Why NOT wear chaps???

[Taxmantoo]

bermie,
you are a lady?
always wondered about you logger-girls/chainsaw-girls!
mind posting a pic of yourself?

I think there are pics of Mrs Bermie around here somewhere. I know there are pics of SlowP. Neither of them are teenagers. Bermie's an arborist, SlowP's a logger.
Well, Bermie did write this:
http://arboristsite.com/showpost.php?p=1109735&postcount=9
And this:
http://arboristsite.com/showpost.php?p=1245562&postcount=43

 

[volks-man]

I think there are pics of Mrs Bermie around here somewhere. I know there are pics of SlowP. Neither of them are teenagers. Bermie's an arborist, SlowP's a logger.

me neither.
i asked slowp once or twice but had to wait for the nwgtg thread.
olive_oil submitted a pic or two.
i guess i'll have to look for bermie.
no worries!

 

[Cedarkerf]

I think there are pics of Mrs Bermie around here somewhere. I know there are pics of SlowP. Neither of them are teenagers. Bermie's an arborist, SlowP's a logger.
Well, Bermie did write this:
http://arboristsite.com/showpost.php?p=1109735&postcount=9
And this:
http://arboristsite.com/showpost.php?p=1245562&postcount=43

Slowp works for the forest service she works with loggers know she wouldnt call herself a logger even with her barbie stickered 044.

Would be interesting to see the cumulative hours of cutting for guys with multiple cuts compared to some of the guys on here who cut 1000 plus hours a year. I used to cut 800-1000 hours a year from1995-2000. Never wore chaps only holes in my pants were from the dawgs pokin holes or a none runnin saw sharp tooth catchen them. Started wearin chaps 2 years ago cause I bought the wife a saw and figured good example to wear them.

If you have multiple leg cuts and injuries and are only cuttin weekends you realy mite want to evaluate you sawing abilities.

Wear the hard hat had a nice 10-15 pound branch ding me the the other day except for the loud clank of wood on aluminum and having to straighten it out no ill effects. Wife and friend could here the clank a few hundred feet away.

PPE is not armour plating against bad technique.

 

[Cheese]

I think it is funny the difference between "chaps are needed by everyone all the time" and "I wear chaps because it makes sense if I make a mistake".

One of the guys I cut with said he won't wear a helmet because he wants to get killed, not just injured. Reminds me of, "I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my Grandpa, not screaming like everyone else in his car."

With respect to accidents, say something bad happens one time out of a million. If you are in that situation 500 times, it probably won't get you. 10,000 times, it might not get you, but if you are in the situation 1,000,000,000 times, you are going to get hurt. So, I wear chaps because it makes sense to me.

I also cut with and in front of a bunch of college students. I feel like it is a good example to set, having protection on. I don't mandate it with the guys I take cutting, but it seems to be an unspoken thing, leading by example. We aren't production cutters, but we do have new guys and want to stop accidents in as many ways as possible.

 

[ak4195]

"Chance favores the prepaired"......

ak4195

 

[Gologit]

Good posts from guys that "get it"...

Gary

Yup. I wear chaps...sometimes. Sometimes not. They're a PIA if you're in thick brush but they saved me once, too.

It's a choice and, like Gary said, the PPE Nazis should remember that.

One other thing...if they soak up enough gas and bar oil they get waterproof and they're good for throwing over your saw heads in the rain.

 

[Taxmantoo]

One of the guys I cut with said he won't wear a helmet because he wants to get killed, not just injured. Reminds me of, "I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my Grandpa, not screaming like everyone else in his car."

I think he's got it exactly backwards. The kinetic energy of a 200lb branch dropping 50 feet will overwhelm any hard hat and kill you. What the hard hat can protect you from is having your ear ripped off by a glancing blow from above. Examples:
http://arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=78452
http://arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=73297
http://arboristsite.com/showthread.php?p=444315#post444315

 

[Lakeside53]

Ouch..... You had to remind me of doing that - my ear started to ache immediately!

I wear a helmet and chaps pretty much all the time. Chaps not only protect the legs, but they protect the jeans... I figure they have extended the life of my jeans many many times.. and over the past 10 years well in excess of the the cost of chaps. PITA in brush though - I've caught a few staps in sticks and taken falls.

I use a full face mesh. Real important when working in the brush. It's interesting to see the amount of crap stuck in the mesh at the end of the day.

 

[ouachita]

bought my first saw when i was 14. 268 from a pawn shop. chain wouldnt stop and saw wouldnt stop until choked out cut myself twice the first day. take all the precautions i could after that. last year cut a standing dead pine. top broke and knocked the saw right out of my hand. didnt even have time to move. all safety gear is cheap.

 

[Taxmantoo]

Ouch..... You had to remind me of doing that - my ear started to ache immediately!

One of several over the years:

I was clearing vine maple branches so I could get to the trunks (very long springy branches - nasty stuff to cut). The branch sprang up, ripping my helmet system off, poked in my ear and ripped the lobe cartilage... I was lying on the ground not quite with it, saw running, and a bunch of people looking down at me. Blood all over my neck.. Looked 100x worse than it was, but could easily have been worse than it looked.

I guess a hard hat doesn't always help. There's got to be a way to make a chin strap that is strong enough to retain the hat but not strong enough to work for a hangman's noose.

 

[Jim Mesthene]

Seatbelts?

How many of you wear PPE while sawing, but have some lame excuse for not wearing Seat Belts in your car or truck?

 

[njforestfire]

whens the last time you saw somebody in a climbing harness cutting below his waiste? apples to oranges

That happens more than one thinks!! I know I have wile strapped in the tree!!

 

[Cheese]

I found a sweet pink hard hat at Madsen's so that I am protected from branches AND ladies!

I agree, if the whole stem is coming down, a helmet is not going to help, but a branch or a decent limb is going to help with. Not to mention the full brim keeps the sun and rain off my face and neck.

I wear a seatbelt too. I don't want to explain, or have my friends explain, to my Mom that I could have possibly prevented serious injury.

 

[njforestfire]

I think it is funny the difference between "chaps are needed by everyone all the time" and "I wear chaps because it makes sense if I make a mistake".

One of the guys I cut with said he won't wear a helmet because he wants to get killed, not just injured. Reminds me of, "I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my Grandpa, not screaming like everyone else in his car."

With respect to accidents, say something bad happens one time out of a million. If you are in that situation 500 times, it probably won't get you. 10,000 times, it might not get you, but if you are in the situation 1,000,000,000 times, you are going to get hurt. So, I wear chaps because it makes sense to me.

I also cut with and in front of a bunch of college students. I feel like it is a good example to set, having protection on. I don't mandate it with the guys I take cutting, but it seems to be an unspoken thing, leading by example. We aren't production cutters, but we do have new guys and want to stop accidents in as many ways as possible.

Sometimes even if you don't make a mistake it still makes sense. I had a chain come off at half throttle in brush which threw the chain back at my leg and took a chunk out of the chap...which was better then it being my leg!! If I had only jeans on it would have been a chunk of flesh. I wear them all the time while cutting.

You can lead a horse to water ( i mean chainsaw) but you can't make 'em drink! (I mean ya can't make 'em wear PPE)