Thread: Chainsaws!!!

Lots of good advice but it hasn't even scratched the surface. I could show you more in an hour in person than you could read in a month. There is much in the way the tree has grown that relates to how you should drop it. You can control it to an extent but the shape and weight distribution of the tree limits you. Do you have a clear path at a 45 degree angle to the rear as your escape route?

How can you guys move with all that safety gear on?

Speaking of horror stories, I had and old supervisor that was a jerk. After he retired I heard he almost cut his ear off with a chain saw. I started to feel sorry even for him until I heard he was trying to lift it down from the shelf in his garage and it fell on him.

Reading dustoff003's post something else occurred to me. When I first began doing trail work, with an off road bicycle club, I'd get out there with shorts and a t-shirt. All the seasoned workers were in long sleeves and trousers with work gloves. I soon found out why. A chain saw throws off a lot of sawdust and if the bark is covered with molds, or other stuff it will get on your clothes .... or your skin if it is not covered.

Ear and eye protection has been mentioned and it is advisable to use it. A chain saw is an awfully loud beast. Hard hat ain't a bad idea either. Work boots/shoes. Anyway ..... if you haven't already decided to return your chain saw after reading all of these 'encouraging' posts best of luck with it.

Just do it. If you cut something off, it won't be in the way next time.

I think the biggest thing is starting with a small saw like you're doing. The newer saws are much safer than the old ones too.

Off utmost importance is a pair of bucking chaps, not the ones you wear dancing but kevlar chaps. They saved my leg once. Eye protection comes next.

Originally Posted by HNSB

Just do it. If you cut something off, it won't be in the way next time.

I think the biggest thing is starting with a small saw like you're doing. The newer saws are much safer than the old ones too.

amen to that my old homolight is scary dangerous no kicl back bar no safty on the throttle no nothing so your learnign on better equipment than i had when i learned how to use one,

I started using one when i was 12 the winter my old man had his back surgery and i had to finish up the seasons wood cutting so we had heat, he was pissed when he found out i went behind his back and cut the rest of the wood up for us.

Originally Posted by HNSB

Just do it. If you cut something off, it won't be in the way next time.

I think the biggest thing is starting with a small saw like you're doing. The newer saws are much safer than the old ones too.

I had a little Muccollah that I forget the model that was probably the most dangerous saw I have owned. It was so small that your hands were to close. You could only control it with your wrists not your arms. I got rid of that thing quick.

I grew up with chainsaws and used them on the farm a lot when I was a lad.

My best advice is to see if you cannot take it back for a refund, and buy a saw on a pole and a decent axe. You can get through quite thick branches with a good saw on a pole (mine is actually Japanese steel and is brilliant). There have been no trees on my property that I have not been able to chop up with a good axe. And that includes two fairly large camphor laurels and a gum tree that was around a meter in diameter at the base. Yes, a chain saw would have been quicker but natural tree fall is rare and the exercise is good for you.

For anything requiring an actual chainsaw (and in my book that is basically large tree-felling - smaller trees you can do with an axe very easily) I hire a professional. Not only do they know what they are doing, they are also fully insured in the event of injury or accident, or trees falling on roofs or cars or bore pumps or whatever.

IMHO if you have not had any experience with chainsaws in the past, retirement age is definitely not the time to start.

James.

Do not have on my own but i can always borrow chain saws, clearing saws and whatever from work if i need with a terms to sharpen them before return. Sharpening a chain saw is pretty simple.
Use it mostly on cutting trees and making firewood blocks. Been working with chain saws since my early teen years.

Nowadays i'm pretty conscientious with safety things but haven't always been so. About 20 years ago i was restoring this old house of ours. Little short of money i got a great idea of making a table saw of my circular saw.
Imagine this beast with no safety switches or such nonsense, only little daylight, no lamps and working in a hurry to make a new floor of pinewood cut and dried from my place.
Next thing i noticed was me driving to hospital with my right hand thumb in a plastic bag and only a paper towel to stop bleeding. Car got pretty bloody that evening. Maybe it sounds funny now but wasn't back then. I had to walk first to my neighbors house even to get some light to see what the hell happened to my hand. It was a big surprise to notice that my thumb is missing. There was no pain at all. At first.
Luckily they got my thumb rescued and it's almost normal these days. Still some precise job like opening shirt buttons etc is pretty difficult, specially when cold. You live, you learn.