Marc
Addicted to ArboristSite
I've never seen a test on the helmets and I don't think they are designed to stop a spinning chain. In most of the cases I've seen and heard about the chain brake has done its job and stopped the chain from spinning but the operator still got a pretty nasty gash from a sharp chain on an out of control saw. I gotta think even a plastic hard hat and a face screen will all but prevent this type of injury. I know of one injury that was posted here a while back that I don't think having a face screen would have helped much at all, might have lessened the injury a little but I'm pretty sure that fella would have been cut by that saw anyway.
The hard hats are mainly for falling objects and the face screen really cuts down on the amount of fiber in your diet and saw chips in the eyes. The extra protection in a kick back situation is just a bonus for me. Lets say a 3" dia. limb falls off the tree your felling and hits you in the top of the head..... it's gonna hurt for sure.... now lets say that 3" limb has a one inch dia. limb broken off into a 2" long spike...... my little girl likes for daddy to come home at night.... I'll be wearing my hardhat.
I definitely always wear the hard hat falling... but I found out, it overheats me so much, even in the winter, that I end up sweating, getting dehydrated, or I stop moving and then I freeze because I'm sweaty... and all of that leads to disorientation. So I ditch it for bucking. I haven't seen or read anything that I gain enough wearing it bucking to make it worth it, in my case, but every is certainly not like me.... despite how perfect the world would be if everyone was....