I had it on my mind that I wanted to cut a road through the property. I had already walked and "flagged" an old road grown over for my trail to blaze. I started with a new Stihl pole saw I've wanted for a very long time. I managed to cut for about 20 minutes before I had it hung, in a tree, with the bar horizontal. Turns out, that seven foot pole with the motor dangling on the end REALLY puts a lot of weight on the bar. So much weight, it tends to want to bend the bar. Well, I could see that coming........but really, when it is stuck and the tree an't moving, and you got nothing to reach for to hold the weight......you don't have a choice. So - new pole saw now with a bent bar.
I walk back and get the Ford 3600 with 5' Sidewinder. I *might* have cut 40' before I hit an old, just the right size, pine stump. Well, there goes a 16.6 x 28 4 ply tire. I run water in the tires, so I was soaking wet.
I go to town and have a new tire mounted. Of course the old one could not be booted. Back to work on the tractor being all so very careful not to have another puncture wound. In my greed to watch for stumps/stobs I managed to neglect a heavy low lying limb coming at me. I get caught between the limb and the roll over protection. For whatever reason, I could not get on the clutch, and therefore took a genuine whipping, and then a nice raking down the limb across my face.
Also managed to toe in the right front tire, break the clamp where the exhaust manifold bolts to the pipe, and bend a light.
All the tools and equipment is now fixed. "They" say I'll live. I think my next attempt will either be with a) loppers or b) JD450.
