57 year old on top of a ladder with a pole saw

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Well, I survived. A few observations. My idea of light cutting and the manufacturer of the pole saw attachment to my weed eater idea of light cutting are not the same. I figure that cutting down the entire tree is heavy cutting-everything else is light-apparently not. Anyway I decide to trim one of my live oaks-this leads to me taking out three branches, a pair of 9" diameter and one 7" diameter. I've got a 10 foot ladder and I'm on the second to the top rung (one above the death rung they tell you not to go above-but hey if they really meant that they wouldn't have put that rung in right?). I've got a weed whacker with a pole saw attachment and an extension that I'm holding at about a 30 degree angle to reach the branches. (Wife is down on the ground and says try to make a clean cut closer to the trunk ) After I decide not to throw the saw at her I get to cutting. Actually I got the 7" and the first 9" down fairly easy-but my forearms are on fire by now. Do you know how heavy a weed whacker with an extension and an 8" pole saw at the end is? I go to tackle the last 9" and that one got me-it was about a foot higher than the last one and let me tell you that makes all the difference in the world. I get that sucker down and proceed to cut them up into manageable pieces for the wife to haul to the front and I literally blew out the head of the pole saw. I stripped out whatever gear runs the sproket of the saw head. And I'm mad because I've got 5 more cuts to make on the last branch Thankfully my neighbor had a saw that I used to finish up. But I'll tell you what-that little pole saw is going back to Lowes. Light cutting indeed! Damn saw couldn't hold up to an afternoon of bucking 9" live oak branches
In retrospect, maybe I should just consider myself lucky to have survived an afternoon of standing on top of a ladder with a pole saw at full extension and then bucking wood for 4 hours. Who says lawyers are worthless

 

[arjay]

I thought you had minions

 

[Old TexMex]

Caj, you take the cake. Tellin' ya.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Hmmmm...Sounds like you have the makings for scene two of that commercial about the fellow cutting branches and falling onto his neighbors car.


WuzzFuzz

 

[ColbyBruce]

I have a Echo pole trimmer with a extension, total length of about 11' 8". Awkward to say the least when standing on the ground, I can't imagine doing that on a ladder. It is a remarkable machine though. I like the Stihl version better, and it is nearly two feet longer, but also nearly twice the money.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I thought you had minions

One of my minions is in Europe, one is working in BR and one is in New Orleans at the St. Patricks day P'rade-My other minion was on the ground picking up-the saw was too heavy for her and she is too short unless she stands on the very top of the ladder and she wouldn't do that-go figure.

 

[labworm]

Caj, here is what you need "Craftsman 14 ft. Tree Pruner " been using mine for 20 years.

No electricity.

You probably still listen to your Electric Prunes albums.

 

[beemerphile]

I just recently ruptured a biceps tendon where it attaches to the forearm. I did mine in a novel way, but the orthopedic surgeon told me that one of the favorite ways to accomplish this destruction is with a pole saw. The load is so "out there" on a lever arm that it is a formidable force multiplier on the stress. Now, after three surgeries, I may be able to begin strength training on my repaired biceps by, oh, September.

Be CAREFUL with pole saws! If you stand too far out, the leverage will kill you. If you stand too close, the limb will kill you.

 

[Marshwheeling]

You are lucky. I drove down to Red Wing yesterday to visit my buddy who was on the top rung of a 10-foot ladder working on a furnace at work. The ladder came down and he got his ankles all wadded up in it. Didn't break anything, but both ankles are swole up and he is at home staying off his feet. He is 67.

The comp doc told him he was good to go for work and gave him some Tylenol. I told him he needed to see his own doc and to get some opium-based painkillers.

Ladders are for 30-year-olds. I try to stay off them.

p.s. Remind me never to loan you any of my tools.

 

[DCWilson]

Ah, memories.

In late summer of 1988 a huge branch on a eucalyptus tree that is my responsibility cracked and fell against the second story of a house that is also my responsibility. And there it lodged.

After carefully -- I thought -- doping out the situation and determining a trim order for pieces of the branch to reduce it safely, I leaned an extension ladder up against the house and went to work with a chain saw. I dropped three or four large pieces successfully when -- shock! -- the entire rest of the branch slipped and pushed me, along with the running saw, off the side of the ladder.

I had the presence of mind to toss the chain saw while I was on the way down -- I certainly didn't want to land on it -- but I didn't have the presence of mind to think, "Hit the ground rolling." So I hit the ground vertically with stiff legs like every bad paratrooper landing you have ever heard of. And with the predictable consequences. Oddly enough the long bones mostly stayed together, but my right heel bone was reduced to gravel. I did end up with a short crack in the upper end of my left tibia. When the doctor figured out what was wrong, he cast the one leg to immobilize the knee and said there was no point in trying to do anything about the heel. Since all the pieces were still in alignment as a result of all the tendons and sinews attached there, he just told me not to walk on it until it stopped hurting, at which point I could resume careful -- he emphasized "careful" -- use.

Earlier that year my wife and I had been on a marlin fishing day trip during a camping vacation at Cabo San Lucas. In rough seas she went down a companionway and shattered her ankle. The next 24 hours were pretty dramatic, but I got her back to California and into a US hospital and went back for my truck and camping gear, which I had left on a beach with some friends and relatives. Then it was a power drive back from the Cape. This didn't spoil our appetite for Mexico, but 1988 became enshrined in family lore as the year we broke 75% of our legs.

Somehow we just never made it back down there. Maybe that's not a tragedy. I have looked at the area on Google Earth, and it is overbuilt and unrecognizable compared to what we used to enjoy there.

 

[A10]

Congratulations on surviving St. Paddy's day Caj! Next time hire it done!

 

[Pete99004]

I hear real men don't need a saw - they use an ax.

But then I really don't get out very much...so that could be wrong.


Pete

 

[elm_creek_smith]

The last time I trimmed trees involved detcord. No strain. No pain.

ECS

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Caj; When I worked for the phone company I trimmed a lot of trees. Always with a Fanno saw on 6 ft. extensions you clipped together to reach the limb. We had armstrong power then. Sure as Hell a branch would come down & either hit you or go thru the neighbors window.

 

[USAF385]

A few years back I was visiting family in Georgia. My cousin who was probably in kindergarten came running into the living room screaming for help. She was saying "the man's gunna fall!".

My brother and I followed her to the window where she pointed to the guy across the street who was pruning two trees that grew out over his driveway, one on each side. The branches intertwined in the middle.

He had a 24' extension ladder that was fully closed leaning against a branch. He was standing maybe 9' off the ground. There were a few branches around that he had cut with a handsaw, and he was going to town on one thicker branch maybe 6" wide.

The problem.... Yep. He was cutting the branch his ladder was leaning against... and he was cutting on the wrong side of the ladder.

We ran over and yelled for him to stop.... Boy was he flustered when we pointed out what he was doing. He got confused up on the ladder and thought the branch was growing out of the other tree.

Let me remind you that my cousin was only 5 or 6.

My brother and I still reference "pruning like a Georgia boy"

 

[charlie sherrill]

It is much cheaper in the long run to pay a professional tree trimmer than it is to pay a professional orthopaedic surgeon. Now, get back up that ladder and paint those bare spots where the limbs used to be. Also, remember: Lawyer=$200 hour. Tree trimmer=probably a lot less.

 

[don5]

Cajun- I took one look at the title and I thought this was going to be an Allstate commercial! Seriously, you would be amazed how many men get hurt every year trimming a tree. I have a polesaw attachment as well and know your pain. Now for the good news- you, hopefully, won't do that again! Remember you aren't 19 anymore! We don't want anything to happen to you as you provide us with some very interesting thread topics!!! BTW- remember you are a lawyer and NOT my lawyer and not a stuntman as well. Be careful out there and go self medicate with some liquid beverages.

 

[Hillbilly77]

Hmmmm...Sounds like you have the makings for scene two of that commercial about the fellow cutting branches and falling onto his neighbors car.


WuzzFuzz

No, that really was Caj in that commercial.

He was just waiting for the royalties check to clear before he told the story.

 

[timn8er]

When I read the title of your post, the first thought that went through my mind was "Darwin Awards"! You survived relatively unscathed, sounds like. I wouldn't put my self in that kind of situation, & I'll be honest & say it wouldn't be due to intelligence. I have just enough awareness in this worn out thing called a brain that I listen when the alarm bells go off. Past memories & such. I'm better off without a portable device with steel teeth in my hands. And ladders? Just not a good idea for me.

 

[Big Fred]

I'm glad you are ok. Last summer a cowboy shooting friend of mine retired at age 60. About 2 weeks into his retirement he decided he needed to trim a few branches that were getting close to his garage.

His wife begged him to hire someone to do the work. He was always a little stubborn and didn't listen. His wife was standing there and watched him fall to his death.

He was only 60 and only 2 weeks into his retirement...........