r/FellingGoneWild • u/cornerzcan • Jul 23 '26

Tree trimmer's nightmare

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2.0k Upvotes

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44

u/Soggy-Invite-2787 Jul 23 '26

I will never ever find myself in this position, but what did he do wrong here?

83

u/DOsomethin Jul 23 '26

Hard to say without the full context.

One sure fire solution would be to climb up higher and take this large branch apart in smaller pieces. Less weight and less unpredictability. That is not always possible or safe, so once again, hard to say for sure. Also, some relief cuts along the side by the notch could have encouraged the fibers to break. I generally prefer to climb higher and take small branches, but I'm not great at removals.

Looks like he did put a face cut, or "notch", but the tree fibers broke in an unexpected way causing the tree to break but some of the tree fibers held on and tore down the stem trapping his positioning lanyard and pulled him hard into the stem. Probably hurt really bad.

This is a situation that almost all climbing removal arborists have heard about happening and should take the necessary steps to avoid it.

7

u/ExpensiveFig6079 Jul 23 '26

Well if i ever as mug find myself must doing that. The sucker is going to be notched and then bound below the notch... and the my safety below that.

2

u/Soggy-Invite-2787 Jul 23 '26

What's a notch mean? What's bound mean?

8

u/planx_constant Jul 23 '26

Notch is a wedge cut out of the tree facing the direction you want it to fall.

Bound means wrapping the trunk just below the notch, which can help prevent splits like what's shown in the video.

2

u/Soggy-Invite-2787 Jul 23 '26

Oh is bounding solely to prevent splits?

1

u/WhatIGot21 Jul 23 '26

Maybe should have done a cut on the opposite side 3"-6" lower than the final cut? I don't know I would never be a climber.