Brown ballistics time

[Patchwork]

Was clearing the drop zone for a large very screwed beech we are going to fell, was a very straight stem sycamore and the crown was weighted to one side, was anchored into another beech next to it as i didnt trust the sycamore at all. was advised by my forman that the best thing to do was top 30ft out. i was extreamly worried about it barber chairing but went ahead any way, long story short i put my gob, in cut 1/4 into the tree and the stem split 1m above and below my backcut, absoloutly crapped my self , shouted to the guy on the ground that it had gone wrong and to ease off the pull rope, which he thought i was shouting to pull it, which he did and the split grew larger, wacked my saw back into the back cut and some how pulled it off without it going bad. first time somthing has had serious potential of going very wrong for me since iv been climbing in the industry (3 months). made me relise that im the one who should be making decisions when im up the tree and that i cant always shout for help, a turning point as a climber me thinks:001_tongue:

[Steve Bullman]

a good reason for not using pull ropes. get up to the tip and knock it out in a pieces you can comfortably handle......sounds like you were in a very bad situation there which you were clearly not experienced enough for....you got lucky!

[Patchwork]

yeah i was knocking out laterals at first just clearing the crown so i could knock out a straight stem, but was told that it would be ok to crash out the whoal crown in one. next time i think ill be the one making the final decision.

[Husqvarna King]

yeah, what steve said...or cut from the hinge outwards (dog tooth)...same as you would do on the ground

[bob]

hand signals or even nodding when you want it pulling may be worth considering

And don,t do anything that your not comfortable with life is too short

There is always another day

There is always another way

There is always someone else

[Tom D]

a good reason for not using pull ropes. get up to the tip and knock it out in a pieces you can comfortably handle......sounds like you were in a very bad situation there which you were clearly not experienced enough for....you got lucky!

If your ever in doubt about a leaning stem, dog tooth it, a barber chair is dangerous enough on the ground let alone up a tree. And learn to control your groundies, It does'nt matter who's in charge when you're on the ground but when your in the tree you call the shots.

[Patchwork]

to be honest im very pleased that it happened. learned so much from it.

every leaning, ivy covered sycamore stem has a silver lining.

[Rentachimp]

I understand where you're coming from, my man. Am I right in thinking that the guy on the ground was older and more 'experienced' than you?

[Mr Ed]

I suspect your sink cut was too shallow. In 20 years I've not had a stem barberchair on me. usually because on a species thats prone to splitting I will go 1/2 way in or maybe even more on the sink cut.

[Marc]

to be honest im very pleased that it happened. learned so much from it.

every leaning, ivy covered sycamore stem has a silver lining.

 

A good way of looking at it, glad nothing went seriously wrong and your alright, in my short time as an aborist i've always learnt more quickly from mistakes. we all have had close ones it how we learn from them that counts.

 

 

 

It didn't sound that bad, i've had similar happen and i expected it i just kept cutting and made sure my saw was super sharp. From how you described it though, your Foreman was a numpty for putting you in that situation without proper guidance, and the ground crew were equally inexperienced to be pulling on it.

 

I'd refuse to work with groundies who don't know when it appropiate to pull or not or just adjust the way i work by going smaller.