The time has come, the walrus said,

On Mar 21, 8:02*pm, "dr.narcolepsy" wrote:
On Mar 21, 8:45*pm, Bob wrote:





On Mar 19, 4:29*am, Giles wrote:

On Mar 19, 3:12*am, Bob wrote:

Actually the type of accident you describe (here in big timber country
we call it a barber chair) is *one of the most common causes of death
or serious injury in timber falling accidents.

Never heard the term "barber chair" before in this context. *Easy
enough to understand, though. *It's also easy to believe that it ranks
high as a cause of death or injury. *Do you have ready access to any
numbers?

*Many years ago when I was involved in logging supervision, I used to
receive regular accident reports from Oregon OSHA on serious logging
accidents. *Death & serious injury from barber chairs were always high
on the list. *I imagine OSHA still keeps such statistics.

Many
(including Birch) are quite prone to splitting as you described
sometime during the back cut - especially if they have a heavy lean..

I've seen it happen a couple of times myself. *Didn't know that birch
was a frequent offender.

Though many saw hands scoff at the practice as being sissy, the safest
way to fell such trees is to bind the butt (immediately above where
the top of the notch cut will be) with heavy duty nylon webbing (made
to handle the extreme forces involved) before starting any cuts.

This, too, is news to me. *I'd appreciate any more inofrmation you
could provide as I'll be doing a lot of cutting here in the next few
months.

I probably should have used the term strapping rather then webbing.
The type of nylon web strap that log truck drivers in many areas use
to bind down their loads is what is used. Any good saw shop in an area
where there is much commercial logging going on could make one up for
you in a size to handle the size trees you will be working with. *It
should be used on any tree with a very heavy lean (especially
hardwoods) or one with a very unbalanced crown (heavy in the direction
of fall).

The
old saying that "There are bold timber fallers and there are old
timber fallers, but few are lucky enough to be old bold timber
fallers." is quite true.

There have been times and arenas in life when I've flirted with the
bold thing. *I was lucky. *I try hard not to do that anymore. *Never
did it in connection with tree falling. *But, like just about anyone,
I suppose, I've been careless on occasion. *I don't think Karl was
particularly bold.....and he was certainly getting old at 69. *He may
or may not have been careless.....I don't know whether he had ever
heard of the practice of binding trees with webbing.

At any rate, it now looks as if this "bad luck" may have been
preventable. *Casts the whole mess in a different light.

Much to think about.

Thanks, Bob

giles

Bob Weinberger * *DuPont, WA

Hi, everyone. *Wolfgang - thanks for that story, entertaining and
thought provoking, as always. *And thanks, Bob, too, for sharing from
your expertise.

Please forgive this question - I'm not too embarrassed to say that I
don't quite get the mechanics of this accident.

google image search of "logging accident barber chair" produced this:http://www.forestryforum.com/images/...arberchair.jpg

Is the issue that part of the tree from *below* the intended cut gets
split along with the main part of the tree and that's what swings up
with bad potential results?

I can't speak with any authority to what happens generally, but in
Karl's case, and as I have seen before, the split occurs (or, starts,
anyway) right at the place where the back cut is made. The
illustration at the site you pointed us to is a bit misleading in that
it doesn't show the notch, which is precisely opposite where the split
has occured and where the sawyer has met his doom. Of course, the
result shown can also happen without a notch having been cut at all
(as shown) but common practice, as far as I know, includes notching on
the side toward which the tree is intended to fall. However, this may
indeed not be the case where trees lean severely and where they are
intended to fall in the direction of the lean. Obviously, cutting
opposite this direction will produce the intended result without a
notch.....but the possible consequences (with or without the notch,
for all I know) are now all too obvious.

In any case, the answer to your question would appear to be no.....the
split starts at the backcut and moves up through the trunk.....or so
it has always been in my admittedly limited experience.

Incidentally, I've seen in happen even with small trees and without
any significant lean. And, unlike what is shown in the illustration,
the busted end does not necessarily always simply lever up. It will
often kcik back as well. Imagine the broken end actually moving
toward the sawyer so that even if he were standing several feet back
from where he is shown in the illustration. Depending on
circumstances, he might still be toast.

And, of course, it is not just whole standing trees that are
dangerous. I narrowly missed being decapitated myself by a four inch
cherry branch last spring. The tree was already down......dropped by
a much larger oak that took several other trees with it. The cherry
branch was obviously under tension.....had a significant bend to it.
I misjudged the angle of the bend or the forces at play or one thing
or another. I cut it and felt the wind whizzing past my left ear
before the import of what had just happened (or not.....depending on
point of view.....I'm glad to report that I'm in a position to take
the latter) registered in my brain or Becky's; she was about fifteen
feet away, waiting to load up the sawn firewood.

Any way you look at it, wherever the sound of a chainsaw penetrates
(or any other saw) there is danger aplenty.

But then, the same can be said for any place that such sounds never
reach.

giles
who has known all his life (on a more or less intellectual level) that
one way or another they WILL get you in the end. it's just in the
past few decades that a more personal and visceral point of view has
come to hold sway.

p.s. Karl died about 2 or 3 a.m. on saturday.