Scared when lead being cut splits

Ericlav27

So 2 weeks ago I was doing a removal with a friend for his company, and I was doing the spike climbing on these 2 white oaks. The first one is about 40" DBH, with 2 large leads y'ing off at the 30' area. I am up around 45' mark and have limbed, blown the top off and chunked down the first lead with no problems. When I get up the second lead and start to blow the top at around the 45' mark the lead starts to hindge and then splits down the shaft. I am tied in with 2 fliplines one is steel core and I get pulled into the back of my cut. Thinking quick i hit the chainbrake, threw my saw (that is tethered to my saddle) and as my styomach was getting crushed to the stalk I kicked my spikes out and slid 6' down. allowing the lead to break away and not pull me into the tree any more.

I was scared shi*less....... I usually like to wrap one if my fliplines around the limb/ lead 6"-10" below my cut to hold the tree together in the event that happens. But that is usually on stuff that is 10" and under. This lead was about 13".

Eric Frei

Holy cow!

Was it a forward leaner?

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Ericlav27

Yup

Eric Frei

Sorry, but couldn't help myself.

It gets worse on old dry timber too.

I could only see it barber chairing due to forward leaning or some dude pulling like a freight train on a tag line.

In smaller dia timber especially at height it's near impossible to do a bore cut strap release on a forward leaning head, or a heavy horizontal limb.

So, you scarf (notch for Yanks), start the back cut and BAMMO!

Solution?

There's a few, strap it perhaps.

Or lessen the dia thickness so saw cuts faster by sort of triangulating the wood behind the hinge.

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Garry Brockley

wow thats one for the books, the type of situation you never forget hey, glad your ok though

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TrevMcRev

On a species prone to splitting out as a safety measure you can use both the adjuster & attachment ends of your flipline on your centre D on your bridge rather than the side Ds on your hips.

That way should it explode, the flipline forms a complete circle & contains the trunk so you are isolated from it, avoiding getting pinned.

Apocalypsse

Oooo, didnt know that. I use my lifeline as a flipline when im coming down and its setup like that.

Dayam dude, thats some freaky shit, any injuries?

Sean Freeman

You should always have some sort of back up system in place when working a stick or pole....doesn't have to be exactly this but along these lines.....

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Ericlav27

I ended up with bark burn up most of my right leg and a sore abdomen for the rest of the day but i am good.....

As for having a cinch rope i usually have my socond flip wrapped in a manner that would have held the stalk together but I usually dont on 14" + sections.... But I am now looking at some other methods to impliment into my normal routine.

I appreciate all the feedback from you guys & girls if there are any commenting I have learned a few good tricks from many of these posts and always want other feedback so I can continue to better my climbing & safty practices.

Thank you

Sean Freeman

For those that use wire core lanyards it is worth at least considering whether you want to be attcahed to that lanyard by a mechanical device or a friction knot.....What would you do in the situation described by Ericlav27, but could not release the mechanical device?

Eric Frei

Forward leaning heads where you are attached to the spar and making that cut which could barber chair are seriously dangerous.

On a trunk you got nowhere to go. If you cant bore cut it coz the dia is a little small I would suggest whittling it down a little, making a cut into the back of the tree above the hinge by some 1m or so in height so if it does barber chair hopefully the fibers stop tearing at that cut.

I have made a diagram showing what I mean about triangulating the wood behind the scarf.

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Sean Freeman

Its called a swedish backcut
(Used to be) commonly taught to manual harvesters in commercial forestry for dealing with trapped springpoles

Eric Frei

I'm not so sure.

I found this video where they triangulate however it's a mirror triangulation to what I suggested, in other words the pointy end is facing the fall direction.

Do you have a reference for the other way around which you call a Swedish Backcut?

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Sean Freeman

I thought I did in a google book and in text but since looking can find niether ....so I can't provide any reference at all.

Sean Freeman

You are quite right Eric my apology it is as you say not what you were describing my memory is not always as accurate as I would like to think.

Have attached the section of the felling manual from Sweden

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Eric Frei

Also some Yanks use what they call a Coos Bay cut, two versions, one with a hinge and one without where they cut in the sides parallel with the forward lean felling direction then cut like a bat out of hell when doing the back cut.

Diagram attached.

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Ericlav27

This didn't do the traditional barbers chair..... it pulled the fibers down the tree from the notch side. That is why it pulled me in.

I had put a small hindge about 2-3" deep on the flat. I was almost all the way through with about 2" left in the hinge when it started to go. That was when all of a sudden i flelt my flipline being pulled and realized the other side of the tree wass still attached to the top.

When it was over I was able to look at the section that was pulling me in ..... it was about 5-6" wide by about 11.5-2" thick at the notch area.

Eric Frei

OK, we got a little side tracked but the ideas above hold true to help anyway.

So the stem split, and I take it that the split was about where the hinge was.

How wide an opening was the notch? If narrow perhaps that meant a shut face early, less momentum to break hinge wood.

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