Age opinions please

[TonyK]

What do you folks consider the minimum age for chainsaw use? I have a very jaded view on things since I started using a huge saw at a very young age. My opinion is that if the kid is given the right instruction and PPE can handle the weight of properly sized saw and has enough intelligence to use it properly that there is no age limit. I am sure that I will be being tracked by a DCF investigator soon after posting this. What are the collective thoughts here?

 

[wackydeejay]

I have a 13-year-old who is wanting to use one. I haven't quite been able to trust him with the saw just yet, though. He's pretty responsible for his age, but I think more about reaction time than anything. I think teenagers are more apt to let their minds wander when they should be really paying attention to what they're doing. That's just my take on it, though.

 

[Hedgerow]

My son is 11. He uses a small Stihl. Big for his age. But I don't feel he is thoughtful enough quite yet to just turn lose on his own. Oh, and the rule is, anything he cuts, he loads...:msp_wink: Keeps him from getting carried away.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[PA Plumber]

I believe I was 8 when I started running a small saw.

By 14, I was cutting after school by myself and bringing in trailer loads of wood. The saw was a 55ish cc Sachs Dolmar with an 18" bar.

It was a different time back then. Was running a tractor at 7 and in the field all day, by myself, at 9.

 

[Hedgerow]

I believe I was 8 when I started running a small saw.

By 14, I was cutting after school by myself and bringing in trailer loads of wood. The saw was a 55ish cc Sachs Dolmar with an 18" bar.

It was a different time back then. Was running a tractor at 7 and in the field all day, by myself, at 9.

:hmm3grin2orange: And we rode in the back of trucks!!! Cars had metal dashes and seatbelts consisted of a parents arm!!! How the hell did we all make it out alive???!!!:msp_scared:

 

[TreePointer]

I know some kids who certainly are strong enough to cut at age 12/13. In addition to all the safety education and PPE, I would start them out with bucking logs in a clearing and maybe on a sawbuck.

Mental age is a whole other ball o' wax. I have a 55 year old neighbor who shouldn't be anywhere near sharp objects. On the other hand, I know some kids who have a PA junior hunters license at age 11/12 and are responsible enough to carry and shoot 30 caliber deer rifles.

 

[howard270]

I agree with the original post, if a kid is mature enough and strong enough to handle a piece of equipment or a tool, and has had proper instruction on how to use it (especially safely), then there should be no set age limit.
I have a 15 year old cousin that I would not trust to move a tractor, wherein I was entrusted to run one 15 hours a day alone in a field when I was just 9 years old.
Start out small letting him/her make some easy cuts with you/your saw, and work up from there.

 

[flyboy553]

I think it all depends on how the kid has been raised. If he sits and plays games most of the time, he isn't ready to run a saw.

We were raised on a farm, like others have said, running tractors and driving trucks by 6, for sure 7, milking cows too by this age. And cutting wood by 9 yrs old.
These days my Dad would be in jail for such carelessness! lol But some how we all survived. When I did get busted up, it was while playing, not doing any of the things that today's parents would have a heart attack:msp_ohmy: over if they saw their kid doing that!
Ted

 

[Hedgerow]

I know some kids who certainly are strong enough to cut at age 12/13. In addition to all the safety education and PPE, I would start them out with bucking logs in a clearing and maybe on a sawbuck.

Mental age is a whole other ball o' wax. I have a 55 year old neighbor who shouldn't be anywhere near sharp objects. On the other hand, I know some kids who have a PA junior hunters license at age 11/12 and are responsible enough to carry and shoot 30 caliber deer rifles.

Around here we never graduated past the .270 Winchester... Never saw the need...:msp_tongue:

 

[BarkBuster20]

Like mentioned, this is a definite judgement call. To put a number on it though, i would say the kid should be ready to run a saw by the time he is 14.

 

[sunfish]

Depends on the kid. My dad started me on a small Pouland when I was 11 or 12. By age 16 I was cutting, splitting, selling and delivering 50 pickup loads of firewood a year.

 

[GeeVee]

Aint none of us the DC####ing F.

I have safe competant drivers, ones that know money doesn't grow on trees, and recognize actions have consequences.

I don't live on the farm, actually the beach. My kids surfed in the womb, and are capable enough to be/are, Jr Lifeguards. They are fotunate enough to have parents that throw them off the dock to learn to swim. OK, thats a euphemism....

They rode dirt bikes or 3-wheelers before bicycles.

Nothing wrong with putting that power tool in their hand with proper training (by you, even though you aren't always pefect with safety) and supervision. FEAR is a tool to use in the training. I'm scared of pain and injury, so if its demonstrated that certain techniques will likely result in one or the other, way good?

I coach a bunch of different activities, and see kids with all kinds of skill and talent from one end to the other, and this is a call for one person.

MOM.

When I tell a parent that wants their kid to ride a dirtbike to go away, they do.

I tell the kid, every day you come home from riding and your arm aint broken, its another day you get to ride. One broken arm and your kicker is GONE.

Everything has limits, you go pushing them, and you might find out the wrong way exactly where it is, the hard way.

Refer to MOM paragraph.

Good luck.

 

[rmount]

I think it maybe has more to do with life experience than age or maturity. If a kid has been raised with constant exposure to tools and people using them and has used a variety of tools from an early age they are likely to have better coordination, reflex, sense of space and pressure. In the end I would ask myself how comfortable would I feel working beside them.

 

[jamaulden]

Getting taught how to use a chain saw is one of my fondest memories of one of the few men who helped mold me into the man I am....well I think I am. But at age 11 I was learning how to fell small trees. 6-8 inchers how to be mindfull of bar pinch kick back overhead dangers and a clear path to run if need be. I agree with most of you age isnt matureaty. Cant wait to havea son of my own to teach

 

[LumberjkChamp]

Why take a chance? It only takes one small mistake to change life circumstances forever. And, yes, like people say, it happens fast. Chainsaws are fun. They also can be deadly.

I don't like to be a buzz killer or anything. The fleeting disapointment of a kid because he can't run a chainsaw right now doesn't mean anything to me compared to his longterm well being.

 

[jamaulden]

If you do help teach a young man how to run a saw be sure to remind him that this is not an "x-station or a Play box" or any other video game and there is no reset or extra life button to push. This is real life.

 

[CTYank]

#1 son never showed any interest in running a chainsaw, though in 1 day he became a veritable Paul Bunyan with a 6 lb maul. (Made toothpicks of one handle in the process.

#2 son was interested at age 13. On the way to a wood-cutting party, I gave him the 30-minute lecture on Things to Do to Retain Your Body Parts and Fluids. He put on PPE and got to work with my little Echo, under observation of event Leader, who said "He's okay." Motivation goes a long way. He sure cut up a spit-load of stove-wood that day.

 

[hamish]

The times have changed, when I was 5 I was driving a tractor hauling a hay wagon, got my first .22 when I was 8, was driving a GMC C10 with a 230 Studebaker and 3 in the tree to town and over to the feed mill by 12.....................................never picked up a chainsaw till I was 15. When thinking about it, I did all kinds of hazardous things at a young age, was around saws but they were like look and don't touch till later. PPE then was a pair of running shoes and a spare pair of underwear. I had to relearn alot of bad habits and faults when I started to do things in a more proper fashion.

Regardless of age, get them taugh right from the get go, if there is certification where you are get them certified, train, and re-train, most importantly set the example (I am so looking forward to going for a ride on a bicycle with my son.......wearing a goofy useless helmet.........but its the law here now............so will set the example). Then if he is like me, and now has a helmet will only mean he can make the jumps higher and add in some fire/explosive effects................

 

[TMFARM 2009]

i started at age 16...but it comes down to common sense and decision making.....i know a lot of guys who have offered to help me cut wood, but i wont even consider it due to their lack of common sense....start them with a small saw...could even use tip guards to help with kick back...
good luck...

 

[AKKAMAAN]

I believe I was 8 when I started running a small saw.

By 14, I was cutting after school by myself and bringing in trailer loads of wood. The saw was a 55ish cc Sachs Dolmar with an 18" bar.

It was a different time back then. Was running a tractor at 7 and in the field all day, by myself, at 9.

what is "back then"?
are 27 now or 72??