Felling Video

[SliverPicker]

I stumbled across this.  Pretty interesting.  I hope this guy posts more videos.  There's a dandy clip at about 2:45.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlqOEho4f0w

[clww]

Enjoyed that video, once I turned the noise off. :
That spot you pointed out at 2:45 scared me. I've had a couple do that, but nowhere near that large a tree.

[Jeff]

Ha! Almost exactly what I was about to post!

A most excellent video once muted.   Yea, wicked moment there at 2:45

[thecfarm]

I was yelling to that guy to go up hill. Things can go wrong quick.

[Road Runner]

The almost disasterous mishap at 2:45 is a good example of why to have an escape route at 45 degrees away from the stump.  On most of these trees the faller or fallers stood or exited behind the stump directly in line with the falling tree.

[SliverPicker]

A 45 degree escape isn't always possible. 

[Huskstihl]

Ha! Almost exactly what I was about to post!

A most excellent video once muted.   Yea, wicked moment there at 2:45

Classic barber chair.  The tree started going and he backed away.  It stalled out.  He looked long and hard at it, then went back and hit it again.  When it stalled all that forward momentum from the top had nowhere to go but up the tree, resulting in the split.  On a tree that size I doubt there is ever a way to "get thru the back cut fast", and he likely needed to have gotten rid of some of the holding wood before starting the back cut.  But as Gologit says, "you can do everything perfectly and still the tree doesn't cooperate"

[SliverPicker]

Big and rotten.  Always interesting rarely predictable. 

That clip makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

[BradMarks]

Time to take a break! (and change the undies).  Even the most experienced get surprised. One less cat in his life! 

[terry f]

   That's some nice wood, scary cutting the rotton stuff, wonder why it wasn't left.

[chester_tree _farmah]

Huh - awesome video and great camera work. I liked the music and yes I am 49.  8)


I wonder if the possiblility of getting serioulsy hurt makes us enjoy doing it so much? Kind of like some folks thrill seek by bungee jumping and rock climbing?

[Magicman]

That was a pucker moment that he will not forget.   

[BEEMERS]

Thanks for that video..people need to see stuff like that barberchair at 2:45. That guy knew the chances of something going bad were *DanG good.Im guessing he knew it was rotten after he cut in but not before...then he was commited and had to get it down.tree sat down on the saw and he knew when to give up the saw and run.
He got away but that tree was just as likely to come down on the other side and get him.What were all the factors in that happening and him surviving? How can you reverse engineer what happened and apply it to the next tree?..You cant!! probably this guys 10,000th tree.Now go tell him that you have a couple trees your gonna cut and you did the math and studied the physics and ya got it all figured out.I bet his reply would be a little harsh!!! And DO NOT start the conversation with "Im an engineer.." :D  Loved that video,keep em comin!!

[lumberjack48]

Hind site is always 20/20, he got a little ahead of himself. The bad thing is he panicked and almost got himself killed. He would have been safe if he would have planed his escape up hill. NO, he ran in to the kill zone. When cutting rotten timber it takes a lot more thinking so you don't  make mistakes like this.

[chester_tree _farmah]

I beleive out there the big companies prefer to clear cut and replant? So they cut it all - rotton or not. That is why you see them blowing up the stump. If something is too harry to cut with a saw they blow it up.

But someone out west should know?

[Jeff]

Hind site is always 20/20, he got a little ahead of himself. The bad thing is he panicked and almost got himself killed. He would have been safe if he would have planed his escape up hill. NO, he ran in to the kill zone. When cutting rotten timber it takes a lot more thinking so you don't  make mistakes like this.

Not sure what you were watching... smiley_tom_dizzy02

[chester_tree _farmah]

It looked to me like it was almost vertical behind him?

That must be a trip dropping one of those huge trees. I have heard big white pine hit the ground and those must be twice the size.

Did anyone see that one little wedge in that big one towards the end. Cracked me up.  OK I will shut up now.

[ozarkgem]

My question is where does all the clear lumber go to. It sure doesn't make to the lumber yards here.

[SliverPicker]

1)  He may have know the thing was rotten before cutting in to it.  He certainly knew as he cut in to it that it was rotten. 

2) He could have done all the planning in the world, but he could never have predicted what direction the shards of the tree were going to go in.  He could have planned to run up hill, but the odds of the tree blowing up up hill where the same as the odds of the shrapnel going downhill or straight back for that matter.

3)  I used to be a photographer and there is another factor at play here.  At any focal length longer (read:zoom factor) than what most humans' eyes see the camera compresses distances.  That tree may have been much farther behind him when it blew than it appeared in the video.

Cutting trees for a living has risks and there is no mitigating all of them.  PERIOD.  You can't control any where near all the variables involved with each tree you cut.

[chester_tree _farmah]

1)  He may have know the thing was rotten before cutting in to it.  He certainly knew as he cut in to it that it was rotten. 

2) He could have done all the planning in the world, but he could never have predicted what direction the shards of the tree were going to go in.  He could have planned to run up hill, but the odds of the tree blowing up up hill where the same as the odds of the shrapnel going downhill or straight back for that matter.

3)  I used to be a photographer and there is another factor at play here.  At any focal length longer (read:zoom factor) than what most humans' eyes see the camera compresses distances.  That tree may have been much farther behind him when it blew than it appeared in the video.

Cutting trees for a living has risks and there is no mitigating all of them.  PERIOD.  You can't control any where near all the variables involved with each tree you cut.

Well said. Trees that big increase the danger factor I would think. There is a lot of force blowing that trunk apart.

[chester_tree _farmah]

Like I said above the dude must have some thrill seeker in him. :-)

[SliverPicker]

The broken and rotten ones turn my stomach every time.  Sometimes its best to walk away.  If you are cutting for a living and walk away too many times pretty soon you find yourself getting fewer calls.  There is pressure to produce.

[chester_tree _farmah]

The broken and rotten ones turn my stomach every time.  Sometimes its best to walk away.  If you are cutting for a living and walk away too many times pretty soon you find yourself getting fewer calls.  There is pressure to produce.

U cut those big boys?

[beenthere]

My question is where does all the clear lumber go to. It sure doesn't make to the lumber yards here

There are moulding and shop grades of softwood lumber that command high prices and are used by the door and window manufacturers, i.e. Pella, Andersen, JeldWen, etc.
And you are right, these high value grades don't make it to the Box stores. ;)

[SliverPicker]

I had exactly one job where some of the trees where in that class.  It was a blast.  Here in the Colorado I doubt I will ever be in a patch that size again.  Who knows though.  Now that the lodgepole beetle epidemic is winding down we are having a spruce bug that is knocking the heck out of the higher elevation spruces.  Some of them are monsters.  Hopefully I can do some mitigation work in some of that stuff.