Well... I did it.

  • Thread starter Blinky
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  • #27
Roger on the warning for Darin. A climber friend met me for lunch right after it happened... wanted to see what a saw cut looked like in person... I've never seen anybody react to a little cut like that... he turned away and sort of dry heaved.

I watched the whole procedure when my daughter was born by C-section... I thought it was pretty interesting... well, I winced at the anesthesia test.


For sure I won't let anybody stitch me without a local ever again... but it was the irrigation that REALLY hurt.

Now that I think I've thought about it, I should've just hung the whole tree from a nearby pine and dropped it from the bottom in sections.
 
Blinky said:
well, I winced at the anesthesia test.

For sure I won't let anybody stitch me without a local ever again...
Click to expand...

Why didn't you use it? He didn't have any?

And what is an anesthesia test? Why would it make you wince? The needle?
 
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  • #31
He stitched me at his house, I could've waited for him to get lidocaine but figured I was macho enough to handle it.... WRONG! I whined, winced, complained, dog cussed... that sort of thing.

With the anesthesia test, the doc took some hemostats and just grabbed a nice patch of skin on her stomach... and completely closed and locked them... The 10" incision was nothing... that pinch was visceral.
 
Blinky said:
He stitched me at his house, I could've waited for him to get lidocaine but figured I was macho enough to handle it.... WRONG! I whined, winced, complained, dog cussed... that sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Getting stitched was the worse part of my saw doinking
 
MB, I am thinking thats a test to see if the anaesthesia is working. kinda like when the dentist sticks you with a needle, waits a minute or two and then says "can you feel this?" before drilling into your tooth.
 
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  • #37
Yep that's it. They gave her spinal anesthesia, then the clamp thing to see if she felt anything... she didn't even know they did it and I was supposed to stay cool so I kept quiet... but I definitely flinched.
 
Dang Blinky!!! Glad it wasn't any worse than that, still wish it hadn't happened to ya!! Heal up man!!!
 
Would it been worse to drop the piece, Blinky? I know those split second decsisions don't give a person that much time to answer that, but after the fact we sometimes say, " I should've just let it go."

Snap cuts always seem to eventually catch up to you in that respect. Well, horizontal pieces especially.

Glad to have the pleasure to meet you in Hartford. Heal, be happy and may the holidays be the best for you and the family.
 
I just love it >>> KISSED !
I call it a 'bite'. Got bit by my hedgers a month ago on my knee (fatigue ; the follow-through on my swing left it in my knee). The instant it made contact, I was already lifting it off with an, "Oh, shit !"
The pain doesn't come 'til later. At first, it's just kind of like, "Ahh, man... I f**ked up... might as well finish."
A friend to sew me up ???!!!??? No chance of that for me, but luckily I didn't need stitches.
Nice to have friends in high places, eh, Mr. Blinky ?!? LOL
Happy endings make me verklempht.
 
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  • #42
Nice to have friends in high places, eh, Mr. Blinky ?!? LOL
Click to expand...

Dr. Chris would laugh at that statement too. It's a good thing Treelooker let me scarf some Mimosa from that job we did at the arboretum... the doc's made a few bucks off of the bowls he turned from it. Otherwise he'd have me owing him forever.

Thanks for the good words Gerry, it was good to meet you and your new bride... how are you guys getting along? I heard you picked up some kind of funk at the show. You're right about that carport, I probably shoulda just let the piece go... it definitely would have bent metal though.
 
Blinky, couldnt you have just let the piece fall the wrong way. Even if a piece of wood is going to take out a car, roof, etc it is better than a chainsaw hitting flesh. I had a collegue almost loose his arm over the summer from thinking he was too cool of a tree guy to put both hands on the chainsaw. Then he got over 200 stiches. You were very lucky. And like every one else I am glad your are ok, but after 5 pages of posts I dont get the feeling you take the injury very seriously. Soory, but thats the way I read it. If worng please tell me. I just reads like your more concerned about your "macho"(your words) image of being a rookie or not and your money.We just had a climber die in this area two days ago from indirect contact with a transmission line. Safety is not a game, a right of passage or a joke-it is a culture that must be practiced everyday. Dont mean to come off harsh, but you need to check yourself.
 
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  • #44
I take my safety VERY seriously... it's just fun to kid around on the forum. I usually cut with both hands on the saw and actually LIKE wearing PPE.

In the moment, one doesn't think, "oh, if I grab this stick, I might cut myself". It was just an automatic response, I'd released the throttle and the saw bounced out of the cut unexpectedly, probably when it caught some tearing wood fiber. I wasn't measuring the value of the carport against my skin tissue.

Kidding beats moaning and fretting about it. I posted this so other people making horizontal snap cuts will be reminded of the risk... it's just an experience that's worth sharing.

The fact is, there's nothing macho about cutting yourself with ANY saw... it's stupid. You ever do anything stupid?
 
mb i think chip's talking about the birth re anaesthesia test.

"Now that I think I've thought about it, I should've just hung the whole tree from a nearby pine and dropped it from the bottom in sections."

Now you are talking. I know you know that "Inverting" method.
__________________
 
Blinky said:
The only thing I think I could've done differently to avoid the cut would've been to rig the piece instead of snap cutting and chucking. I'd already made a dozen identical snap cuts, this piece was apparently just angled enough to make the cut break before it was supposed to. I wasn't in a rush, I had both hands on the saw while cutting.
Click to expand...

Whenever I snap cut anything that is not vertical, I know I could be pushing the envelope a little. If the piece is standing up right, you basically have about 100% control. You make your cuts, then the piece just waits there for you to put your saw away, have a cigarette, get a massage, then you can come back and snap it off and send it out. Once things are angled a bit, there are tons of variables at play (angle of the dangle, wood species, wood age/condition, weight of wood, temperature, closeness of the two cuts to eachother, how much the cut bypass eachother...just to name a few).

It's a fun game to play. A game that I am glad I win almost every time. But every once in a while... :O

Nice pic, by the way! I had a cut once that looked about identical to that. If you'd like, I could give you a fast forward to what that is going to look like in 4 years!

love
nick
 
Hey Blinky there is more good turning wood at the arb so bring your big saw tuesday. The stump from that mimosa would be beautiful turned, and there is also a Paulownia stump with nice color that I cut of flast week.

Maybe if you get your doc some more nice pieces y,our next surgery will be prepaid!
 
Blinky said:
"Kidding beats moaning and fretting about it. I posted this so other people making horizontal snap cuts will be reminded of the risk... it's just an experience that's worth sharing."
- Yes all of the experiences are as we can all learn from them. I also know there are many variables which are not easily explained or understood by those who were no there. I do have to ask though, if the piece was worth grabbing with your hand to direct fall why was it not on a rope? If the piece was small enough to grab and pitch why did you not finish the cut with your hand saw? Were either of these things possible.


"The fact is, there's nothing macho about cutting yourself with ANY saw... it's stupid. You ever do anything stupid?
Click to expand...
"
- Yes I most certainly have.
 
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  • #50
Sure, it was possible to finish with a handsaw or rig it out... those things are easy to see in hindsight... like I said before... the BEST thing would've been to hang it and section from the bottom... but at the time that hadn't occurred to me.

My solution to the problem was to go up and take the top apart in small pieces. It was a small tree and looked to be an easy, quick job. I was using snap cuts to good effect and had a good feel for where to make the cuts based on the size and angle of the wood. I hadn't needed the handsaw to finish up to that point as every piece was staying put till I was ready. HAndsaws aren't exactly safe either; who's to say I wouldn't have layed myself open with it? I've finished lots of cuts with a handsaw, this one didn't seem to warrant it.

Had I rigged I was still going to have to go with small pieces because the top was crowded with and ornamental garden below... I had no overhead rigging points except my TIP.

Treework is not safe. I'm climbing all day 3 to 4 days a week most of the time. My judgment isn't perfect but I do alright. No amount of hindsight is going to change what happened and you can pick it apart forever... just like any accident. I love my job, risks and all; this cut is one of the few bad experiences I've had among countless really good ones.

I'd rather die of a heart attack during sex but if I die from a tree accident that still beats dying in a car crash.
 
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