Anybody catch Ask This Old House tonight?

[wdchuck]

They had a homeowner dropping trees with their landscaping guy and a professional tree guy, most of the safety/use instruction was going well in the beginning, then the guy was bucking. Omigosh, he was standing like a shortstop, with the saw right in the middle of his legs, I wanted to climb through the tv to stop him and smack the guys lettin it happen. Never a word about standing to the left of the bar/chain. With the viewer-ship, followers of those programs, this was incredibly irresponsible.:bang: :bang:

End rant.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Never a word about standing to the left of the bar/chain.

Personally I feel its much harder to cut this way.




OK, have at it.....

 

[sedanman]

I think having CONTROL of the saw is more important than standing so you are not at all in the path of the bar in the event of a kickback. If you are using modern equipment with an inertia brake and good PPE ( incl. a hardhat here), then you are less likely to suffer from a catastophic kickback in the first place. Proper stance and control of the saw should lessen these risks further.

 

[wdchuck]

The homeowner was handling that saw like it was his first time touching one, everybody was wearing the proper PPE but if the saw would've kicked, the mess would've been awful.

I'll give some warrant to the tv crew maybe causing a little anxiety, but the 'pro' should have handled that better. The whole point to safety is prevention, his stance wouldn't prevent diddly. Bad example to the many thousands of homeowners that watch the program.

 

[saw-um]

Ummm.. I cut like that all the time. Whatever's convienent at the time, but I've been called ignorant before!

 

[Indiana John]

Shortstop stance +1

This thread reminds me of an experience I had a couple of weeks ago. We had an old elm that had been down for a couple of years that we were bucking up. I was almost thru the log when the cut started closing up, so as I felt the saw start to bind I pulled it out of the log. However as I pulled, the top of the cut apparently closed onto the top of the chain and shoved the saw back at the same time. Unfortunately, my right leg happened to be directly behind the saw, and as it moved backward at a fairly good clip the rear handle smacked me square in the shin! So after that, I made it a point to keep my legs spread slighly with my right foot to the rear to prevent a recurrence. If you've ever had the rear handle of an 041 Stihl slam into your shin at speed, you can understand why I didn't want to do that again!

 

[BLACKeR]

i always cut that way too. just like when im trying to cut something carefully with a knife i always....cut twards myself!! :jawdrop: i always feel safer when i have as much control as possible. i might be less inclined to do this without a chain break though.
i was pretty close to incredible pain, cutting the "right way" cleaning up some storm damage. the bar stopped after going through my jacket against my T-shirt, break engaged. in all his compation, my brother looled at me flashed me the horns and kept sawin', fortunatly god was feeling a little more compationate that day.

 

[oakman]

the ''pro'' actually snagged the chain on his first attempt at a face cut. he puts the bar to the wood with the chain stopped, and then hits the gas. i saw the drivers come right out of the groove. also when he was demonstrating how to start the saw, he hit the gas 3 or 4 times before he figured out the brake was on. guess he likes to warm up his clutch good. could of had stage fright, i suppose.
Happy Holidays Guys, and be safe out in the bush.

 

[retoocs555]

IMO the bit on this old house was pretty good. More in depth than they usually get with any of the little segments on "ask this old house". I'm sure the homeowner/first time saw user was WAY nervous with all the 'pros' and cameras around.

I got both this weeks and last weeks TOH last night and really enjoyed the part when they removed the old oil tanks from the basement. I've done that myself without the sophisticated equipment. Draining the oil tank into 5gal buckets, cutting the tank in half with an abraisave blade, and draging the tank halves up the stairs with a comealong.

Actually I think the house they're doing this season is the best one I've seen in years. It's a realistic house, on a realistic budget and actually shows some practical stuff.

 

[Bermie]

Stance is important, a good stance equals control and keeps you out of the kickback zone!
Besides, staying to the left of the saw allows you to use your right leg and hip to brace the saw helping carry the weight, rather than hanging it down between your legs and bending over. In our training and assessment you would fail if you crosscut in that 'shortstop position'.

 

[WoodTick007]

ignorant

Ummm.. I cut like that all the time. Whatever's convienent at the time, but I've been called ignorant before!

ignorant lol:rockn:

 

[Hard Knocks]

The homeowner was handling that saw like it was his first time touching one, everybody was wearing the proper PPE but if the saw would've kicked, the mess would've been awful.

Would have made for a good PPE demonstration video!

 

[disandat]

Stance is important, a good stance equals control and keeps you out of the kickback zone!
Besides, staying to the left of the saw allows you to use your right leg and hip to brace the saw helping carry the weight, rather than hanging it down between your legs and bending over. In our training and assessment you would fail if you crosscut in that 'shortstop position'.

I totally agree. I think if the saw kicked back with any force on the guy using the short stop stance, he could even be knocked over backwards. And that would really be a bad scene.

 

[clearance]

I remember Bob Vila falling a tree on that show years ago, omfg. Anyways, bucking, Bermie is right, always stand to one side. If you think you can hold a big saw back when it kicks you are deluded, just like people that think they don't need seatbelts 'cause they can hold themselves back in a head on accident. I have ran all kinds of saws, mostly in the 60-70cc range but 288s, 394s, 066s etc. as well. I have bucked lots of trees, even worked full time bucking in the bush. I have pretty strong hands, wrists and arms, but there has got to be a mathematical formula 5-7hp. X chain speed of 45mph suddenly stopped = ? ft. lbs. coming back at your face, can't do it. Chain brakes and ppe are a last resort, when you make a mistake or something strange happens, not the first line of defence, that should be proper work habits.

 

[Bill G]

I got both this weeks and last weeks TOH last night and really enjoyed the part when they removed the old oil tanks from the basement. I've done that myself without the sophisticated equipment. Draining the oil tank into 5gal buckets, cutting the tank in half with an abraisave blade, and draging the tank halves up the stairs with a comealong. .....

Scott,

You can come over and drag some oil tanks out of some of our rental properties. We have not been required to remove them yet but I am sure we will.

Bill

 

[GASoline71]

I'm a pretty big dude (6' 5" 245), with good arm strength... but like clearance said... If you think you are gonna stop the kickback of a saw, you're crazy.

I've got a couple of scars to prove that point.

Gary

 

[Bermie]

kickback

I've had kickback knock me on my butt - just this week!
I was felling a standing stem, 290 with 'yellow chain' I've bore cut with this saw before but this day it was not having it! (blame it on the machinery!)
I could only just bore through the face cut and then trying to bore the backcut to walk the saw around as I've done many times before...no way! The saw kicked back and out of the cut, and I ended up sitting on the ground! Had to come at it a different way, probably what I should have done first.
The point is, positioning and stance enabled this to be a situation I could walk away from. It happened...it WILL happen...but if you are positioned correctly you can think it over later while sipping a cold one, not in the emergency department!

 

[disandat]

I'm just wondering, is there anything on-line that shows proper stance??

 

[Leebo]

If I remember correctly, the pro on that show is Tim Ard who is the head of Forest Applications. They run safety seminars and classes all over the U.S. They are sponsered by Husky, Oregon and PFERD.

www.forestapps.com