How have you lowered risk of injury with trees?

Felling trees is dangerous. Once a big tree with big limbs is down, it seems it's even more dangerous. I have been surprised too often by assuming stress would be relieved with a certain cut and I read it wrong. I am rethinking what I am doing, participating in some dangerous activity as an amateur.

Lately, I have often thought that I should just hire a local good ol' boy logger and let him do anything with trees that seems a bit dangerous. I have lots to do, not ready to go to the happy hunting ground.

How have you lowered risk? Do you shy away from certain cuts? Do you do only certain cuts, and why?

For instance, I read of someone recently who doesn't even own a saw, lol. He just gets rounds here and there and then splits them. Now, that is reducing risk. I know another guy who only cuts farily small trees, nothing big.

What have you found to be a reasonable way to lower risk when using a saw?

EDIT: I read on another forum of an expert who was killed doing something he has done a thousand times. Trees surprise us, plus, we sometimes just flat out make mistakes. It's a dangerous activity. Not so much if there are no limbs, or small limbs.

 

Common sense goes a long ways.
Life is full of risk.

I grew up very hands on, dad asked me at around 11 if I wanted to try the homelite XL. I have been swinging a maul since before I could actually split wood!

I read read and read. Then I try, starting out small.
If I dont know WTF I'm doing....It's no bueno.

 

I don't cut tired !
I don't cut like it's some kind of race .

 

Don't fall in love with your equipment. Be ready to lose a $300-1000 saw in a second if something goes wrong. As soon as you try to save it from a pinch, twisting tree, hitting the ground when you lose your footing, or any other of a myriad of mishaps, you could end up in a world of hurt. If something starts going wrong, let go and back away.
Somewhat related:
After the South Canyon fire blew up on Storm King mountain west of Glenwood Springs, CO in 1994 killing 14 firefighters, they found firefighters who had been overcome by smoke and flames a mere few feet from the top of a saddle and path to safety. Some of the firefighters still had their equipment including at least one chainsaw in their hands. This no doubt hindered their progress up the mountain and may have contributed to their deaths. R.I.P. to those lost on that mountain 22.5 years ago.

 

I always have a buddy when taking trees down. an extra set of eyes. Sometimes on tractor with a chain. If it doesn't feel right DO NOT CUT it. My stupid logic is i want some one there to drive to hospital in case i get hurt.. Logs are brought to processing area out back to be blocked when not tired.

The common sense thing go a long way.. cut one tree at a time (if possible)... clean up trip hazzards as you go. Take your time. On Big trees it gets dropped and limbed logs put out back Usually 3 to 4 hours by then i am tired.. so time to lay up saws pick up brush and have a bon fire with drinks

 

All good stuff above. Listen to them.

Have the proper safety equipment and wear it.
Forestry helmet with hearing protection, safety glasses, good fitting chaps, good safety rated boots. Have cell phone charged and with you (on your person where you can reach it) in case something goes wrong.

Watch for, find, and take a chainsaw safety class. Tractor safety class if you use one or will in the future and are not experienced with them.

 

Sound advice, I recently did a four day felling / cross cutting and saw maintenance course and there's no way I'd now fell without all the PPE or by myself.

 

I'm in no hurry now,20 to 35 years ago that was a different story.Still certain things I wont do no matter what.

For example this huge Mulberry I had removed from backyard here in town last Wednesday.If it was in a open spot like a rural setting, in the pasture,edge of forest,no buildings or powerlines within 50-60 feet then I'd most likely tackle it.Would take more than 1 day for me to clean it all up however since I pretty work by myself 99% of the time for the past 15 yrs or so anymore.

This big beast is coming down sometime this week...

 

Learn all you can from experienced people, books, u tube videos etc. The bc fallers series is pretty good. Take patience with your face cuts learn to use the gunning sights on your saw. I dont fall alot of trees, but i have slowed way down when i do fall trees and really try to get it right. Also any chainsaw work on a hill or incline is almost always gona be more dangerous than flat ground. A couple years ago a local guy from my town was killed when he got on the downhill side of a 4 foot dbh deadfall pine, he cut a limb that was supporting the tree and it rolled on top of him.

 

I simply review everything I know about a fall before I start and then review it all again. No way do I want a surprise that I have not prepared to handle. Once I have done that I assume that any tree will try to barber chair so I always use a shallow face cut and start the back cut with a bore cut and set the hinge before I cut the tree loose. Given the option I will let a tree go more or less where it wants to go, that way I am not fighting it with wedges. I never clip the wood on the back side of my bore cut unless I am ready to move away quickly over a decent walking surface. All obstructions must be gone. Once a tree is on the ground I take my time examining every cut that I intend to make and, as you said, sometimes I misjudge what is under tension or compression but if I pay close attention I can notice the notch moving before that becomes a problem during limbing or bucking. Any movement means it is time to stop and evaluate, even if it is moving the way I predicted.
I found the BC Faller training videos very helpful when I was first starting out but the Husky how to fall a tree videos helped me decide to go with that plunge cut in most circumstances.

 

No complacency.

 

Learn from professionals. Be careful what you get from YouTube, there is some well produced trash that looks good but is in reality dangerous. If your gut says don't, you listen. Practice small then graduate in size. For example practice plunge cuts on tall stumps.

Felling trees is dangerous business, the more you know the safer you'll be.

The above posts have filled in some of my blanks.

 

I try to not be so creative and just let the tree go mostly where it wants to go, not where I want it to go. 20-40 degrees kind of thing.

If it's standing dead, I keep my head on a swivel when bringing it down. A 10 lb stick would probably hurt falling from 30 feet. Sometimes I'll push/sway/smack tree with my axe first to see if anything wants to fall on my head. I mostly cut green standing, so not much worries.

I roughly plan how many trees I want to fall (don't need 12 trees to trip on when only 7 fit in the truck), and where I want them to fall before hand, sort of in a criss-cross pile if possible. Keeps a lot of cutting off the ground, and easier to eyeball limbs under tension or compression.

Limbs under compression I sometimes take a little nip, then over about 6 inches another nip, and then underneath another nip between the two. If you have no clue where that limb wants to go, by the third nip if you haven't figured it out, just go home. The nips also help if you manage to pinch the bar, because you've weakened the area, and you'll get unstuck easy.

Always have a safety route planned in the event a tree tries to kill me. I clear the actual tripping hazards, not every sapling within 6 feet. That's not safety, that's just being kind. I wish I had thought of that my first couple years. Not a tree hugging hippy, but I noticed around our bushes a lot of the saplings and small trees are berry trees. When you remove the big trees, the berry trees get enough light, and then you can expect a berry patch in the next few years.

 

Absolutely. Complacency kills. Every tree is different. You can't tell what's inside of a tree until you cut. You can make a good educated guess though. Look at a tree, every way around it to try to read it.

Fighting gravity is a hard thing to do.

 

Eye protection, hearing protection, and chaps, plus a helmet when cutting dead standing trees. Don't overlook the hearing protection, not having it WILL injure you every time you run the saw, and you WILL lose your hearing if you do that repeatedly over working a lifetime.

I don't cut any trees that "must" fall in a certain direction.

Lots of good advice above.

 

This goes to splitting by hand as well.

I put the Fiskars down when I start missing my spot. It's just not worth getting hurt.

 

Backwoods Savage makes a really good point here. I only have 3 years wood cutting/burning experience on my belt, so I've watched a lot of videos. You have to wonder how some of these people don't hurt themselves.