Chain Break Mania

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In all areas of life; industrial accidents, wilderness accidents, auto accidents, skydiving accidents, equipment accidents, etc ,etc, etc, there are 2 prominent categories of people most prone to being involved in an accident.

1. The new guy, cherry, boot, whatever you want to call them. They don't have the experience or knowledge to know what they don't know. They make mistakes and take risks without a thought of "what if". They take risks because they don't know any better.

2. The senior, most experienced guy. The "expert". They've done it all, seen it all, know it all, and due to their superior skillset, can become complacent, which leads to accidents and uh-ohs. I run from these guys. Fast. They take risks because they know everything.

I used to teach high-angle mountin rescue, wilderness search&rescue, swiftwater rescue, industrial rope and confined space rescue, firefighter 1&2, chainsaw operator courses for the fire service and fire academies, wilderness medicine, industrial safety, yada, yada, yada. Been there, done that, got some groovy t-shirts along the way.

I wear a seatbelt because it may give me a slight advantage to making it home tonight. I wear PPE when doing just about any activity that can prevent me from enjoying another moment with my family. I also kick the chain break on if I am moving a few steps or sitting the saw down on uneven terrain.

You do you. I'll do me. My time from here on out is a gift that is too important to me to care whether you take every precaution you can to enjoy life.
 
Meanwhile, your smaller saws are the ones more likely to kick..

I've met two guys in my life with that telltale scar right across their face. I probably met a few with an unseen scar across their shoulder..and others..

Me, I'm not interested in owning a saw without a chain brake. Well I am (because there are so many good saws without them) but I probably won't, just because I'm skeered. I generally do more limbing than bucking and mostly drop snags and leaners, rather than live anything. Lots of potential for pinches and kicks and such.
If it makes u feel better the ones without brakes I only use when it’s below zero and I have gloves on. So I got a good layer of carhart to get through. If it wants my face I guess I’m screwed. Luckily iv never had a incident that involves being bitten by a chainsaw except sharpening with a junk file pushing real hard and the file broke. That one bit me a little bit I forgave it beings it was my fault lol
 
Ive noticed new chainsaw trainees use the chain break incessantly between cuts. The perfunctory click, click, click and more click drives me crazy. I know the most common injuries are from tripping into a rotating chain, but with these new saws that’s even less likely to happen unless the throttle lock is broken, which would be way more stupid than clicking the chain break to death. Are there any other chain break addicts out there?
. . . I’m just wondering what you think is going to happen if you’re not clicking that break on and off all the time and wearing it out for the time you may really need it.

I do, and that is what we teach. Chain brake 'ON' when starting (like a parking brake), and any time the operator takes a few steps. When someone trips, while carrying a running saw, it is likely that they will grip the handle tighter, activating the throttle interlock and trigger. If the brake is on they might still fall on top of a non-moving chain, but that is far less serious. I encourage students to activate the chain brake when not planning another cut for several seconds; I have seen chains hit chaps while the chain is slowing down and the sawyer it occupied looking at their next cut. This is an additional purpose to the 'emergency brake' function due to a kickback.

Is it the clicking sound that annoys you, or the practice? I barely hear it over the noise of saws, and with hearing protection, but it does provide feedback that the brake is engaged.

As far as 'wearing it out', that is unlikely, but something that is easy to check and repair (if needed) as part of normal maintenance.

Seriously, if you ran saws for a decade or two that never came with a chain brake, then it's highly unlikely you will suddenly start clicking that appendage on-off-on-off constantly as you go about your cutting task.
Most of us that are old enough we learned to safely operate all machinery without safety features and now today all machines are becoming loaded down with perceived safety features. They are supposed to take over from what`s between the ears. I don`t remove the chainbrake handles any more but I am not about to set the brake every time I move.

Most of these safety features are not due to 'perceived' risks, but due to large numbers of actual injuries. Just like safety glass and seat belts in motor vehicles. We often face the 'survivor bias', where a bunch of guys who have never been hurt in a certain way declare that it must be 'safe', because they survived, but the ones who were hurt (or killed) are not there to present the other side. Granted, learning new methods can be challenging or take time. There are a lot of things that I used to do, that I no longer do that way, because I understand the risks.

More than two steps, on goes the brake. New saws are ergonomically designed for it, so it's no nuisance whatsoever for the operator.

It becomes an automatic motion to engage the brake with your left wrist, and to disengage it when preparing to cut. Don't even think about it. I see some new students struggle to get this, often trying to reach over with their right hand to operate the brake - something we try to address very quickly.

Philbert
 
I do, and that is what we teach. Chain brake 'ON' when starting (like a parking brake), and any time the operator takes a few steps. When someone trips, while carrying a running saw, it is likely that they will grip the handle tighter, activating the throttle interlock and trigger. If the brake is on they might still fall on top of a non-moving chain, but that is far less serious. I encourage students to activate the chain brake when not planning another cut for several seconds; I have seen chains hit chaps while the chain is slowing down and the sawyer it occupied looking at their next cut. This is an additional purpose to the 'emergency brake' function due to a kickback.

Is it the clicking sound that annoys you, or the practice? I barely hear it over the noise of saws, and with hearing protection, but it does provide feedback that the brake is engaged.

As far as 'wearing it out', that is unlikely, but something that is easy to check and repair (if needed) as part of normal maintenance.




Most of these safety features are not due to 'perceived' risks, but due to large numbers of actual injuries. Just like safety glass and seat belts in motor vehicles. We often face the 'survivor bias', where a bunch of guys who have never been hurt in a certain way declare that it must be 'safe', because they survived, but the ones who were hurt (or killed) are not there to present the other side. Granted, learning new methods can be challenging or take time. There are a lot of things that I used to do, that I no longer do that way, because I understand the risks.



It becomes an automatic motion to engage the brake with your left wrist, and to disengage it when preparing to cut. Don't even think about it. I see some new students struggle to get this, often trying to reach over with their right hand to operate the brake - something we try to address very quickly.

Philbert
I have seen seat belts go both ways they can either help or hurt. My boss rolled this roll back and if he had his seat belt on would have died. The steering wheel hit the seat so hard it cut though the leather
F354AF5A-4813-4A97-9461-DE0AEE183D06.jpeg
38D25064-DCE6-4B92-B8DE-914CC8579184.jpeg

Not saying I don’t wear mine or believe in them but sometimes I wonder if I should
 
I have seen seat belts go both ways they can either help or hurt.
The exceptions are small, compared to the number of lives saved.

People used to regularly get impaled by their steering wheels or have their heads crushed against a spidered windshield. Guys who get 'thrown clear' would often break their necks, or get rolled over by the vehicle they were thrown from (this still happens a lot on farm tractors).

So, yeah, there are exceptions, which often get over emphasized in anecdotes. But I don't know of many folks who were hurt because they had their chain brake 'on'.

Philbert
 
The exceptions are small, compared to the number of lives saved.

People used to regularly get impaled by their steering wheels or have their heads crushed against a spidered windshield. Guys who get 'thrown clear' would often break their necks, or get rolled over by the vehicle they were thrown from (this still happens a lot on farm tractors).

So, yeah, there are exceptions, which often get over emphasized in anecdotes. But I don't know of many folks who were hurt because they had their chain brake 'on'.

Philbert
I agree with the chain brake and the seat belt thing. No trying to prove anything against you. When I was in high school a kid also got his throat cut with a seat belt when they lost it and hit a hard snow bank and bled to death. My boss was very lucky he ended up on the passengers floor. He broke several ribs and bunch of stuff in his shoulder. I’m still straightening out the skid steer that was on the truck which has been a nightmare
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More than two steps, on goes the brake.

Same here. I do it with a flick of the wrist.

I think of it the same way I think of a "safety" on a gun when hunting. If I might need another shot without taking a step, I'll keep the safety off momentarily. If I take a step, the safety goes back on. It's not a problem, takes about a quarter-second to turn off or on.

The only major difference between doing it with a saw versus doing it with a gun is, I'm much more likely to trip/stumble/fall with the saw than with the gun, due to downed branches, logs, brush, divots out of the dirt, etc. It's bad enough to fall with a non-moving chain, let alone one that got accidentally throttled. And falling with a long gun, even with the safety off, is probably not gonna be as dangerous as falling with a saw without the brake engaged.

Gypo, do you see something wrong with this practice, or does it just bug you?

What can possibly happen if you don’t do the chain break boogie unless the chain is rotating at idle?

I dunno, I guess you could trip on some slash and fall, and on the way down, some brush (or your finger) could catch on the throttle and open it just long enough to reach WOT before your forearm slams down on the bar...?

Might be a rare, once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, but that's all it would take.

To me, adding half a second to every move to turn on/off the brake is worth reducing that risk, even if only infinitesimally. To others, maybe not. To each their own. Just because someone doesn't wear condoms with hookers doesn't mean he should make fun of those who do...why do you even care?
 
A functioning chain brake saved a guy from ever getting hurt with his saw. I was out bike riding one summer evening and a fellow was cleaning up his tools after some yard
work. He had gathered up everything except a larger electric (120 v.a.c) chainsaw. It was beside the road. I said to him that he forgot his saw. He said back to me that it was seized and was junk and to take it if you want it. I went over and picked it up and CLICK, the brake was on! I yelled back a "Thank You" as I rode off home. See, using a chain brake saved him from a saw injury from that saw for the rest of his life.
I use the brake on my 066 all the time as I a mostly dropping trees with it.
 
I really hate health and safety over-measures but I like to have the break there as peace of mind. I think I would use the tip and back of the bar a lot less if it wasnt there, but then again I grew up with chain breaks.
I think experience, know how, common sense, staying alert, not being under the influence and risk assessment are much better health and safety tools than chain breaks and protective clothing. I wear chaps and helmet when I'm in the woods but not when I'm bucking firewood in the yard because there is less chance of me falling over and landing on the saw or the saw landing on me.

I have this neighbour who fancies himself a scientist (well, in some ways he is). A couple of years ago he and my dad clear felled a few acres of ash with the help of a digger. Now this neighbour of ours is an accident waiting to happen, he is one of those guys who applies theory to everything he does. He reads something out of a book or off the internet and applies it without any prior experience. In this instance this involved having the chain on his 18' sprocket nose bar about as loose as it could go. And yet no one got hurt. No chaps, helmets, gloves or chain breaks and this idiot running a chain hanging from his bar like Christmas lights.
 
Yes, I use it for drilling hole for pining log cabins together, I run straight wood bits or a Jacob’s 3/4 chuck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I hope all you clickers out there are keenly aware that clicking that brake on-off 200 times a day will not prevent most chainsaw injuries. Number one injury cause is kickback - not something clicking will prevent, and may actually cause you to be injured if you wore your chainbrake out clicking it 10,000 times. Number 2 is blind cutting (think your feet or lower extremities) - again not prevented by clicking. Then there is fatigue... clicking may help you there if you are tired and walking through uneven terrain and have both hands on the saw - otherwise, nope, clicking won't help if you are a tired cutter who momentarily loses control of the saw. Not to mention, if you fall with two hands on the saw after clicking and the chainbrake handle hits something and deactivates on your way down, you still may be injured. So don 't walk around with 2 hands on the saw.

I like having a chainbrake. Only time I've been injured, a chainbrake would have saved me going to the hospital. Clicking would not have helped as it was a kickback injury (to my hand).
 
I could be all wrong but I thought chain brakes were originally designed to (maybe) lock when a saw kicks back. It seems over the years the safety police have piled on extra safety stuff on the chain brake.

Whatever safety reasons for the chain brake these days could be accomplished just as well by turning the saw off with the exception using one while starting one which seems to be recommended these days.
 
Cut wood long enough, you will. I'm not in the habit of using my chainbrake, but if I'm going to move and there is a possibility of slipping, or tripping, I usually do. I'm not adverse to using safety equipment, but I'm not paranoid either. You ever rode a motorcycle with a paranoid person beside you? Not pleasant..
 

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