Hey i have never used a saw before but just got a stihl ms 170. after reading everything about kickbacks I am a little weary of it. Will a tip guard prevent kickbacks? Also, where could I get a tip guard from?? I wouldn't use it forever, but just till I get use to using a chainsaw. ALso, has anyone ever seen this kickback protector?check out the link. http://www.safeguardventures.com/default.html#features
Tip guard
- Thread starter blizzard
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I can't imagine running a saw with a tip guard. Just be aware of the tips location at all times. The top of the tip is the area that will cause a kickback. Just learn to use it properly and you'll be better off.
Zackman1801
ArboristSite Guru
in the 2 years ive run a chainsaw ive never had a serious kickback, mabey hit something with the tip at low speed after cutting through a log on a woodpile and had the saw rattle some. but really the only way to stop a kickback is to watch your tip, and have good common sense. youll be ok, just watch where your cutting, but you should be doing that anyways. :greenchainsaw:
Kickback...an overplayed fear used to sell rubbish to people, primarily non-commercial saw users who don't know better and haven't received any competent instruction on saw use in the first place, whether from an experienced human or a respected text.
Use your brain and you'll be fine. A saw of that size couldn't induce very much force into a kickback even if it wanted to really badly. Now a total novice setting to work with a 70cc+ machine, then we might have something to discuss. But an MS170? Not so much.
But if you need to slap some silly gadget on your saw, go for it.
Use your brain and you'll be fine. A saw of that size couldn't induce very much force into a kickback even if it wanted to really badly. Now a total novice setting to work with a 70cc+ machine, then we might have something to discuss. But an MS170? Not so much.
But if you need to slap some silly gadget on your saw, go for it.
Tzed250
Addicted to ArboristSite
One important thing to remember is to keep your left thumb wrapped around the handlebar. This lets the inertia chainbrake work correctly. Watch the upper quadrant of the bar nose and you will be OK.
Erick
Addicted to ArboristSite
Just when you thought you'd seen everything. 
That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
Blizzard, follow the advice above, learn the proper way to use a chainsaw and use your head.
Keep the safety chains on until you are comfortable with the saw, and wear your PPE....... you do have PPE right???
That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
Blizzard, follow the advice above, learn the proper way to use a chainsaw and use your head.
Keep the safety chains on until you are comfortable with the saw, and wear your PPE....... you do have PPE right???
Erick, I'm here to ask questions and learn. If thats all you got to say, your advice will be appreciated somewhere else, but not here. Someone in another thread mentioned something about using a tip guard so I looked it up and just wanted some info on it. not your crap :censored: 
lol
lol
COLD_IRON
Addicted to ArboristSite
I think he's referring to the link you posted blizzard.
Erick
Addicted to ArboristSite
Erick, I'm here to ask questions and learn. If that’s all you got to say, your advice will be appreciated somewhere else, but not here. Someone in another thread mentioned something about using a tip guard so I looked it up and just wanted some info on it. not your crap :censored:
lol
Whoa whoa, simmer down a bit there speedy, that was not a slam at you. That was an observation of an obviously ridiculous product.
I gave you some personal advice on the up and up, if you didn't want it don't ask.
Now like I said
Again not a slam on you, everybody starts somewhere, nobody was ever a professional the first time they picked up a saw. Products like the one you linked to are meant to pray on the fears of new chainsaw users, guess what??.... it worked. In time you will see what I mean.
Get the PPE and wear it. Use your saw as you got it from the dealer and learn proper technique.
BTW what you linked to is not a tip guard.
This is a tip guard
Throttle back on the attitude a bit, my post was meant to help.
Erick, after rereading your post i see that you were talking about the product. wow what an idiot I am. my apologies. I just thought I was getting joked on for a beginners question. Now, the tip guard you posted in the picture, is that a scam too or does it work? Thanks for the help.
It works, I guess, but mostly it would just be in the way. A friend of mine has an old XL-12 with one of those things on it and she gets grumpy when I make fun of it.
Most of us, like 99.9999% don't use them.
No way I'd ever use one of those. Actually that's the part I was referring to in my first post. All it would do is get in the way for me.
Jkebxjunke
*Politically Incorrect*
what an over engineered piece of ..... equipment....
my old homie 240 had a tip guard that bolted to the end of the bar... it worked good and it was simple... obviously they don't follow the KISS engineering principle.
my old homie 240 had a tip guard that bolted to the end of the bar... it worked good and it was simple... obviously they don't follow the KISS engineering principle.
That tip guard in the picture, and on a lot of Homelites, prevents kickback by making it impossible for anything to contact the kickback zone of the bar. It also makes it impossible to do a boring or plunge cut. I find myself using Dad's old Homie XL for clearing out multiflora rose bushes and the like, it's light, more than enough power for cutting bushes, and the tip guard comes in handy when I'm laying on the ground next to a rose thicket.
The guard you linked does nothing to prevent a kickback, and I'm not sure it's totally effective in preventing injury from the kickback. It looks like you could bore with it on your saw however.
The guard you linked does nothing to prevent a kickback, and I'm not sure it's totally effective in preventing injury from the kickback. It looks like you could bore with it on your saw however.
motoroilmccall
ArboristSite Guru
Tip guards also limit how large of a log you can cut. Its wider than the kerf of the blade, so you can't bury the bar into the wood, it has to be clear of the opposite side of the wood. I don't think I could use a saw with it...
Lakeside53
Stihl Wrenching
Tip guards will stop kicking back, but they will cause many other problems in normal use... Cutting with the tip is fine so long as you angle the saw more vertically into the wood to start it, and be careful to maintain pressure rotating to horizonal/boring.
Kickback to sawyers is like spins and inverted flight to pilots... You NEED to experience it to figure out if it really is scary.... And no... it's not if you know what to do...
MS170? I can't think of a more benign saw/bar combination for "kickback"...
Keep both hands firmly on the saw (and hold the saw to the right side of you...) and "experiment" with the "bad zone" - the top quadrant of the tip... Once you figure out your saw, you'll know what it can and cannot do.
Kickback to sawyers is like spins and inverted flight to pilots... You NEED to experience it to figure out if it really is scary.... And no... it's not if you know what to do...
MS170? I can't think of a more benign saw/bar combination for "kickback"...
Keep both hands firmly on the saw (and hold the saw to the right side of you...) and "experiment" with the "bad zone" - the top quadrant of the tip... Once you figure out your saw, you'll know what it can and cannot do.
Erick
Addicted to ArboristSite
No problem blizzard.
Sometimes it's hard to know what people mean on these forums, you cant see the person to read their face or body language, it's just letters on a screen. That's why I use the little smileys so much to kinda let folks know where I'm coming from, even then sometimes things get taken the wrong way.A lot of guys around here will joke on the new guy for asking a beginners "stupid question" (whatever you do don't ask anything about oil
) I try not to be that guy. I'm from the camp that says there are no stupid questions only stupid answers, people only think the question is stupid because they already know the answer....... but how did they get the answer?? 
As for the tip guard, the guys above already covered it pretty well. Yes it is effective but it would just be in your way more than anything. The bar on your MS170 is designed with a very narrow tip section to minimize kickback potential, the safety chain that came on your saw is designed to minimize kickback as well, it's a good system and it works well. You may get a little kick if you catch it the wrong way but if you're using proper technique (ie. firm grip, thumb of the left hand wrapped around the handlebar like you're making a fist) it shouldn't be anything you can't easily control, in fact I doubt that you would even realize you just had a kickback.
Like Lakeside said you might actually try to force a kickback in a controlled situation when you are expecting it that way you will know what to expect when the unexpected happens....... did I say that right?
Bottom line just use it like it is, you'll be fine.
Wearing your PPE is the single..... well the second biggest thing you can do to minimize you chances of suffering an injury from your saw.
Justsaws
Addicted to ArboristSite
Get someone more knowing and comfortable with the tool to show you how to use it. Reading is great, and a hands on demo is better.
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Kickback can be deadly on a larger saw. I can't imagine a 170 kicking back with enough force that a normal hand/saw grip could not control it. That gadget you showed I have never heard of and I would bet not many members here have heard of it either. It looks like a gimmick. Please, get some compatent instruction in saw handling before you use it.
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