Interesting but boring chainsaw facts

[Treemonkey1000]

I bought a pair of chainsaw chaps a couple of weeks ago after nearly removing my knee cap with the saw. Loose fitting pants got caught by the tooth bar on the saw. Then the chain caught my coveralls and then pants. Just had a small scrape on the skin right above the knee cap fortunately. 40 years running a chainsaw and only 4 near misses I still am very cautious. Anyhow the chaps had this safety flyer attached. I was surprised that the recorded injuries in 2004 was 32,436 incidents. Who is to say how many were unreported? What I was surprised by was how many hits were the the left side of the body. I am left handed so tend to cut that way. Keep in mind us left handers are a minority.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Hey monkey, I am a lefty and find my self wanting to hold the saw "cross handed" which puts the chain in line with my head. Do you saw right handed?
I am trying to but it's not easy...courious as to your grip.

Thanks for posting, my dad recently gave me some chaps, I always wear them...they live under the seat in my truck so they are always handy.

They also work well for picking blackberries!

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Most of the time I control the throttle with my right hand when I am using a larger saw in the tree or on the ground. For dropping limbs while climbing a tree I tend to use the saw one handed with the left hand. Mainly the way saws are made is why I have to saw that way with the stronger left hand holding the wrap handle for me. I haven't used chaps until now. I do have heavy pair of Carhart pants that I wear for a little extra protection. Then coveralls to let them get grimy and pitch instead of my regular work clothes.

 

[Tractorbeam]

I'm expecting Santa to bring me a pair of chaps. My wife freaked when I showed her the rip on the thigh of my pants and the fortunately mild cut underneath.

Was wearing double-front canvas Carharts. Figured that extra layer saved me a bit of skin and blood.

It was late in the day and was tired. Cutting vines and autumn olives that were growing under a mulberry. Slashing away and got a bit careless. Now I take a break when I get tired when using the saw.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Hey Santa is a good person to give you those Tractorbeam. I didn't want to wait for Santa after my near miss. As with you the extra layer of clothe hadn't been there that might have been just that much deeper on my knee. Glad that you came out basically unscathed. Being tired sure doesn't help but when you wanna get er done you just keep going. If you look at that chart most of the hits shown were on the thigh and leg. The left hand took a lot of hits. I wear gloves while sawing as well.
Enjoy!

 

[Reg]

Thanks for the post, pleased to hear you escaped with a relatively minor scrape.
I have chaps SOMEWHERE... I havn't used them in many years, know I should, also know I should use the helmet and face shield, boots too.
Yeah, I'm a bad boy.
Thanks for the reminder, I'll resolve to dust off my safety gear and USE it.

Maybe I'm getting some sense after all these years - FINALLY, but I find posts like this a refreshing change from;
"How can I defeat/cheat the safety feature or interlock on my {whatever} ?"

 

[groundcover]

Glad you made it Monkey,saw injuries in a tree can be very bad. I am trying to set up a high angle rescue team that consists of mostly tree climbers. You guys do this every day and are a lot more comfortable up there than us ground dwellers. My climbers are using ballistic pants something like this Sherrill Tree Climbing Supply: Professional Tree Care
lots easier to get around in the tree,ground squirrels still run the chaps.

 

[RobS]

Glad to hear you are not seriously injured.

I think the left side injuries make sense. I am right handed. When using the saw, my left hand is closer to the chain and more likely to be used to adjust the log than my right hand which is on the trigger. Also, I stand left foot forward which puts it closer to the danger as well. Interesting graphic for sure.

 

[dmccarty]

I think the left side injuries make sense. I am right handed. When using the saw, my left hand is closer to the chain and more likely to be used to adjust the log than my right hand which is on the trigger. Also, I stand left foot forward which puts it closer to the danger as well. Interesting graphic for sure.

Exactly. The upper body contacts were "interesting." Never see this before.

I don't know were the 32K number comes from but I have seen it used in articles in Small Woodlot and Sawmills magazine.

Knock on wood but kick back has never been a problem for me. Kick DOWN has been. Scares the heck out of me since its so hard to control. Thankfully I don't have to do much cutting that would cause kick down anymore. I do try to watch my foot placement so that if the saw kick down it bites dirt or rock and not my foot.

I have a slight cut in my chaps from where the saw touched my thigh. Left thigh. I have had the chain pulled off the bar twice when cutting limbs that had tension on them. When the limb was cut they moved and just pulled the chain off the bar. The chain was caught by the catchers on the saw but the chain still wacked me in the leg pretty hard. The chaps certainly kept the wack from hurting real bad an likely kept me from getting cut.

I ALWAYS ware gloves, safety glasses, full face shield on the helmet with ear protection and the chaps. All of the safety equipment did not cost more than a $100. I can't walk or be carried into the ER for less than $100. My body parts are worth alot more than $100.

Later,
Dan

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Hi Dan thanks for the cost analysis of body parts! Yep I have most of my parts that I would consider worth more than $100. The US Consumer Safety bureau that collected those stats probably have plenty more. I wear a hard hat, safety glasses, and ear protection all of the time. And normally gloves. I don't wear the full helmet face shield while climbing as it would get knocked off more than likely. Climbing wet and slippery trees with moss I might not wear gloves as I get a better grip without the leather gloves.
I do have one of my 4 near misses as a head wound. Out cutting up a tree on the ground behind the firestation I hit some barbed wire that had grown into the tree over the years. I didn't see it. That kicked the saw back towards my face. Fortunately the good Lord was watching. I ended up with just a knick right below the hairline. Freaked the fireman out when I walked into the station holding my forehead with a little blood running down. A couple of bandaids and I was back to work. A full face helmet would have been good in that situation.

 

[LBrown59]

Hey monkey, I am a lefty

So am I

 

[Treemonkey1000]

So am I

Hey guys we don't want to rub it in but statistically more left handers are in the higher IQ levels percentage wise than our right handed brethren.. I know some of my friends and family would question higher IQ in me with some of my past antics. . Maybe we can even out the hits demonstrated on that chart by making chainsaws with the wrap handle oriented to the other side?

 

[Ridgewalker]

Hey guys we don't want to rub it in but statistically more left handers are in the higher IQ levels percentage wise than our right handed brethren.. I know some of my friends and family would question higher IQ in me with some of my past antics. . Maybe we can even out the hits demonstrated on that chart by making chainsaws with the wrap handle oriented to the other side?

I always said that Lefty's are the only ones in their right minds.

It's an advantage, at least it has been for me.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Hey guys we don't want to rub it in but statistically more left handers are in the higher IQ levels percentage wise than our right handed brethren.. I know some of my friends and family would question higher IQ in me with some of my past antics. . Maybe we can even out the hits demonstrated on that chart by making chainsaws with the wrap handle oriented to the other side?

I've always said that Lefty's are the only ones in their right minds.

It's an advantage, at least it has been for me.

 

[Reg]

Hey guys we don't want to rub it in but statistically more left handers are in the higher IQ levels percentage wise than our right handed brethren.. I know some of my friends and family would question higher IQ in me with some of my past antics. . Maybe we can even out the hits demonstrated on that chart by making chainsaws with the wrap handle oriented to the other side?

You could do that, in fact I was thinking earlier that with CAD/CAM tools these days it shouldn't be at all hard to make a "mirror" saw.
You could even change out the left hand threaded nuts on the clutch for right handed ones (-:

Option B:
Play it like Paul (McCartney) plays a right handed guitar
Come to think of it, maybe my left handed son does exactly that with a chainsaw.

 

[Ductape]

i've actually save some pictures of nasty chainsaw injuries posted over on the "chainsaw" forum. Not sure if its my morbid curiousity, or that looking at them gives me a grim reminder to always wear my PPE. Like many others, i ran saws for years without PPE, thinking accidents happen to other people......... now i'm fully equipped. Maybe getting older has made me wiser, or being younger made me feel invincible. Growing up i personally knew two people who nearly lost a leg (and perhaps bled out) using saws..... one was a very experienced woodsman. A guy i worked for logging a couple years ago lost his brother to a saw. He never made it out of the woods to get help. Suit up guys !!!!

 

[putt_putt_green]

OK. After reading this I'm gonna be more safe. I'll start wearing glasses, though I never keep my head in the path of the chain. I wear a helmet when falling trees with dead branches.

Glad to you're OK TreeMonkey.

I've been doing firewood for probably 30 years (counting my childhood). Only one mishap. I was bringing the chainsaw down after cutting a branch above my head and hit my zipper of my Carharts. The wife didn't offer to buy chaps, but I suspect she was calling the insurance agent to up my life insurance .

Oh, and I'm right handed, which explains why I don't wear safety glasses.

 

[Reg]

i've actually save some pictures of nasty chainsaw injuries posted over on the "chainsaw" forum. Not sure if its my morbid curiousity, or that looking at them gives me a grim reminder to always wear my PPE. Like many others, i ran saws for years without PPE, thinking accidents happen to other people......... now i'm fully equipped. Maybe getting older has made me wiser, or being younger made me feel invincible. Growing up i personally knew two people who nearly lost a leg (and perhaps bled out) using saws..... one was a very experienced woodsman. A guy i worked for logging a couple years ago lost his brother to a saw. He never made it out of the woods to get help. Suit up guys !!!!

I did it the other way around.
Started off right, then got lazy/sloppy about it.
Still havn't got hurt, but I do KNOW a few things about stats, so....
NEXT TIME !!!