We’re In Trouble: Cutting Down a Tree Poorly (and How Not To!)

We eventually cut down a tree. It was so bad, Brandt from @EmergentBeacon had to educate us. Do better than us.

⸺ links ⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺
CDC: number of chainsaw hospitalizations per year
Bureau of Labor Statistics: 2021 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary
TCI Magazine: breakdown of tree worker injuries
forestry laser video
Kickback Demonstration by Chainsaw Instructor Joe Glenn

⸺ chapters ⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺
0:00:00 - before & after
0:00:42 - we're in the principal's office
0:02:50 - let's cut down this chinaberry tree
0:19:10 - that's a front cut--how're we feeling?
0:24:09 - cutting in notches
0:29:48 - how you're supposed to do a bore/plunge cut
0:32:18 - the point of no return
0:37:15 - "we cut from the back now, right?" no.
0:42:27 - new plan: let's try nylon
0:53:55 - we should have taken a break here
0:57:13 - the final cut and the tree is down!
1:02:12 - cta + bonus clip

⸺ support us ⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺
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⸺ credits ⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺
Brian Brushwood - host
Jason Murphy - host
Brandt Hughes - editor / guest
Bryce Castillo - camera operator
Annaliese Martin - live audio engineer / copy editor
Kinnon Martin - prod assistance
Jeff McLaughlin - camera operator

⸺ socials ⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺

[sirkai]

This after action report is probably one of the best episodes in Modern Rogue history.

[cologne]

I appreciate that you are not afraid to show and acknowledge your incompetence while also teaching the viewer what's right

[Zayats_MW]

An hour long Modern Rogue video with entirely fresh content and meta commentary is a blessing

[kaptnawesome]

This was anxiety inducing, glad no one got hurt and Brian still had an office

[RagingRaven]

Shout out to Jason for pulling Brian out of his focus when the tree was falling and yelling "move! Move!" That was really wholesome

[areallyneatguy]

I hope y'all actually pursue this format further. There have a been a few things where y'all have not gotten it quite right, and it'd be cool to see you go back and see what you missed and correct it. Of course the level of danger here really lends itself to the need to do this, but there are other less dangerous things that would be cool to learn more on.

[MiuKujo]

There is nothing as amazing as seeing them do something stupid, and have it cut back to the studio where Brian is covering his face and Jason is laughing his ass off. I really love you guys knowing that you messed up bad and turning it into a cautionary tale.

[ftlPhysicsGuy]

Posted this before, but a good friend of mine from work died a little over a year ago helping a neighbor cut down a tree. He was a very generous person and had experience helping other neighbors with their trees, but he was not a professional. I miss him very much. Please, be careful and if at all possible, get a professional to deal with your trees.

[manning]

Wow, oh wow oh wow.

From someone trained in felling trees (including how to fell a tree with high explosives, thanks Army), I'm so glad you guys walked away from that.

If you had called me in to fix it, I'm not even sure where to start.

May I say, that the standard safety distance is at least twice the height of the tree. So on a 10m (33ft), you want everybody at least 20m (66ft) away.

And once you've started on your back cut, you should never walk in front of the tree (where the face cut is).

As a part of your chainsaw tool kit, you should always have the T wrench (which you did, a flat file and round file sized for your size of chain and a second chain.
I'd also highly recommend a depth gauge tool and a round file guide attachment.

These tools are very important.

Not only can you adjust the tension of your chain and sharpen it, but it allows you to replace the chain quickly if you need to finish a cut, and sharpen later, or replace a broken chain, or, SWAP OUT A PINCHED CHAIN.

Where you unbolted your saw and the guide bar pulled out easily, all you needed was a second chain to put on and you are good to go.

Most everyone who has really used a chainsaw has pinched the chain. Nobody starts off as an expert.

Please please get an expert in to show you the basics and some more advanced cuts.

It would make for a great show and maybe he can even review this video and critique the advice you have been given.

For the most part, it's not bad advice, but it's still very clearly lacking the expert knowledge of someone who actually does it for a living.

[ryanlutes]

The classic advice dads give somewhat rings true; if you're doing something potentially dangerous with power tools or whatever, and you get a bad feeling about it, or don't know how to proceed, stop, because that's your self preservation kicking in. Once they realized the chainsaw was too dull to cut effectively, or that they didn't have all the steps clearly planned out that was their first clue. And then you see how things quickly spiral into a more and more dangerous situation. I think this video is a good example how situations can quickly get out of your control if you aren't careful, not just with woodcutting.

[ryanmitchell]

I'm glad to see you guy's do this video, to at least acknowledge what you did wrong. I see way too many videos with people ignoring basic safety practices and even acknowledging it as they do it, but then continue to do it anyway. Adam Savage did something similar after he injured himself working on his lathe, and I respect that.

[mertz]

Okay but major respect for being willing to upload the correction of errors up for everyone to learn what not to do. Humility- necessary trait for a modern rogue.

[AnotherMe]

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Mad props on doing this autopsy video and not just deleting the original footage. Glad all of you made it out safe!

[WhiskyCanuck]

Oh man, when Brian presses play on the video to move on, but Brandt immediately pauses it again, like "No, we're not done yet"... :O

[MisterPhish]

This felt more educational than just watching a video on how to do it right. I think going through the mistakes and possible outcomes will make it stick better in my mind.

[hedgeearthridge]

I see the Modern Rogue as an indirect educational channel: you learn by watching Jason and Bryan learn, and you get to learn from their mistakes instead of making the mistakes yourself. That's what I've always loved about this channel! It's about the process of learning, not being spoonfed information 😂 this taught me immensely more than if I was only taught how to do it correctly

[KarltheKrazyone]

I grew up around a lot of loggers, we heated our house with wood, and I've run a saw or three. I'm not a pro. Brant did a better job of expressing how complex this is without leaving someone thinking, "Yep, I know everything now" which is something that pros actually have a lot of trouble doing. They explain something so well that the listener misses all the reasons they should be more cautious. Loggers also have a very mis-calculated sense of risk, or rather they calculate risk for themselves most of the time, their tolerance is way higher than yours, but they cannot share how you should calculate risk. So if you think you will need to run a saw, there are a lot of vids, watch a lot of them from a lot of other people. Understand that in most places the first two years on a crew you only are allowed to cut wood on the ground, then you get to fell "easy" freestanding trees for a year, and only then are you allowed to cut "complex" stuff like trees hanging up in other trees, and that's still "on the ground" no ladders, harnesses, crap like that. All of those are specialized skills. Get exposure, and learn that skill when there is no pressure. And wear that hard-hat. The branch that is most dangerous is just the one big enough to knock you out, or make you stumble while you need to be minding the saw or the falling tree. That three seconds of lights on might keep you from taking the permanent lights out. Thanks for sharing guys, it's easy to play that up as "look how good we did" instead of "look how lucky we got"

[lokuzt]

Owning to one's mistakes takes balls. Kudos on doing so on a public platform, and especially for doing so in such a good nature and sincere manner. I can't recall the times I've fell victim to Dunning-Kreuger effect and after realizing so, I've felt so guilty, demoralized and ashamed that apologies or explanations I owed seemed near impossible to express unless forced to. When the video started I was pretty judgmental, but at the 10 minute mark, I realized _how little I really know_ on this subject and how many of the same mistakes shown I would've made (and how many more, that you guys avoided I would've made and be unaware of!) again, bravo for ultimately exalting the virtues of a gentleman more than those of a scoundrel on this topic!

[alyouresocool]

This is actually an excellent idea for a show or a new channel — Complicated task, group of inexperienced do-ers, and an expert who will *only* step in to stop them from killing each other.

[Iceburgh]

This is probably one of my favorite episode of Modern Rogue to date. There's a lot to learn, and not only do all y'all go into the do's and don'ts, but also the why, which is a VERY important thing for learning. Many people who can't understand the why will resist learning due to that lack of understanding. I'm not an arborist, but the one thing that was first on my mind when you first put the wedges in was "how are they going to complete the cut with the wedges in the way?"