Chainsaw use - alone

[Jstpssng]

I have always cut wood alone.

I cut a fair amount of wood. For a real logger, it is not much, but for a firewooder, it is quite a bit, averaging around 300-400 cord per year.

Since starting out 30 years ago, I have been cut (3) times. All have been minor.

The first was when I had my saw kick back on a sapling that ran up the back of a tree as I went to make the backcut. It kicked into my shin.

The second was when I working in waist deep snow, and topping off a tree. I was treading through the snow as my saw came down right through my upper thigh. I take sugar in my coffee so I had sugar packets and clotted the cut with that.

The third time was when I cut through a spring pole. That one sent the saw right between my eyebrows at full throttle. I managed to make it to the house, and than by ambulance, and 20 stitches and 4 days in the hospital.

Here is the spring pole I sawed through...

But there are only two logging accidents: minor ones, and the ones that kill you. All mine have been minor! (LOL)

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I've been keeping up with this thread but when I saw that you had posted here yesterday I backed out and went to another thread, because I alrady knew what you were going to say.
I'm always thankful that you survived and are able to tell the story. :thumbsup:

 

[Skeans1]

Guess I’m old school but a tin lid would go a long way to not having to have those stitches, I spent 10 years production falling in the PNW it’s always been chaps, hard hat(tin lid), ear plugs, safety glasses, and gloves in that time I haven’t been cut other then walking out with a saw on my shoulder. One of the nicer last ones I got to cut before spending the rest of my time in a harvester.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Years ago when clearing up after Hurricane Isabel, I remember there were zillions of spring poles to contend with. They can be tricky little SOBs and will get you, as you experienced. I got real good at nibbling away on the tension side of the wood to relieve the danger, but even that can be problematic. Some of them will shear right down the middle (just like a small barber chair effect) and pop on you anyhow.

When I was sitting in the hospital, I was thinking, "this is no big deal, get right back on that horse and ride," But in real life it was not that way at all. I was pretty gun shy. For the first few weeks I would take the skidder and pull the trees off any spring poles that I saw, but there are a LOT of spring poles in the woods. That just took too long.

I got back to my old logging self after awhile, but it was longer than I cared to admit.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I've been keeping up with this thread but when I saw that you had posted here yesterday I backed out and went to another thread, because I alrady knew what you were going to say.
I'm always thankful that you survived and are able to tell the story. :thumbsup:

I can post the photos of me in the emergency room getting stitches! As my toddler daughter said, "Daddy was a bloody monster."

My wife and the doctor were making jokes about me, but as soon as they started stitching me up my wife got so ill, she had to go into the bathroom. The doctor was so worried about HER that he sent an intern into the bathroom to see if she was alright. It was pretty gory.

I knew the saw hit me without the chain brake going off though, because the guy that went up to shut off my skidder said he saw the blood over the snow, then checked the saw, and the chain brake was not engaged. It was a Stihl MS 461 so it was not a small saw either!

I passed out twice on the way back to the house.

 

[PILOON]

Well I've sawed alone most times but after one incident, close call, I sure study the task for some time B4 attacking.

That one incident was a pile of bulldozed saplings that were quite tangled.
I cut into the most suspect and it sprung lose with a venom.
Dang thing came way too close to parting my hair in a deadly way.
Fortunately I actually 'felt' it coming and ducked, but sure was shaking in my boots.

Hence I spend more time in analysing B4 cutting.
Yep, chain saws are one very dangerous tool, maybe the worst.

Sot of in the mode of 'measure twice, cut once'.

 

[ArlyA]

People who like to saw alone, will bleed out and die alone. With our without a good first aid kit or phone for that matter. For your families sake, do keep your papers in order. :ashamed:

 

[lilranch2001]

I would venture a guess, that most non professionals use a chain saw alone.
Is it dangerous, sure it is, is it a reality, also it is......

I can say in my own circle, most of my friends and neighbors mostly use their saws alone, rarely with another person.

I know also that I am extra vigilent when I am running my saw alone.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Around here, most cable skidder guys have a buddy that they cut with. One drives the skidder, and the other fells the trees.

But my Uncle did that for years, and he realized his buddy was getting half the money, but not doing half the work. So he started cutting alone, and developed techniques that really are productive for a one man operation.

He showed me those techniques, and so I always cut wood alone.

It makes a big difference. My fuel consumption to wood hauled out is pretty good compared to the two-person crews. And two man crews do not get twice as much wood out as a one man logging crew.

 

[yomax4]

After getting Barber chaired I try not to cut "standing" timber alone. Downed and staged stuff sure. Wear the chaps and don't let fatigue get you bleeding.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Guy that cut my dads timber last would cut alone days at a time.

 

[Jstpssng]

It's probably not the best idea, but a lot of us do it.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Dad got hurt once cutting alone, not too bad and I don’t remember the details. Dad cut a lot of timber. Usually one of us kids were with him helping.
I pulled many trees out of the woods with our 8N with the front tires off the ground, steer with the brakes.
Then we got a crawler with winch. Almost killed myself on that once.

 

[s219]

After getting Barber chaired I try not to cut "standing" timber alone. Downed and staged stuff sure. Wear the chaps and don't let fatigue get you bleeding.

Was the barber chair a complete unpredictable surprise, or was it obvious in retrospect?

I am probably too wary of barber chairs, always on the lookout for a situation where one side of the tree is under tension and the other is in compression. Doesn't have to be a leaner for that to happen. In obvious barber chair scenarios, the Coos Bay cut is a winner and will let you cut the tree without producing a shear through the grain that leads to a barber chair.

 

[yomax4]

Was the barber chair a complete unpredictable surprise, or was it obvious in retrospect?

I am probably too wary of barber chairs, always on the lookout for a situation where one side of the tree is under tension and the other is in compression. Doesn't have to be a leaner for that to happen. In obvious barber chair scenarios, the Coos Bay cut is a winner and will let you cut the tree without producing a shear through the grain that leads to a barber chair.

I had cut hundreds of cords of wood and never heard of barber chair. I walked up to a tree that was bent 60 degrees due to an oak tree laying on it. I walked up and touched the trunk with my saw and thwap ! I was down. I came to with my saw idling next to my face and had cuts and abrasions. In retrospect not really obvious at the time. I thought the oak would just take it down. I cut 3 big trees down yesterday with barber chair in mind on each. Likely always consider it going forward.

 

[Garandman]

I had cut hundreds of cords of wood and never heard of barber chair. I walked up to a tree that was bent 60 degrees due to an oak tree laying on it. I walked up and touched the trunk with my saw and thwap ! I was down. I came to with my saw idling next to my face and had cuts and abrasions. //

Leaners always have my attention. Taken to using the tractor FEL to push them down, or rigging a line and pulling it down with a snatch block.

 

[Citydude]

I nicked my chainsaw pants once while limbing a downed tree. That made me question me doing what I was doing alone. I’m 6 miles from anywhere and no cell service.

However, I was clear cutting a swath through my timber to get power up to my property. Having it hired out was outrageously expensive and my friends when logging in 80 degree heat on a pretty steep incline seemed to be busy.,.

The moral is, things need done. So, we do it alone.

 

[Skeans1]

Leaners always have my attention. Taken to using the tractor FEL to push them down, or rigging a line and pulling it down with a snatch block.

I’ve seen guys do this and end up on their lids with a tractor before. There are a few tricks you can do to make the chances of having a barber chair to start with one way was stated earlier a Coos bay style back cut another is fall them 90 to 120 away from the lean with a thinner hinge on the leaning side.

 

[newbury]

I "chainsaw" alone virtually all the time. If I'm going to be doing it while up in a tree or on a roof I try to make sure the wife knows and I'll usually call to say "going up in tree" and "back on ground".

I've had my share of minor accidents usually within shouting distance of the house. Things like a small tree falling wrong and brushing me, getting wapped by a branch springing free.

Well another year and about 30 more hours of chainsaw operation ALONE, mostly spent on cleanup but include felling 2 trees about 24" DBH which included ladder work trimming.
Just keep the pucker factor high, the muscle exhaustion low, figure out the physics of falling trees and you should be ok.
Lot's better than using an ax.

 

[Skeans1]

Just kind of curious what length of bars are most of you guys running?

 

[yomax4]

Just kind of curious what length of bars are most of you guys running?

20" for 98% where I'm at. I have a 28" but seldom have needed it. I use an 026 Pro for limbing and it has a 20 on it as well. Works fine for limbs under 10". A friend swears by his 18" bars.