Stupid Chainsaw Trick

webbmeister · May 26, 2002

I just finished mowing and trimming, and on the way in I glanced across the street to see my neighbor defying death. In fact, he's still out there blazing away. He is a large guy, and he is standing on a rickety step ladder with skinny legs placed on rain softened dirt. He's got that chainsaw, with an apparantly dull blade, about face level cutting large branches off of his tree. His face is about a foot from the saw. No eye, face, or hearing protection. No gloves. The picture of an "accident waiting to happen."

I thought about going over and asking him if he wants to borrow my safety stuff, but I figure he'll think I'm a nosey know-it-all. What would you guys do? Other than keeping the phone handy and being ready to dial 911?

Jim

RoyJackson · May 26, 2002

"Other than keeping the phone handy and being ready to dial 911?"

Just keep the phone handy and call 911 if necessary.
I'm sure we'll read about this guy in the Darwin Awards one day.

Offering to lend him your gear is admirable, but you may not see some or all of it again.
Reckon you don't really know this guy that well, or you'd of probably talked to him before writing your post.

rf33 · May 26, 2002

If it were me, I'd probably be the nosey neighbor and offer the use of the safety equipment. If you didn't and something tragic happened, you would probably have a hard time living with taking the easy "mind my own business" approach. If he declines your offer, either due to ignorance or to macho (lets not even go there), at least you could say you did what you could.

webbmeister · May 26, 2002

Well, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went over and offered the use of some protective gear. He said "No thanks - I'm almost finished." Oh well ...

TonyC · May 26, 2002

<font color=blue>"No thanks - I'm almost finished."</font color=blue>

You should have told him "Yeah, you sure are."

Anonymous Poster · May 26, 2002

Fer crying out loud! Am I the only guy who is afraid of a screaming chainsaw turning 10,000 rpm that spins a chain with 40 sharp teeth on it?

webbmeister · May 26, 2002

Nope! I am too. That's why it was driving me to distraction knowing he was out there doing that. He's finished now, and given that he didn't hurt himself, I'd say he had one spectacular day. I am now "unpuckered."

Ozarker · May 26, 2002

Reminds me of a dumb stunt a friend of mine did with a chain saw. A man that has been using a chain saw for years and knows better.

He had a limb that needed cut so he got out his saw, put his extension ladder up and went up to saw the limb. Because of the location of the limb he had to set the ladder against the limb he was sawing. But he underestimated the weight of the portion he was cutting off.

Once the cut part fell. the limb the ladder was against naturally went up since it was no longer being pulled down by the weight. Unfortunately, the ladder was no longer high enough to rest against the limb.

The ladder fell and my friend grabbed for the limb. He was left hanging from one arm about 20 feet above ground with a screaming chain saw hanging from his other arm. It was all he could do to keep the saw from swinging into his leg and he couldn't release the throttle trigger.

Finally, he was able to swing the saw a couple of times then throw it away from where he was going to have to drop.

Bird · May 26, 2002

Ozarker, many years ago, I did the same thing./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif The only difference was that I got lucky; I had extended the ladder about 3' above the limb, so when the cut part fell, the limb the ladder was against only jumped up about 2.5'; a worse scare than getting a tractor up on 2 wheels./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

GlennT · May 26, 2002

Back in the 50's (1950's, not 1850's) I attended Augustana College in South Dakota and one of the professors in the Music Department was a Dr. Running--a gifted professor and an accomplished choral conductor and organist. Anyway, he was trimming trees in a similar fashion to that being described in this forum, fell from the ladder and broke his back. After many months of treatment and recuperation he was back at work in a wheelchair. One of the saddest sights I have seen was this man being pulled over icy sidewalks by his son in a child's coaster wagon.