Everyone agreeing with you really thinks that a ladder rung can't handle 100-150 lbs of weight??? How light do you think the average dude is on a ladder??
A chunk a wood that large can easily weight more than 100-150 lbs. I've heard stories where they had one man on the ground running a pulley to lower pieces and they misjudged the weight and it yanked him straight up into the tree before he even knew what was happening, he was lucky he didn't hit anything on the way up.
Force goes up a lot when there's a little acceleration behind it. So if the tree picks up a little momentum in a fall and then is caught by the rope, that rung is taking a lot more than 100lbs on it.
Yes, but... he's seen fully weighting the line. So he's adding some of his own weight to the system. He does give a relatively soft catch because of this, but he's still definitely being spicy.
I think it’s a calculated risk that works for his ladder, especially since he’s strapped it in the middle AND bottom, allowing the ladder to distribute its stress better
A log that big can easily weigh way the fuck more than what you said, a rope is distributing the weight over a much smaller area than your foot, all of which is concentrated more centrally on the rung, and it also is likely to be imparting a ton of friction, all of which seriously amplifies strain on both the material and on the stress concentrators (weak points) where the rung and frame meet.
You really an engineer or do you just play one on TV?
A large weight is being dangled off the top rung and the ladder is anchored at one point well below that, basically making a big lever arm out of the ladder above that point. It's not so much the weight that is the problem (although that contributes obviously) but the fact the ladder is being used in a way that it is not designed to be used.
Totally agree. A ladder used as a platform suspended at the ends is a completely very situation from onee used as a cantilever. In the video you can see the top 6ft of the ladder flexing from the load, and that's even with the guy pre-tensioning with his weight. If the log were a little heavier and with a little more shock loading, I could easily imagine that extension ladder folding
Not sure why you are getting downvoted as a massive construction worker myself who works on ladders, carries things up ladders, and pushes on things from ladders, you get the idea
The guy is just holding the rope with one hand and trying to stay on the ladder with his other 3 limbs. Saying he's good at Physics is the overstatement of the year. That line is not anchored in anyway.
Akshully, he's completely hanging from the rope with one arm in order to counterbalance the piece he cuts with his other arm, and is counting on friction and his weight judgement to not go flying
I agree. Looks like he holds the saw in his right hand through the cut and while lowering the log. He wraps the rope and does a one armed pull-up with his left.
The weight of that trunk section easily exceeds the torsion strength of the portion of the ladder sticking out above the top. Ladders were not designed for these loads.
More like a complete lack of physics knowledge, that ladder is maybe rated for 300 lbs max and that trunk is easily be 200+ if it was green, plus the kinetic energy of the tree dropping.
The number of times I’ve said “well it’s worked well every other time”, only for this time to be the time my wife is proven right is WAY greater than zero.
I'm fairly confident that a lot of folks in this sub are working arborists or loggers. This dude did have an idea and did execute it. I am a little impressed, but it was still very unsafe. We can totally forget about the ladder use. pay close attention to his saw handling. You'll notice that he's cutting pretty much in line with his head and with only one hand on his saw. If it were to kick back and hit him, he'd either be dead or mangled pretty bad. Those face shields are not designed to stop chainsaws.
Arborist use top-handed saws all the time, which are often used with one hand and at eye level. The kickback area on a chain saw is a very specific and small area near the tip. This guy had the whole blade through the tree, so kickback was impossible.
Yes, it was definitely less safe than it could have been, but watching him you never see anything out of control and he clearly plotted the process out.
While I wouldn’t suggest he do it again, I still find this a fantastic display of skill and complaining about the safety shortcomings online isn’t going to change history.
Saying arborists use chainsaws one handed all the time doesn't mean it should be done. That's like saying "drivers drive without wearing a seatbelt all the time." Sure, most of the time nothing bad will happen, but if and when it does, it'll likely be pretty bad. What the guy in the video did was kinda cool, but it's one of those things that if done a bunch of times will very likely cause an accident at some point. It's a clever way to get around doing the job the right way, and I think that's why it bothers me.
Not an armchair expert here, certified and insured arborist and owner/operator of a small tree care company.
This sub is all in good fun, but I waited a week to post this one because I was worried about it being mis-interpreted. Tried to find the whole video because I want to see what actually happened and couldn't.... Secondly no this is not flawless.
The old saying just because you can doesn't mean you should comes to mind. Whether or not everything is tied in and anchored is fairly irrelevant. The reality is that he has an object attached at an angle to an unstable object, that unstable object has now become his rigging device, and he is attached to it. If the ladder was hit by the piece of wood he cut, there are variables as to what could occur and he is in a position where he couldn't do anything about it. Ladder rung breaks, any of the straps fail, rigged piece swings or spins and hits ladder, ect....... not to mention rigging force, momentum, and other known hazards.
Live your life on your own terms, risk your life however you want, but if you die a confident moron than you didnt do yourself or anyone else any favors.
The duty rating of the ladder was most definitely exceeded by a significant amount. This ladder looks pretty beefy so probably had a rating of 250, maybe 300lbs concentrated in a very small area of a rope vs the points of contact of a person's feet and hands. This log is at a minimum is 400 lbs. Using a conservative guess based on the rung spacing as a ruler, id say at least 7 feet long and 12-14 inches in diameter. Using a log weight calculator and guessing white oak, this gets to 400 at least (~28lbs/ft). This simple calculator excludes all the extra branches so probably closer to 450 as a minimum. Here's the calculator if you want to make your own estimates.
Also worth noting, that since he is re-directing the load with the top of the ladder, the ladder is experiencing double the load of the log before it stats to belay.
Feel free to play with the calculator. It's a reasonable point though. the friction and change of direction would help it be more manageable. It does look like hes bracing jnto the ladder to keep from getting pulled up.
Amateur hour. This dude clearly is making it up & got away with it, no skill involved, just blind luck. From where the camera is there's enough room to pull over the trunk cutting from the ground, or if its tight maybe 1m up ?
No, but since I am mechanical engineer by trade i have pretty good eye on things. There is nothing wrong working on trees from ladder if you really know what is going on. Every single ladder accident video on youtube were super predictable and just plain stupidity. Still not ladders fault.
10 suburban dad's will see this, 5 will try it, 4 will end up in the hospital.
For the five that try, six will be hospitalized.
And 2 sheds plus a sunroom will be destroyed
I’m a burb dad. Luckily enough for me one of golfing buddy owns a tree company. I’ll be watching from inside with a beer.
Honestly there are no guarantees there, I would be 3 miles away sipping a beer.
That chod of a tree? Nah no need to be that far
Yes! When I posted I knew this was chaos magic 😂
The other 1? Dead.
He's a dentist
As a suburban dad, I was definitely thinking I could do this. Will film for posterity.
And one in the morgue.
The 5th one will be pronounced dead at the scene
That's a lot of faith that the ladder won't get thrown off balance or go over the top and slingshot him
Ladder is strapped to the tree below the cut and is also anchored at the bottom somehow.
No faith needed, just a dude with a good grasp on physics.
There's no way that top rung is rated for the weight of the chunk of tree he just cut off.
Everyone agreeing with you really thinks that a ladder rung can't handle 100-150 lbs of weight??? How light do you think the average dude is on a ladder??
A chunk a wood that large can easily weight more than 100-150 lbs. I've heard stories where they had one man on the ground running a pulley to lower pieces and they misjudged the weight and it yanked him straight up into the tree before he even knew what was happening, he was lucky he didn't hit anything on the way up.
Force goes up a lot when there's a little acceleration behind it. So if the tree picks up a little momentum in a fall and then is caught by the rope, that rung is taking a lot more than 100lbs on it.
If you watches the video you would have notice that he very intentionally didn’t allow it to pick up and acceleration.
Yes, but... he's seen fully weighting the line. So he's adding some of his own weight to the system. He does give a relatively soft catch because of this, but he's still definitely being spicy.
I think it’s a calculated risk that works for his ladder, especially since he’s strapped it in the middle AND bottom, allowing the ladder to distribute its stress better
A log that big can easily weigh way the fuck more than what you said, a rope is distributing the weight over a much smaller area than your foot, all of which is concentrated more centrally on the rung, and it also is likely to be imparting a ton of friction, all of which seriously amplifies strain on both the material and on the stress concentrators (weak points) where the rung and frame meet.
You really an engineer or do you just play one on TV?
Lmao, 150 lbs? Try around 350 - 450
A large weight is being dangled off the top rung and the ladder is anchored at one point well below that, basically making a big lever arm out of the ladder above that point. It's not so much the weight that is the problem (although that contributes obviously) but the fact the ladder is being used in a way that it is not designed to be used.
Totally agree. A ladder used as a platform suspended at the ends is a completely very situation from onee used as a cantilever. In the video you can see the top 6ft of the ladder flexing from the load, and that's even with the guy pre-tensioning with his weight. If the log were a little heavier and with a little more shock loading, I could easily imagine that extension ladder folding
It's not the weight of the branch, it's the moment that it's creating
That ain't no 100-150 lb chonk
Not sure why you are getting downvoted as a massive construction worker myself who works on ladders, carries things up ladders, and pushes on things from ladders, you get the idea
sometimes you just have to swing it
Good thing I don't stand on that top rung
The guy is just holding the rope with one hand and trying to stay on the ladder with his other 3 limbs. Saying he's good at Physics is the overstatement of the year. That line is not anchored in anyway.
Akshully, he's completely hanging from the rope with one arm in order to counterbalance the piece he cuts with his other arm, and is counting on friction and his weight judgement to not go flying
Imagine getting shot from the top of the ladder like a rail gun lmao, if it's stupid and it works it's still stupid and you are lucky.
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I don't think he dropped the chainsaw??
It's tied to the ladder. He drops it
I agree. Looks like he holds the saw in his right hand through the cut and while lowering the log. He wraps the rope and does a one armed pull-up with his left.
That's why you tie it to the ladder so you can drop it.
Some people build systems to fail safe, other specialize in failing trebuchet.
The weight of that trunk section easily exceeds the torsion strength of the portion of the ladder sticking out above the top. Ladders were not designed for these loads.
Ever used a ladder as an bridge?
It worked well for the first three guys who crossed.
That's what picks are for
but just below the cut, which would allow a joint like movement
It’s anchored at the base, too. It wasn’t going anywhere
sorry i don't see that.. would you mind describing where?
Still a poor grasp on basic safety.
That's cute.
No show me what happens when the tree branch snaps the ladder and breaks it in half.
Actually don't. My wife wasn't filming so I don't have my own video to post.
It hurt A LOT, but I got lucky and broke nothing.
Yup. This dude weighed and measured...I'd love to see the whole video
How about load limits? What’s the section of tree weigh 250lbs? Same for the dude all kitted up. If the clips break he going down!
More like a complete lack of physics knowledge, that ladder is maybe rated for 300 lbs max and that trunk is easily be 200+ if it was green, plus the kinetic energy of the tree dropping.
That looks like it accidentally went as planned
Yeah, this is clearly not his first time doing it, and he's gotten lucky each time so far.
The number of times I’ve said “well it’s worked well every other time”, only for this time to be the time my wife is proven right is WAY greater than zero.
Nah, this dude knew exactly what he was doing.
To me, everything looked very well practiced.
I'm not comfortable with the amount of force being placed at that single point on that rung.
There's a lot of trust being placed on two little aluminum connector points not designed for that task.
Unless the ladder is rated for “midwest-large” individuals. If it is, you’re well within tolerance.
I was expecting a trebuchet
How can something be so stupid and so brilliant at the same time?
Task failed successfully
It obviously Identifies as a rigging device now. Give a ladder an inch ... Ffs
...And it'll fold for a mile.
r/deathladders
Subbed and posted, this sub is wild af 😂
Can the armchair experts of Reddit take a day off and just recognize skill? Or would that be too much to ask?
This dude clearly thought everything through and executed it flawlessly. Kudos.
I'm fairly confident that a lot of folks in this sub are working arborists or loggers. This dude did have an idea and did execute it. I am a little impressed, but it was still very unsafe. We can totally forget about the ladder use. pay close attention to his saw handling. You'll notice that he's cutting pretty much in line with his head and with only one hand on his saw. If it were to kick back and hit him, he'd either be dead or mangled pretty bad. Those face shields are not designed to stop chainsaws.
Arborist use top-handed saws all the time, which are often used with one hand and at eye level. The kickback area on a chain saw is a very specific and small area near the tip. This guy had the whole blade through the tree, so kickback was impossible.
Yes, it was definitely less safe than it could have been, but watching him you never see anything out of control and he clearly plotted the process out.
While I wouldn’t suggest he do it again, I still find this a fantastic display of skill and complaining about the safety shortcomings online isn’t going to change history.
Saying arborists use chainsaws one handed all the time doesn't mean it should be done. That's like saying "drivers drive without wearing a seatbelt all the time." Sure, most of the time nothing bad will happen, but if and when it does, it'll likely be pretty bad. What the guy in the video did was kinda cool, but it's one of those things that if done a bunch of times will very likely cause an accident at some point. It's a clever way to get around doing the job the right way, and I think that's why it bothers me.
Not an armchair expert here, certified and insured arborist and owner/operator of a small tree care company.
This sub is all in good fun, but I waited a week to post this one because I was worried about it being mis-interpreted. Tried to find the whole video because I want to see what actually happened and couldn't.... Secondly no this is not flawless.
The old saying just because you can doesn't mean you should comes to mind. Whether or not everything is tied in and anchored is fairly irrelevant. The reality is that he has an object attached at an angle to an unstable object, that unstable object has now become his rigging device, and he is attached to it. If the ladder was hit by the piece of wood he cut, there are variables as to what could occur and he is in a position where he couldn't do anything about it. Ladder rung breaks, any of the straps fail, rigged piece swings or spins and hits ladder, ect....... not to mention rigging force, momentum, and other known hazards.
Live your life on your own terms, risk your life however you want, but if you die a confident moron than you didnt do yourself or anyone else any favors.
The duty rating of the ladder was most definitely exceeded by a significant amount. This ladder looks pretty beefy so probably had a rating of 250, maybe 300lbs concentrated in a very small area of a rope vs the points of contact of a person's feet and hands. This log is at a minimum is 400 lbs. Using a conservative guess based on the rung spacing as a ruler, id say at least 7 feet long and 12-14 inches in diameter. Using a log weight calculator and guessing white oak, this gets to 400 at least (~28lbs/ft). This simple calculator excludes all the extra branches so probably closer to 450 as a minimum. Here's the calculator if you want to make your own estimates.
https://www.omnicalculator.com/construction/log-weight
Also worth noting, that since he is re-directing the load with the top of the ladder, the ladder is experiencing double the load of the log before it stats to belay.
There is no way that log is 400lbs. If it was 400lbs, he would have been hoisted up the ladder with absolutely no control of the load.
Feel free to play with the calculator. It's a reasonable point though. the friction and change of direction would help it be more manageable. It does look like hes bracing jnto the ladder to keep from getting pulled up.
That looks about as beefy as the ladders we use in the fire service (it wouldn't surprise me if that was a fire service ladder).
Our ladders are tested annually to 750 pounds and are designed with a 4:1 safety factor over that load.
That’s not skill unless you want to make a circus show as clown. Looks fucking ridiculous and unnecessary.
We didn't see the whole clip. The limb could have exploded once it hit the ground. Terrible practice, this 💥 😡
Using a ladder you’re on as a rigging point… That’s as wild as it gets.
this is some looney toons ass shit.
Of course I maintained 3 points of contact, my dick and both balls...
What is this witchcraft?
Chaos Magik 💯
It may not have involved a road, but there was definitely a safety splay.
Bet that top rung gets chewed up by the rope after just a few times of doing that.
An aluminum ladder at that
Wearing protective gear.
God damn genius Gump. You must have an iq of 150!
Umm...ladder as a RIGGING POINT? 😬 Yikes
Welp.. this honestly turned out better than expected. and what was expected is a trebuchet
Ok mom
Amateur hour. This dude clearly is making it up & got away with it, no skill involved, just blind luck. From where the camera is there's enough room to pull over the trunk cutting from the ground, or if its tight maybe 1m up ?
a true talent
He's dumb but also kind of a badass for pulling that off
My man knew what he was doing.
Although very dangerous, you must admit that this guy is pretty slick.
At making himself the projectile of a catapult yes.
I have done this plenty of times. Ladder is perfectly safe if you strap it so that it cannot fall or tip.
🤣
I assume you've made your will and informed your family of your choices for the funeral service?
No, but since I am mechanical engineer by trade i have pretty good eye on things. There is nothing wrong working on trees from ladder if you really know what is going on. Every single ladder accident video on youtube were super predictable and just plain stupidity. Still not ladders fault.