The time has come, the walrus said,

On Mar 24, 1:11*am, Giles wrote:

I am also dubious about the alternative theory for a couple of
reasons. *In the first place, despite the fact that I was unfmaliar
with the term, I've seen the "barber chair" phenomenon on a number of
occasions.....the **** moves plenty fast enough to kill. *Second, The
illustration at the site provided by dr. narcolepsy:

http://www.forestryforum.com/images/...arberchair.jpg

is all too clear, and I assume that on a site dedicated to forestry
and inhabited by folks who presumably know what they are doing, an
illustration showing a rare exception to the rule of what might happen
would be labelled as such. *Third, the ever faithful and useful
Occam's razor. *There appears to be no justification for the
complicating factor of a tree rising slowly past the sawyer who then
sits immobile while watching it fall on his head. *Finally, what I
will take the liberty of calling the classic scenario accounts
beautifully for Karl's position, lying flat on his back with his feet
near the stump and the massive injury to the left side of his face,
given that he was obviously cutting in the usual posture.....the
expected direction of fall to the left of the sawyer, as evidenced by
the saw, whose blade was still in the cut on the stump when I
arrived. *Had the tree in fact caught him on the way
down.....certainly not impossible, despite the apparent evidence to
the contrary.....it seems unlikely that he would have been lying in
the position and posture in which he was found.


I consulted with a buddy back home who is a forester, and he said the
danger with Barber Chairs is basically all of the above: the butt end
can clip you on the way up, the tree can spin unpredictably when it is
tilting, the trees around you can get involved in a less than
desireable manner, it ruins a lot of board feet of lumber, and the
entire thing can drop on your head. You basically lose control of a
very large tree that is falling down at your feet.

He said the protocol for dealing with them is NOT to run away
posthaste, but to keep an eye on it as you escape on your preplanned
escape route in case it comes your way, as you are in the potential of
immediate peril from multiple potentialities. In fact, if you get one
that is hung up on the hinge, you're supposed to either get a skidder
to pull it down, or post the area with warning signs and get out.

Not sure exactly what scenario played out with your acquaintance, but
if he was an experienced woodcutter, it's possible that he watched it
rise up with the intent of getting out of the way if it fell his way,
and misjudged. I think the illustration on the website was just one
possible scenario rather than the most common one. I know getting hit
with the butt end of the log is one of the biggest fears with fellers,
and they take great pains not to be in alignment with the tree as it
falls. That illustration probably just combines both those fears. But
that's just my opinion, and worth less than you paid for it.

--riverman