bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Prayers going out to my friends in my old stomping grounds in the Tampa bay and Clearwater area. I think their about to see catastrophic damage the likes of which that area has never seen. 
Florida hurricane...
- Thread starter bladegrinder
- Start date
Bruce McLeish
Well-Known Member
Prayers out to Floridians. I'll take the forest fires.... Y'all can have the hurricane.
Stay as safe as you can.
Stay as safe as you can.
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
I'm still cutting up downed trees in my woods and have widow maker leaner's all thru the woods from hurricane Michael coming thru the panhandle.
I have 2000 trees on order now, planning on a burn in November then do some replanting.
I have 2000 trees on order now, planning on a burn in November then do some replanting.
Sean Jones
Well-Known Member
Stay safe Floridians
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Hey Vic, no I didn’t go to that school.
John Wilson
Well-Known Member
Steve attended Our Lady of Incorrigible Youth Reform School
Yep, if the track holds steady I think it's going to get a bit sporty. I'm on the north side of Tampa on fairly good ground with excellent drainage, which in Florida is about as good as it gets. We're stocked up and prepped.
Keep your hat on tight, Steve. This thing may decide to veer left and come up your way to the new hacienda.
Yep, if the track holds steady I think it's going to get a bit sporty. I'm on the north side of Tampa on fairly good ground with excellent drainage, which in Florida is about as good as it gets. We're stocked up and prepped.
Keep your hat on tight, Steve. This thing may decide to veer left and come up your way to the new hacienda.
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
I sure hope it doesn't come this way John although a couple days ago it looked that way. I don't think anyone will know for sure till later tomorrow. this area up here has tell tale signs everywhere something bad came thru, I'm still cleaning up after four years but I have a lot of thick woods. I finally found one of my tree stands last week that was under a pile of 100' pine trees. I still have another that I can't get with in 100' of that's buried.
But back to Tampa, I've been talking to folks down there and for the most part they don't seem to worried, a couple don't even have generators, so when the lights go out your food goes bad and it's cold showers. when I moved to the panhandle one of the first things I did was install a
22kw whole house generator and a 250 gallon propane tank.
It's times like this that you need some survival skills, it took my neighbors three days to clear the road to get to my place after Michael, all the county and state workers were clearing the main roads, I'm on a dirt road out in the woods.
I'm ready for anything now, if it came down to it I'd be eating squirrels, possums and raccoons- after the deer.
In the city things just get ugly. every time something like this happens the looters come out and people get desperate because they weren't prepared for absolute destruction in their face and all around them.
I'm pretty confident your prepared and will get thru this storm, I hope your property is ok too. Good luck John.
Steve attended Our Lady of Incorrigible Youth Reform School...........
Actually, I didn't get along with school very well, quit in 10th grade, went back the next year and quit again in two weeks.
got my GED and went to trade school. I think it was a wise decision, I turned out ok. and I'm still kicking.
But back to Tampa, I've been talking to folks down there and for the most part they don't seem to worried, a couple don't even have generators, so when the lights go out your food goes bad and it's cold showers. when I moved to the panhandle one of the first things I did was install a
22kw whole house generator and a 250 gallon propane tank.
It's times like this that you need some survival skills, it took my neighbors three days to clear the road to get to my place after Michael, all the county and state workers were clearing the main roads, I'm on a dirt road out in the woods.
I'm ready for anything now, if it came down to it I'd be eating squirrels, possums and raccoons- after the deer.
In the city things just get ugly. every time something like this happens the looters come out and people get desperate because they weren't prepared for absolute destruction in their face and all around them.
I'm pretty confident your prepared and will get thru this storm, I hope your property is ok too. Good luck John.
Steve attended Our Lady of Incorrigible Youth Reform School...........
Actually, I didn't get along with school very well, quit in 10th grade, went back the next year and quit again in two weeks.
got my GED and went to trade school. I think it was a wise decision, I turned out ok. and I'm still kicking.
Last edited:
ok Steve - I knew a Steve Miller in high school - my wife and I did a road trip along the panhandle coastline about 3 mths after michael hit - one has to see with own eyes to grasp the extent of the devastation ! utterly unbelievable that a storm can do what we saw !
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Your right Vic, when I got to my place three days after hurricane Michael the wife called and asked me how it looked. I told her if I was a women I’d be crying right now. Luckily the house survived but I didn’t know where to start cleaning up. Most of my pines were 18” and over 100’ tall, they were either snapped or the whole root ball came up. No timber company’s could help, they were busy trying to salvage large timber company tracks. It was dangerous too, the way the trees layed on top of each other under stress made them like rat traps. Some that I cut sprang up over 8’. I had one get me and thru me about 10’ away with a running chainsaw flying thru the air….got a pic of my smashed leg I’ll post tomorrow. But like you say, there’s really no describing it unless you see it for your self.
I lost about 15 big trees here during Hurricane Sally in 2020. No damage to house so we can live with the clean up of trees.
Running a chainsaw is dangerous work under the best of conditions, much less timber like you describe. I remember one summer I was cutting pulpwood, walking a fallen tree trimming limbs. Foot slipped and fell down, chainsaw revved up, bar laid across my left thigh. The chain only got a few layers of skin, but knowing the saw would have cut just as good if the bar had fallen another inch - or 4 inches. Of course I'm way off in woods alone working. Just another one of those close calls we laugh about when young 'n dumb.
Running a chainsaw is dangerous work under the best of conditions, much less timber like you describe. I remember one summer I was cutting pulpwood, walking a fallen tree trimming limbs. Foot slipped and fell down, chainsaw revved up, bar laid across my left thigh. The chain only got a few layers of skin, but knowing the saw would have cut just as good if the bar had fallen another inch - or 4 inches. Of course I'm way off in woods alone working. Just another one of those close calls we laugh about when young 'n dumb.
Last edited:
52 Ford
Well-Known Member
I was actually thinking about this the other day - chainsaw brakes. When I'm not cutting, I kick the brake on. Only takes a second to put the brake on and take it off.
Sent from my Champion Forge using Tapatalk
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
If the saw is running correctly the chains not moving, or the idle is set wrong. If the chains moving then you have your finger on the trigger and cutting. The brake is set by inertia, it’s not meant to be set on and off by the operator. I guess you could but it doesn’t Make any sense to me.
Merle
Well-Known Member
Same here. Where I live I'm often stumbling around in thick slippery underbrush and salal, because that's where the trees seem to land. I'm also usually walking on all the limbs that were just cut off. It's easy enough to flick the brake forward with my left forearm/wrist which gives me an added layer of safety as I take a few steps and re-position for the next cut.
Miller's right though, on a properly tuned and adjusted saw the chain shouldn't be moving unless you're on the trigger. But a lot of times after a cut it takes a few seconds for the engine and chain to "wind down" to a stop after releasing the trigger. And the chain only needs to be moving a bit to tear flesh. I'm also paranoid that if I fall a branch is going to spring up out of nowhere and hit my trigger. So I do it just for a little peace of mind.
Andy
All that's said is valid, but do remember my accident happened about 50 yrs ago when safety wasn't as important as it is today. "IF" I remember correctly the saw/idle was set just fine. Dad was pretty serious about his saws running properly. When my foot slipped, my finger pressed the trigger causing the saw to rev up. Chain was moving nicely.
When I think of all the close calls I've had over the years makes me wonder how I lived this long.
When I think of all the close calls I've had over the years makes me wonder how I lived this long.
52 Ford
Well-Known Member
My Stihl chainsaw doesn't have a brake... and it has a high idle button. Push the button to hold the throttle about 1/2 or maybe 3/4 open.
Sent from my Champion Forge using Tapatalk
52 Ford
Well-Known Member
Like Merle said, it stops the chain faster than if you just let is spin down on it's own.
Obviously you don't need to use it, but it takes less than a second to kick it on. I've had throttles and clutches stick. Not bad, but enough to keep the chain from stopping.
If I'm getting up in a tree to to limb it, I start it on the ground with the brake on and let it warm up as I climb up the tree, once I get in position, I pull it up with a rope and clip it to my harness. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that without a chain brake.
Sent from my Champion Forge using Tapatalk
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
As far as using the brake on a chainsaw, I've never used it and don't plan on starting now. I've had them trip lots of times from kick back like their designed to do but I don't use it in normal use of the saw.
Like you said Ken. I've certainly had quite a few close calls with getting killed in different ways but fortunately I'm still kicking.
Back to my messed up woods from hurricane Michael, I've had the forestry dept. do prescribed burns on my place numerous times and a couple weeks after the hurricane they offered to come clear and refresh my firebreaks for free, they were going all around because of all the fuel laying on the ground everywhere. about ten guys showed up with saws, and two skid steers.
one of their guys got injured and had to go to be taken to the hospital. I talked with the timber company I used in the past and he said four of his guys were out from injuries. I'm telling you these woods were a tangled mess.
After I got injured I did buy some chaps, and tourniquets, I keep one in the shop, one in my truck, one in an old atv and one in my Polaris ranger.
while cutting trees I had some jump up after cutting, a lot were under tension from others laying on top and there was no getting a tractor thru to move any of them. this one went sideways and hit my leg, throwing me about ten feet. the saw was still running about ten feet in the other direction. I quick dropped my pants and made sure I wasn't bleeding out.
This was my back yard, it use to look like a state park. most of my 30 acres looked like this. that's why I'm still cutting. those trees are a lot bigger up close!
This is the dirt road going thru my place where the power lines ran. they were smashed to the ground.
So, I had a lot more safety issues to deal with besides a brake on my chain saw.
Back to hurricane Ian, I feel for all the folks going thru this devastation. I hope all my friends down there get thru this ok without to much damage to their property.
Like you said Ken. I've certainly had quite a few close calls with getting killed in different ways but fortunately I'm still kicking.
Back to my messed up woods from hurricane Michael, I've had the forestry dept. do prescribed burns on my place numerous times and a couple weeks after the hurricane they offered to come clear and refresh my firebreaks for free, they were going all around because of all the fuel laying on the ground everywhere. about ten guys showed up with saws, and two skid steers.
one of their guys got injured and had to go to be taken to the hospital. I talked with the timber company I used in the past and he said four of his guys were out from injuries. I'm telling you these woods were a tangled mess.
After I got injured I did buy some chaps, and tourniquets, I keep one in the shop, one in my truck, one in an old atv and one in my Polaris ranger.
while cutting trees I had some jump up after cutting, a lot were under tension from others laying on top and there was no getting a tractor thru to move any of them. this one went sideways and hit my leg, throwing me about ten feet. the saw was still running about ten feet in the other direction. I quick dropped my pants and made sure I wasn't bleeding out.
This was my back yard, it use to look like a state park. most of my 30 acres looked like this. that's why I'm still cutting. those trees are a lot bigger up close!
This is the dirt road going thru my place where the power lines ran. they were smashed to the ground.
So, I had a lot more safety issues to deal with besides a brake on my chain saw.
Back to hurricane Ian, I feel for all the folks going thru this devastation. I hope all my friends down there get thru this ok without to much damage to their property.
Doug Lester
Well-Known Member
Just heard from my sister on the other coast. They were going to ride it out in their house but they had over a foot of rain forecast and were afraid that the development's drainage system wasn't up to it and decided to camp out at the Holiday Inn.
Well wishes to all others in the path of the storm.
Doug
Well wishes to all others in the path of the storm.
Doug