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Thread: Another day but something very new

  1. #1
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    23rd November 2003 - 21:16
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    Another day but something very new

    Bet you havent seen some like this before. In the years I have been doing this work, this is the only event like this I have come across (although it happened a couple years ago I have only just got it on the tube). Excuse my panting, and my mates profanity at the end. Really shook the ground. Another fun day at work!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XozZhBeCnU

  2. #2
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    12th September 2003 - 12:00
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    Crikey, that doesn't look that safe. What's the likelihood of something like that coming down on you when you were cutting it at the front?

    No back cut and it still fell over? Was it just the weight of the tree or did you make too big a scarf cut?
    And I to my motorcycle parked like the soul of the junkyard. Restored, a bicycle fleshed with power, and tore off. Up Highway 106 continually drunk on the wind in my mouth. Wringing the handlebar for speed, wild to be wreckage forever.

    - James Dickey, Cherrylog Road.

  3. #3
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    17th August 2006 - 22:42
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    The next door neighbour of my parents crib (batch to northerners) decided to cut a big tree down with a 4wd tied to one side so itd go where he wanted it. Problem was the tree had other ideas, it flicked the 4wd a significant distance through the air and demolished half his house.

    Massive argument with his insurance company which eventually paid out $60,000 for house and a written off 4wd but subject to he wont be covered if he ever cuts another tree down

  4. #4
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    23rd November 2003 - 21:16
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    Quote Originally Posted by riffer View Post
    Crikey, that doesn't look that safe. What's the likelihood of something like that coming down on you when you were cutting it at the front?

    No back cut and it still fell over? Was it just the weight of the tree or did you make too big a scarf cut?
    Tree was about 4 foot round, we only put in a 8 inch scarf, (in fact I think it could be as little as 6) Tree was a Very heavy leaner so we knew it wouldnt need much persuasion. We were going to bore cut and backstrap it to avoid a barbers chair before it started to go. The front side of the tree where we scarfed was flat, which is a sure sign of pressure wood. (wood grown by a tree to brace it against the lean). Once the pressure wood was dealt to the weight was just to much for the truck to hold.

    The likelyhood didnt seem that great at the time, but as you can see, trees can be unpredictable. your never standing in the front when doing that cut, you stand to the side and cut from there.
    I snapped an 8 tonne rope on wednesday, it sounded like a high powered rifle shot. Did its job, 12 tonnes of tree missed the house. Being a branch manager can be very stressful!

  5. #5
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    13th June 2006 - 09:37
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    What fun! I'd like that job for a few weeks please. A chainsaw holiday maybe.

  6. #6
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    2nd April 2005 - 11:58
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    Can't say I've done a tree that big! Dropped one bordering some residential properties and it went the wrong way... Oops... absolutely buried the neighbours clothesline... had to give them some firewood to make up for it...

    Great noise of the trunk going though!
    They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.
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    we will remember them

  7. #7
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    Old man used to do a bit of tree felling. Best way to sort out ones you wanted to go in a certain direction was have an experienced driver in a drain digger just pushing it in the right direction. Got the job done quick as.

    Good ol' diggers can be very useful things, I remember him pushing huge posts into rather soggy ground with it as well. Great fun as a kid to sit in the cab for the day behind the driver.

  8. #8
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    15th September 2005 - 04:40
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    A couple of years ago our neighbours son decided that he could take out a tree which was around the same dimensions as the one you guys took out. Was interesting ... as he had read about how to do it on the net - so I warned him that he better miss my house and especially the balcony. Wish I hadn't warned him cos he might have. Got a call at work to say .. please don't be upset but .... you balcony was hit ... and is gone from the house. Lucky built to the old standards it collapsed away from the house .... and pulled off rather than taking the front of the house with it.

    Insurance company is still looking for the guy to get some money back from him. He had moved out soon after the accident.

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    We had to drop a big wattle uphill straight behind a house one day, big hanger right over the roof of the house just waitin to come down on top. Thank god nothing like that happened to pull it forward onto the house
    "I came into this game for the action, the excitement... go anywhere, travel light,... get in, get out,... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form."

    Paved roads are just another example of wasted tax payer dollars.

  10. #10
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    My husband felled a tree which caught the powerlines and shorted them - after he pooh-poohed me for worrying about the possibility . . .

    The lines made a horrendously loud bang and sparks flew, it was really spectacular. Instinctively other half makes whooping noise, jumps up and down like a kid and has a great big grin on his face.

    Then says, "Whoops" and looks all serious.

    So what exactly is the grown up part about a grown up . . .?
    Illuc ivi, illud feci.

    Buggrim, Buggrit.

  11. #11
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    23rd November 2003 - 21:16
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    I hear so many horror storys of people messing with trees that they should get someone in to do. On the same job as the video this was some "good keen bloke" work we had to clear up.(farmers and builder have to be the worst fellers you can find).

    Using a digger to push trees (especially with a backlean) is a great way to get hurt, I know of 3 diggers that have been badly damaged or destroyed by trees. Its okay if the trees are small and the digger can reach over half way up the tree, but less than that and you can push the base of the tree out (where you have been cutting away) and have the top fall back on you (because you dont have leverage at low levels and are pushing the cut more than the canopy) better to have long line set in the tree and pull it (but have the rope on a ropebrake so if the tree starts going wrong it doesnt catapault the digger)

    Check this little hanger out, yep its hung up in another tree. Getting 3 tonnes down safely was a little challenging.
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  12. #12
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    23rd November 2003 - 21:16
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    Oh just a quick pic of the tree in the video to give you some idea of size, what it looked like once it hit the ground and we bucked it up and got rid of the green and most of the head.
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  13. #13
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    gimme a job plz i wanna chop bigarse trees down lol

  14. #14
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    23rd November 2003 - 21:16
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    Okay just one more, the saw in the picture is over a metre long, so we are talking about a pretty big tree. The pic is cropped to the width of the base of the tree.
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  15. #15
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    holy mother of

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