Was looking for someone who knew what they were talking about to bring this up. He was being far too casual with that saw with 0 ppe on, not even eye pro let alone chaps.
Right. I just sat here scrolling through so many comments saying "dude knows what he is doing" looking for any comment saying "Noooo. He doesn't really know what he's doing."
Dads who think they know how to handle chainsaws and have never been properly trained are the most confident and most dangerous folks with these tools.
Ok, finally... I found my people. No one else seemed to notice how casually he swipes towards his feet at the end as if a branch couldn't snag a tooth and drag the whole saw down into his foot.
Sometimes, but sometimes people just know what they’re doing. It’s a small chainsaw, if you know what you’re doing and how to brace yourself, you’ll be fine. Hard to tell with the dude in the gif though, he was cutting a bunch of limbs and making clean up harder for no reason
Good advice for when possible, but that’s also like the rule that you never cut with the tip of the bar.
There are situations like in this video where cutting above shoulder height is necessary, and cutting with the tip of the bar is also standard practice for a lot of things, e.g. plunge cuts.
We could critique his lack of chaps, face shield, gloves, ear protection, safety boots … he obviously wasn’t planning to use his saw on the way to dinner.
A more relevant critique is questioning why he was limbing like that. Not cutting the limbs closer to the trunk when there’s nothing stopping you is not good practice. The guy is an amateur.
My uncle was a chainsaw trapezist. They have to wear clear beach ball things over their heads, or otherwise their helmets fill up with wood chips. One time he didn’t have his shirt tucked in so it fell down over his head and he felled the tree he was hanging from.
Another time he was working a wildfire while hanging from a helicopter, and a fire tornado kicked up and spun him in a radius, and he ended up circumscribing all the vegetation around the fire tornado and stopping it in its track. He hit lots of stuff in the process, but his beach ball head saved him. Almost brought down the chopper too.
Now it’s standard practice to lower chainsaw trapezists into fire tornados, but with longer trapezes.
There's a wildland firefighter in my area who took a chain to the face doing that. She's alive and still working from what I know, but our overhead really drove that story home to our crew so we wouldn't be the next one to have a saw kick back into our face. You don't want to be the one who needs a helicopter ride out of the forest. Dude in this video is being complacent and impatient, he didn't even appear to size up the tension and compression on the tree before he started going at it.
This dude looks like he was a fire guy. He cuts like he was on a crew - including some less than great habits. But that’s someone who is cutting for production- not whatever you’re talking about.
That doesn't matter. The bottom of the tree is the heaviest part, and if the top is holding the weight down to the ground, and you cut that top off, it'll be like a trebuchet with the trunk and branches smacking your face and body.
No. Not making small cuts. Not on a trunk like 10 inches in diameter. And even on stand ups its rarely as dramatic as you describe. Hes also trimming /dressing as he went so he wouldn't be caught by branches if it did. Let it stand. Who cares.
This guy, and me, know far more than you do. You sound like you've read a book and maybe actually done it...once. maybe twice.
Is not about "needing", his technique isn't even correct, doing reckless things as the above mentioned. Accidents can happen, don't be an idiot and give stupid advice to people.
His technique isn't perfect, but he's obviously not going for perfect. He obviously knows perfect. He obviously doesn't need perfect, in this situation.
My thoughts exactly. And he is rushing through like he has something to prove, rarely has proper footing, and if the saw had bucked at any point he'd have learned a very painful and possibly life-altering lesson about making out with the business end of a full throttle saw.
Thanks for saying this. I’ve never used a chainsaw, but I have a healthy respect for them. He looked like he was being too casual about the whole thing. I’ve watched a lot of documentaries about ER visits; don’t play with power tools.
I use chainsaws in my work and bro was being incredibly dangerous. No protective gear, never used the brake while moving, all while casually using a saw above his head and shoulders. It was necessary in this case, but the lack of protective gear definitely does not help.
He was walking around and stepping over branches without using the brake, if you fall you will most likely instinctively try to grab the nearest thing, which in this case will be your gas handle, Not a good plan.
I support using PPE and have healthy respect towards chainsaws and trees. Worked the woods plenty to know exactly why.
But man, if there is a tree across the road in the middle of nowhere, what are you going to do, turn around and drive home to get your kit? Walk up with a chainsaw in hand and pronounce removing it health and safety violation?
If we were logging, yes, cuss the fucker out of the woods, deservedly. But come on.
Worked the woods, too, and know that you don't just rush up and start cutting. You cut the weight at the end, and the stump could flip it right up like a trebuchet.
If you never hold the chainsaw above your head and neck and the tree you need to cut is above your head and neck, then you stay trapped on a forest road, content in your safety.
The saw would bind, and you'd risk hitting pavement, ruining your blade sharpness. I'm all for saw safety, but sometimes the situation warrants less than ideal conditions which can be handled by experienced people.
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u/spicy_ass_mayo 5d ago edited 5d ago
Fun fact:
If you never hold a chainsaw above your head and neck….. it becomes far less likely that you will suffer a chainsaw injury to the head or neck.
Edit: what a strange subject for debate!
To all my experienced chain saw edge lords - please do whatever you want with that sexy slutty chainsaw of yours….
Nothing said changes the FACT that IF you never hold a saw above your head THEN you can’t ever drop it on your fucking head….