Damn near had my throat cut today

Today I almost lost my head. My brother and I were dropping trees using a 5/16" wire rope to make them go where we wanted them to. I was doing the cutting and he was manning my tractor. Never again will I use an old cable. I've had this cable for years stored away in the barn. I've used it many many times over the years to drag trees, pull trees down and what not. Well today it snapped and slapped me right across the side of the head, knocked off my earmuffs, across the side of my neck and left a big red mark down my chest. Talk about seeing the light real quick. First thought was slashed neck, but I found no blood. My poor brother came running thinking I got my throat slashed. Looking at the cable we found that all the inner cores were rotted away. That cable now sits in my scrap metal pile. I have a few more cables that will be joining that one also. From now on I will oil soak any cables that I buy. That will keep the core from rotting out. Man was I lucky on that one. So if you have any old cables kicking around that you use for doing things like I do, please throw them away before this happens to you. I consider myself very lucky today that I didn't get my throat cut or worse, lose an eye or my life. I have six lives left to live.

Call yourself lucky for sure!!!!
Your guardian angel or something was sure watching out for you.

While I'm sure your wounds hurt, you probably could not have been luckier!
Bonehead

You cheated death one more time !!!!

When you go to buy a new cable, consider this stuff. It doesn't whip and is very nice to work with.

http://www.cseoffroad.com/abo38a.html

AmSteel Blue

I thought you were supposed to use chain for logging whenever possible. Supposedly chains don't store the tension like rope does.

Count yer blessings.

pixie said:

When you go to buy a new cable, consider this stuff. It doesn't whip and is very nice to work with.
http://www.cseoffroad.com/abo38a.htmlAmSteel Blue

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Looks like a really great safe product for pulling or winching. My next winch will have this or something similar for safety.

I had a tow rope (not mine) break when I was pulling out a stuck truck in the snow. It whipped itself around my outside rear view mirror on my truck with unbelievable force. I will never use someone else's tow rope, cable or chain again. Lesson learned, check all towing devices carefully prior to use especially if they are not your own.

PBinWA said:

I thought you were supposed to use chain for logging whenever possible. Supposedly chains don't store the tension like rope does.

Count yer blessings.

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I put a 20 foot piece of chain through the rear window of my old woods truck once when it snapped dragging a log. CHAIN does fly just as fast as cable. The chain is heavier and would hurt a lot more if hit in the face with it. My wounds just sting like rope burn. Especially the one down the side of my face that never turned red. I will never forget the whishing sound and the sight of that cable flying by then getting smacked by the back end of it. I'm just glad that I was kneeling down at the base of the tree and not standing up. The cable was attached 15 feet up in the tree.

You are one lucky man.

I am happy to hear you are ok...

I also would advise tying some Amsteel blue

We use it on our winches on the jeeps. he stuff falls straight to the ground! The rope holds up very well. But be carefull about dragging it againts the rocks etc....

I learned something from your incident. You can not trust a rusty cable. Myself and the guys I wheel with have had many a conversation about recovery equipment. Never once have we thought of the core getting bad.

Again glad your ok!

I just read up on the Amsteel rope. That is an incredible product. Who would think that a 3/8" rope could sustain 20,400 pounds of pulling force. I use to have a 1" synthetic marine rope made by that same company (Samson) that had a breaking strength of over 120,000 pounds. The core on the rope was well over 80,000 pounds. Unfortunately time and the elements ended its life. I think it may be time to look into a length of that Amsteel rope. I'd just hate to ruin something like that pulling trees down. It is not cheap by any means. I could replace the wire cable on my Superwinch on my truck with this rope too.

If anyone is interested in purchasing custom rope lengths. A good friend of mine is a dealer for the Amsteel rope. He stocks 5/16" and 3/8". He can cut it to wahtever lentgh you need, put an eye in the end or both ends. pretty much whatever.

He has his own 4x4 shope
Let me know and I can hook you up.

IF I UNDERSTAND YOU RIGHT, YOU WERE USING THE STEEL ROPE AND A TRACTOR TO MAKE THE TREES GO WERE YOU WANTED THEM TO BY ATTACHING THE STEEL ROPE TO THE TREE AND THEN TAKING UP ON THE STEEL ROPE SOME TO GET TENSION ON THE TREE TO GET IT TO DROP IN THE DIRECTION THAT YOU WANTED IT TO GO THEN BEGIN TO CUT THE TREE AND DROP IT IN THAT MANNER. IF THIS IS SO, MAY I SUGGEST IN THE FUTURE THAT YOU ATTATCH THE LINE TO THE TREE @ 20' OR HIGHER FROM GROUND LEVEL VIA THE USE OF A LADDER OR SOME OTHER SUCH DEVICE. THE PULLING FORCE NEEDED TO GUIDE THE TREE IN THIS MANNER IS LESSEND A MULTITUDE OF TIMES USING THIS SYSTEM. I CAN SPEAK FIRST HAND OF THIS BECAUSE I HAVE ALSO ATTEMPTED THIS PROCEEDURE OF DROPPING TREES USING STEEL CABLE AND REPEATEDLY BROKEN THE SAME LINE SEVEN (7) TIMES IN A ROW ON ONE PARTICULAR TREE BEFORE DRAGGING OUT A 30' LADDER AN ATTACHING THE LINE TO THAT @ HEIGHT. GOOD LUCK IN THE FUTURE. I HOPE YOU DON'T PLAN TO DO THIS INTO YOUR LATTER YEARS. FUN WHEN YOUR YOUNG BUT BEETER WHEN YOUR DONE!

I had the cable at 15 feet. I already had notched the tree. I had my brother tighten up on the cable a bit (obviusly too much) and was just starting to cut the backside when the cable snapped. I shimmied up the tree to attach the cable at the 15 foot mark. At 53 I am still pretty agile and can take a tree down from the top if neccessary. Here's a couple that I dropped last year at the farm that I am rebuilding.

HEY! LOOKS VERY FAMILIAR! I HAD TO TAKE DOWN @ A HALF ACRES WORTH OF BIG ONES 'BOUT THAT SIZE AND TALLER. MAKES FOR GREAT FIREWOOD AND I'M GOING ON MY SIXTH YEAR OF BURNING THEM IN THE STOVE. BEATS THE HELL OUT OF BUYIN' OIL! SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAD THE SYSTEM DOWN GOOD JUST RAN OUT OF LUCK ON THE STEEL ROPE PART. REMEMBER THE OLD SAYING, BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY. BEST OF LUCK WITH FUTURE STICKS!

I too thought I had the system down pretty well also. I've been dropping trees since the early 70's for firewood and land clearing, not for a living though. It seems that just when you feel safe something like this happens that gives you a wake up call. I will be more careful in the future. I think it may be time to put my 4200 pound SuperWinch on the tractor and let that do the pulling. I have the winch setup so that I can attach a 100 foot extension cord in between the control unit and the winch. At least this way I know I am in full control.

NOW THATS THE BEST , AND PROBLY SAFEST, WAY TO STAY OUT OF A FLYING STEEL ROPES WAY. WE'VE GOT THAT TYPE OF SYSTEM SET UP AT WORK, BUT NOT WITH ANY THING I COULD USE FOR THIS APPLICATION. THINK I'LL GET STARTED ON SOMETHING APPLICABLE TO THAT NEXT YEAR, IF I CAN FIND THE TIME!

JimR said:

I think it may be time to put my 4200 pound SuperWinch on the tractor and let that do the pulling.

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Jim,

If the winch doesn't have a mechanical brake, be careful. When you put a load on it then let it sit, it'll allow it to go back out. (e.g. If you had a plow connected to it and raised, the winch will allow the cable out and the plow will lower to the ground). Just a FYI.

Brian

All I can say, is you dumb shit! Dam lucky!! This will give you some thing , for you to talk about around the camp FIRE

PBinWA said:

I thought you were supposed to use chain for logging whenever possible. Supposedly chains don't store the tension like rope does.

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I remember one tree felling I did w/ my Dad.. 50ft of chain hooked to a cable will lift you off your feet and knock you ten feet back. We went and rented more logging chain after that. Luckily I was wearing an old army coat and was pretty padded.