NEK VT
ArboristSite Operative
How many people been sawing for years with no injurys... and how many have gotten kickbacks... and trees on them?
Injury
- Thread starter NEK VT
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
I have been operating a saw for a living for 2.5 years, longer as a homeowner. Only time(knock on wood
) I have been cut by one is when I forgot my leather gloves while sharpening chains and slipped. I DO however have FULL WRAP Chaps that I wear at all times I'm cutting. the second part of your question I don't understand? are you asking if people get kickback? also if anyone has ever had a tree land on them? Kickback happens to everyone would be my guess. Make sure you have PPE and ALWAYS maintain proper grip on your saw, inspect at the beginning of each day to make sure the chain brake functions properly, and you should be fine. And yes, I have been hit by trees, but they were very small, and I was very lucky. Word to the wise, ALWAYS know where the other tree fellers are at. Could save you lots of suffering and pain.
) I have been cut by one is when I forgot my leather gloves while sharpening chains and slipped. I DO however have FULL WRAP Chaps that I wear at all times I'm cutting. the second part of your question I don't understand? are you asking if people get kickback? also if anyone has ever had a tree land on them? Kickback happens to everyone would be my guess. Make sure you have PPE and ALWAYS maintain proper grip on your saw, inspect at the beginning of each day to make sure the chain brake functions properly, and you should be fine. And yes, I have been hit by trees, but they were very small, and I was very lucky. Word to the wise, ALWAYS know where the other tree fellers are at. Could save you lots of suffering and pain.
Austin1
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have been Cutting fire wood for my home for 12 years now and maybe I have been lucking but NO INJURY'S yet! I do were ppe all the time. It goes back to when I was young and stupid and Was a fire fighter. We were drilled into the safety thing! I did get burned once by a stray ember anybody who has been near a big Forrest fire would know what is flying in the air! It fell down the front of my shirt as I was drinking water so I poured the water down my shirt Funny dance and all No real damage done but it was funny to see me dancing and hopping around! To me the guy's who climb trees and use a saw up there are Crazy It just seems so dangerous I have allot of respect for them. I would'nt know how to use my saw in the top of a tree! Maybe some of them will answer this post I would like to here from them climbers!
livewire
Addicted to ArboristSite
Ruined a pair of pants (close call, no chaps). Other than that I cut my finger once when I rotated the chain around the bar without gloves...but it wasn't serious. The saw was off and on my bench, btw...
here's a good smiley for the thread--->
here's a good smiley for the thread--->
TooTall999
ArboristSite Operative
I've been cutting firewood and pulp for about 15 years without injury (knock on wood)I wear chaps,helmet with faceshield and hearing protection,gloves and good boots whenever I'm cutting.It only takes a split second to produce a lifetime scar or worse when running a saw.
I climb with saws. Nothing like taking chunks out of a tree while your still in it. somebody here has addressed this in their sig line: "I used to run with scissors, now I climb with Chainsaws."
alderman
Addicted to ArboristSite
A couple of close calls
I too have cut pants on a kick back. Chaps are on now when the saw is running. I also had a very small branch come out of a tree I was falling. Pointy end hit the top of my head. Hurt enough that I always wear a hard hat when working on anything over my head. I have one of the chainsaw helmets with the ear muffs and face shield that I wear most of the time when I'm using the saw.
I too have cut pants on a kick back. Chaps are on now when the saw is running. I also had a very small branch come out of a tree I was falling. Pointy end hit the top of my head. Hurt enough that I always wear a hard hat when working on anything over my head. I have one of the chainsaw helmets with the ear muffs and face shield that I wear most of the time when I'm using the saw.
Austin1
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was called crazy for cutting down burning tree's But those who can climb like squirrels are nuts!
troutfisher
Addicted to ArboristSite
I had a 7000 Partner kick back on me. It pulled the D-handle from my left hand and the chain hit me on the back of the hand. Dislocated my middle finger, cut the little chords that make yer fingers work. I spent 8 weeks in a cast and a couple months in Pysical therapy gettin my hand to work again. I make a funny looking fist now, but it works pretty good. I can still play my guitar!
romeo
Addicted to ArboristSite
I seem to injure myself more when working on saws than running them. Guess I've been careful or lucky (KNOCK ON WOOD).
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2004
- Messages
- 2,095
- Reaction score
- 277
I took a bit off the top of my kneecap in the days before I wore PPE. Now, I take no chances. After seeing what is talked about here, I feel darn lucky that all I did was dent my kneecap.
Been using wood for 30 years, but only started cutting 12 years ago. I have not experienced kickback, yet. I try to always know where I am cutting(where the bar is) and have a good grip on the saw.
Considering how little I knew when I started, I am just lucky I have only had one encounter with the "steel sabre"!
Been using wood for 30 years, but only started cutting 12 years ago. I have not experienced kickback, yet. I try to always know where I am cutting(where the bar is) and have a good grip on the saw.
Considering how little I knew when I started, I am just lucky I have only had one encounter with the "steel sabre"!
MAG58
ArboristSite Guru
I've been cutting firewood and done storm cleanup for over 16 years without injury, and I have always used full PPE. And like "romeo", I seem to injure myself more when working on saws than running them.
:greenchainsaw:
:greenchainsaw:
Last edited:
SawTroll
Information Collector
I have never had an injury, and until a few years ago, I used no PPE whatsoever, and mostly the Jreds 621 with no safety features - have been been pictured sawing in boxer shorts and sandals ( but not on a digital camera)..........:help:
Btw, some protective trousers are quite wide, so you may nip them, even though it was no danger of cutting yourself if you didn't wear them - have done that a few times when brushcutting..........
Last edited:
MikeInParadise
ArboristSite Guru
Unfortunately when I was wee lad in my early teens, my Dad sent me out to clear several acres with a little mac and I was limbing a tree I had cut down while walking up it and the tree fell over. The chain was spinning and caught my knee and I still have the scars to this day.
Funny thing is I was so scared that he would get mad that I never told my parents about it. Just kept it bandaged up and told them I twisted it.
Of course that was close to 40 years ago and that has been my only accident.
Funny if you sent your kid out like that today and they hurt themselves you would have to deal with child services.
Geesh..Mag.. those pictures could be take out at my woodlot... Looks similar type of bush...I took these pictures today...
Funny thing is I was so scared that he would get mad that I never told my parents about it. Just kept it bandaged up and told them I twisted it.
Of course that was close to 40 years ago and that has been my only accident.
Funny if you sent your kid out like that today and they hurt themselves you would have to deal with child services.
Geesh..Mag.. those pictures could be take out at my woodlot... Looks similar type of bush...I took these pictures today...
XJWoody
ArboristSite Guru
Bloddy knuckles aside, my only real 'injury' was dropping a dead pine, maybe 6" / 30 feet high? I made my notch & back cut, then ske-daddled down my escape path... stopped & turned around just in time to see that dang tree heading my way (and about 5' above me at this point -yikes!!!) I got one giant side-step off before the top came crashing down around me. Got a few little scrapes on my arm... Was really lucky - no hard hat on & coulda easily got skulled.
Another close call was limbing up a big oak that was not quite down (multi-tree blowdown mess from Hurricane Fran) I was sawing up over my head with the little 41, eyed the 'bind' wrong, and was in the midst of wrasslin the bar out of it's pinch (throttle WFO) when the chain de-railed. It swung back/down and just tickled the tip of my nose. Dammit but a little .325 chain looks freakin HUGE at point-blank range. Not even a scratch, but got a good schooling.
PPE is no cure for stupidity, but in these two cases, it would have lessened the risk of serious injury.
Another close call was limbing up a big oak that was not quite down (multi-tree blowdown mess from Hurricane Fran) I was sawing up over my head with the little 41, eyed the 'bind' wrong, and was in the midst of wrasslin the bar out of it's pinch (throttle WFO) when the chain de-railed. It swung back/down and just tickled the tip of my nose. Dammit but a little .325 chain looks freakin HUGE at point-blank range. Not even a scratch, but got a good schooling.
PPE is no cure for stupidity, but in these two cases, it would have lessened the risk of serious injury.
SawTroll
Information Collector
Well, I have had several 3-4" birch saplings (353 and FS200 stuff) hit my head, but I still refuse to use a helmet..........
jrclen
ArboristSite Operative
Not yet. I've been cutting firewood most of my life, and did some pulp cutting years ago. Very little PPE, dumb on my part. Three weeks ago I made 4 2" slashes clean through the leather on the top of my work boot. Never snagged the sock. Very lucky. When I handle a chainsaw I am very aware and focused. Those suckers are dangerous. I did get 87 stitches in my leg from a circular saw when I was a teenager.
I have thousand of hours sawing without ppe but now where it all the time. Figure I'm done gamblin with the reaper. Probably come from old school macho suspender carharts and a hickory shirt. Only injury I have had was way back when in high school forestry. Running an 045 in a big Cotton wood my hand went instantly numb. First thing I looked at my chain to see if I had thrown it. Nope. looked around and a class mate 30 feet away was wondering why his saw wouldn't cut any more. Nice stream of blood coming off my wrist right by that big thumb tendon. Fortunately a lot of bandaging and I was OK. When sawing around other people I always check the flight path of their chains and stay out of it. Never had a major kick back event.
Tree Sling'r
Addicted to ArboristSite
In 99' I was cutting the last tree of the season - just off the landing when a 41' doug fir log caught my eye - then me. A cat skinner accidently knocked it loose.
Broke my right leg in five different places (femur twice) shot my artery out of the back of my knee, lost all but one pint of blood. Four broken ribs, broken nose, broken teeth and crapped my pants.
After a flight - I went through 8 hours of surgery and recieved a permanent rod above and below the knee, a 7 inch pin in my hip, four screws in my knee, and three in my ankle.
A year and a half later I was free squating 400 pounds, jogging and back to around 85%.
A year and a half after that I went back to falling timber.
Other injurys: lots of cuts - all on my arms - from falling in slash or off logs and cutting myself on my chain.
True story BTW.
Broke my right leg in five different places (femur twice) shot my artery out of the back of my knee, lost all but one pint of blood. Four broken ribs, broken nose, broken teeth and crapped my pants.
After a flight - I went through 8 hours of surgery and recieved a permanent rod above and below the knee, a 7 inch pin in my hip, four screws in my knee, and three in my ankle.
A year and a half later I was free squating 400 pounds, jogging and back to around 85%.
A year and a half after that I went back to falling timber.
Other injurys: lots of cuts - all on my arms - from falling in slash or off logs and cutting myself on my chain.
True story BTW.
I had a large chunk of wood hit me square in the eye, while splitting. I was wearing safety glasses, which steamed up to the point of being useless. I took them off as I only had a few logs to go. Happened so quick, it made me drop to my knees. I was afraid to open my eye, which I had covered with my hand. I thought I had lost it. When I had gained the guts to open it all I saw was red. This made me think I did lose it. I rushed off to the emergency room. It was determined I had a hematoma of the inner eyeball. What had happened was the wood chunk hit with such force, it caused the bloodvessels inside my eyeball to burst. I had to sleep upright in a chair for two weeks. This kept the blood settled down at the bottom of my eye, out of my field of vision. Where my body could absorb it. Evertime I would accidently bend down, the blood would fill my vision up again. After many steriod drops and eye checkups it appears to have healed. I will never again take off my safety glasses. If the steam up I will quit, before I risk another incident like that.
Similar threads
