Have you ever got yourself into a situation you can't get out of

Your right Alby - or maybe would have been a good story for this weeks Coffee Club meeting.

Maybe Kevin.

Actually I re-read my thread , I made a mistake.

It should have read "I got no Sympathy"

Have you tried dropping your back cut to slightly below your scarf when felling small trees on your own Robin?

They usually sit tight on the hinge till you either physically shove them off the stump, or pull them over in the direction of the fall with a rope.

I usually work alone & I feel a lot safer dropping trees that way.

Strap cutting works well too, especially on heavily leaning trees & trees with too much weight on one side, but I can't see you being able to bore cut a Tea Tree, the trunk will probably be too narrow.

Good idea Kevin but probably wouldn't work in this case.

The picture isn't very good but its this type of bush but thicker and higher.

Typical process is to crawl in underneath, hold chainsaw bar within an inch of the ground and make a single flat cut , this way you can immediatly drive forward over the short stump.

But along the lines of what you say you go slowly towards the end of the cut watching for direction of fall.

They don't actually fall to ground because its so thick they just lean over.

Usually works well but I just stuffed up being over tired and failed to take into account the extra weigh with the rain.

Ahh, they're smaller than I imagined Robin!

A Stihl combi tool with a chainsaw attachment, or maybe even a scrub clearing attachment would be my weapon of choice on that stuff if you're going to be doing a lot of it? - much quicker, safer & cleaner (no crawling under bushes) than a rear handled saw methinks.

Hi Kevin

Thanks for thoughts but I think I'm stuck with this approach haven't come up with a better solution yet , and have years worth to do I'm afraid. Other parts of property you can use a tractor and chain but even that struggles - surprisingly the car and a chain is best but you have to keep re-positioning the car and chain espically when by yourself.

Many locals use a bulldozer and have been offered one , but I like to keep things natural and undisturbed as possible.

With care you end up with lovely scenic drives thru tunnel like bush.





In reality you have to get down on your knees, scrape the dirt and small rocks from around the trunk , position and hold chain flat to within an inch with the bushy branches all in your face, it requires fine strong control in an awkward position and you always come out scratched.

Your right Shaker - I for example have never been game to own a 9" grinder, mainly because I can't over power it with 1 hand if something goes wrong.

For similar reason I always use my light weight and less powerful chain saw.

You got me thinking as I put up a post recently about the new 36v chainsaw. I didn't think about it then but unlike my petrol chainsaw I presume it probably stops completely when finger is off the throttle.

must find out !

Spot on Robin

Glad there were no injuries.

Although I have 2 petrol chainsaws, I have just bought an electric one. Actually 2 electric ones, a pole saw which is very handy and saves climbing ladders or trees and a small electric one for quick jobs around the place. With 45mins running time between charges, it will be enough for those small jobs where it is a pain to get the petrol one primed and ready.

And the big thing for me is safety - finger off the trigger, everything stops and no hot exhausts, etc

Once I get more of an idea about the capability of the chainsaw, I may well take it with me when camping, as much of the small stuff across the tracks should be well within its capability (15cm diam) if taken relatively slowly.

Cheers
Andrew

What sort did you get Andrew - I recently reviewed a McCullock and it was good - noticed Aldi selling a 36v one also but I wonder about its performance.

Robin

I got the Ryobi 18v as it was part of the ONE+ group of electric tools. It is not a commercial unit but suits my purpose well as it has the same battery charger as the little vacuum cleaner (a good little unit with plenty of suction) and the pole saw. With the 254mm bar it will cut up to 228mm.

But if I am going out for a firewood cutting session, I take the petrol ones.

Cheers
Andrew

I have had a succession of Ryobi tools, most of which have died because of their frigging useless batteries! It is hoped that the more recent ones (the One+ models) have a better battery system than their earlier 12 and 18V models. (Anyone know of a good use for 12v drills without functional batteries?)

Sure John........ chuck the battery away and solder a pair of leads to the drill's battery contacts, battery clips on the other end and you have a tool that you can use directly from the car battery. I carry one.

johnat
I looked into the battery question and it would seem, from all accounts, that the new lithium ion battery packs Ryobi use give good service.
Battery technology has really developed markedly over the last decade.
Time will tell, I guess, as always :-)
Cheers
Andrew

When I was landscaping we used a stihl pole pruner for bushy or prickly stuff. You could reach right into the middle of stuff like that and flatten it without getting scratched.

Hey Robin, I used to work with 3 phase 9 inch grinders, it busted your can just to pick it up, let alone hang onto the mongrel.
Scared ? -hell yes LOL.

Nice looking property, great job of retaining the ambience.

Memories of Malcolm Douglas, you can get too complacent.

Rob.

And Barry Cable..

That would indeed by terrifying Andrew.

Malcolm's seemed just so wrong - haven't heard of Barry cable one Muz.

Thursday then..

Good point Axle.

Actually when writing this I had in mine a friend who was working under his car using hydrualic jack to hold it, and I noticed the jack every so slower losing height.

I always throw at least a spare wheel under the chassis rails as a backup.

Great idea Muz - I tell you what , you do the tree chopping and I will do the photo taking.

We can nut out the details over coffee this thursday.

Your story made me think of Stuart Diver Allan - he was the guy found alive after days in the snow under the Therbo village landslide in 1997.

(I only know that because I happen to watch a special on disasters on TV today.)

I don't think I'm claustrofobick (Have no idea how to spell that) but I would not have been very happy in the hour you spent trapped.

Got out of an hour's work, didn't I Robin? LOL

Robin,

I have heard your cry for spelling help ...

and offer the following .

Claustrophobic - phobic from the word for an irrational fear = phobia

Glad to be of assistance ;)

As for the girl friend....OH HELL.....there are plenty of people get themselves into situations they can't get out of there..oh hell yeh.

If there where 40 ways to leave you lover.....how come the song only mentions 5....:)

cheers

You raise some very good points Bantam and I always try to think through these things afterwards and decide wether I passed of failed.

In this case I came to the conclusion I stuffed up - despite the fact they I always try and do things
such that a single point of failure isn't fatal.

E.G. Never rely on winch - because from my experience 50% of peoples don't work when needed (so always lockers or chains as well).

In this case while working alone where no one would ever come I had a handheld in one pocket and phone in the other
which covers many but not all situations.

Here I failed marked myself for quite a different reason that was avoidable.

I was exhausted and didn't need to be.

The bushy tree probably was less than a distributed 500kg and if not tired out I should have been able to deflect its slow downward progress.

Instead it just slowly sat me on the ground and I didn't have strength to move it.

P.S. The song was written by a girl and most of the ways to escape were removed just to ensure your life long servitude.

"A mate of my brother's now makes a full time living as a high risk observer in a power station.
Anytime someone goes into a confined space or works on a live switch board, he is there to make sure the other bloke gets out alive.....he may pass the odd tool or such, but his main task is to stand or sit there and say..."are you all right mate"."

This lady could have used someone like that.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-20/geelong-woman-rescued-after-being-trapped-in-roof-for-four-days/5272396

That really was a strange situation Hilux - and probably fits the title of this thread better than any of our other incidents.

And yep, under the current WHS expectations, household ceiling spaces are "confined spaces".

She is not the first and wont be the last to get trapped in or fall thru a ceiling.

I have crawled in my fair share of ceilings, and lett me tell you some of them are pretty hard to get arround in and a few are outright traps.

So few people have any foresight in providing ceiling access.

Myplace has man hole big enough for a fat man, a full length crawl board and a little carrage that runs on it.

cheers

You do see some strange hings and wonder at times don't you Tony.

Do you own an automatic now ?

Yes I have an auto now, not by choice though, the car I have now was only available in an auto so I have to grin and bare it.

Oh no Tony, please don't 'bare' it. Certainly not on here anyway. LOL

Hi Tony

We are kindred spirits - I have an auto 4800 patrol now because thats all they make since 2006 - kept and ran my manual 4800 patrol side by side with it for 2 years though as I couldn't bare to let it go.

Nearly bought 75% of it back recently as mate got a tray GU 4.2 diesel patrol ripped out the engine and all the junk and put my old manual 4800 petrol engine and whole drive train back into it , even the dash and whole control system.

Sounds like no room for mistakes there Ken.

Gee I bet we could swap a few good engineering design stories from overseas countries Erad.

You small space story immediately reminded me of film whose name escapes me.

Think it was Steve McQueen in a film set during chinese boxer revolution - he was engineer in a steamboat sailing the chinese river , the engine had a fault and the only way to repair the bearing on the crankshaft was to go inside the crankcase while the big end of that cylinder was as high as possible to just allow a small person in - unfortunately the engine didn't hold at top dead centre and rotated thru the worker inside.

Years ago we had the annual shutdown and the big steam boiler was opened up for a clean. A fitter managed to squeeze into the steam drum through a tiny man hole only to find that it was a good deal warmer inside than he originally thought.
His body swelled up a little in the heat and he couldn't squeeze back out. Lucky there was a safety observer on hand. We had to play a fire hose on him to shrink the overheated fitter back to normal size.

Now Slow one , yours is clearly the closest near death episode but I have to censure you.

I have been separately told via members messages that this thread is being read 1000 times per hour.

If we were to allow wife, girl friend and mistress anecdotes then the Exploroz sever would overload and meltdown !

(P.S. You can however send me any tips you have learnt in that department via encrypted transmission)

Am bit worried you were making a new track by cutting down tree's,
if you had to destroy this many , maybe a rethink on how you are going to get where you are intending.

Sorry mate, but this type of "bush bashing" puts a bad thought in my mind.
To me this is the type of 4WDing that makes us look bad.
NO< I am not a greenie just a person that respects the country and the allowances afforded us to travel our great land without destroying it.
I think most 4wd clubs would agree, doing this type of touring will make the Authorities lock us out of more places.
Making new tracks like that tends to upset the Parks and Wildlife peoples. And no I don't work for them, BUT with them. Have found I get to go places becuase of this.
RESPECT THE LAND.

Gday Murray
I think you will find that all those trees are in Robin's back yard . He hadn't left home , just gone to mow the grass.

Hi Bob

Always find it interesting that one can get trapped on/under a bike.
Have seen it a few times now and you seem helpess and the bikes only 120kg or so.
Even rescued someone from under one on the Simpson.

Makes you feel sort of inadequate but it sure is real enough.

Like me under a big bush - if it had of been an iron bark I would have felt better except I'd probably be dead.

Good to see you survived the tank - you know better than me the trap they can be.

There have been a lot of issues with tanks and wells.

There where 3 bolkes from the same family killed in a well up north some time ago.
These blokes where pumping a well out so they could clean it.....they had but a petrol powered pump down the well.
When the pump stopped, one bloke went down to look at it and colapsed....the second bloke went down to help him and colapsed...the third bloke went down to help the other two.

The forth bloke ( hired help) came back to camp....found no one there.....looked down the well and had the good sence not to go down.




A mate of my bother's sent a couple of his blokes out to do some work on a wind mill.....they climb up the mill...it is usual practice to tie a stout rope to the tower, then wrap a quick hitch arround one of the radial arms as it goes past to stop the mill ........one of them decides that the mill is barely moving so he can stop the sail by grabbing one of the arms....it promtly picks him up off the landing....as the arm he was holding onto got vertical he could no longer hold on... his mate can do nothing and he falls to his death.





On a slightly funnier note......this bloke no doubt wont think its funny.

A bloke I know is working for this bloke and this day he is driving a tractor.
for some reason he gets off and turns the machine off..and like a good boy parks it in gear.

Now for some reason I do not know....he goes to start the tractor without getting on.....so here he is reaching up and hits the button....the tractor beeing well maintained starts first kick.
tractor lurches forward trapping his foot under the tyre....the tractor drives most of the way up one leg and over the other foot and chuggs away into the distance.

Multiple broken bones, months in hospital even more months in rehab and a large compo claim.

It all good now his feet both point in the same direction his legs are the same length everything works and he is well enough to work for the council and be a pretty fair competitive ballroom dancer.


cheers