"never cut above your head" the warnings read

[gemini5362]

I'm sorry, if you will be offended, but if you HAD been seriously injured...the medical costs would far exceed the numbers you are quoting here...

In my almost 30 years of Fire/Rescue...I've run on plenty of calls like yours where the outcome was on the very bad side...just because you got away with minor injuries this time, does NOT mean that you will dodge the NEXT bullet...

I hope you are safe this year...but when you cut corners to save a few bucks, in the long run you will pay for it one way or the other...

Thank you for your concern. Mostly what I am doing is just finishing the trim on my new garage. It is something that can be done easily from a ladder. I prefer to use my bucket where I can because I feel more comfortable on it than the ladder. My yard is pretty uneven and it is often hard to find a place where the ladder can sit nice and solid. I agree that the snorkel lift would be safer and a lot more convenient but for the amount of work that I need it for it is too hard to justify the expense. If I can find the articulated lift that I can pull on a trailer that will bring the expense down to where I can justify it.

 

[workinallthetime]

I thought about buying that type of system from Husqvarna since we needed a pole saw and a gas powered pruner. The problem was the pruner being on a pole was nice for one aspect but would be a liabilty for all the other uses I had so we spent $1k on two different gas powered tools that excelled at their jobs since I needed them to work great. In your case I would just go with the attachment as I am sure it will work well for you and not have a second motor to maintain.

Do you have a harness for your machine? If not you will want one for sure as the saw head hanging out 13' will put a lot of strain on you without the harness. I have the one that came with my saw but Husky makes heavy duty ones also that appear more comfortable.

kind of confused, husky calls a pole saw a pole saw, the same thing at stihl is called a pole pruner. They are both a chainsaw on a stick,lol. The stihl "system" i bought is commercial grade and did come with the harness, it is also the 4 stroke kind so i should get plenty of power out of it. Im going tomorrow at lunch to see if i can get what i need and i guess another file to sharpen a smaller chain.

On the subject of the lift, I have a boom truck availble to me once all the clean up is done and I will be using it to do some work high up in some pecan trees. I think one of the portable units would pose a major safety problem around here right now due to the ground is soft and the out riggers would not have any solid ground to sit on. If I had alot of this kind of work to do on a regualr basis i think maybe a work platform on some pallet forks might be a good idea.
have fun all and happy new year

 

[rox]

well i found on the stihl web site that i can get a "prunner" atachment for my kombi system and even a extension to take the entire thing to about 7 feet plus my 6'2". Interesting thing is, no where on thier site is a pole saw listed as such, only pole prunner. To me this would indicate things as big around as maybe 6" or so. Its only about 250.00 to get mine system up to cutting since i allready have the engine part. I think i will get one asap and start working with some help on the more tricky things.
My biggest atribute is also my worst fault, im not scared and dive head first into everything i do and when things are going fast and smooth sometimes i forget to step back and take another look.
have fun all i have said my .02 worth.

Workingallthe time- we have the combi system with the small chainsaw polesaw attachment and it works great. I used ours ever day last spring for about 4 months. I like having my feet on the ground an being away from the falling limb, which the pole saw allows you to do. The Stihl combi systems comes in various motor grades. We have the middle grade motor and it works great. I am thinking that if you ahve the lowest grade motor it mihgt not have the umph needed to do the jobs you would want out of the pole saw attachment.

Another really great alternative I would think is a pole Silky saw Pole Saws

These Sylky saws are amazing and we use them almost daily on our olive farm. They cut through green wood like butter. A couple pulls on a Silky saw and you are through the limb. I use the Stihl combi pole saw and my hsuband does all his pruning with a Silky saw. When my other laptop comes back to life I'll try and find a pic of the specialized ladders we use. i did a quick search on the itnernet and did not find anything like them in English. These ladders are fantastic. They are a tripod design but not what you find searching tripod ladders.

Nothing like a close call to want to keep your feet ont he ground is there? Anyway I'm glad it wasn't worse than what it was.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Workingallthe time- we have the combi system with the small chainsaw polesaw attachment and it works great. I used ours ever day last spring for about 4 months. I like having my feet on the ground an being away from the falling limb, which the pole saw allows you to do. The Stihl combi systems comes in various motor grades. We have the middle grade motor and it works great. I am thinking that if you ahve the lowest grade motor it mihgt not have the umph needed to do the jobs you would want out of the pole saw attachment.

Another really great alternative I would think is a pole Silky saw Pole Saws

These Sylky saws are amazing and we use them almost daily on our olive farm. They cut through green wood like butter. A couple pulls on a Silky saw and you are through the limb. I use the Stihl combi pole saw and my hsuband does all his pruning with a Silky saw. When my other laptop comes back to life I'll try and find a pic of the specialized ladders we use. i did a quick search on the itnernet and did not find anything like them in English. These ladders are fantastic. They are a tripod design but not what you find searching tripod ladders.

Nothing like a close call to want to keep your feet ont he ground is there? Anyway I'm glad it wasn't worse than what it was.

The 3 legged ladders are great working in trees and such but depending on just how big of a limb he is cutting I would still be nervous cutting off ladders or any sort. We have 5 of the aluminum tri-pods for around the apple orchard but I don't happen to have any pictures of them.

 

[Richard]

One thing I don't have is the chaps to protect my legs. But I really don't cut a lot of wood on the ground and when I do it as I am limbing trees and I chunk the big limbs into smaller pieces for my grandfather to take home and cut up. Most of my cutting has the saw 13' away from my legs

Not to sound like I'm picking on you (as I commence to pick on you )

Get the chaps!!

I once had a cedar log. Wife wanted me to slice a piece off of it, much like you might slice a banana.

I fired up the backhoe, picked up the log with the backhoe, set the bucket on the ground so the log was held/pinched by the bucket and the log was sitting in free space with NOTHING for me to hit or otherwise bugger anything up!

Went to get saw, was going to get my chaps, hearing protection and helmet with goggles...but... I was ONLY going to make one slice on this to give her a round "step" so why bother with all the stuff???

Well... I'll tell you why to bother, even though I got off lucky!

Fired up the saw and started to cut the slice off the log when all the sudden, the chain jumped the bar and came around and "slapped" (for lack of better word) my leg right above my knee.

Fortunately for me, the little chain grabber safety mechanism worked and the chain stopped its rotation and only "slapped" my leg however, that little slap STILL stung like a SOB and as I looked down towards my leg I was fully anticipating that nice warm sticky feeling as all the sudden your clothes turn "red" (iffen ya know what I mean)

So, this was only going to be a 8 second cut and I spent 15 minutes picking the log off the ground (with backhoe) to make it as safe as it could be and that darn saw STILL found a way to make me think twice about it.

I vowed then to NEVER EVER pull the starter on it without 100% of my safety gear on. I'd urge you & anyone else to adopt the same strategy. It's really much like getting in your car.....when I get into mine, I almost feel naked without my seat belt on. When I get on my backhoe (with cab) I almost feel naked without my seatbelt on...

I don't YET feel naked without all my chainsaw stuff on, but I'm trying to get myself to that degree so I'll be as consistent putting it on as I am my seatbelts.

It's been said many many times over..... if the Chaps cost you $200, how does that compare to even ONE trip to the emergency room??

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I most likely will get the chaps, unless my brain is not engaged at the time

 

[rox]

Robert- That's why I need to get a pic of the 3 legged ladder we useon the olive farm. It is not like anything you have ever seen. It is made out of iron and there is bracing between the legs of the ladder and the third leg. And the 3rd leg has a wheel. It is rather like a wheelbarrel design ladder. These things are very stable. Hoepfully tomorrow my laptop will recover and I can find a pic. We are in Cannes for a few days R & R at our condo here so I can't jsut go outside and take a pic because I am not at the farm right now.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Robert- That's why I need to get a pic of the 3 legged ladder we useon the olive farm. It is not like anything you have ever seen. It is made out of iron and there is bracing between the legs of the ladder and the third leg. And the 3rd leg has a wheel. It is rather like a wheelbarrel design ladder. These things are very stable. Hoepfully tomorrow my laptop will recover and I can find a pic. We are in Cannes for a few days R & R at our condo here so I can't jsut go outside and take a pic because I am not at the farm right now.

It would be nice to see when you get the time and are back home please post a pic. Also, if you can find any information on it as far as who made it please post that too.

 

[workinallthetime]

bit the bullet, sitin in my office looking at my new stihl pole saw atachment and extra shaft for my stihl system. 287.00, 12"chainsaw, 37" add a shaft, and files to match the blade. To bad it will be dark when i get home

 

[workinallthetime]

Workingallthe time- we have the combi system with the small chainsaw polesaw attachment and it works great. I used ours ever day last spring for about 4 months. I like having my feet on the ground an being away from the falling limb, which the pole saw allows you to do. The Stihl combi systems comes in various motor grades. We have the middle grade motor and it works great. I am thinking that if you ahve the lowest grade motor it mihgt not have the umph needed to do the jobs you would want out of the pole saw attachment.

Another really great alternative I would think is a pole Silky saw Pole Saws

These Sylky saws are amazing and we use them almost daily on our olive farm. They cut through green wood like butter. A couple pulls on a Silky saw and you are through the limb. I use the Stihl combi pole saw and my hsuband does all his pruning with a Silky saw. When my other laptop comes back to life I'll try and find a pic of the specialized ladders we use. i did a quick search on the itnernet and did not find anything like them in English. These ladders are fantastic. They are a tripod design but not what you find searching tripod ladders.

Nothing like a close call to want to keep your feet ont he ground is there? Anyway I'm glad it wasn't worse than what it was.

I did get that style saw for christmas, works real good but a little slow when dealing with black jacks and white oak. I will say those in that link apear to be a much higher quality than the one i got for christmas