrying my 266, yes, don't ask, same place. I was up by the pickup, he came walking out of the woods carrying two pieces of the 266, he says that he doesn't have a clue what happened. It looked like something bite it in two, it took use awhile to figure out what happened. I finally found a kink in the mainline, Sure enough the mainline lassoed the saw and when he winched in, it cut the saw in two, there was nothing usable

Randy88 · December 31, 2011, 05:57:57 AM

Brings back some memories, back when I was in high school, a local farmer bought a brand new pickup and the same week he cut the tree down in front of his house, not sure just how it happened, been told several different ways it came about the end result was the large maple tree landed between the cab and the box and it was a total loss, the picutres of it hung at a local business for decades.

Another one was some drinking was involved and a joy ride with a pickup on the way home and a stream to cross to get out of where they were at, well to see just how far up and down the stream you can drive the pickup resulted in finding a hole in the stream bed and after it sank and the stuff floated out the windows that was in the cab and the occupants swam to shore.............................. it was determined that you could drive about 300 feet beyond the creek crossing before dropping it into a hole and losing your pickup.

Another was also alcohol related, some wood cutters were cutting wood and one just happened to own a wrecker as well, a smaller pickup sized one that fit on the back of a 3/4 ton pickup, he was using the wrecker to winch out logs so he could cut the firewood up after it was pulled out of the brush, well after one too many beers and one too large of logs for his wrecker, he upended the wrecker while pullng out a large log from an angle he never should have attempted in the first place, don't recall the outcome other than the next week he had a differenct wrecker to use for his towing business.

jocco · December 31, 2011, 09:42:35 AM

Was cutting one day near a river and a bunch of boneheads came down the road with 2 jeeps and tried to cross a beaver dam. They ruptured it and was stuck bad, road flooded. Had all we could do to get them out with c 5 tree farmer.

saltydog · December 31, 2011, 10:19:26 PM

when i was in my teens i worked for a crew there were 6 cutters. we rode to work in a van they supplied saws, gas ,bar oil .we picked up feul on the way to work filled saws at jobsite took to the timber for about 5 min all back at the truck saws wont run.boss never mixed the gas. i sure double check it in my own saws.i did have cutter on my crew fill his saw with my ice tea .he thought it was my saw gas it was in a milk jug.i had a cutter cut a large spruce and hang it up.he was a young guy and as many do they try to cut the biggest wood first.i tried to pull it down with the forwarder but couldnt. it was about 20 inches at stump limbs to the ground.i told him to go start a strip somwhere else i would get it down it was a 400 acr job he did but cut his way right back to it and it got him along with 11 other trees he had cut trying to get the first one to fall.they all fell on him.needless to say it was a trip to the er.worst thing about it all the cutters strips were going east west he decided to go north south right into his old strip.theirs more but my one finger typing is done for now.

John Mc · January 01, 2012, 09:48:59 AM

Saw a YouTube video of a guy using his skidder to pull down trees that weren't leaning the way he wanted to go. Space was limited, so he was operating in the fall zone. His technique was to hook up and drive in the direction he wanted the tree to fall. Then, as it started to go, he'd turn 90 degrees and drive like hell to get out of the path.

Worked out pretty well for him... at least for 3 out of the 4 trees he took down in the video. The last one could have made him a candidate for the Darwin awards. He survived, but the skidder was heavily damaged.

Wish I could find that clip now.

Tom L · January 02, 2012, 02:20:36 PM

not in logging, but I had a guy one time start up the forklift that was kept inside the shop
and then proceed to back up right thru the garage door. the door was 10ft x 20 ft and the whole thing came down on top of the cab. all we could do was laugh.

had another guy last year on a forklift at a marina.(not my guy luckily) he was too lazy to carry the garbage can to the dumpster so he put it on the side of the lift and took a ride,
he drove thru the cones and proceeded to take down all the power lines with the mast.
I yelled to him not to move.as the lines were live. then apologized and then called the cops on him. 4 firetrucks, 6 cop cars and a crowd of 30 people stood there looking at him until the power company came and shut the power off. we did have some fun with him after the machine was moved out of the way.