Chain Saw - Safety

[Bedlam]

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.

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.
Pete

LOL I find this hard to believe. (the use of the word) I'm sure if there was a history Axe Man crew nearby they would have heard it differently

 

[forgeblast]

I just bought the helmet, face shield, ear protection kit and will buy the chaps next. I figure i spend enough this year getting lasik that i want to enjoy being able to see for a while. Quick question on the chaps. how much is enough? there are chaps from 4-12 layers, and the price jumps with each layer. thats not saying i wont spend the extra to keep my legs intact, im just wondering whats the bare min. you would use.

 

[SpringHollow]

The link was posted here someplace - showed the # of reported chainsaw accidents per body part. MANY leg injuries.

Ken

 

[bc realtor]

Make shur you get the full pants as they give you all around protection. The front chaps are ok but for a bit more money the safety is worth it. Just think of them as a seat belt. you won't need it till you do.

 

[forgeblast]

I see the chaps more often then the whole leg wrap. But i get what your saying its best to be protected from different angles.

 

[powerpace]

Out here in Douglas County, Or. What used to be called the "Timber Capital of the World". The fallers/cutters, buckers and limbers use big saws 40" to 60" and I have seen some bigger. Douglas Fir and Pine are big trees. The guys use safety equipment required by their bosses and OSHA. The timber industry is near the top for hazards and worker injurys. Wear the gear!! I got my scar on the knee cap to prove it doesn't take much of a jostle to cause damage.

 

[Cat_Driver]

What I have found lately around all equipment is to be deliberate. I don't know is getting older is making me wiser, but I no longer fly around hopping up and down on the equipment and doing business as usual.

In doing so I have saved and caught myself many, many times. Some of the oops that could have happened had I not been deliberate id grabbing rails on tractors a lot more firm then when I did, and several that death grip saved me on several potential slips and looking at the situation each would have resulted in a broken leg or arm.

Same with the chain saw I have all the gear and move very, very, slow. Not using something like a chain saw enough doesn't allow me the luxury to be faster.

One one head mistake I made was just unloading a recently sharpened chain saw from the truck in cut off pants. Mind you this this was not running, and it scraped my lower leg and to this day I still have a bad scar on my leg. I took that as a warning.

 

[turnkey4099]

Yes to the hearing protection. I waited too long and now have faint tinnitus - annoying. I have 2 pairs of 'muffs'. One is either on my head on in the PU. The other is on the rider lawnmower (or as now, resides in the house on the table). Thus one is always conveniently near and never an excuse of it being too much trouble to go get one. I wear one with any mower, the splitter, chainsaw - anything that makes a noise - especially noise that is constant.

Harry K

 

[Richard]

I agree with 'cheap insurance' comments!

I've been using a chainsaw for maybe 30 years and the first 20+ of them, I never put a thought into safety. Wasn't until finding this site that I got some chaps.

Just a couple years ago, we had the farm logged. There were several cedar logs they cut/left behind for us. Wife wanted me to take one of these logs and cut a SINGLE "step" from it. Meaning, cut a section of the trunk so I'd have a disk maybe 6" thick, full diameter of the trunk.

Why put all my stuff on?

I jumped on my backhoe so I could raise the tree off the ground, everything was as safe as could be. I only needed to make two cuts. One cut to knock off the root side of this which was ragged and another cut 6" further up to give me the disk she wanted.

I was making the second cut when my chain jumped the bar. I did NOT have my chaps on The little chain catcher thing on the saw (Stihl 044) is what caught the blade from rotating any more however, the chain did slap the dickens out of my kneecap and left a rough mark on my jeans where the teeth hit the jeans and picked at the fabric a bit.

Had I not been wearing my jeans would I have been cut? dunno. Had that chain guard not been at the base of the blade I have no doubt the chain would have had more of my leg for lunch.

So here I was simply making two stupid cuts under VERY controlled conditions (backhoe holding log for me) and still came close to having an accident.

Now, I simply look at my saw as a living enemy who WANTS to bite me any time, any way, any how that it can and it's up to me to be 100% vigilant on protecting myself even if I'm "only" going to make a single cut or two.