Chain Saw - Safety

[Beltzington]

Having used a chainsaw unprofessionally for the last 30-years I am at a loss on the purpose of chaps. I have climbed, trimmed, felled and cut up hundreds of trees and have never been close to cutting any part of my leg which would be protected by chaps. Hardhat, face shield, gloves, safety boots all serve a purpose I can understand with but chaps? TIA

 

[whistlepig]

I don't wear the gear either but I can see the need. A friend of mine that knew better let a saw kick back on him and hit him in the chest. The blade went through his coat and ripped a 8" gash in his sternum. Nothing serious. The doctor just cleaned the wound and put a bandage over it. But it cut the end of all the muscles in his chest where they connected to the sternum. For six months I have never seen such a miserable human in so much pain. It only takes a second.

 

[MikeInEburg]

I have also been using a chainsaw for over 30 years - and never wore chaps until last year. Not because I had an "incident" - but rather because I'm not as quick as in earlier years. $50 save my leg = cheap insurance.
Mike

 

[whistlepig]

I have also been using a chainsaw for over 30 years - and never wore chaps until last year. Not because I had an "incident" - but rather because I'm not as quick as in earlier years. $50 save my leg = cheap insurance.
Mike

I have to agree. I am not as good as I once was. I'm old enough to have proven my endurance of pain. And I don't have the time for the healing anymore. Healing takes a whole lot longer for us old folks.

 

[beenthere]

I sawed for 20 years, and then started wearing chaps. Three years later (and the day before I was leaving for a 12 day elk hunt) the saw caught just right and the running chain hit me just above the knee cap. Instantly ripped out the kevlar, stopped the chain, and saved all those tendons just above the knee from being severed. And saved my elk hunting trip.
A buddy of mine wasn't so lucky. He wasn't wearing them, and worked for a walnut buyer, cutting valuable walnut trees right at ground level. The saw caught and slid back over his leg as he kneeled on the ground. Never walked the same again, as the ligaments/tendons were shortened by the width of the chain-saw kerf (a bit over 1/4") and had to be stretched or patched to re-connect them. He was lucky the loss of blood even let him get out of the woods alive.

I wear the chaps (have a new pair to replace the damaged ones)

You can be lucky just so long. A professional chainsawyer told me once it wasn't if the chain was going to get you, it was just a matter of when.

Suit yourself, on wearing the chaps.

 

[arrow]

I sawed professionally and the difference is two fold. Professionally speaking, being a woodchuck is about production and production is about speed. Slashing quickly and stepping here and there with a large engined chainsaw, anything can happen and does when the operator gets tired at the end of the day and his arms go a bit rubbery and do not have the best control of a 20-30 pound chainsaw. Also, chaps come in handy beyond being bitten by a chainsaw. I cannot tell you how many times chaps saved my skin when simply falling between branches of a tree being slashed. The other variable is time. If you are going to do this professionally, you are doing it every day. The odds climb against you the more you do so, you are looking at every angle of protection available. The average home or farm or wood gathering hobbyist is simply playing the odds and is akin with one choosing to wear a seat belt or not when one drives. In the 50 years of using a chainsaw, I've been hit in the leg twice. Once as a professional and once as a hobbyist. Both times wore chaps making the event....well, uneventful. Different story I'm sure if not wearing them. I never chose to play the odds.

 

[eepete]

I wear chaps for my legs if I'm doing more than removing some offensive branch. Years ago when cutting trees downed in a storm I got tangled up and fell while cutting. The chain saw cut into the top layer of the chaps.

I can not tell you how nice it was to look, say golly gee, and then laugh a bit.

So, like a lot of safety things you only have to use them once to appreciate it.

And now, the anti-chaps story: I was doing some grown man weed wacking in the area of a dried up pond, and had the chaps on to protect my pants (didn't want them to get too dirty with grass bits). A felt a bite on my ankle. Said golly gee. Felt another on the back of my neck, said Golly Gee. Realized I had just opened up a yellow jacket nest, and said GOLLY GEE. I dropped the weed wacker and run, trying to remove all the clothing I could 'cause they were into me. Trying to run, unbuckle the chaps, swap bees, etc. It wasn't pretty and they tagged me about 25 times.

I still wear chaps when chain sawing a lot, but not when weed wacking.

Pete

 

[CurlyDave]

I still wear chaps when chain sawing a lot, but not when weed wacking.

How do you think they might work against a snake? I have had boots protect me against small rattlers, but a big one is going to strike higher.

Now I am only an amateur with a chain saw, but I wear chaps all the time I use one. One of the advantages of a forum like this is that I can read about guys who have been protected by chaps instead of having to wish I had put them on.

 

[Egon]

Forty some years ago I saw a young fellows thigh almost cut to the bone with a chain saw. This was about a hundred miles out in the bush with a three to four hour drive to a hospital. That impressed me!

 

[eepete]

I think the chaps might help with a snake. I've only been nailed once, by a copperhead on my calf. I dug a trench for a propane line to my generator, and the next morning walked it with shorts on. I though the biggest bee on the planet had tagged me, but then a day later things swelled up, turned into a purple spot 2" x 3", my foot swelled up, and I saw a 3/8" deep hole at the strike site.
If I was wearing chaps, there would have been no problem.

So yeah, I'd wear them if I was in an overgrown area where I couldn't see the ground well. Then again I don't mind snakes but bees terrify me. The only snake I don't really care for is a cottonmouth. They are aggressive, mean, and have some good sized fangs. Most everything else around here will move away if you stomp a bit. Then there's the time I was lying in a trench and a copperhead dropped in on me... but that's another story.

Pete