The day my cutter head ate a steel pipe was my worst shift ever

Tbh I thought I had seen it all after 8 years on the river, but last Tuesday proved me wrong. I was running a 12-inch Ellicott on the Cooper River in Charleston, clearing out some shoaling near the bridge. Everything was normal until I hit something solid and the whole barge shuddered. My cutter head wrapped up a 4-foot section of old steel pipe that must have been buried for decades. It took me and the deckhand 3 hours with torches and a come-along to cut it free and reset the teeth. The damage wasn't terrible but I lost a whole day of production and the super was on my radio every 10 minutes. That kind of junk is why I always run the pump at half speed when I'm near old bridge debris. Anyone else ever snagged something weird that ruined your whole shift?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_green8418d ago

That steel pipe story is a NIGHTMARE, I felt that shudder just reading it. Three hours with torches sounds like an absolute brutal way to burn a shift, sorry you had to deal with that.

johnfoster18d ago

That "whole barge shuddered" is the worst feeling, man. I've had a cutter head grab an old chain anchor that wrapped up like a snake and locked everything tighter than a drum. Took a cutting torch and a lot of swearing to free it. Yeah, working near old metal debris is a gamble every time, gotta treat it like a minefield.