Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Bucking Storm Debris...

We had a small group today and we did a little work with some storm situations. It is so impressive when plans are made following some guidelines. I don't know if there is a great way, or best way, to organize your thoughts before making a cut but we had some super results from this planning format:



1. Hazards



2. Roll or Twist - side pressure



3. Up and Down pressures



4. Back and Forward pressures



5. Make the cut



If you take the time to go through these steps you will ultimately reduce the time you are hung in the limb or log and surprised much less by quick unexpected happenings.



One advantage of this five step plan is to quickly agree with the rest of the crew as to what to do. Without a defined planning process you are probably going to spend more time discussing what could happen rather than taking the information, confirming the plan and agree upon actions to get the job completed safely and efficiently.



Most important - once you have a plan for the cut, choose a technique from the toolbox that works. The notch and hinge used for felling works in bucking scenarios too. You don't always need a big, wide notch because there may not be enough movement required for a large opening but just sliding the bar across the compression side makes a notch of sufficient operation to reduce twists and gain control.



The new Storm Debris eVideo is going to be an awesome training / review tool for outlining this process and open a lot of eyes to how great the system works.



Good Sawing,



Tim










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