iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Pet peeves about other people's chainsaw habits?

Started by DaleK, February 28, 2013, 06:23:08 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

DaleK

How do you handle when friends want you to "help" them cut their firewood/ trade labour?
I have a number of friends that only cut enough wood for their own needs anymore. Over the years they'll suggest working together, I help them for a day, they'll help me for a day, etc. Tried it with 4-5 different buddies, every time I showed up on a Saturday morning in the summer with at least workboots, chaps and a helmet and my saws ready to go, there'd be 3-4 other guys all there in shorts and flip-flops with dull saws and a couple cases of beer on ice. By noon they'd all be 5-6 beers down and I'd be more involved with watching them than myself. Tried gently and not so gently steering them straight but it's gotten so I just find something else I have to do that day anymore.
If I know a guy is desparate for the help I'd rather go over and cut some wood on a weekday for him when he's at work and at least I don't have to watch out for other people, then find something else he can trade me if he wants rather than having him come to my site as my responsibility.
Guess I don't really have a question, just ranting. I'm at the point now where I don't feel comfortable if anybody within 50' of me has a chainsaw while I'm cutting.
Hud-Son Oscar 330
Wallenstein FX110
Echo chainsaws and a whole bunch of tractors

Al_Smith

Well beer is good --after the saws are put away for the day .Children wear shorts pants not a grown  man doing a job of work .

DaleK

Yep I can even live with somebody having A beer with lunch so long as they're eating as well and staying hydrated with other things but that's my strict limit until things are turned off and put to bed for the day. Flip flops and sandals just make me wince.
Hud-Son Oscar 330
Wallenstein FX110
Echo chainsaws and a whole bunch of tractors

T Welsh

Being in the Tree Service business for over 33 years now,I have seen my fair share of people and chain saw,s and there lack of safety habits. The one thing I will not tolerate is alcohol and chain saw,s. I simply pack up and walk away. I like a cold beer after the days work is done as much as the next guy,but the two don't mix. Tim

Al_Smith

 :D Oh maybe 15-18 years ago I lived in town .Little 40 thousand population cow town really that thought it was big time .So they get on a sidewalk fix kick .The entire street was filled with these kids ,summer help shoveling concrete with short pants on .By the end of the day they not only knew what the July sun can do they also learned the hard way of what concrete burns are .They looked like a bunch of steamed lobsters .

Now short pants are allright to sit under the big umbrella on the patio after the work is down enjoying a beverage .They aren't to work in .

jocco

Very well said, AL ;D



Quote from: Al_Smith on February 28, 2013, 06:44:48 PM
Well beer is good --after the saws are put away for the day .Children wear shorts pants not a grown  man doing a job of work .
You may check out but you will never leave

clww

I have the same peeves. Beer and saws don't mix, just like the wearing of shorts and flip flops. I never have been much on seeing a homeowner out trimming a tree standing on top of a 8 foot aluminum ladder, running an electric chainsaw (with one hand), while his wife (on her cell phone) and kids (playing with the dogs) are "helping" by standing directly under the limb he's cutting. :o
I drive by some silly stuff down here at the beach.
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

mooleycow

Got Ray.  No problems.  Got two Rays really.  Call Ray the local priest and he helps and does what is ask to do.  He can call 911 if need to.  Second Ray comes and cuts any trees too big for my saw.  We do not run two saws at any one time.  They also keep bystanders at bay.  Safety first.

colincb183

My grandfather has been cutting his own firewood for 40 some years.  The only PPE he has ever worn was ear muffs and safety glasses.  He has always said he had no time to figure out directional felling so he just cuts  clear through the tree and hopes it falls away from him.  And now he is teaching my cousins his bad habits.  It's just irritating for me and I hate being around him when he has a saw.

John Mc

Quote from: colincb183 on March 01, 2013, 12:17:26 PM
... he just cuts  clear through the tree and hopes it falls away from him.  And now he is teaching my cousins his bad habits.

When I was clearing to have a pond dug near my home, I was running out of time to get the clearing done myself.  The excavator I hired said he had a friend who would finish up for me.  When I came home and saw the stumps cut straight through like that, I told him not not bother having his friend come back the next day, and made the time to finish it up myself.  Some of those trees were within easy striking distance of my garage/barn.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

DaleK

Quote from: John Mc on March 01, 2013, 01:12:04 PM
Quote from: colincb183 on March 01, 2013, 12:17:26 PM
... he just cuts  clear through the tree and hopes it falls away from him.  And now he is teaching my cousins his bad habits.

When I was clearing to have a pond dug near my home, I was running out of time to get the clearing done myself.  The excavator I hired said he had a friend who would finish up for me.  When I came home and saw the stumps cut straight through like that, I told him not not bother having his friend come back the next day, and made the time to finish it up myself.  Some of those trees were within easy striking distance of my garage/barn.

Curious why they didn't just take them down with the excavator? Gets the job done easier and faster than having to dig the stump out after the tree is felled. The guy we use says it costs twice as much to take a stump out with the tree off as it does with it still attached.
Hud-Son Oscar 330
Wallenstein FX110
Echo chainsaws and a whole bunch of tractors

jdonovan

Quote from: DaleK on February 28, 2013, 06:23:08 PM
How do you handle when friends want you to "help" them cut their firewood/ trade labour?

Guess I don't really have a question, just ranting. I'm at the point now where I don't feel comfortable if anybody within 50' of me has a chainsaw while I'm cutting.

Working on my property? my rules, or you don't run power tools.  I don't need the help as bad as I don't need an accident claim.

If you won't work safe at your place... well that's your choice unless it puts me at risk.  Put me at risk and I'll help other folk.

John Mc

Quote from: DaleK on March 01, 2013, 01:21:32 PM
Curious why they didn't just take them down with the excavator? Gets the job done easier and faster than having to dig the stump out after the tree is felled. The guy we use says it costs twice as much to take a stump out with the tree off as it does with it still attached.

He only had the skid-steer here at that point. He did have a tree shear mounted on the skid steer that cut down some of the smaller trees (up to about 6 or 8"). Anything of significant size was cut high, so the excavator had something use as a lever.  I didn't see the beginning of the digging, but I guess when you are digging a 1/4 acre hole in the ground, getting the stumps out is not such a pain as when you will be filling the area back in again.  It also helps when you've got a huge excavator... for most of the stumps it didn't even notice they where there.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

Ianab

Quote from: colincb183 on March 01, 2013, 12:17:26 PM
My grandfather has been cutting his own firewood for 40 some years.  The only PPE he has ever worn was ear muffs and safety glasses.  He has always said he had no time to figure out directional felling so he just cuts  clear through the tree and hopes it falls away from him.  And now he is teaching my cousins his bad habits.  It's just irritating for me and I hate being around him when he has a saw.

You probably can't do much about your Grandfather, he will be so set in his ways now.

But at lest help your cousins out here.

Make it a "game / challenge".  Use a stick to judge the height of the tree, and then stick it in the ground where you want the tree top to land. Challenge them to make the tree hit the stick.

No young guy can resist a challenge like that, and the only way they can do it is to fell the tree properly  :P

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Al_Smith

As far as clearing trees you're better off to leave the whole tree .Even with a medium sized dozer it comes out easier .To stump them out you'll have a hole big enough to loose a dump truck in on a big tree .Track hoe is the way to go on that business .

John Mc

Quote from: Al_Smith on March 01, 2013, 06:31:53 PM
As far as clearing trees you're better off to leave the whole tree .Even with a medium sized dozer it comes out easier .To stump them out you'll have a hole big enough to loose a dump truck in on a big tree .Track hoe is the way to go on that business .

Since I was going for a hole big enough to fit dozens of dump trucks in, that wasn't an issue.  I only had one tree that was big enough to be much of an issue (24" DBH wolf pine). The rest were under 12", most were under 8".
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

bandmiller2

Couple of comments You never loan your chainsaw, anyone who knows how to treat it has their own.If the guy is a friend you go and use your saw.A few years ago I was bird hunting back in the woods and stubbed my toe on something.It was a small granet plack  it said, In 1812 such and such was killed in his 87th year felling a tree on this spot.You got to be carefull when you get older you can't move as fast as you used to. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

gspren

  Many of the stumps in my woods look like a straight through cut because I do my felling cut at waist height and then take another chunk or 2 off for fire wood. The hinge cut was hauled in and burnt.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

John Mc

Quote from: gspren on March 02, 2013, 08:22:05 AM
  Many of the stumps in my woods look like a straight through cut because I do my felling cut at waist height and then take another chunk or 2 off for fire wood. The hinge cut was hauled in and burnt.

That was not the case with the guy clearing for my pond.  I asked the excavator about it and he said, "yeah, you can't tell that old guy anything.  He just insists on cutting straight through."  He was cutting them about 3 feet off the ground and leaving them tall, so the excavator would have something to grab on to... not much point in going back and cleaning off the hinge part then.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

Sonofman

I had a friend who was going to build a house. The lot was wooded and he said if I helped, I could have the firewood. OK. I had not worked with him in the woods before, so I was not ready for what happened. He had the space he wanted cleared taped off, about 100 feet square, and we were walking it over. He was on the other side of the lot when I turned around and was looking at a tree with several dead low limbs. I was thinking I would have to get the snags out before I cut that one.

I reached up to pull on one of the limbs and shook it. It broke behind me and hit him square on the head. He had walked up behind me without me knowing it. He had kinda laughed at me when I put my hard hat on just to walk around in the woods, he had no PPE of any sort on. Fortunately he only got a cut in his scalp, but I stopped right then and had a little talk about safety with him. My main rule was if I was there felling, no one else would be in the woods anywhere near me. It was easy to enforce, he had a cheap saw that burned up the first day he really started using it. After this little accident, his family would come out and watch, but would stay well clear of the action. By the time hs wife bought him a good saw as a present, I was through felling.

I considered it a cheap safety lesson.
Located due west of Due West.

colincb183



No young guy can resist a challenge like that, and the only way they can do it is to fell the tree properly  :P

Well they're young gals :D but I did tell them that the way our grandfather taught them was incorrect and dangerous. So I showed them how to cut a notch and properly do a back cut and guided each of them through it a couple of times until they got the hang of it. So hopefully my grandpa's bad habits don't rub off on them.

drobertson

Well, the beer and the saw, not a good recipe for sure, but I have to admit, during the summer here, I where shorts, cargo's, all around the mill, sawing, bucking, trimming, even making firewood from heavy slabs, I kinda like all the dust, keeps off the crawling critters ;D  maybe not, but I still do it,  the river is about 1/2 mile down the road, nice for a quick summer dip to wash off, and cool off.
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

scully

Saws and beer during work NO ! I have had the displeasure of being around some real idiots that supozedly had backgrounds in logging ? Cutting wood for camp one time the owner borrowed his soninlaws Husky with a new chain ,I watched as he cut all this half rotted junk that was pushed in a pile by the log skider years before . I was in aw at how the sparks flew from the chain as he cut into the rocks etc. Then there's the guy who thinks you need to tighten the bar stud nuts as tight as humanly possable ! Or the neighbor who says can I borrow your little saw to cut some brush on my side yard when it comes back the chain is smooth and the saw looks like it was buried in the dirt for a year.My favorite is the guys on 40 foot extension ladders with a homeowner grade saw includeing a dull safty chain takeing limbs off a huge maple tree ! I have actualy stoped and begged them to stop and let me climb the tree for them and do it correctly ! But the answer is mostly naw I got it thanx anyway....I wear logging boots ,helmet w/muffs and screen sheild and heavy pants even if it's 100 deg out I have a watter pack that I wear on my back w/170 oz of water . I no longer let anyone touch my saws and when someone asks me for a price to takedown a tree and then says " Oh I got a guy that will do it for half that " I say then thats the guy you need to hire ! I don't expect guys that have saws to know everything but I do expect them to know their limitations and not BS me about how awsome they think they are !
I bleed orange  .

AdkStihl

Pet peeve.......
watching someone else sharpen a chain or watching them mix fuel with garbage oil from the convenient store.
or being told my bar is attached wrong because the logo upside down  ::)
J.Miller Photography

celliott

Chris Elliott

Clark 666C cable skidder
Husqvarna and Jonsered pro saws
265rx clearing saw
Professional maple tubing installer and maple sugaring worker, part time logger

Thank You Sponsors!