Post your injury while using a saw.

[ClimberNick]

I got Cut - so thats what it feels like. .

I wanted to share this hope it makes climbers better..

I am about 65 ft up in old Big Maple cutting and Chucking with my ms200t over a tin roof cabin. I am just about finished with the job when I see a 1 foot stub of a branch jetting off the main tree. So I decide to take this 1 foot stub (about 8-10inch wide) off to make the tree look better. I am on rope that is anchored in center of tree about ten feet from this other main shoot with the stub, so to balance I have a good left foot placement and I am on back side of main shoot wit chest up against tree. Left hand is around left side of tree holding onto top of 1ft stub while right hand is on other side of the tree cutting the stub.. I leaned to the right to look at how far I had cut and make sure I leave enough holding wood so I could turn off saw - and with both hands break the what.. 15lb stub off and throw it to the side so it does not fall on cabin and dint the tin roof or worse(I am very high).. Which was something I had been doing all day.. Anyways I was wearing three layers of clothing (it was below 40) and moved my left forearm into the full throttled chain when I looked to see holding wood for the cut. I guess because I could not see my left arm - out of sight out of mind..

Did not feel a thing - Just new that my jacket had been pulled a bit - Realized I had cut my arm - Said to my ground man - I been cut - thats what it feels like -- and proceeded to get myself unstuck for a min while I rained down blood on my man. Then I came down my rope on a grigri.. cut off blood to my arm and waited for ambulance.

God was flat out looking after me that day - so many things could have ended up worse! 6 internal stitches and 14 external - feeling came back to my hand two days latter but doc. said I will never get feeling back in my forearm. I should recover 90% by spring to start fresh with a new mind set for arborist work.

I had never really had much of a desire for tree work - I was just raised with it and was good at it and if I could not climb rocks I would climb trees for money - But I will say this injury has oddly enough made me want to really take arborist work to a whole new level and I plan to fully dedicate myself to mastering the profession!

Thanks in advance -

In Christ,
Nick

 

[derwoodii]

I wanted to share this hope it makes climbers better..

I had never really had much of a desire for tree work - I was just raised with it and was good at it and if I could not climb rocks I would climb trees for money - But I will say this injury has oddly enough made me want to really take arborist work to a whole new level and I plan to fully dedicate myself to mastering the profession!

Thanks in advance -

In Christ,
Nick

welcome to AS nick, stick around much to learn enjoy n share with many tree blokes here.

 

[TreeGuyHR]

I wanted to share this hope it makes climbers better..

I am about 65 ft up in old Big Maple cutting and Chucking with my ms200t over a tin roof cabin. I am just about finished with the job when I see a 1 foot stub of a branch jetting off the main tree. So I decide to take this 1 foot stub (about 8-10inch wide) off to make the tree look better. I am on rope that is anchored in center of tree about ten feet from this other main shoot with the stub, so to balance I have a good left foot placement and I am on back side of main shoot wit chest up against tree. Left hand is around left side of tree holding onto top of 1ft stub while right hand is on other side of the tree cutting the stub.. I leaned to the right to look at how far I had cut and make sure I leave enough holding wood so I could turn off saw - and with both hands break the what.. 15lb stub off and throw it to the side so it does not fall on cabin and dint the tin roof or worse(I am very high).. Which was something I had been doing all day.. Anyways I was wearing three layers of clothing (it was below 40) and moved my left forearm into the full throttled chain when I looked to see holding wood for the cut. I guess because I could not see my left arm - out of sight out of mind..

Did not feel a thing - Just new that my jacket had been pulled a bit - Realized I had cut my arm - Said to my ground man - I been cut - thats what it feels like -- and proceeded to get myself unstuck for a min while I rained down blood on my man. Then I came down my rope on a grigri.. cut off blood to my arm and waited for ambulance.

God was flat out looking after me that day - so many things could have ended up worse! 6 internal stitches and 14 external - feeling came back to my hand two days latter but doc. said I will never get feeling back in my forearm. I should recover 90% by spring to start fresh with a new mind set for arborist work.

I had never really had much of a desire for tree work - I was just raised with it and was good at it and if I could not climb rocks I would climb trees for money - But I will say this injury has oddly enough made me want to really take arborist work to a whole new level and I plan to fully dedicate myself to mastering the profession!

Thanks in advance -

In Christ,
Nick

Hey Nick:

I have been climbing for a while with a saw. One thing I do is ONLY run the saw full bore when I am in position and have all the info I need for that part of the operation -- whether it is cutting a small stub or a the back cut of a 24 in. leader rigged to a block. It is kind of a situational awareness thing. You do this work enough, and it becomes automatic. It is the little bird on your shoulder -- in your case maybe something else (I am agnostic -- that's a joke!).

If you listen to a pro up a tree, they are constantly reving and idling a saw during the process of removing a piece. Why? When doing something like checking holding wood, the saw is idled for two reasons: more cutting might screw up your plan, and anytime you change position, even a little bit to get a look at the cut, you don't want the saw chain moving in case you slip or instinctively brace yourself while shifting weight - such as what you did -- with an arm or leg (too) near the bar.

I never really thought about this until I read your post. You helped me out too.

 

[Bermie]

It reads like several of the accidents here could have been prevented by better use of the chainbrake!
Chainbrake on when you start the saw, chainbrake on when moving around...

Twice now I have avoided injury by putting the chainbrake on before moving around the site, once I stepped in a hole, and once I tripped on brush, both times my hands instinctively tightened and if the chainbrake hadn't been on...
Now if I am still holding the saw with both hands, in addition to the chainbrake being on, I slide my right hand back so its not still on the trigger.

I have lots of little scars on my forefingers/arm and thumbs from the silky handsaw, and a few on my knees and shins! I think one tends to be a little less attentive with a handsaw, but those suckers could take your finger off in one swipe!

I do remember once working in brush up to my shins, wearing chainsaw trousers, felling and cutting up smallish trees. I got back to the refuel site and noticed a pucker in the left knee of my trousers...swinging the saw out to the left, and putting the brake on at the same time, I guess my timing was a bit off, and the chain must still have been moving as the bar swung past my knee...bit of a close call...

Oh yeah, a bad kickback, that I anticipated the potential for, so I made sure I was NOT in the kickback zone, when the saw kicked it whizzed past my ear, so quick the inertia brake did not activate till the bar was past my head. I was cutting a fresh splintered branch and there was a little branch close and above, but too high for me to cut off...splinters made the saw jump a bit and one jump, yup, the tip hit the little banch and BAM, back came the saw.
I ALWAYS check to see where I am in relation to kickback...

 

[Job Corps Tree]

post your injury while using chainsaw

Left hand little finger cut from tip back to hand, Kickback. Don't work tried hold on tight
Left hand index finger one handed cut cut into bone of #2 knuckel. No one handed chainsaw use.
Not to bad fore 32 years , all the rest small stuff

 

[bucknfeller]

Of all the ways one could be injured running a saw this is one I never expected. 12/6/10 was a cold morning here on Maryland's eastern shore, I was putting up a new section of fence on a farm I was caretaking at the time and needed to flush cut a stump on a 24" locust tree I had cut down the day before. So I grabbed the 440 topped off fuel and oil, rested it on a round, hit the decomp (this saw was always stubborn in the morning) grabbed the rope and gave a good hard yank with my left hand and WHAM! The decomp valve popped out about mid stroke and the starter rope snatched back and gave me a terrible jerk. I thought I might have just sprained my wrist so I put the saw down and went on about some other buisness there on the farm for the rest of the day. So I tried to just ignore it as I usually do with minor mishaps but the next morning when I woke up I was numb from the elbow down with fierce pain shooting up my arm. I couldn't ignore it any longer so I went to the local emergency center where I was checked out by a specialist. Turns out I had done some nerve damage in my wrist. So long story short, many many trips to the doctor, a surgery, 3 more specialists and 2 years later I still have pain, limited use, and very little feeling in my left hand. Still don't know what I could have done to prevent that one.

 

[RandyMac]

bucknfeller, you fell victim to the dreaded snapback. You might not have seen much of that with a modern decomp saw, the older saws, decomp or not, could be quite savage. With some McCullochs, snapbacks are a matter of course, some were particularly evil in this respect, broken cases and ropes, as well as fingers occurred. There are ways to prevent this type of injury during start up.

 

[bucknfeller]

bucknfeller, you fell victim to the dreaded snapback. You might not have seen much of that with a modern decomp saw, the older saws, decomp or not, could be quite savage. With some McCullochs, snapbacks are a matter of course, some were particularly evil in this respect, broken cases and ropes, as well as fingers occurred. There are ways to prevent this type of injury during start up.

Wish I would have broken the rope.... could have fixed that in 5 mins. They can't seem to fix my hand, guess I'm going to have to live with that forever. I'd like to know how to prevent it if you could share that with me. That saw belonged to the farm I was working on, so I just replaced the decomp valve and never used it again. None of my saws have ever done it to me (knock on wood) . I do worry about the 281xp though, it is very tight and it could be bad if it did.

 

[expertech]

Placerville, California, many years ago. A routine power company removal. I just busted the top out of a "Small" Ponderosa ( a little over 100 feet) using my climbing rope. Started bucking the trunk on my way down. I was young but no rookie by any means but I was in a hurry. I sunk my saw into the trunk and my damn flip line hitch slipped and out of reflex I grabbed the tree. The tip of the saw caught my hand and it just walked all the way up my arm to the elbow. So, needless to say, it was a long climb down and a longer trip out of the mountains to the hospital. Moral of my story... Trust your knots and never, never, NEVER give up your climbing rope for any reason. Even if you don't need it, take it up with you anyway. Oh yeah, 180 stitches. A mere flesh wound!

 

[expertech]

I had never really had much of a desire for tree work - I was just raised with it and was good at it
Nick

I feel you man!

 

[CountryBoy72]

I Have always just cut in my jeans, steel toed boots, husky hard hat with muffs an visor. Resting the saw on my hip/thigh was a normal thing. Touched the jeans a few times over the years, that smartened me up quite quickly. Three years ago we bought a new house, with acreage. Was out with the 365SP w/24" B/C. Brushing out trails, clearing trails for a fence. It was mid summer an about 30 degrees out, had been going at it pretty hard. It was near the end of the day, was brushing out my last trail. Got to the end an had just finished cutting the last limb, more tired than I had realized. It happened so quickly too. No sooner had I cut the last limb, released the throttle, set the saw on my hip. Seconds later, not aware that I was letting the tip drop towards my knee. Before the saw stopped the chain grabbed my jeans, dug into my knee. Good thing the saw was slowing down. I had just sharpened the saw, I was also using the clear environmentally friendly Husky bar oil, wearing good old wrangler jeans. Before I could hit the chain brake or lift the saw back up, it did its damage.

Put a make shift bandage on an jumped in the truck. Then off to mom's to drop off the boys an then head for the emergency room. Doctor was surprised how clean the cuts were, seeing that chainsaws usually turn flesh not hamburger. Guess I sharpened it good Doctor scrubbed it out good with iodine an stitched it up. Six on the inside an seven stitches on the outside. An a Tetanus shot, which hurt more than the cutting, freezing an stitching part. I got really lucky an didn't hit the knee cap, or an ligaments or tendons.

Get out of the Emergency, as good as new :msp_rolleyes:. First thing I do, before I head to moms to pick up the boys. I head to the store, BUY BUCKING/FALLERS PANTS. I know a little too late but, live an learn. I don't CUT EVER WITHOUT MY KEVLAR pants on now.

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