13. Clear your work area and your escape path of brush, vines, and other hazards that can trip you or catch your saw.
14. Escape from the bullseye when the tree tips. 90% of accidents happen within 12 feet of the stump. Go more than 15 feet, and stay out of the bullseye until things stop falling.
15. Keep spectators away more than twice the height of the tree in the direction it will fall.
16. Don't cut alone.
17. Keep your body and the swamper's out of the line of the bar in case of a kickback.
18. Set the brake when taking over two steps or when moving through tripping hazards. Keep your trigger finger off of the throttle when you are moving.
19. DO NOT operate a chainsaw from a ladder! Operating with your feet off the ground requires special training.
20. Do not cut above your shoulders.
21. Springpoles must be shaved on the inside of the apex between the ascending and descending sides. If the apex is higher than you shoulders, stand under the springpole and cut it low on the descending side. It will release upward, away from you.Leaning and heavily loaded poles that are too small to bore cut for a hinge should be shaved on the compressed side until they fold.
22. Do not cut a tree that is holding up a lodged tree. Do not work under a lodged tree. Think about a mouse trying to steal the cheese out of a trap.
23. Instruct your swampers and helpers to NEVER approach you from behind or the sides to within the reach of your saw when you are cutting. If you pull out of a cut with the chain running, or have a severe kickback, the swamper can be killed if he is coming up behind you!
24!! Quit When You Are Tired!
2 comments:
I watched you burn off the dam and had a bit of a flashback.
We used to heat with wood, we have a pretty big swatch of zoysia grass out back where I was splitting wood, and I'd started a small fire in the old barbecue to use up the chips and to warm my hands.
As I came back from stacking wood, I noticed that an ember had popped from the fire, and landed on the zoysia grass.
The zoysia was in winter mode and caught on fire. The stiff wind pushed the grass fire towards the wooden shed, and I bolted for the house to get a bucket of water from the faucet.
No good, the faucet was frozen, so was the other faucet, and I ran inside to get water from the kitchen sink.
The mandated flow limiter meant that by the time I got enough water in the bucket, the fire would reach the shed.
I ran back to the fire, looked around realized that there was a five gallon plastic pail that was more than half filled with ice.
I raised the pail over my head, smashed the cold hardened plastic on the ground so that it released the giant ice cube, then I grabbed the ice cube, started on the windward side of the fire and rubbed the ice cube over the flames until the fire went out. Then I tidied up, and even though a snowfall buried the evidence, I still told my wife what had happened.
Your video woke all those buried memories.
It was a very exciting event.
Fire sure can make your feet move! We had the line all blown in before we lit up, and it went like clockwork.
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