Limbing a poplar with my Jonsered 2035. Not paying attention, sound familiar, and failed to notice a limb held in tension by the one I was cutting. It broke loose and smacked my leg hard almost knocking me down. Said to myself that was stupid and went on cutting. Realized my foot was squishing when I took a step. The limb had knocked the saw into my leg also and with every heartbeat a stream shot out. Thats the problem with having nerve damage, I dont have a lot of feeling in my legs. I got chaps now.
Getting farm ready for sister-in-law's wedding years ago. Cutting a fallen pine tree (which I was sawing above my head). Fatigue set in and when I came down with saw, I didn't stop soon enough. Rotating chain caught the groin area of my double-layered pants. It cut through the first layer but not the second. The pants were cut right in the area of your femoral artery.
That was a wake up call to me. I told my in-law's that if I ever cut wood for them again, I'd be wearing chaps. I believe in chaps. I also believe in wearing full headgear now to reduce risk of injury to the head from kickback.
I've been meaning to buy a set of chaps after reading some of these posts a couple of months back. Never got around to it. Well I got dinged this past weekend after 20+ years using my saws. I was just about done cutting, and I was getting a bit tired. But I figured I'd finish brushing out a tree on the ground and during that process I allowed the saw drop further than normal, without noticing. As the chain was slowing down it ticked my kneecap, and just above the knee. And luckily it was slow enough that I could patch it up myself. I'm sure the chain bit the loose jeans and pulled the saw to the knee and cut me. By the time I set the saw down, it was out of fuel. I was literally seconds seconds from the saw running out of fuel!! I'm going to hang those pants in the pole barn as my reminder to ALWAYS wear chaps from this point forward. I feel very lucky to have gotten off so easily. View attachment 627521