Expensive Good Deed
I heard a chain saw close by the house and looked outside to see where it was. It was on the back of the lot next door. My new neighbor and a friend of his were cutting a tree near the line between our properties. It appeared he was on my side of the line.
I walked up the driveway toward the corner post and sighted to the post at the back of our lots. He was cutting ten feet or more inside my woods.
The men saw me looking and shut off their saw. I told them the tree they were cutting was mine. They walked to where they could see both corner posts and agreed they were over the line. I walked down to the creek and across and the man next door apologized. They’d been about to cut a dead tree that was on his side, but they decided it was too dangerous, as it could reach his house if it fell the wrong way. They noticed another tree was dead and decided to cut it without checking again to see which side it was on.
I told them no harm was done, as I’d have cut it myself, as it was dead. Told them to finish dropping it, as it was about to go, but that I wanted the wood.
Then I looked at the larger tree they’d been afraid to cut. I told them I had a winch on my ATV, and that we could tie a rope as high as my ladder would reach and pull it down when the cuts were deep enough.
I took my extension ladder over there and one of them climbed it to tie on a long rope while I fired up the ATV and went around to the trail up the back sides of our lots. I couldn’t find my turning block, so we just used a nearby tree to angle the rope around so I wouldn’t be winching it down on top of me.
We discussed where and how deep to make cuts on the tree. I realized that I knew more about it than they did, amateur though I am. All went well, except when the tree started to go, it hung up in another tree that I’d thought it would clear enough that it would lose a few branches and go to the ground. One stout limb in the falling tree hooked around a branch of the standing tree like a drunk hanging onto a lamp post.
We changed pulling angles two or three times and still could not pull the tree down, so I suggested we put a rope at the bottom of the tree, just above the cut, and winch downhill, toward the house, to pull the bottom of the tree off the stump and out from under the hung-up top. It didn’t work. The hinge between notch and back cut wasn’t completely broken. We couldn’t leave the tree in that condition, so there was nothing to do but cut some more.
Their saw was small enough that to use it would require moving from one side of the tree to the other. I thought that would add too much danger to a dangerous undertaking, so I said I’d cut it with my saw, the bar of which was almost the diameter of the tree.
I still thought pulling the butt off the stump and downhill would be best, so I planned an escape route for myself to a large tree I could duck behind. Then I turned the back cut into a notch and then carefully cut partway through the hinge. The tree moved and I jumped back, dropped the saw, and scrambled across the slick clay slope. It didn’t fall.
I went back across the creek to the ATV and winched the line tight, and the tree still didn’t budge. The three of us tried to pull it down with the rope that was still attached high, and we got it to move a little, but it didn’t fall.
Nothing to do but cut some more.
Because the tree branch was hung on one side of the tree, when the tree finally did fall, it would roll away from the hung-up branches, but I didn’t take that into account. I again checked my escape route to be sure it was clear. Being right-handed, I am more comfortable cutting from left to right, so I did that.
When the last of the hinge snapped, the tree began to fall, immediately rolling to the side of the stump toward me. I dropped the saw and again ducked behind my protective tree. The cut tree pirouetted out of the hang-up and crashed to the ground. The butt of the tree, when it rolled off the stump, smashed my chain saw beyond repair. I guess I’ll get myself a new Stihl for Christmas.
Who was it who said, “No good deed goes unpunished.”?
I walked up the driveway toward the corner post and sighted to the post at the back of our lots. He was cutting ten feet or more inside my woods.
The men saw me looking and shut off their saw. I told them the tree they were cutting was mine. They walked to where they could see both corner posts and agreed they were over the line. I walked down to the creek and across and the man next door apologized. They’d been about to cut a dead tree that was on his side, but they decided it was too dangerous, as it could reach his house if it fell the wrong way. They noticed another tree was dead and decided to cut it without checking again to see which side it was on.
I told them no harm was done, as I’d have cut it myself, as it was dead. Told them to finish dropping it, as it was about to go, but that I wanted the wood.
Then I looked at the larger tree they’d been afraid to cut. I told them I had a winch on my ATV, and that we could tie a rope as high as my ladder would reach and pull it down when the cuts were deep enough.
I took my extension ladder over there and one of them climbed it to tie on a long rope while I fired up the ATV and went around to the trail up the back sides of our lots. I couldn’t find my turning block, so we just used a nearby tree to angle the rope around so I wouldn’t be winching it down on top of me.
We discussed where and how deep to make cuts on the tree. I realized that I knew more about it than they did, amateur though I am. All went well, except when the tree started to go, it hung up in another tree that I’d thought it would clear enough that it would lose a few branches and go to the ground. One stout limb in the falling tree hooked around a branch of the standing tree like a drunk hanging onto a lamp post.
We changed pulling angles two or three times and still could not pull the tree down, so I suggested we put a rope at the bottom of the tree, just above the cut, and winch downhill, toward the house, to pull the bottom of the tree off the stump and out from under the hung-up top. It didn’t work. The hinge between notch and back cut wasn’t completely broken. We couldn’t leave the tree in that condition, so there was nothing to do but cut some more.
Their saw was small enough that to use it would require moving from one side of the tree to the other. I thought that would add too much danger to a dangerous undertaking, so I said I’d cut it with my saw, the bar of which was almost the diameter of the tree.
I still thought pulling the butt off the stump and downhill would be best, so I planned an escape route for myself to a large tree I could duck behind. Then I turned the back cut into a notch and then carefully cut partway through the hinge. The tree moved and I jumped back, dropped the saw, and scrambled across the slick clay slope. It didn’t fall.
I went back across the creek to the ATV and winched the line tight, and the tree still didn’t budge. The three of us tried to pull it down with the rope that was still attached high, and we got it to move a little, but it didn’t fall.
Nothing to do but cut some more.
Because the tree branch was hung on one side of the tree, when the tree finally did fall, it would roll away from the hung-up branches, but I didn’t take that into account. I again checked my escape route to be sure it was clear. Being right-handed, I am more comfortable cutting from left to right, so I did that.
When the last of the hinge snapped, the tree began to fall, immediately rolling to the side of the stump toward me. I dropped the saw and again ducked behind my protective tree. The cut tree pirouetted out of the hang-up and crashed to the ground. The butt of the tree, when it rolled off the stump, smashed my chain saw beyond repair. I guess I’ll get myself a new Stihl for Christmas.
Who was it who said, “No good deed goes unpunished.”?
posted by Eric Rush | 8:37 AM
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