Question On Safety Gear?

[SHOPEMan]

Hey Guys,
I hope this to be the correct forum to ask this question. I will be purchasing one of the pro helmet sets with the screen and muffs tomorrow. I have just been wearing glasses and my shooting muffs while cutting. I for some reason can see a vision of the saw flying up and chopping off my nose and it makes me cringe! Has anyone had experience with their helmet saving them from the chain? Are these helmets(Stihl or Husky) strong enough to stop the chain. And another question would be the chaps. I know I should also be wearing those also. Do they actually work at stopping the chain or can you expect to only lose a LITTLE flesh? Any information on where to get a total chainsaw and Felling guide would also be appreciated! Thanks! This forum is the Best!

 

[treeclimber165]

Here's a decent link for some info titled 'Chainsaw Techniques'. Hopefully 'beginner' will read this and check it out, too.
http://international.husqvarna.com/node51.asp

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Shopman, it is not necessary to worry about the chain flying off and hitting your face and/or hands etc., its just not going to happen, trust me.
A chain thrown can hit chaps, buts its no biggy, you will only get small cuts to the chaps at the worst, however a saw can pick up hardware such as barbwire and cause lacerations to the face, as it happened to me once.
I have never tried to stop a chain with bare legs or chaps before, so I cant tell you how cut resistant chaps are, but I have been with cutters who I swear used their fallers pants or chaps as chain breaks. Most leg injuries are the result of tripping into the saw due to clumsiness , fatigue or the throttle stuck on full bore.
Hope this helps,
Gypo

 

[Lobo]

Hi Shopeman,

Now that you have that shinny new MS260 to work with, you also need quality safety gear, don't skimp there either.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

If a saw were to kick back you will have to hope that the inertia chain brake or the wrist handle stop the chain. then, all you have to worry about is the clobber that you might get from the saw. The plastic helmets are better than a bare skull. I believe that my Talion helmet http://talioncorp.com/
or http://pacifichelmets.com/
will give me much better protection in the case of a bop to the noggin.

I've heard anecdotal reports that dut resistant pants might still cut through to flesh. You can bet that the injury would be greatly reduced. Like Lobo says, don't go cheap on PPE. Oh, and then be sure to wear the stuff all of the time.

Tom

 

[Ryan Willock]

hi shopeman, i wear stihl pro mark chaps and helment as well as stihl pro mark boots with cut resistant material in them as well. if you want i can get with you some time and show you some pointers, and some things that will make your work safer and more productive:angel:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

A buddy and fellow site member had a kickback insident where the bar came back and nicked the brim of his helmet.

He is convinsed that the brim saved his nose and probably forhead.

 

[xander9727]

Chaps do work!!! As much as I hate to admit it chaps have saved my legs twice and at least three of my employees. I operated saws for years and never used chaps. Last year I decided that it wouldn't hurt to start wearing chaps. The old "I'd rather have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." I had the chaps for about six months before someone tried them out. One of my employees got into a hurry while limbing and tried to delimb himself. It was with an MS310 with a 20" bar and a rapid super (chisel) chain. It ruined the chaps but didn't put a scratch on him. As you can guess I firmly chastised the offender and thanked God I had purchased the chaps. A couple of months later I was visiting my father in law in San Diego. He asked me to clear about a quarter of an acre of scrub oak on a VERY steep slope. In retrospect I should have used a harness and a safety line. I was about half done when while cutting I slipped and fell. I was cutting with a Home Depot Husky rental. I don't remember the model but it was at full throttle when I buried it into my knee. Fortunately I had opted for the chaps when I rented it. The chaps worked as intended and the saw didn't break the skin. The saw hit my knee with enough force to severely bruise it. I had a lump about 3/4 of an inch high. The other time I tried my chaps out was 3 months ago. I was taking down 11 locust trees and all of them had to be topped and dropped in sections. On the second tree I dropped my climbing saw and damaged it. I didn't have a back up at that time (funny how it takes blood to make us think sometimes) so I was climbing with my 025. On one of the last trees (after 8 hours of climbing) I was trying to take off a branch of an adjacent tree. I had my right hook dug in, my flip line adjusted loose and was reaching as far as I could with my left hand. As I cut through the branch my hook cut out and I swung in towards the tree on my rope. Inertia carried the saw (still at full bore) into my left shin. It ruined my chaps but it didn't damage my boot. I have always utilized eye, ear, hand and head protection. Until last year though I had never used chaps. In fact I didn't really know much about them. I'm sure anyone who has suffered a leg injury from a chain saw would gladly give you $65 to make the incident go away. I won't let anyone who works for me operate a saw without chaps. Once is a theory, anything after that is research.

 

[logcutter429]

Believe me chaps work, i cut timber was using my Stihl 66 mag in big hardwood sawed a bowed limb threw the saw wide open against my chaps, that was brand new that day, they did what they were supose to do , locked the chain up , no injury just a bruise, probably wouldn't have a leg today if not for the chaps.

 

[timberwolf]

Wow I'm glad to hear the chaps stoped a charging 066, I wondered about the bigger saws with more torque and high chain speeds. I hear the high end electric saws can chew through chaps due to high stall torque.

I posted a blurb a couple days ago about a guy who was killed this week by a falling branch. A fellow fire fighter who was at the scene said a helmet would have easly deflected what was a fatal injury.

I had one positive experience with my helmet an face shield, it was while pushing brush out of the way to make a skid road, I snaped off a sizable branch and it snaped me smartly in the face, got a red mark below my eye and a dent in the mesh visor. But thats a lot better then the stitches I would have been sure to get with out it.

Timberwolf

 

[grawil]

Reviving an old thread on chaps... I'm considering buying a new pair now that I have a larger saw (20'' 67 cc Stihl). The local shop was pushing the most expensive pair of pants rated to 3300 ft/min chain speed over the 3000 ft/min chaps. In practical terms, does this difference actually matter?

Thanks,
Graham

 

[SWE#Kipp]

Is it a big price difference ???
My only advice is to buy the pair that fits you the best, that way you will use them ,,,,

 

[ents]

Go to the Labonvile site http://www.labonville.com/ and click on their videos link and then chap demonstration. Also, a very graphic video can be found here http://www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/TrainTools/Videos/Library/catalog.asp?VideoID=V0969
[
The one your looking for here is V0969. Click on the viewer you want to use under Get this video on line.

I guess I don't understand the mentality of little saw=no need for chaps. I cut my knee open with an 018 running down from full throttle thru insulated overalls and heavy work pants. Nice scar reminds we to wear those chaps.

There are NUMEROUS threads here on AS concerning this topic. Browse around.

 

[norma]

Is it a big price difference ???
My only advice is to buy the pair that fits you the best, that way you will use them ,,,,

Reminds me of a saying that concealed weapons instructers use, "rule number one in a gunfight: Have a gun.


Meaning, buy something that you will actually have on your person when you need it.

 

[joesawer]

I have been using a chain saw commercially for over halve of my life.
IMO a hard hat is essential PPE. It will not stop a spinning chain but if the chain brake works as designed it will greatly reduce the injury in event of a kickback. A spring pole threw a wide open throttle 94cc saw into me so violently that the saw bounced of me and landed about 15' in front of me. The chain break stopped the chain before it hit my head. My hard hat had some nice groves and in my side burn, under the hard hat I had one small cut. The worst injury was from the dogs that stuck into my shoulder. If the chain break had not worked I probably wouldn't be able to tell this story. If I had not been wearing I hard hat I would have had some nasty cuts to the head.
The greatest risk to your head is not from the saw, but from falling objects hitting your head. In my early twenties, I was too tough and dumb to wear a hard hat and found out first hand what cranial fluid tastes like and that it congeals very fast into a gelatin like consistency. Last year I broke a hard hat and only had a head ache. Remember death from above!
I will not run a saw without both chaps and a hard hat.

 

[logbutcher]

Ditto--All of the Above

DITTO .
PPE $$$ cost vs ER and downtime recovery $$$ cost. Do we need another Darwin Award ? :newbie:
The PPE gear works, cost is minimal, use is a no-brainer ( except of course for the PNW "nekkid" cutters )
Need any more referrals ?? Big saws, little saws, they all do well with flesh, even with a dull chain. Widow makers fall from the big blue sky more often than we think: helmets please.
Oh yes: remember to carry those blood stopper Kotex pads in that tiny tiny pocket. :chainsawguy:

 

[slowp]

A guy I was working with ran his saw up the bole of the tree to cut the little limbs off. This was when chain brakes were fairly new. He had taken the brake off his saw (as had all the other guys) to "make it lighter." Anyway his saw kicked back and hit him in the head. I saw it happen. He was wearing an aluminum hardhat and that saved him. He had to sit down for a bit but was all right.

 

[Bermie]

Is it a big price difference ???
My only advice is to buy the pair that fits you the best, that way you will use them ,,,,

Truer words were never spoken, comfortable PPE will get worn, that goes for trousers, helmets...the lot!