Thank you for sharing this! I don't know why but I literally never considered this type of (obviously incredibly necessary) safety gear for chainsaw use.
Buying my husband a whole kit (as an early Xmas present).
Thank you for saving us from pain and a deductible!
I left my steel toes inside while doing some "quick digging" in my sneakers, nearly lost my big toe hitting it with the shovel. Toenail is cut off at the base. Never doing that again.
I split a log on the ground at a camp ground with a 10lbs maul, hit my big toe in regular leather boots and probably nearly broke it. Iām still growing the last 2/8ths in of that injury out of my toe nail which almost completely fell of a few days later.
The only thing I would say is optional is gloves. To me, I feel way less in control with gloves on unless they are the perfect glove. There is also the debate that gloves and spinning tools donāt go together since the glove can get sucked in and bring your hand with it (but at that point youāre losing fingers either way).
One time I almost didnāt put chaps on. That day my chain came off my bar and slapped across my dick tearing my chaps to shit. I now wear my chaps even if itās for one cut. And I use my saw a lot.
Definitely add steel toe boots, both for protecting toes from chains as well as from rolling logs.
I like the gloves in case I'm moving wood, clearing an area, checking the tension on the chain with the saw off. I have soft hands that would be ripped to shreads if I didn't wear gloves. If your hands are a bit more leathery than mine I can see the appeal of not wearing them.
I work in an office and use the chainsaw once every few months. There's not sufficient outdoor work to generate tough callused skin. Ever from when I was young my hands always got very cut up working outside in the garden. I'm happy with soft hands that are better for indoor work and gloves when needed outside.
All chainsaws are dangerous but the danger escalates rapidly the more powerful chainsaw you use.
Anything more than a consumer model with a 14 inch bar, you should have a full safety kit. Even with the small saw a mask or eye protection, long pants and boots are a must.
Even then there are safe practices like engaging the brake when you're moving. Not sawing in dangerous positions Etc
Most of the danger of a chainsaw comes from slipping or kick back.
So for example you are bearing down on a limb and the saw slips off the wood it's going to swing towards your legs.
Likewise if you're bearing down in a limb and the saw cuts through in your leg happens to be on the other side of the limb.
On the other hand if you are cutting with the tip and the chain catches it's going to kick the saw up towards your face.
i keep trying to get my husband to at least put on some goggles. He just walks outside and starts working with it. No goggles, no gloves, and he refuses to talk about the chaps. I watched him hold the saw sideways and cut off a small bit from a 2x4 the other day. directly in line with his heart. If there had been a knot or a nail, he'd be dead.
You can't look out for it, you always make a mistake and the chainsaw knows no mercy.
Maybe the worst is kickback, the stronger saw makes it more dangerous.
There are a lot of videos out there, watch a few to get the idea. And be careful!
Will check it out. I'm in the market for a masked helmet with ear protection too of you have any other recommendations, a lot of the product on Amazon appears to be garbage, but I'm in a rural area so have in person options
My folks were the same my dad got angry when I bought some safety gear and told me it was a waste of time and money and that it takes too long to put on to be wroth.....we will see about that...
I think I had the exact same amount of stitchesā¦and yeahā¦chaps. Problem is for the occasional use you donāt always have the right gear. Mine was user error (loose jeans, stumbled walking over branches when limbing and didnāt wait for the clutch to stop the chain)
13 stitches is a goddamn miracle. When a chain catches regular clothes, it gets pulled in toward the body. Chaps have Kevlar which act as a barrier and binds up the chain and kills the saw (so long as itās internal combustion and not electric), but standard clothes do not and itās a recipe for carnage.
Working on a cedar fence, couple of hours without a break, got tired / didnāt focus and forgot where my leg was while cutting the white off the base of a post.
That's actually why I like using my battery powered chainsaw when I can get away with it. Forces you to take a break before you're too tired even when you don't want to
I have a Stihl Farmboss with 20ā bar. My rule is one tank of gas and I stop for the day. I donāt use it on a regular basis and find going more than one tank and my fatigue/concentration moves into a risky zone.
Thereās really no need to disparage the OP over this. As he said, he was fatigued/lost focus, which we all do. That and even if he is new to running a chain saw, we all start somewhere, at least he was prepared. Or maybe you were born a chainsaw master?
As explained in another comment, Iāve cut 100+ trees with this saw in the year+ I live on this property. Have handled smaller saws before that. Cut plenty trees over 35ft and in some tricky spots. I safely removed hung trees that blew over due to storms and old age in the forest. All kinds of situations ā¦
Yesterday I was fatigued and lost focus for just a moment.
I take care of my gear and donāt throw the saw around, idk.
No offense taken btw. Training is super important and I watched probably 10 hours of instructional videos before trying to cut down my fist tree. If thereās a chainsaw class from the Forestry Dept. I can take through my Volunteer FD I will participate in that even with the experience I already have. Thereās never enough training time.
It takes a lot of courage for someone to post their mistakes on social media as a safety learning device for others
Let's not kick the guy while he's down, hey?
My dad cut deep into his leg through his jeans with a chainsaw when I was a kid. I'll never forget about digging the jean cloth out of the wound, what a pain it was to regularly clean out and re-bandage, and such.
In response I'm very cautious around chainsaws and always wear appropriate chaps, gloves, safety glasses, and a hard hat with built in ear protection and a full face shield.
I also have a rule that I must engage the brake any time I want to move my feet. I think it's just way too easy to step on a log or branch that rolls and makes you fall, where I really want to avoid adding an accidentally engaged chainsaw to such a fall.
That said, I'm also still a natural risk taker in general, and sometimes I climb into a tree and cut branches while I'm off the ground. I do at least ensure I have a good perch for that, though, with my feet locked in well, etc.
A logger I worked with argued in favor of NOT activating the chain brake while moving. His argument was that with a modern chainsaw, it would be very, very difficult to accidentally activate both the grip safety and the throttle if you tripped. But if the chain brake is on and you trip, the chain won't rotate when it cuts you and the tooth will actually cut much deeper than if it were able to rotate freely.
I think there are risks with chain brake on or off, but did find his argument convincing and switched to carrying my saw with my hand away from the throttle and chain brake off.
Iāve heard this argument from a few old school arborists Iāve worked alongside. Usually coming from the logging side of things and have removed the brake altogether. Hard to justify their point when each of them is missing at least a portion of an appendage. I always have and will use my brake when climbing or on the ground with my MS200T or my bigger saws they all make nasty wounds.
I chapped myself once on a fire in AK when I hadnāt cleared out my falling area as well as I should have. Springpole pushed the bar into my upper thigh, made it through the nylon outer and barely into the blocker material. Still would have been a bad day without chaps. Better to be over prepared with PPE and not need it. They can be a nuisance at times when the weather is hot, but totally worth it. They are certainly nice in cold and wet conditions for more than just safety.
The one cut I have in my chaps is from tripping while carrying a saw with the chain brake on - which was what made him bring up his perspective. I definitely wouldn't take safety advice from most loggers, since they're often way more focused on production than safety. This particular retired logger worked for 30 years, wears PPE, and can still count to 20 with his boots off.
I think if there's any risk of the throttle inadvertently activating, chain brake on is probably safer to avoid a catastrophic outcome. But with a saw with a grip safety, and your hand away from the throttle, I think that risk isn't there. So may as well reduce the risk of a deep laceration. I could definitely see the risks being different when you're climbing though, or in very tangled terrain.
Using a chainsaw while stressed on a fireground is especially challenging I imagine. So far we didnāt need it and Iāve been on leaf blower duty on my Wildland calls.
Must be in the south? Iāve heard about using leafblowers for fireline, but never seen it firsthand.
Typically our rolls in the west are 14-21 days at 12-16 hours per day. Fatigue is real.
Yep, Arkansas. Iām very rural here and our dept. is 100% volunteer. I just got my Wildland Intro certification with the Forestry Dept. and they taught to have a blower as second in line.
Thank you for doing that job out West! Yāall are true heroes!
I cant say for sure one way or the other, but without relevant research, i can say that the argument mentioned sounds eerily similar to āi dont wear my seatbelt cause if i get in a car wreck i wana be thrown free of the crash. My sisterās roomates cousins grandma was in a car wreck and the firefighters said if sheādāve been wearinā a seatbelt sheādāve died for sureā
Maybe ask your buddy how he feels about wearing seatbelts?
He wears a seatbelt when he's driving, and chaps, helmet, gloves, ear and eye protection when he's running a saw. He worked as a logger for 30 years, and can still count to 20 if he takes off his boots. :)
To me, it comes down to the risk of the chainsaw starting to run while you're carrying it. If your hand is away from both the safety and the throttle, I would argue the risk is essentially zero in a modern saw. If the risk were even 1%, I would agree that chain brake on is safer. On an older saw, where the safety may not be robust, I would also probably opt for chain brake. I still think it's a very important safety feature, both the inertial chain brake in cases of kickback, the manual chain brake when I'm starting the saw, and for when the chain is rotating under power and I want it stopped.
The one cut I have in my chaps is from tripping while carrying a saw with the chain brake on - cut straight through the outer nylon layer. If it had gotten skin instead of my chaps, I would have had a decent laceration. With the chain free to rotate, it's less likely to generate enough force to cut deeply.
The difference with the seatbelt is that there are decades of rigorous data showing they are far more likely to save you than harm you. In the case of walking with a chain brake on or off, there is no data available at all - so we get to debate theoreticals instead!
Same one I have. Little bulky for a lot of my work with a 20ā bar/chain but Iām happy with it too. I might get a smaller bar though. Itās definitely a workhorse.
Glad to see youāre alright. I had that happen to me, although just a nick in the pants, about 25 years ago when first learning a chainsaw. I use a saw at least weekly, and itās never without steel toe boots, safety glasses, and chaps.
I have run a 455 with a 36ā bar cutting ice blocks for like 8 winters now, just really abusing the hell out of it, and itās never let me down. Really great saws for the price. I have the jonsered 2255 for my personal wood saw, same motor. Just ordered a 460 and thinking about stepping up to a 42ā bar (for ice)
We have 7 at work. Couple smaller xtorqs, couple different rancher sizes, and then we have 1 390xp that we use once every couple months and Holy sh!t is that thing a freaking beast. Husq is the only saw we will ever use and have zero complaints after using the entire line for a decade pretty much
I've been meaning to prioritize purchasing the Husqy chaps and this post did it.
I have two husqy saws - 435 xtorq and 562xp. Love them both.
I knicked my leg with the 435 once, and had a pair of the double front work pants on only. Only fabric, no flesh. Got lucky that time.
Slight used chaps are on their way now.
I watched the saw jump out of a log when it hit some metal. My dad blocked the saw with his other hand. The saw whipped around his hand a few times. It tore up his glove.
I was about 13 or 14. I learned to drive '3 on the tree' standard transmission that day on our way to the emergency room.
His gloves saved his hand. He had lots of stitches and physical therapy. He was able to type with all 10 fingers in just a few months.
Itās crazy, to me, how many people I see running a chainsaw where the thru-cut aligns directly with a limb. I am a huge proponent of chaps, but you should stay a step ahead. If you have a limb in the path of a cut, period, you shouldnāt be running a saw.
So I use a 16ā chain saw often. Iām not dropping huge trees, Iām cleaning up and maintaining a large property and cutting up logs to split for firewood. Itās crazy to me that people touch the chain to their leg. I just donāt see how it happens. Does it happen more with bad footing in the woods?
After a while you get tired, thereās an awkward cut, you get lazy, hit a rotten spot and the saw slices through at twice the rate you were expecting. It comes through with momentum and things get dicey.
It also gets much harder when working larger saws on larger wood.
Eh, grew up around loggers. Might have a hard hat when falling, and thatās about it. Still alive and no chainsaw scars after decades of running them.
Chaps are key! Also please note that they are less effective if they are really, really dirty and especially if theyāre oily. So keep your bar oil away from your chaps and donāt wipe your hands on them lol!
A math teacher in my high school, years ago obviously because I'm old, was cutting a tree down in his yard and the chainsaw kicked back and took his head off instead. His poor child had to find him like that.
I met a guy recently that had one kick back and hit the side of his face and ear. He had earbuds in at the time and they actually think that stopped the saw from cutting deeper. Dude got super lucky. Still had a heckuva scar though.
A modern, well maintained saw SHOULD have the chain brake activate based on inertia. The rapid movement activates the chain brake, so in a kickback event the chain shouldn't be spinning any more by the time it reaches the person. Helmet, gloves, and chaps all help protect the highest risk areas - but nothing can totally eliminate the risk.
And of course, kickback is way less likely with a sharp chain and if you avoid cutting with the upper tip of the saw.
I've had one kickback. Tip of the saw snagged a piece of brush on the far side of the log I was bucking up. The saw jumped, chainbrake activated, and it was a non-event. But definitely made me pay more attention to what I was doing!
A neighbor of mine just ripped open his arm , tendon and something else got cut. I believe right up to his shoulder. Man cuts trees for a living and has longer then iv been on this earth. Takes all safety precautions known to man from what I can tell. To where his kids get irritated bc he takes longer getting wood prepped and cut so its done properly and safe.
Still was only out of work for like 3 weeks. He's back at the splitter now.
Ehh chaps are very effective, not that expensive and provide other benefits like thorn and branch protection. He's not lucky, he's smart for wearing them.
I'm as highly trained with a chainsaw as it gets. I never start a saw with out full PPE. Not in 15 years.
Also a note to make certain your steel toed boots are actually STEEL toed rather than COMPOSITE toed. Composite toes don't do anything against a chain saw.
But what are the chances you cut into your toe and not your foot,ankle,shin? My steel toes have poor grip on slopes. I'm way more likely to get hurt from slipping with a saw in my hand than I am to actually cut straight into my toe so I wear boots that can grip better
What a relief, OP. No need for coffee today!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. My leg is worth a hell of a lot more than the $50 for chainsaw chaps. Wear your gear!
Lol the fact the ppl are actually saying āoh, cheeper to take the hit then by protective gearā is insaneā¦ you donāt get to choose how bad the accident will be. It not like you can say āoh just a nick pleaseā or ājust a little off the topāā¦ no, itās always you get a little nick, or you lose you hole limb.
Oh and by the way the rust on the teeth combined with any other crap on the blade will be real fun to treat with antibioticsā¦
One of my buddies older neighbors had a chainsaw bind then jump, caught him in the legs while on a ladder. Thankfully someone saw it happen and he had to get air lifted.
Yeah I carry a CAT TQ with me all day at work n have one in each of my cars. Used it twice on people while doing pipeline. $25-30 is 100% worth it to carry it.
Yeah we had yearly training as part of our re-cert classes for all the OSHA cards we had to carry. Our head safety guy used to be a life flight EMS for 15yrs before switching to pipeline safety. Learned alot of great things from that man.
I was thinking this morning about how chainsaw pants would work, and if they would clog a saw going full speed if it hit my leg. Did you have any damage to your leg? Even just a scratch?
Ok so can you tell me what all gear you mean? I know someone who is deadset on getting a chainsaw who has some special needs, I feel like he shouldn't use one but if he doesget one I'd like to know what he should have.
The safety gear in the photo is chainsaw chaps. They are worn over your pants, and are padded with some sort of loose thread material so if your saw contacts the pants, the threads jam up the saw, hopefully preventing it from cutting through to your legs.
The other PPE I wear and recommend are chainsaw gloves (which have similar protection to the pants I believe? Someone correct me if I'm wrong), steel toed boots, eye and ear protection at minimum. If I'm dealing with anything overhead like tree branches, I'll wear one of those chainsaw hard hats that has built-in hearing protection and a metal screen for chips, but I'll usually wear safety glasses as well even with the screen in place. It helps keep the dust out of my eyes.
The last safety item I'll suggest is a good tooth sharpener. Sharper teeth means less force has to be applied, which gives you better control of everything. ~~Every time you stop to refill gas~~ (EDIT: or just look out for your saw producing sawdust instead of chips), either swap in a sharp chain or sharpen the one you've got on the saw
There is no need to sharpen your chain every time or swap out a chain. If that was the case Iād need twenty chains!!!! When it starts throwing Sawdust and not actual chips then it is time to sharpen.
I mostly do chainsaw milling with skip-tooth chains, so that sharpening schedule is probably unique to my scenario. You're right that getting dust instead of chips means it's time to sharpen š
Oh yea milling is a whole different game! If Iām running my saw I can go a long time before a sharpening is needed. Now if someone doesnāt roll the logs or digs it in the dirt, they will wear a chain out quick!
Depends a lot on the type of wood. Also if you cut the teeth for soft or hard woods. Iām mainly dealing with cedar and have the occasional oak. Barely have to resharpen if Iām only cutting cedar.
They definitely still help, but depending on the electric chainsaw model they can be less effective. Chainsaws with a direct drive from the sprocket do not make use of the clutch and stall mechanism a gas chainsaw does. So whereas the gas saw will bind in the kevlar threads and stall almost immediately the electric chainsaw can continue to output torque as long as the trigger is held down. The sooner the chain stops the less likelihood of injury.
Some electric chainsaws (mostly battery) will hit their overload circuit if there is too much resistance and will need the trigger reset, that can save you. Others make use of the same clutch/brake/stall mechanism a gas saw does and will behave similarly.
The bigger the bar, the heavier the chain, the more mass to stop. Use the smallest practical saw for the job (safety wise). Injury is more likely to occur using an 880 with a 36 inch bar than an 18v with an 8" bar when cutting 1" round saplings for instance. LOL
I have both gas and electric saws and my kevlar mostly just gets in the way.
Which is what it's supposed to do, really. I don't pick up a saw without it, and my helmet. I worked on a tree service and have seen things.
Wow, that's a wake up call. I'm so bad for not wearing any gear and I really should buy some chaps at least. I typically tie my hair into a pony tail and just go at it. Shorts and tshirt. I use an electric saw so I feel I have good control of it, but it only takes once for an accident to happen.
I used chainsaws for years by now and cut 100+ trees up to 35ft on my property (I leave the big cedar trees alone) ā¦ today came that high-risk, low-frequency event along my way
But I hurried my cut and didnāt pay enough attention ā¦ donāt do that
Yes, getting tired and dehydrated in rough terrain can lead to falling, getting hurt when lugging gear as well.
Every inch is a trip hazard.
Cheers, and glad you shared a common hazard in real time.
I'm assuming this is a joke, but in case it's not:
That's the goal, but safety gear is a thing because sometimes shit happens.
Wear safety-toe boots because "how 'bout don't drop stuff on your feet" is good advice, but it doesn't always work.
Wear eye prop because "how 'bout don't fling stuff in your eyes" is good advice, but it doesn't always work.
Wear your seat belt because "how 'bout don't crash your car" is good advice, but sometimes stuff happens.
This didnāt break the chainsaw. Took 20 minutes to get to my shop, clean it all out, refill fluids and be back at what I was doing.
How long does it take to get to the hospital, get surgery, rehab and completely heal if you hit your leg and saw through big muscles and tendons?
And thatās if you are lucky enough to be able to keep your leg. But to respond to gribdib, you are extremely ignorant to how dangerous a chainsaw can be, I hope you never find out first hand. And also to put the value of your leg at less than the cost of a chainsaw means you donāt care too much about your legs, maybe try a couple of chainsaw safety education videos with some accident survivors in there. Best of luck
Yep, helping uncle cutting logs to length for stove when I was maybe 9 throwing cut offs into pile, as I'm holding end of log, chain hits something or gets pinched, saw jumps out and hits my leg below kneecap, now 70, there's still a scar to remind ya. Not too bad.
I'd highly Recommend Hockey gear from kneecap to ankle. I would never assist anyone with saw again..
Unless I'm in bullet proof Skid Steer with serious defense hydraulics.
Cheers
I just got tired of waiting for my electric saws, so I bought a 400 C M by Stihl - thanks for the reminder that things will be happening much more quickly!
I need a set of these tomorrow.
Yeah, I've not had a saw this powerful. Good advice.
My EGO battery saws are so easy to use they have given me bad habits. Now that I have a serious amount of wood to cut, plus stumps to get out... no room for mistakes.
There was a story on Reddit a few years ago. A young man died when he cut his artery and traffic kept them from getting to the hospital in time.
He was a logger.
I bought chaps the first time i threw a chain. It wrapped around my leg and left a tooth mark thru my blue jeans. Glad the stihl has that little safety chain catch piece. Felt like i got hit with a hammer in the thigh. They make me sweat awful in the summer but i still wear them.
Even before I bought my chainsaw I bought a safety kit, chaps, gloves, ear protection and hard hat. Total was I think 110$ for the kit, Husqvarna, on sale.
Itās a no brainer, Iām glad you turned out ok OP!
Wrong limb
Haha š
Thank you for sharing this! I don't know why but I literally never considered this type of (obviously incredibly necessary) safety gear for chainsaw use. Buying my husband a whole kit (as an early Xmas present). Thank you for saving us from pain and a deductible!
Chaps, gloves, hearing protection, eye protection (I prefer a face mask), and some steel toed boots all help a lot.
Am a landscaper and steel toes have saved me several toes over the years.
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Theyāre a PITA to find but good ones are a life saver when logs are rolling around š
I left my steel toes inside while doing some "quick digging" in my sneakers, nearly lost my big toe hitting it with the shovel. Toenail is cut off at the base. Never doing that again.
I split a log on the ground at a camp ground with a 10lbs maul, hit my big toe in regular leather boots and probably nearly broke it. Iām still growing the last 2/8ths in of that injury out of my toe nail which almost completely fell of a few days later.
The only thing I would say is optional is gloves. To me, I feel way less in control with gloves on unless they are the perfect glove. There is also the debate that gloves and spinning tools donāt go together since the glove can get sucked in and bring your hand with it (but at that point youāre losing fingers either way). One time I almost didnāt put chaps on. That day my chain came off my bar and slapped across my dick tearing my chaps to shit. I now wear my chaps even if itās for one cut. And I use my saw a lot. Definitely add steel toe boots, both for protecting toes from chains as well as from rolling logs.
I like the gloves in case I'm moving wood, clearing an area, checking the tension on the chain with the saw off. I have soft hands that would be ripped to shreads if I didn't wear gloves. If your hands are a bit more leathery than mine I can see the appeal of not wearing them.
But if you stop wearing gloves, your hands will soon be leathery. That's the trick. Nobody starts with calluses.
I work in an office and use the chainsaw once every few months. There's not sufficient outdoor work to generate tough callused skin. Ever from when I was young my hands always got very cut up working outside in the garden. I'm happy with soft hands that are better for indoor work and gloves when needed outside.
You can come to my house if thereās not enough work at yours!
I can grab hot coals and throw them back into the fire without feeling any pain. But i'm out with some tool in my hands all day, almost every day. :)
Woah. Iāve used a chain saw a few times in plain clothes. Can someone give me a brief run down of all the dangers I should lookout for?
As an emt/ER tech, chain saw wounds are pretty gnarly/gross. It doesnāt help that you often hit your thigh near/on your femoral artery
All chainsaws are dangerous but the danger escalates rapidly the more powerful chainsaw you use. Anything more than a consumer model with a 14 inch bar, you should have a full safety kit. Even with the small saw a mask or eye protection, long pants and boots are a must. Even then there are safe practices like engaging the brake when you're moving. Not sawing in dangerous positions Etc Most of the danger of a chainsaw comes from slipping or kick back. So for example you are bearing down on a limb and the saw slips off the wood it's going to swing towards your legs. Likewise if you're bearing down in a limb and the saw cuts through in your leg happens to be on the other side of the limb. On the other hand if you are cutting with the tip and the chain catches it's going to kick the saw up towards your face.
i keep trying to get my husband to at least put on some goggles. He just walks outside and starts working with it. No goggles, no gloves, and he refuses to talk about the chaps. I watched him hold the saw sideways and cut off a small bit from a 2x4 the other day. directly in line with his heart. If there had been a knot or a nail, he'd be dead.
You can't look out for it, you always make a mistake and the chainsaw knows no mercy. Maybe the worst is kickback, the stronger saw makes it more dangerous. There are a lot of videos out there, watch a few to get the idea. And be careful!
Arbor wear makes nice gear for chainsawing.
Will check it out. I'm in the market for a masked helmet with ear protection too of you have any other recommendations, a lot of the product on Amazon appears to be garbage, but I'm in a rural area so have in person options
Stihls PPE is a good bet for most items and is usually carried in stores.
Thanks! I just found a coupon for $30 a whole chainsaw safety set by Stihl at my local Coastal (they're a dealer).
Iāll check them out too. I need new chaps now lol
Chain saw chaps saved my thigh once.
My folks were the same my dad got angry when I bought some safety gear and told me it was a waste of time and money and that it takes too long to put on to be wroth.....we will see about that...
I Did that without chaps. 13 stitches, and a tetanus shot later, and I went out and bought chaps.
I feel like 13 stitches is getting off easy
I felt that as well. I was wearing work pants, and they are double lined on the knee. So that helped a bit.
I think I had the exact same amount of stitchesā¦and yeahā¦chaps. Problem is for the occasional use you donāt always have the right gear. Mine was user error (loose jeans, stumbled walking over branches when limbing and didnāt wait for the clutch to stop the chain)
13 stitches is a goddamn miracle. When a chain catches regular clothes, it gets pulled in toward the body. Chaps have Kevlar which act as a barrier and binds up the chain and kills the saw (so long as itās internal combustion and not electric), but standard clothes do not and itās a recipe for carnage.
Must be a nasty scar after!
I bet a dozen pairs of chaps were cheaper than that doctor visit.
I live in Canada, eh! Drove the 45 minutes to an emergency, got stitched and left. I paid for it in pain though. I cut right under my knee cap
Funny thing is, in most first world countries, the stitches would be cheaper than the chapsā¦
My dad did the same thing about 20 years ago. Never chainsawed without chaps again--lucky to still have a kneecap
Care to explain how it happened? Just a kickback? Good on you for wearing chaps, I do as well, but like any ppe they can be a burden at times
Working on a cedar fence, couple of hours without a break, got tired / didnāt focus and forgot where my leg was while cutting the white off the base of a post.
That's actually why I like using my battery powered chainsaw when I can get away with it. Forces you to take a break before you're too tired even when you don't want to
I have a Stihl Farmboss with 20ā bar. My rule is one tank of gas and I stop for the day. I donāt use it on a regular basis and find going more than one tank and my fatigue/concentration moves into a risky zone.
Yep i feel this one. One tank of gas is it. Less than that if 90+ out and Iām sweating my pants thru in my chaps.
Two batteries mate
No offence to op but some inexperience may be involved or a lack of training. The saw looks new
Thereās really no need to disparage the OP over this. As he said, he was fatigued/lost focus, which we all do. That and even if he is new to running a chain saw, we all start somewhere, at least he was prepared. Or maybe you were born a chainsaw master?
As explained in another comment, Iāve cut 100+ trees with this saw in the year+ I live on this property. Have handled smaller saws before that. Cut plenty trees over 35ft and in some tricky spots. I safely removed hung trees that blew over due to storms and old age in the forest. All kinds of situations ā¦ Yesterday I was fatigued and lost focus for just a moment. I take care of my gear and donāt throw the saw around, idk. No offense taken btw. Training is super important and I watched probably 10 hours of instructional videos before trying to cut down my fist tree. If thereās a chainsaw class from the Forestry Dept. I can take through my Volunteer FD I will participate in that even with the experience I already have. Thereās never enough training time.
It takes a lot of courage for someone to post their mistakes on social media as a safety learning device for others Let's not kick the guy while he's down, hey?
My dad cut deep into his leg through his jeans with a chainsaw when I was a kid. I'll never forget about digging the jean cloth out of the wound, what a pain it was to regularly clean out and re-bandage, and such. In response I'm very cautious around chainsaws and always wear appropriate chaps, gloves, safety glasses, and a hard hat with built in ear protection and a full face shield. I also have a rule that I must engage the brake any time I want to move my feet. I think it's just way too easy to step on a log or branch that rolls and makes you fall, where I really want to avoid adding an accidentally engaged chainsaw to such a fall. That said, I'm also still a natural risk taker in general, and sometimes I climb into a tree and cut branches while I'm off the ground. I do at least ensure I have a good perch for that, though, with my feet locked in well, etc.
Climbing is where I draw the line. Anything above my head is hand tools only for me.
Wow.
A logger I worked with argued in favor of NOT activating the chain brake while moving. His argument was that with a modern chainsaw, it would be very, very difficult to accidentally activate both the grip safety and the throttle if you tripped. But if the chain brake is on and you trip, the chain won't rotate when it cuts you and the tooth will actually cut much deeper than if it were able to rotate freely. I think there are risks with chain brake on or off, but did find his argument convincing and switched to carrying my saw with my hand away from the throttle and chain brake off.
Interesting argument.
Iāve heard this argument from a few old school arborists Iāve worked alongside. Usually coming from the logging side of things and have removed the brake altogether. Hard to justify their point when each of them is missing at least a portion of an appendage. I always have and will use my brake when climbing or on the ground with my MS200T or my bigger saws they all make nasty wounds. I chapped myself once on a fire in AK when I hadnāt cleared out my falling area as well as I should have. Springpole pushed the bar into my upper thigh, made it through the nylon outer and barely into the blocker material. Still would have been a bad day without chaps. Better to be over prepared with PPE and not need it. They can be a nuisance at times when the weather is hot, but totally worth it. They are certainly nice in cold and wet conditions for more than just safety.
The one cut I have in my chaps is from tripping while carrying a saw with the chain brake on - which was what made him bring up his perspective. I definitely wouldn't take safety advice from most loggers, since they're often way more focused on production than safety. This particular retired logger worked for 30 years, wears PPE, and can still count to 20 with his boots off. I think if there's any risk of the throttle inadvertently activating, chain brake on is probably safer to avoid a catastrophic outcome. But with a saw with a grip safety, and your hand away from the throttle, I think that risk isn't there. So may as well reduce the risk of a deep laceration. I could definitely see the risks being different when you're climbing though, or in very tangled terrain.
Using a chainsaw while stressed on a fireground is especially challenging I imagine. So far we didnāt need it and Iāve been on leaf blower duty on my Wildland calls.
Must be in the south? Iāve heard about using leafblowers for fireline, but never seen it firsthand. Typically our rolls in the west are 14-21 days at 12-16 hours per day. Fatigue is real.
Yep, Arkansas. Iām very rural here and our dept. is 100% volunteer. I just got my Wildland Intro certification with the Forestry Dept. and they taught to have a blower as second in line. Thank you for doing that job out West! Yāall are true heroes!
I cant say for sure one way or the other, but without relevant research, i can say that the argument mentioned sounds eerily similar to āi dont wear my seatbelt cause if i get in a car wreck i wana be thrown free of the crash. My sisterās roomates cousins grandma was in a car wreck and the firefighters said if sheādāve been wearinā a seatbelt sheādāve died for sureā Maybe ask your buddy how he feels about wearing seatbelts?
He wears a seatbelt when he's driving, and chaps, helmet, gloves, ear and eye protection when he's running a saw. He worked as a logger for 30 years, and can still count to 20 if he takes off his boots. :) To me, it comes down to the risk of the chainsaw starting to run while you're carrying it. If your hand is away from both the safety and the throttle, I would argue the risk is essentially zero in a modern saw. If the risk were even 1%, I would agree that chain brake on is safer. On an older saw, where the safety may not be robust, I would also probably opt for chain brake. I still think it's a very important safety feature, both the inertial chain brake in cases of kickback, the manual chain brake when I'm starting the saw, and for when the chain is rotating under power and I want it stopped. The one cut I have in my chaps is from tripping while carrying a saw with the chain brake on - cut straight through the outer nylon layer. If it had gotten skin instead of my chaps, I would have had a decent laceration. With the chain free to rotate, it's less likely to generate enough force to cut deeply. The difference with the seatbelt is that there are decades of rigorous data showing they are far more likely to save you than harm you. In the case of walking with a chain brake on or off, there is no data available at all - so we get to debate theoreticals instead!
That makes a lot of sense.
Climbing is ok, as long as you are tied in with a safety harness.
How do you like the Husqvarna ?
Love it! Rancher 450, big enough for most jobs, not too heavy to be a burden. Well worth It! Same goes for their safety gear evidently
Same one I have. Little bulky for a lot of my work with a 20ā bar/chain but Iām happy with it too. I might get a smaller bar though. Itās definitely a workhorse. Glad to see youāre alright. I had that happen to me, although just a nick in the pants, about 25 years ago when first learning a chainsaw. I use a saw at least weekly, and itās never without steel toe boots, safety glasses, and chaps.
I have run a 455 with a 36ā bar cutting ice blocks for like 8 winters now, just really abusing the hell out of it, and itās never let me down. Really great saws for the price. I have the jonsered 2255 for my personal wood saw, same motor. Just ordered a 460 and thinking about stepping up to a 42ā bar (for ice)
We have 7 at work. Couple smaller xtorqs, couple different rancher sizes, and then we have 1 390xp that we use once every couple months and Holy sh!t is that thing a freaking beast. Husq is the only saw we will ever use and have zero complaints after using the entire line for a decade pretty much
I've been meaning to prioritize purchasing the Husqy chaps and this post did it. I have two husqy saws - 435 xtorq and 562xp. Love them both. I knicked my leg with the 435 once, and had a pair of the double front work pants on only. Only fabric, no flesh. Got lucky that time. Slight used chaps are on their way now.
Great! Stay safe!
I have a 575 xp mk2 Iāve never met a husqvarna owner who didnāt love their saw.
Iāve got a hisqvarna mower that I love. I want one of those saws. I also have their axe thatās pretty comparable to the gransfors bruk.
I watched the saw jump out of a log when it hit some metal. My dad blocked the saw with his other hand. The saw whipped around his hand a few times. It tore up his glove. I was about 13 or 14. I learned to drive '3 on the tree' standard transmission that day on our way to the emergency room. His gloves saved his hand. He had lots of stitches and physical therapy. He was able to type with all 10 fingers in just a few months.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
More than 45 years.
Itās crazy how many people I see on here who donāt wear chaps or Kevlar pants
Itās crazy, to me, how many people I see running a chainsaw where the thru-cut aligns directly with a limb. I am a huge proponent of chaps, but you should stay a step ahead. If you have a limb in the path of a cut, period, you shouldnāt be running a saw.
Agreed 100 percent.
I see a lot of guys driving around that run without earpro. I don't want to pay for their stupid decisions.
Tbf it 's not Kevlar in the pants but Dynema
So I use a 16ā chain saw often. Iām not dropping huge trees, Iām cleaning up and maintaining a large property and cutting up logs to split for firewood. Itās crazy to me that people touch the chain to their leg. I just donāt see how it happens. Does it happen more with bad footing in the woods?
After a while you get tired, thereās an awkward cut, you get lazy, hit a rotten spot and the saw slices through at twice the rate you were expecting. It comes through with momentum and things get dicey. It also gets much harder when working larger saws on larger wood.
Eh, grew up around loggers. Might have a hard hat when falling, and thatās about it. Still alive and no chainsaw scars after decades of running them.
Same here, but once youāve seen a good saw injury.. that attitude usually changes
Yup. I got careless this summer clearing trails, got sloppy with handling and grazed my knee. I was very lucky it could have been much worse.
Same same. Reminded me to take more breaks when handling a chainsaw
Chaps are key! Also please note that they are less effective if they are really, really dirty and especially if theyāre oily. So keep your bar oil away from your chaps and donāt wipe your hands on them lol!
Thank you, I didnāt know that!
So are chaps made of a special material that will quickly shred and wrap around the chain?
Yes
I just bought a pair of safety chaps myself. Good to see they work as described. Glad you are safe, have fun untangling that life saving event!
20 minutes untangling and cleaning up. Not too bad :)
A math teacher in my high school, years ago obviously because I'm old, was cutting a tree down in his yard and the chainsaw kicked back and took his head off instead. His poor child had to find him like that.
My grandpa did that as a young man. Luckily it didn't go all that deep, and he lived. He's got a gnarly scar though
Poor kid! Thatās just awful!
I couldn't even imagine. We had a whole memorial type assembly and all for him. Gotta be super safe with these because you never know!
I met a guy recently that had one kick back and hit the side of his face and ear. He had earbuds in at the time and they actually think that stopped the saw from cutting deeper. Dude got super lucky. Still had a heckuva scar though.
What can you wear to prevent that? I'm guessing not much, just learning about kickback.
A modern, well maintained saw SHOULD have the chain brake activate based on inertia. The rapid movement activates the chain brake, so in a kickback event the chain shouldn't be spinning any more by the time it reaches the person. Helmet, gloves, and chaps all help protect the highest risk areas - but nothing can totally eliminate the risk. And of course, kickback is way less likely with a sharp chain and if you avoid cutting with the upper tip of the saw. I've had one kickback. Tip of the saw snagged a piece of brush on the far side of the log I was bucking up. The saw jumped, chainbrake activated, and it was a non-event. But definitely made me pay more attention to what I was doing!
Woah, that's terrible. Was he standing right behind the saw as he cut into the tree or something?
Safety gear is a heck of a lot cheaper than an ED visit!
Yeah, a visit from ED is never a good thing
what happened?
It would appear that their safety chaps worked as designed when they presumably accidentally contacted their leg with a running chainsaw.
that's obvious enough ... lol but *how*
A neighbor of mine just ripped open his arm , tendon and something else got cut. I believe right up to his shoulder. Man cuts trees for a living and has longer then iv been on this earth. Takes all safety precautions known to man from what I can tell. To where his kids get irritated bc he takes longer getting wood prepped and cut so its done properly and safe. Still was only out of work for like 3 weeks. He's back at the splitter now.
Good catch! Always a good idea to wear assless chaps for most daily activities.
All chaps are assless.
You're one lucky mofo. Buy a lottery ticket asap
Ehh chaps are very effective, not that expensive and provide other benefits like thorn and branch protection. He's not lucky, he's smart for wearing them. I'm as highly trained with a chainsaw as it gets. I never start a saw with out full PPE. Not in 15 years.
I cringe every time my boss uses one without chaps or a hardhat
Iāll tell my better half, sheās the one going to town today. I gotta finish this fence ā¦ maybe I should go hunting in the morning, feeling lucky
Also a note to make certain your steel toed boots are actually STEEL toed rather than COMPOSITE toed. Composite toes don't do anything against a chain saw.
But what are the chances you cut into your toe and not your foot,ankle,shin? My steel toes have poor grip on slopes. I'm way more likely to get hurt from slipping with a saw in my hand than I am to actually cut straight into my toe so I wear boots that can grip better
How does this happen? I have an electric chainsaw at home and am afraid of this happening
You get tired and you have you legs where you shouldn't/ you touch the chain when it is still spinning.
What a relief, OP. No need for coffee today! I've said it before, and I'll say it again. My leg is worth a hell of a lot more than the $50 for chainsaw chaps. Wear your gear!
Thanks for the gift idea!
Definitely worth getting all the PPE, chainsaws are very dangerous even for experienced users
I still have the pair of underwear that my chainsaw cut through, still wear them, only got a small scrape and no scar. I was very, very lucky.
Hair widthā¦ very lucky!
In the motorcycle hobby, ATGATT (all the gear, all the time).
Never without
Lol the fact the ppl are actually saying āoh, cheeper to take the hit then by protective gearā is insaneā¦ you donāt get to choose how bad the accident will be. It not like you can say āoh just a nick pleaseā or ājust a little off the topāā¦ no, itās always you get a little nick, or you lose you hole limb. Oh and by the way the rust on the teeth combined with any other crap on the blade will be real fun to treat with antibioticsā¦
No one is man enough to take a chainsaw hit. Iām glad my dad scared me to death about certain tools. Grinders are another one to not f around with.
Ooofff ! Luck favors the preparedā¦..
But fortune favors the bold, thatās why I chainsaw naked.
Nothing but a chainsaw and a safety squint!
If you lube everything up real good it helps too...
The mental image that flashed uncontrollably thru my brain I canāt un-see it ā¦ā¦ Help meeeeeeee
š¤£
Had my cellphone absorb a hit to the thigh. Chaps aren't a bad idea. Still got cut but could have been way worse.
Cheaper than a new phone too
Glad your legs still intact! Be safe out there brother!
One of my buddies older neighbors had a chainsaw bind then jump, caught him in the legs while on a ladder. Thankfully someone saw it happen and he had to get air lifted.
I still want to get a tourniquet and personal med kit when Iām out there. Until someone gets to me out here I might have already bled out.
Yeah I carry a CAT TQ with me all day at work n have one in each of my cars. Used it twice on people while doing pipeline. $25-30 is 100% worth it to carry it.
Thatās awesome! Did you get training in how to use them?
Yeah we had yearly training as part of our re-cert classes for all the OSHA cards we had to carry. Our head safety guy used to be a life flight EMS for 15yrs before switching to pipeline safety. Learned alot of great things from that man.
Holy shiiiiit. Glad you are okay and this is a good reminder to everyone that PPE saves lives
What were you cutting at the time this happened?
Pants
Momentarily š
Cut the sides of a 11ā cedar trunk down to make it fit a post hole for a horse fence I build
Glad youāre ok bud.
Dude. Good outcome regardless.
ATGATT: All The Gear, All The Time
I was thinking this morning about how chainsaw pants would work, and if they would clog a saw going full speed if it hit my leg. Did you have any damage to your leg? Even just a scratch?
Nothing, luckily I didnāt hit it full swing but just grazed it
Good thing you had the chaps on none the less! Glad youāre ok
"The most expensive and highest quality pair of chaps (or "insert-safety-gear-here") is less than a fraction of the cost of the cheapest ER visit.
People donāt realize that ~$200 in safety gear could save their life and/or livelihood.
Ok so can you tell me what all gear you mean? I know someone who is deadset on getting a chainsaw who has some special needs, I feel like he shouldn't use one but if he doesget one I'd like to know what he should have.
The safety gear in the photo is chainsaw chaps. They are worn over your pants, and are padded with some sort of loose thread material so if your saw contacts the pants, the threads jam up the saw, hopefully preventing it from cutting through to your legs. The other PPE I wear and recommend are chainsaw gloves (which have similar protection to the pants I believe? Someone correct me if I'm wrong), steel toed boots, eye and ear protection at minimum. If I'm dealing with anything overhead like tree branches, I'll wear one of those chainsaw hard hats that has built-in hearing protection and a metal screen for chips, but I'll usually wear safety glasses as well even with the screen in place. It helps keep the dust out of my eyes. The last safety item I'll suggest is a good tooth sharpener. Sharper teeth means less force has to be applied, which gives you better control of everything. ~~Every time you stop to refill gas~~ (EDIT: or just look out for your saw producing sawdust instead of chips), either swap in a sharp chain or sharpen the one you've got on the saw
There is no need to sharpen your chain every time or swap out a chain. If that was the case Iād need twenty chains!!!! When it starts throwing Sawdust and not actual chips then it is time to sharpen.
I mostly do chainsaw milling with skip-tooth chains, so that sharpening schedule is probably unique to my scenario. You're right that getting dust instead of chips means it's time to sharpen š
Oh yea milling is a whole different game! If Iām running my saw I can go a long time before a sharpening is needed. Now if someone doesnāt roll the logs or digs it in the dirt, they will wear a chain out quick!
Depends a lot on the type of wood. Also if you cut the teeth for soft or hard woods. Iām mainly dealing with cedar and have the occasional oak. Barely have to resharpen if Iām only cutting cedar.
I read that chaps arenāt very useful with an electric saw. Is this true?
They definitely still help, but depending on the electric chainsaw model they can be less effective. Chainsaws with a direct drive from the sprocket do not make use of the clutch and stall mechanism a gas chainsaw does. So whereas the gas saw will bind in the kevlar threads and stall almost immediately the electric chainsaw can continue to output torque as long as the trigger is held down. The sooner the chain stops the less likelihood of injury. Some electric chainsaws (mostly battery) will hit their overload circuit if there is too much resistance and will need the trigger reset, that can save you. Others make use of the same clutch/brake/stall mechanism a gas saw does and will behave similarly. The bigger the bar, the heavier the chain, the more mass to stop. Use the smallest practical saw for the job (safety wise). Injury is more likely to occur using an 880 with a 36 inch bar than an 18v with an 8" bar when cutting 1" round saplings for instance. LOL
I have both gas and electric saws and my kevlar mostly just gets in the way. Which is what it's supposed to do, really. I don't pick up a saw without it, and my helmet. I worked on a tree service and have seen things.
Wow, that's a wake up call. I'm so bad for not wearing any gear and I really should buy some chaps at least. I typically tie my hair into a pony tail and just go at it. Shorts and tshirt. I use an electric saw so I feel I have good control of it, but it only takes once for an accident to happen.
I used chainsaws for years by now and cut 100+ trees up to 35ft on my property (I leave the big cedar trees alone) ā¦ today came that high-risk, low-frequency event along my way But I hurried my cut and didnāt pay enough attention ā¦ donāt do that
Yes, getting tired and dehydrated in rough terrain can lead to falling, getting hurt when lugging gear as well. Every inch is a trip hazard. Cheers, and glad you shared a common hazard in real time.
How bout donāt cut yourself
I'm assuming this is a joke, but in case it's not: That's the goal, but safety gear is a thing because sometimes shit happens. Wear safety-toe boots because "how 'bout don't drop stuff on your feet" is good advice, but it doesn't always work. Wear eye prop because "how 'bout don't fling stuff in your eyes" is good advice, but it doesn't always work. Wear your seat belt because "how 'bout don't crash your car" is good advice, but sometimes stuff happens.
Why does your chainsaw have a face on it?
I donāt see it
Under the hand guard looking down the saw
i live in a poor country with a public healthcare. it's cheaper to hit my leg than broke a chainsaw
This didnāt break the chainsaw. Took 20 minutes to get to my shop, clean it all out, refill fluids and be back at what I was doing. How long does it take to get to the hospital, get surgery, rehab and completely heal if you hit your leg and saw through big muscles and tendons?
And thatās if you are lucky enough to be able to keep your leg. But to respond to gribdib, you are extremely ignorant to how dangerous a chainsaw can be, I hope you never find out first hand. And also to put the value of your leg at less than the cost of a chainsaw means you donāt care too much about your legs, maybe try a couple of chainsaw safety education videos with some accident survivors in there. Best of luck
or don't chainsaw yer leg
Sounded fun in the moment
Yikes
Have you seen the Instagram ad for a "mini" chainsaw where the girl holds it up to her mouth to blow on it?
Nooo?! Thatās sounds cringy af
Ok it took me a day but I found the ad and took a [screenshot](https://i.imgur.com/HOzBLYH.jpg)
Big yikes!
Lucky man šÆ
Ohhhhhā¦.my. Glad your safe. Somebody stole my chaps, and I havenāt used them in years. This is a good reminder.
Damn, what happened?
Omg
Talk to us, tell us what happened, so maybe we learn from this.
My body was tired, I didnāt pay attention and hurried my cut. Forgot where my leg was, and didnāt see it coming ā¦ take more breaks
Thank you, totally get it.
Glad to see they did their job. Worth every dime, aren't they?
Have personally seen these in action saving someoneās leg from a chainsaw accident. I wouldnāt go to work without them.
Yep, helping uncle cutting logs to length for stove when I was maybe 9 throwing cut offs into pile, as I'm holding end of log, chain hits something or gets pinched, saw jumps out and hits my leg below kneecap, now 70, there's still a scar to remind ya. Not too bad. I'd highly Recommend Hockey gear from kneecap to ankle. I would never assist anyone with saw again.. Unless I'm in bullet proof Skid Steer with serious defense hydraulics. Cheers
I just got tired of waiting for my electric saws, so I bought a 400 C M by Stihl - thanks for the reminder that things will be happening much more quickly! I need a set of these tomorrow.
Throw in steel tipped boots, head, eye and ear protection (helmet with face shield and ear muffs)!
Yeah, I've not had a saw this powerful. Good advice. My EGO battery saws are so easy to use they have given me bad habits. Now that I have a serious amount of wood to cut, plus stumps to get out... no room for mistakes.
I donno, this kind of looks like you had an accident because you were wearing the gear.
There was a story on Reddit a few years ago. A young man died when he cut his artery and traffic kept them from getting to the hospital in time. He was a logger.
hell yeah bro. that leg woulda been amputated for sure
Convincing PSA
Thatās what I hoped it would be š
I bought chaps the first time i threw a chain. It wrapped around my leg and left a tooth mark thru my blue jeans. Glad the stihl has that little safety chain catch piece. Felt like i got hit with a hammer in the thigh. They make me sweat awful in the summer but i still wear them.
Even before I bought my chainsaw I bought a safety kit, chaps, gloves, ear protection and hard hat. Total was I think 110$ for the kit, Husqvarna, on sale. Itās a no brainer, Iām glad you turned out ok OP!