Chain brake or no chain brake?

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I believe chain breaks have saved alot of home owners from bad cuts or death. chain breaks might be a pain in the a$$ for pros, but is a must for those just starting out.....

There are two types of dangerous apathy/inattention. One comes from ignorance, and one comes from experience.
 
Doesn't matter if you've been cutting decades without incident. Safety is about what happens in the unusual situation, not the usual one. Even if a brake only saves you in 1 out of a million cuts, once you strike that 1 in a million it's paid for itself. The fact that you may have made 999,999 cuts without incident makes no difference to your cut leg or neck.

Space, I think you finally posting something thoughtful and true. It took 999,999 attempts, but you have finally gotten there.

I jest, good post Space.
:cheers:
 
I agree,well put.Seems that there is definitly two very strong opinions.Like I stated previous,I think Ill sort a brake for the 61,its a model that didnt come with one so mite be pricey,but with the history it has I really dont want to see it getting fat:heart:
 
Chainbrakes are good most of the time, but overhyped, they can let you down, they're forever playing up, they can even cause accidents by jamming on you and stuff, they won't always save your ass when you really want them to, on the job, of the last three workers I've seen cut, all of them had chainbrakes, carelessness is what it is and fekk-all to do with a chainsaws safety features, if there's no chainbrake then use the saw accordingly.

P.S. OSH can go KMA
 
Well.. lots of great opinions here... And as some have stated... Chain Brakes can save you from many things.. except poor or careless use of your saw.. At 62 years young, and countless hundreds of cordes of wood and trees cut.. there have been some scary moments.. But not even one that could have resulted in being cut by the saw.. I have never owned a Saw with a chain brake..

The lesson of the day... Lean how to use your saw.. Be completely situational awear of everything around you... wear “all” of your safety gear... hard hat, eye protection, ear protection, chainsaw pants, boots and gloves.. I purchased all of my saws in the 1980’s... no chain brakes.. They are running as good today as the first day... But would not hesitate for a second to purchase a new Saw or use one with a brake... if one of my old girls gives up the ghost.
But the idea of tossing the old saws on the mantle because they don’t have brakes... because they are “now” considered unsafe.. Makes me giggle .
 
I was a logging contractor for many years.I still cut my own fire wood and maintain many miles of trails on my trap line here in north western Ontario.I have saws with and with out chain brakes. I do not hesitate to use either one but prefer the ones with brakes.
When you are bucking a skid load on the landing into eight foot you really have to watch for kick back especialy when your rakers are set low.
Years ago I met a 20 year old kid the side of his face looked like a zipper he was bucking with a saw with no chain brake and had a bar with the old round roller on the tip the saw kicked back and the rest is history.
Almost every time I cut that comes to mind and I pay a little more attention.
Kash
 
My 61 doesnt have a chain brake,was passed down from my step dad(Richard,who now has a 350),this saw has seen a lot of use,and he hasnt had a problem,although he treated it with more respect than my mum.......touchy subject,gotta meet my Mum.
Any way a guy come into work and he works for a logging company,I was quizzing him about "stuff"(as you do),and got onto the 61(with out the chain brake),he basicly said too through the piece of :dizzy: into the rubbish...
Told this too Richard who just laughed:).
Ive used this saw many times and treat it with the respect it deserves but am I rite in thinking that people are relying too heavily on saftey features than commen sence??

I would never run a saw without a chain brake. It’s not so much that I’m afraid of it getting loose in a cut but, I always use the brake when starting them and when they are being walked around at idle. At a company I used to work a guy almost bled to death because he cut his leg with a saw that wasn’t even in the cut, he just dropped it on his leg and had not happened to set the brake. The saw was still idling and pulling the chain....and he wasn’t wearing chaps.
 
I would never run a saw without a chain brake. It’s not so much that I’m afraid of it getting loose in a cut but, I always use the brake when starting them and when they are being walked around at idle. At a company I used to work a guy almost bled to death because he cut his leg with a saw that wasn’t even in the cut, he just dropped it on his leg and had not happened to set the brake. The saw was still idling and pulling the chain....and he wasn’t wearing chaps.

Sounds like he would have cut himself even with a brake. Chaps would have saved him, a properly setup saw that returns to the right idle rpm might have but I've seen stationary chains even on brakes cut people from pulling on it or falling on it.

It's actually kind of hard to engage the brake, you need to be holding the saw just right so your arm can hit the flag and really let it rotate in your hands with a light grip. When I've had a kickback from doing something dumb it ends up pushing my arms up and my body back and not rotating the saw my hands in a way that would activate the brake. My only saw with an inertial brake is the pole saw.
 
Sounds like he would have cut himself even with a brake. Chaps would have saved him, a properly setup saw that returns to the right idle rpm might have but I've seen stationary chains even on brakes cut people from pulling on it or falling on it.

It's actually kind of hard to engage the brake, you need to be holding the saw just right so your arm can hit the flag and really let it rotate in your hands with a light grip. When I've had a kickback from doing something dumb it ends up pushing my arms up and my body back and not rotating the saw my hands in a way that would activate the brake. My only saw with an inertial brake is the pole saw.
 
Im


I’m with you I guess I’m kind of safety nerd, when my saws not pulling chain the brake is always on. It annoys people sometimes because I may hit the brake 10-20 times in an hour. I see it as a way to reduce risk, especially when starting not from the ground. If the dude would have adhered to that it could have prevented the injury, I think his deal was the saw wasn’t running right, the clutch dragged at idle. It was oilfield and they were using chainsaws to cut poly pipe. It can’t tell you how many saws got burnt up just because everyone had a different idea of how to mix gas or store stuff with fuel in it. They used veg oil for bar oil, as regular oil would wad up the chunks of plastic.
 
I have 32 saws in the stable....2 have chain brakes. You want to run a saw that has a brake...fine. You want to run without, that's fine too. You have to treat the machine with respect, whether it has a brake or not.
To hear howls from the peanut gallery that it is crimminal/stupid/immoral/ insert whatever here, to run without, is just ridiculous. Be responsible for your choice and know your limitations. A chain brake is not the be all end all of sawing safety. If it was, there would not be any old time woodsman around from the good ol' days before the safety nazis.
Just my humble view.....take it as you wish.

Drew

You think the chain brake Nazis are bad, you ought to own a buzz saw that's run with a flat belt!!! You'd think I was dumping toxic radioactive waste on puppies and kittens before setting them on fire!
 
There are plenty of videos of clowns getter nailed with chain brake saws.

I really don't think any of you are so frail that you couldn't stop a kickback from even a large saw, it's not paying the f@ck attention and not being ready that gets you a gash. If the saw comes with one, fine keep it working. No way I'm tossing a good model old saw cause it didn't have one. My 288xp came with the brake screwed up with a mount ear busted, it's been ported, decked, runs a bigger driver and LGX chain always. It's kicked back on me a time or two, but I'm always ready for it, hence I still have my head.
 
It's not that its a 9 year old thread, it's that its a 29+ year old question that should never have been entertained as early as 9 yrs ago. Are you kidding me?
True, probably as late as '87 in BC Fallers would remove the brakes because they would ingauge when backbaring in positions in big wood. They were use to not having them and the early ones were not inertia brakes but manual So they won't stop the kickback but were the second to last line of defence.

When I was tree thinning in '93 a young guy got killed with the company I worked. 21 yrs old. 266 with a 16" bar in the neck. Steep ground you are blasting trees off the next ridge at neck hight often. No chain brake. That was the end of that company and he was a big wheel back then. I can't honestly remember if the 266 had an inertia brake then? I thought all the little saws I used had them by then. I'd like to think so,all though they were not as good as today.
I respected what the brake could do for me a year before that accident and replaced them before use. I remember paying $90 for a complete side cover in '92 for a 262 up north province and $37 for a little chain on the Island at Walker's saw shop. Funny I can buy 36" chains there now as a Faller for just over $30 and almost 30 yrs later. Talking about having to pay your dues.


Inertia brakes all the way. They have changed the industry, we changed are approach.

You are not going to go to war without your helmet and gear or race dragsters in a pair of shorts. I don't roll without my lines of defence either.
 
Again if you aren't ready and you aren't paying attention the chain break very well might not help either. In my opinion it just makes people less intimidated because they think they have a safety device that will make up for their mishaps.
 
Chainbrake is a nice feature.
I've got four old saws that don't have a brake, and I wouldn't mind if they did. I'd convert one of them if it wasn't for the cost, or if it saw regular use.

Even if you never have a kickback that activates the brake, it's nice to use while filing the chain.
Or you could set it when your carrying a running saw.
Or sometimes I set it if the saw is sitting idling. Never know what a saw is thinking, could possibly surge and spin the chain.

Nothing wrong with having a chain brake.
 
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