Comments on: The Goose Creek Darwin Award Winner Announced

By: The Pragmatic Wood Pile | Fragments From Floyd

The Pragmatic Wood Pile | Fragments From Floyd — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:06:50 +0000

[...] Oh, I should mention in my reminiscinces of firewood past and present, it was a year ago just about exactly today that I had my close encounter with a falling tree that almost won me a DARWIN AWARD. [...]

By: Ron Campbell

Ron Campbell — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:24:43 +0000

Glad you dodged that bullet. I had a tree about 28’ in diameter, leaning 45 degrees. I started to cut it knowing it would fall the other 45 degrees but when I started to cut it I changed my mind because my chainsaw was only 22 inches. It’s a good thing I stopped. Here is what happened.

I asked a logger friend of mine, a professional, to cut the tree. When he looked at it, he said it was a “killer” tree… “widow maker” was another term he used. When he cut the tree, it jumped back toward him about 6 feet and landed right where he had just been standing… a stump jumper, he called it. He was lucky enough to get out of the way but only by a few inches.

When I thought about this a bit more what I realized was that when you start to cut a tree that is standing straight up, it very slowly begins it’s decent to the ground and gravity decides which way it will eventually go. This gives you a lot of time to plan your retreat. As it approaches the 45 degree mark, it is probably moving at maximum speed. But…

When you cut a tree that is already leaning at 45 degrees, the pressure on the stump is tremendous and it is totally unpredictable when the wait of the tree is going to snap as you cut through it. In the case I mentioned here, when it snapped, it was on the ground in a blink of an eye. The fact that it was already at the 45 degree mark meant that maximum velocity would be reached as soon as the cut at the stump was big enough. No time to run at this point.

Here are a couple of tips this logger friend told me… cut trees that are standing almost straight up using a rope to insure the direction of the fall. Wear a hard hat and cut anything… Branches, limbs, vines, small trees, out of your way that would block your retreat as the tree falls.

Glad you are ok (almost). I retired my chain saw.

Ron

By: Cate (KerrdeLune

Cate (KerrdeLune — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:44:36 +0000

Ouch Fred, I’ve done it too, and the results are painful and slow mending. One can’t always predict how a tree will behave when it is being cut down. There have been several times when a perfectly reasonable approach to cutting down a particular specimen (with all the physics worked out in advance) resulted in it toppling into the beaver pond – and a few times when the the tree in question fell on me. Then there were a few times when the Stihl became wedged in the tree being cut and it took a few of us to get it out. Life is just one fine adventure after another. Hope you are mending fast. Cate

By: Cindy Lee

Cindy Lee — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:13:40 +0000

Your blog is definitely an educational tool. I learn something new just about every time I read it. I planed on cutting my own wood when I got up there but now I don’t know….

Glad you are doing well

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:45:44 +0000

After cutting down hundreds of dead trees to feed our wood stove, I’ve become convinced that the smaller ones are the more dangerous. The only one that nearly got me was a maple, also about 10″ in diameter. My own personal “kick-back” was from a white oak, about 20″ in diameter at the base. It was just from pure laziness that I didn’t notch the front. It’s truly an awe-inspiring sight to watch the butt of a tree seem to defy gravity with a mind of its own and rise way up, in seeming slow motion, and then pivot backwards. Fortunately, I had a clear lateral path away from it and I was lucky it didn’t come my way. Glad you escaped too. I never made that mistake again!

By: fred

fred — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:51:06 +0000

Just to let you know, nice people, that after a few hours of relative agony Saturday night, I am doing much better–barely a limp now mostly.

What I have realized since going back through the events here is that I was injured on the side to which I was moving to get out of the way.

Had I moved faster in that direction, I would have been crushed under the full weight and velocity of the tree. Instead, a glancing blow that didn’t even tear my pantleg.

I consider myself most fortunate, by fate, chance or providence, as you will.

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:44:48 +0000

Goodness, Fred, that’s really scary. I’m so thankful that you escaped with minor injury. We can certainly all relate to those moments of inattention. Years ago, my husband badly broke his foot when a tree fell on it. He was “only going out for a few minutes” to chainsaw a few branches, so didn’t put on his usual heavy boots. Of course, that proved to be the one time a tree fell the wrong way. But I don’t think he’s failed to wear his boots since, while cutting wood.
I pray you continue to heal!

By: Gary Boyd

Gary Boyd — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:21:51 +0000

Damn lucky you weren’t alone…I had that epiphany on the top of a knob I was working my way up a few years ago…No one knew where I was or what I was doing as I went slipping down the side…A lot can go through your mind in that state of being…Including how dumb you were being taking risks like that at your (my) age and physical condition. It’s not something you tend to repeat…Take it easy would ya’. I still want a return visit to Nameless Creek…

By: fred

fred — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:27:41 +0000

It’s noon the next day and I’m able to walk on the leg (if I weight bear on my toes so as to avoid the painful part of the stance phase of gait) and have found a pair of crutches in the back room in case I need them. Thanks for your concern, and for not giving me the virtual DOPE SLAP I deserve for being so careless.

By: tracy

tracy — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:17:14 +0000

Love your heart. That was scary as I read; I can only imagine how it must have been for you out there..whew!

Feel better soon, and hold off on the rest home because I suspect you’d always be trying to sneak out into the woods, and be in so much trouble there…