Protective chaps and PPE review

[hslogger]

If you are gonna run chainsaw, there aint no sense in being cavalier about it for nacho machoness. I fell and bucked timber in OG and thinning situations for a very long time.When they started suggesting chap wearing I resisted. When the insurance companies told their clients to have the cutters and chasers wear them, I bitched. I got used to them. It became a law. I am in the self preservation lane of my life and wear my Labonvilles 99percent of the time if I pick up a saw anywhere. I have had bad leg cuts. I have seen BAD leg cuts. It can happen to anyone, anytime.

 

[ArlyA]

Allow me to reiterate what the accident statistics clearly demonstrate. Chaps have about a 50% chance of protecting you. Reading through this report, prompted me to get the Kevlar embedded shirt. YRMV!

 

[John_Mc]

It's like people can "drive" a tractor but not handle the situation when something goes wrong.

I hang onto a saw like my life depends on it. I don't wear protective gear and have never had an injury. If you don't lose control of your saw and don't touch the moving chain, how can you get hurt? Also, never, ever use a saw on a ladder or when footing is unsure.

It's also like watching newbies fire various weapons on youtube. I can't believe anyone would drop a firearm. These must be the same people using saws that are getting injured.

No one plans or intends to have an accident with a chainsaw. I wear protective gear: full wrap chaps or chainsaw protective pants, and a helmet with hearing and eye protection. A few years ago, I added Haix chainsaw protective boots - our county forester almost lost his foot in a chainsaw accident. I figured if it can happen to him, it can happen to me. I've never had an injury, but that doesn;t mean it won't happen. I fell a fair number of trees each year for my own use (mostly firewood, the occasional sawlog for a special project), and helping out others clearing trails, cleaning up storm blow-down, and harvesting firewood for our local firewood donation program.

There is a reason that logging is one of the most dangerous professions in the US. (As a reflection of that, Workers Comp Insurance rates for loggers doing hand cutting in Vermont can run to 100% of their wages: so for every dollar an employer pays a logger, he's paying another dollar into Workers Comp insurance.)

I decided early on in my chainsaw usage that I wanted to be around to see my kids grow up and have full use of all my limbs while doing so. So I wear the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and I realized there is more to felling a tree safely than what is on the little book that comes with your chainsaw (or what your more experienced neighbor is likely to tell you), so I enrolled in some chainsaw safety & efficiency training (Game Of Logging). Yeah, sometimes it's a pain, and it can be hot to wear that stuff in the summer, but it beats a trip to the Emergency Room.

 

[John_Mc]

Allow me to reiterate what the accident statistics clearly demonstrate. Chaps have about a 50% chance of protecting you. Reading through this report, prompted me to get the Kevlar embedded shirt. YRMV!

It's interesting: I tend to look at people who don't wear chaps and a helmet with hearing and eye protection as being a little bit crazy. Despite that statistic, I don't wear a protective jacket. (... and yes, I'm well aware that this does not jibe with my post of a few minutes ago that "I wanted to be around to see my kids grow up and have full use of all my limbs while doing so".)

I have relatives in Sweden who are loggers. They look at all of us here in the US as crazy for not also wearing the jacket. (If I'm not mistaken, it's required in Sweden. You also need to be trained and licensed to operate a chainsaw.) For them, gearing up with full PPE is as natural as one of us grabbing a hot pad to pull a casserole out of the oven.

I guess we all have our own personal level of risk tolerance.

 

[John_Mc]

Mr Hamiltonville Farm, In your video, your thumb is not always around the saws front handle. This is a no, no becase if the saw kicks back, its less likely you'll engage the brake. The brake is your friend...

Definitely! Keeping your thumb wrapped around the handle is a simple and effective safety technique anyone can do and at zero expense.

It's not just about engaging the brake. If your thumb is not wrapped, it's MUCH easier to lose your grip if the saw is bumped or kicks back. If the saw pops out of your left hand, your hand is probably going to end up right near the chain. In a kickback, if the chains doesn't swing right up into your now-free hand, it's probably headed for your face or shoulder. Keeping your hand on the handle at least gives you the possibility of controlling a kickback.

During one of my Game Of Logging training sessions, the instructor noticed that my thumb was drifting up. He mentioned it and I tried to may more attention to it. He finally noticed that for me, it was only happening when I shifted my grip (for instance, when switching from cutting up & down to cutting right to left). Once he pointed that out, I was cured. It stuck in my head to pay attention whenever I shifted my grip.

Another student in that class just couldn't develop the habit of keeping his thumb wrapped. So the instructor pulled a length of that plastic surveyor's tape out of his pocket and tied it around the guy's left thumb. For the rest of the class, he did pretty well at keeping that thumb wrapped. The instructor suggested he tie that ribbon on the next few times he was using the saw alone, until he developed the habit. Eventually, it becomes muscle memory, and it just does not feel right to grip the handle any other way.

 

[ericm979]

This is a whole bunch of Horrible. I've had so many close calls I finally got helmet and chaps. Anything is better that what I was doing. Cutting several cord in July in shorts and tennis shoes. Done it a lot.

Steel toe boots too. One of the guys I worked with in the forest service was nicknamed "nine toes" due to a chainsaw accident.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I'm thinking a lot of people should not touch a chain saw. Like maybe people with those limp fish handshakes. My lady friend helps me cut wood, but I would never let her use a saw. She has enough strength to use one, but not enough to prevent a kick back for instance. No amount of safety gear is adequate for someone that shouldn't be using a saw in the first place. IMO. I you find it hard and a struggle to use a saw, that's a good indication, maybe you aren't cut out to use one. I knew a guy with one gamey arm who used a saw! How ridiculous is that? If you can't concentrate and know at all times where your bar is and where your body parts are, maybe you shouldn't use a saw.

 

[ericm979]

I feel the safety gear is not a replacement for proper operation, but an extra on top.

To me preventing kickback injury is more positoning the saw correctly and being aware of where the bar tip is (and where the operator is) than pure strength.

I had a neighbor who was one of those people who should stay away from saws (or any equipement). His stuff was constantly broken because he abused it. Nice guy and he'd come out to help on the neighborhood road clearing day but I could not stand to watch him run a saw because it was one near miss after another.

 

[Wagtail]

I guess we all have our own personal level of risk tolerance.

This is what I would 'pound' into all of the sailors that were under my supervision... and the Cadets that I instruct today, "You get the level of safety that you are prepared to ignore/'walk past'."

When I bought my first chainsaw (a Stihl Mini-Boss ), I also purchased full chaps, gloves and helmet with face shield & ear-defenders. I didn't operate the saw until a mate with years of logging experience came over and instructed me on how to operate the saw... especially in different scenarios.

I was unaware of these kevlar shirts & will investigate... Thanks TBN! :thumbsup:

 

[John_Mc]

I'm thinking a lot of people should not touch a chain saw ... No amount of safety gear is adequate for someone that shouldn't be using a saw in the first place.

That much I certainly agree with. There are some people who shouldn't operate an electric toothbrush, let alone a chainsaw.

If you can't concentrate and know at all times where your bar is and where your body parts are, maybe you shouldn't use a saw.

There is a whole lot more to staying safe than concentration. The logging industry is full of people with some nasty-looking injuries (not to mention those who are permanently crippled or 6 feet under) who thought the could "concentrate and know where their bar is at all times". Fatigue and dehydration slow your brain down, impairing judgement and reaction time - often well before you are aware of any problem.