One would think that I, as an fledgling, aspiring bowyer, would have a constant awareness of the power of bent wood. Particularly bent white oak, since I have a white oak Owl bow that really packs a punch. One would also think that I would be aware of the potiential power of wood when it is bent by a tractor, since I've spent quite a lot of time pushing things around with one. (Get any vibes about where this is going yet?)
However, one would be mistaken...
So today I was bushhogging in one of our fields, trying to open up a large enough space to work up a gigantic white oak tree that crashed in the ice storm a year or two ago. It's been lying partially suspended and dead since. As I was making my rounds, I came up next to the upper limbs of the tree. Wanting to get all the grown up brush cut as close as possible to make the work easier, I figured that I would just position the front end loader bucket to push "all those little ole' limbs" out of the the way and the bushhog would chew up whatever was left as I drove over.
Well, this was okay, in theory. As I pushed the limbs along, I glanced back to see how the hog was cutting. I turned back just in time to notice that a three or four inch thick limb was bent very much like an English warbow. I have yet to achieve that perfect tiller on any bow. Now mind you, all this chain of thought occures in mere milliseconds, but it seems like slow motion. I noticed that that limb was very bent, and very thick. I also noticed that it was very close to slipping off the top of the buckett, and would then ride up the inclined plane that was the lift arms on the tractor. I also realized that the only thing that would then prevent that limb from returning to its orrigional position was my head. I grabbed the wheel with my left arm (saccrificial arm), kicked my left leg out to the side, pivoted on the seat, and laid over as far as I could to the right, getting my head clear just in time to see the limb whip over where my head had been at approximatly twice the speed of sound. Needless to say, my arm took some pretty good punishment from the smaller limbs, but I couldn't really just let the wheel go and let the tractor run amok.
I am pretty sure that I am very fortunate. I believe that had that limb punched me in the face with that kind of force, it would have very likey knocked my cold on a running tractor. That's never where you want to be. It might have flat out done me in. At a minimum, it would have hurt something fierce. If the timing had been off another Nth of a second, I'd a bought a good one.
Kinda funny the way it turned out, but you all be careful out there!! Doesn't take much for things to suck sometimes.
