hurt myself milling

[imagineero]

Just thought I'd put this one out there in case it stops someone else getting hurt.

About a month ago I was milling up some cypress pine for a client. I live in the blue mountains and people don't really like cutting down trees but this one had become a danger to her house and needed to be taken down. She was asking what could be done with it as an alternative to just throwing it away and I suggested maybe crappy firewood, rounds for the garden etc or could be turned into some slabs. I told her I didnt have a mill and would just cut the slabs freehand and she was delighted to have rustic looking slabs so we set a very modest price on top of the fairly steep felling charge and I agreed to mill up approximately the bottom 12' of the tree which was about 30".

Tree came down branch by branch over 2 days with all the branches being speedlined as it was smack in between a shed and a house with a powerline either side in a V. Had to chunk down the trunk after all branches were removed but was able to take the last 12' down in one piece.

few weeks later I came back to slab it up, had been sitting out on the footpath. I drew some lines on the trunk with tree chalk for 2" slabs, put my 36" bar on my 044 and set to it. The slabs came out straighter than I thought it would and took longer than I thought it would. I stopped after every slab to sharpen, refuel and re-oil. I wear pretty good safety gear when I'm running saws, usually ear plugs, ear muffs, hardhat and visor, boots and gloves but generally not chaps though I used to wear them when I did forestry work. I was on about the 4th slab and reached over the other side to wipe dust away from my line while the saw was running when someone screamed at me "HEY!!!!". It made me jump and my gloved hand ran across the bar running at WOT. The freshly sharpened chain went through the leather glove like it wasnt even there and cut my left hand middle finger right at the knuckle closest to the tip.

I immediately shut down the saw, grabbed the finger to stop the bleeding and shrugged off my helmet to find out what was going on. Turned out to be a german tourist looking for directions. They'd been trying to get my attention for a while and resorted to screaming which I couldn't hear with plugs, muffs and the saw until they were way too close. I don't think they even realised I'd cut myself and I told them where to go real fast.

Pulled out my first aid kit which is very comprehensive and went inside to assess the damage. It was bleeding quite a lot but I gave it a really good scrubbing with disinfectant and had a look. I could see the bone but it didnt look like the bone was cut. Half the nail was ripped off and the cuticle was hanging off the side attached to a flap. After scrubbing, scrubbing and scrubbing (best to get this over with before the pain sets in!) I dressed it with some antiseptic cream, jellonet and a bandage, took some ibu profen and paracetemol and went to the hospital with an ice pack to keep sweling and brusing down. They took an x ray that showed the bone wasnt cut and said there really wasnt anything they could do beyond what I'd already done but gave me some antibiotics to prevent infection.

Fast forward one month. I took a week of work (I'm a builder running my own small business) and then did light duties the next couple of weeks. This helped a lot as a knuckle opens up again real easy. I had the finger in a splint and did my own dressings. I have the dressings off now and am using the finger as normal but its still tender. The scarring is moderate and the nail kept growing. It never got infected.

Lessons learned? I don't know. This is my only chainsaw accident in 10+ years running saws, but I've witnessed a few bad ones in forestry. I've always been deliberate and conscious when operating saws and I think that helps. I really thought the gloves would have done more, they were extra heavy duty welders gloves with 3 layers of leather. Maybe they did help a bit but it seemed like they did nothing. Maybe without them I wouldn't have a finger now though, who knows? I was very glad to have a first aid kit on hand and a pre-thought out plan of how to treat a chainsaw injury. The doctor said that my thorough cleaning probably went a long way to giving me no infections and quick healing. I'm treating the screaming as a freak incident, though I guess it might help to put up a tape barricade when milling in a public area like a footpath.

Shaun

 

[BobL]

Hi Shaun, I'm sorry to hear about your incident and glad to hear things are improving. I'd say you were very very lucky not to do more damage. Anyway I fully sympathise because I crushed the fingers on my left hand 9 weeks ago and feeling incredibly frustrated by it all at how slowly it's recovering even though the doc says I'm doing OK. I'm not suppose to carry more than 5 lbs my left hand so still not supposed to hold a running saw yet.

. . . . . reached over the other side to wipe dust away from my line while the saw was running when someone screamed at me "HEY!!!!". It made me jump and my gloved hand ran across the bar running at WOT. The freshly sharpened chain went through the leather glove like it wasnt even there and cut my left hand middle finger right at the knuckle closest to the tip.

Based on what you wrote, it appears that one contributing factor to this incident is because you weren't using a CS mill. Milling with a mill is physically hard work but freehanding is even harder which just increases the likelihood of problems. As well as being less effort, using a mill takes the guess work out of cutting and any need to keep checking the bar is cutting on a line so you don't need to put your hand anywhere near a bar or moving chain. I do leave my mill/saw running by itself on a slope while I add wedges but I go no closer than a foot or so from the running chain.

I surprised you would think that a leather glove would stop a chain. There was a vid somewhere on the web showing a chain driven by a small saw cutting through a leather boot like it was butter - I can't find the link but it is really worth seeing. I am also surprised you are not wearing chaps running a naked saw. I wear mine even while I'm milling because it saves me putting them on if I have to do any other type of cutting.

 

[willbarryrec]

Wow I bet you were PO'd at that tourist!! :jawdrop:

Sorry about your finger.

 

[MCW]

Does that mean you've been picking your nose with your other hand?

Nah seriously, glad to hear you're OK. Fingers don't half hurt when they get damaged, thats for sure. I've busted a couple when I was younger playing football but luckily nothing major.

 

[devonhubb]

So.............did ya finish milling the log?

 

[imagineero]

Thanks Bob,
If you've got scarring or a wound then Calendula cream once to twice daily helps a lot with recovery. If its purely a crush wound then reducing any swelling with ibu profen or occasional ice packs (no more than 10 minutes in half an hour) helps with quick recovery. A brace helps with wrists, fingers are tricky. You can tape 2 together if you have a weaker one. Some injuries just dont ever heal, and that gets truer as you get older. Even at my relatively young are I notice that I dont heal so fast as I did 10 years back.

Good call on the lack of CS mill being a contributing factor. to be honest that hadn't even crossed my mind! I had the log on a pretty good natural slope and was see sawing using the dogs, it obviously didnt improve the cut but it left me without the stress of having to push on the saw. I did think of welding something up for this tree but I dont have any call for milling generally. I've been interested to learn but havent really got around to it. Ive been a long time lurker on milling forums.

It seems silly now thinking that the gloves would give me any protection at all. I've worn heavy duty welding gloves (kevlar blues from BOC) for years while welding, grinding and cutting steel and found they gave really good protection. I've been in the metal industry off and on ever since being a teenager and I dont know anyone in the industry as long without scars of some kind (burns, cuts etc). Full body clothing and heavy welding gauntlets have saved my bacon a couple of times and Ive seen guys wearing heavy gauntlets walk away from grinder incidents unharmed. The gloves seem to stand up to a lot of punishment from abrasive and cutting tools but I can say for sure now that they do pretty much nothing against a freshly sharpened chain. Im not sure there's any glove that would, so staying far away from the chain is the only option which is generally how I do things anyway. Wearing gloves seems to have lost a lot of its appeal for me after this accident.

I dont know whether the issue of chaps is so clear. It seems more like a seat belt issue, should everyone wear one? Robert Mcnamara thinks so, but then, with LeMay he masterminded the firebombing of 67 major japanese cities with sometimes near to 100% destruction and ultimately the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasake because statistically it was beneficial, so maybe we shouldn't be so quick to trust him ;-)

When I was doing forestry we wore chaps every day no matter how hot it was, and it did get very hot. The risk of a leg cut was fairly high though because we did pruning, and a leg cross-cut out in the woods was assumed to be fatal. Most of the guys on the crew were pruning, and we took turns felling to thin out the numbers. Pruners ran 200t's, fellers ran a 660. The trees were pine, and were pruned 3 times in their life. The first prune was ground height to above head and could be done off the ground. The second prune was about 7 years later and was from about 2~4 metres. The third prune was 7 years later again and was 4~6 metres.

For second and third lift pruning you carry an aluminium ladder. The ladder is the right height for the pruning you are doing. It's a weird ladder to describe, it has no legs. There's a curved section at the top with teeth that bites into the tree. you put it up as high as you can and pull down. Then you tie the chain around the trunk and climb up. It doesnt touch the ground. When you get to the top, you wrap one of your legs around the trunk and keep the other on the ladder. This frees up both your hands to run the saw, push branches out of the way and hang on for dear life. Sometimes the ladder lets go and you fall. You need to cut all the branches close to the tree, and you sign the tree with your initials. If your cuts are too far out or too close then they wont pay you for the tree because it wont make furniture grade. Inspections are random and trees cut are counted on the honour system. You get about $1.20 per tree.

Because one of your legs is wrapped around the tree as a sort of arm, there's a real risk that if the saw drops down suddenly because the ladder shifts or whatever reason you'll cut your own leg. you might be doing 200~300 trees a day if you're a good pruner, and each tree might have 20~30 branches so you're looking at 4,000~9,000 branches a day. it's only a matter of time if you're doing that on a 5 day a week basis before something goes wrong. In such a high risk environment chaps make a lot of sense. Because you were working in this environment all the time, you get good at it, but you can't bring your A game to work every day... and sometimes you just get unlucky. Most guys I was working with were replacing their chaps 2-3 times a year. you'd cut them quite a few times and they get real crappy with the fibres hanging out everywhere before you replaced them. The nearest hospital was likely a 1~2 hours hike plus a 2 hour drive away. you just wouldnt make it.

Cutting on the ground seems a lot less risky to me. When felling small trees with small bars I stand with both legs perpendicular to the saw. Even if I cut all the way through the tree I could never tough my own leg. On bigger trees (3'+) with bigger bars I stand closer to parallel to the tree when notching, and then the trunk is my protection because my leg is behind it. Limbing seems the greatest risk to me when on the ground, but by thinking about the order and position you stand in when cutting each branch you can eliminate your exposure.

If I was working with trees daily, doing a couple of hundred trees a day like I did in forestry I would wear chaps again no hesitation. At the moment, I do 4~5 trees a month on average as a side business to my building plus a bit of firewood for myself. The risk seems acceptable to me, but it's very subjective. I must confess I've ridden motorbikes without a helmet from time to time in countries where it was legal. It's the kind of thing you have to judge for yourself. I sometimes think not wearing chaps makes me more conscious and more careful of how I'm using my saw.

Shaun

 

[imagineero]

Does that mean you've been picking your nose with your other hand?

The hardest thing was learning to pull myself with the other hand ;-)

 

[MCW]

The hardest thing was learning to pull myself with the other hand ;-)

I had a right shoulder rebuild about 10 years ago and had to wear a stupid looking brace for 6 weeks. I feel your pain

 

[imagineero]

So.............did ya finish milling the log?

I was hoping nobody would ask.

Before going to the hospital I packed up my saws, fuel, files and wedges, put away my helmet etc. Then a few hours later when I got out I went back and finished milling the log. I moved all the slabs down to the back of the yard, stickered the ends, cleaned and sharpened my saw like usual then went home and had a few beers. The slabs are looking just fine (checked in on them a few days ago).

Shaun

 

[mtngun]

I agree with BobL that an Alaskan is much safer than freehanding. Not idiot proof, nothing is, but the saw is hard pressed to go anywhere when it's mounted in an Alaskan.

Thanks for the story. We all need reminders like this to keep us alert.

 

[MCW]

Not idiot proof, nothing is, but the saw is hard pressed to go anywhere when it's mounted in an Alaskan.

And even when you think you've made something idiot proof a whole new breed of idiot will evolve...

 

[gemniii]

And even when you think you've made something idiot proof a whole new breed of idiot will evolve...

You can make it idiot proof or fool proof, but not both.

As far as gloves - I've a couple of pair of Ganka Protective Chainsaw Gloves I try and wear. But based on a recent review the Youngstown Cut Resistant Kevlar Gloves may be the ticket.

Posted by: GEOFFREY N from CA on 7/23/2010
Rating:
While working on a steep hillside and using a pair of Youngstown cut-resistant Kevlar gloves, I was using a brushcutter/blade combination to cut tall, thick weeds. The work was very strenuous, and in the process the blade mechanism became severely clogged with cut weeds. I mistakenly attempted to clear the clogged blade area with the blade still turning (turning slowly, but turning nonetheless). At the same moment, because of the steepness of the hillside, I wavered in my balance. As a result, two of the fingers on my left hand made contact with the blade's spinning edge. These gloves literally saved severe injury to my fingers! Though I've since learned from my mistake (don't touch a spinning blade for any reason, no matter how slow it may be turning!), I am nonetheless very grateful for the safety and protection that these Youngstown gloves provided me. I highly recommend them!

from http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=53080+MD&catID=9781

 

[BobL]

You can make it idiot proof or fool proof, but not both.

As far as gloves - I've a couple of pair of Ganka Protective Chainsaw Gloves I try and wear. But based on a recent review the Youngstown Cut Resistant Kevlar Gloves may be the ticket.

from http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=53080+MD&catID=9781

I don't reckon even those would cut it up against a chainsaw.

 

[BobL]

Thanks Bob,
If you've got scarring or a wound then Calendula cream once to twice daily helps a lot with recovery. If its purely a crush wound then reducing any swelling with ibu profen or occasional ice packs (no more than 10 minutes in half an hour) helps with quick recovery. A brace helps with wrists, fingers are tricky. You can tape 2 together if you have a weaker one. Some injuries just dont ever heal, and that gets truer as you get older. Even at my relatively young are I notice that I dont heal so fast as I did 10 years back.

The story of my drama is here.
I ended us using ice as my primary painkiller which worked far better than the nauseating pain killers they gave me.
I've also posted an update there as well.