Safety Advice for Wood Cutting

Sometimes it is best to let Mother Nature do her thing. I have a couple of trees that need to come down but they are precarious but not in danger of harming any of my structures. We didn't get our normal windstorms last year so my firewood didn't grow last year. Maybe MN will sneeze me some firewood.

I agree with MichaelZ on the size of the tree advice.

If its girth is so big that it makes you nervous DON'T attempt to cut it by yourself. They call them Widow Makers for a reason.

We had two trees, one broken off by a storm at the base and leaning against another. Both were 18-24" girth. Nobody wanted to touch them as they were growing on a slope. The previous owner had notched them hoping the wind would bring them down. After 4 years, they hadn't. Our solution? We shot them down from a distance. It took several weekends of target practice with high powered rifles but in the end the trusty AR did the trick. Nobody got hurt and we got enough wood out of the two trees to heat our house for a winter:

Here I am with the last parts of the main trunks that we drug up to the barn after harvesting the tops. We chained it into sections and split it all by hand.

The only advice I can think of to add is when you fell a tree try to clear a path if there are smaller trees in the line of it's potential fall. That way you may avoid hangups.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

Speakin of rotted trees, I had a black walnut about 60 foot and 20 inch diameter where the base had rotted and it was leaning against another black walnut. I raised the front end loader on the tractor and pushed it sideways until it fell over. I couldn't figure a good way to deal with it using a chainsaw.

I have a (neighbors) large oak (about 5 foot diameter) that came down on it's own across my (field) fence. It's hanging about a foot above the fence with the base on the hillside and the top of the main trunk on my side. I'm thinking to put supports under it and cut off slices. I'd like to avoid crushing the fence but at the end of the day I'm more concerned about avoiding injury.

Safety first.

I've been doing this long enough to know that the biggest safety risk I face is me...

Specifically near the end of the day when I'm fatigued and not as strong or coordinated or mentally sharp as I was earlier in the day. I'm losing the light and there is still that one log that needs bucked up or the dozen rounds that need to be split before I call it a day. And add into this that at 50 years old I just don't have the stamina that I had as a 20 year old but I don't want to admit it.

I'm pretty good about shutting down when it's time to call it quits these days but as I think back on the near misses I've had, the majority of them were a result of me being stubborn and not calling it a day when I could no longer work with the necessary alertness and safe practices.

One thing I've not seen mentioned is some sort of basic wound treatment kit that is with you where you are actually doing the work. Not back at the truck but where you are actually working. In my case it's not usual for me to have to hike in a short ways from where my truck is to fell the trees. I keep a flat wad of duct tape, a feminine napkin, and a clot pack tucked up on top of the web suspension in my hard hat. Hopefully this would be enough to get me back to the truck to a more substantial kit and supplies should something happen.

Sage advice.

I'd only add 5 things -

Caution

Don't do when your tired.

Have a first aide kit handy.

Have a cell phone.

Have a partner if all they do is watch.

I you're not standing on the ground, don't do it unless you're in a bucket truck.

Not with my experience level and equipment.

Well should be dead the Chainsaws run up my Leg and Trees dropped on my Head.

big rockpile

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I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

I've never heard of chainsaw boots.

Sounds like some fence work after cutting.

Maybe people reading this thread might be interested in the farm safety thread found here -

Farm safety

Don't leave your chaps in the garage just because you only have a couple of cuts to make. No stitches were required, but it sure did take a lot of time/effort to patch that new pair of Carhartt bibs that he got for Christmas.

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The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson

I think that should be one of the sage Murphy's Laws about homesteading.

Anytime a tree falls on it's own, it will inevitably fall across your fence.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

I can only add very little at this point.

Double-tie your boot laces.

Don't get complacent when the chain is loose or not as sharp as it should be.

If you've got to go P, don't act like a 7 year old and hold it. Stop and go so you get your concentration back.

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Honesty and integrity are homesteading virtues.

I don't like to cut them down anymore (69). I have a logging truck full of cull logs coming this morning. 5-6 cords. Should be easier cutting out of the pile, hopefully.

I am happy someone started a thread like this. I can not say how much chaps are a much needed clothing. My uncle got his knee cap cut in half from a chainsaw. My friends old man who we lost 2 years ago cut 2 of his fingers off from a chainsaw, and a hard top because of widow makers. He ran the old chainsaw we called the sledge had a 3 foot bar because of the old growth out back. Do not go out if you don't know what to do. People go out there green and no experience and things can go bad very fast...

I will add how important it is to wear a good pair of chaps. I strap mine on whenever I fire up the saw. Always know where your feet are and think ahead of where things things will fall. Always have an escape plan when felling trees before you start making cuts.

Here's what my father taught me: When you left arm won't stay straight anymore, i.e., if you can't prevent a kick back from getting you in the head, you've done enough for the day. That straight left arm is what keeps that from happening. If it's only one tank of gas through the saw or an afternoon's work, if you are tired, you are done for the day.

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-Northern NYS

There's a red oak in a ravine that has been dropping tree sized branches for over 15 years. I used a tow truck to remove the one branch over the driveway. I will not get under that tree.

The tree was huge in a photo taken 100 years ago. It's probably 8 to 10' in diameter.

A year ago a friend got killed by a tree that split and kicked back to him. Another friend years ago was cutting down a tree around the buildings. It fell on a 2X4 that was on the ground and it kicked up and hit him in the head a killed him.