Chainsaw injury & fatigue...

[Bigsnowdog]

I ruined a pair of jeans yesterday. I think I could sew the holes shut but I don’t think I could get the blood stains out. I got into my knee with my 460 Stihl.

I think, in analyzing the day, I had been running that saw for quite a few hours, using it to take the trees down and also delimb, and I was quite physically tired. The saw moved in a way that I could easily have controlled had I not been so tired, and I watched it get me.

The chain hit my knee cap at the lower part of it, almost got into those important parts below it, tendons, etc. I made a series of parallel gashes in my knee and liberated a chunk of flesh, but otherwise OK. Pretty lucky that the chain was slowing down when it hit me.

I sat and poured hydrogen peroxide on it while the dog watched. I then went in the house and it started bleeding pretty good and I couldn’t get it to stop for a while, but then finally it did. Paper towels are really handy.

I feel like an idiot, but maybe some of you can think about it and avoid a problem somehow. Have a great day.

 

[Joey P]

1 word.......Chaps

 

[Sylvatica]

Don't those close calls make you actually think about safety?

I have a boot with an angled cut across the toes..I was lucky..not a scratch, that was years ago and was the last time I fired a saw without proper logging boots. ('Tho I admit I'm still more wary with gas hedge shears than the saws.)

I agree about the chaps, and I wear them. Tendon reconstruction is no joke.

My goal while working is to keep those valuable red cells inside my body where they belong.

Here's to your speedy recovery.

 

[Stumper]

Ouuucccccchh!. Get well soon!:angel:

 

[TonyM]

A buddy of mine did a very similar thing to his knee with my O26. We were out cutting in the woods a ways apart from each other. I shut my saw and I here him say in a calm voice, "Tony, I need to go." I'm asking myself what did he forget about, and I asked, "Why?" Still calm he answers, "I cut myself with the saw." At this point things get a little more exciting. I hurried him to the emergency room for stitches. It was a nice clean single gash the width of the chain right at his knee cap, but not into the bone. The doctors were amazed at how clean of cut it was. I guess there's side benefits to keeping the chain sharp. I went back the next day to retrieve my saw, expecting to be grossed out by what I found, but I could not see any evidence of blood or flesh on the saw. He's fine, but his knee has always been a little tender since, and he wear chaps now.

 

[SilverBlue]

No matter how careful you are, something can happen. Had a slight scratch on my right knee through jeans, did not have chaps on because they were soaked by hurricane Isabel. Yes it's a foolish mistake, but I lucked out. Could have been much worse as it was my 038 with a 25" bar that could have done serious damage.
Need chaps? Talk to Jeff

S&S Saw Shop

 

[Gypo Logger]

How can you go about addressing someone if they dont put a first name with there post? GGRRRR!
Anywho, tripping into a saw with a running chain is the most common injury. It generaly hits the knee cap and is caused by working to fast and being fatigued.
Think of the saw as an appendage, much like the antlers on a bull moose and follow the saw around with the bar pointed forward in tight quarters or safely at your side with the starter cover against the thigh and bar trailing behind. It is very sacreligious to touch clothing or flesh with a running saw.
A saw should be nothing more than a natural extension of the hands as though it belonged there.
Some folks are just plain dangerous and it is very painfull to watch them, but everyone has their own style.
John

 

[Crofter]

I got educated by a springpole. It was hidden in the leaves and brush under a downed yellow birch and I nicked it with the saw as I cut off a branch. When it let go it knocked the saw straight back into my face, but fortunately I connected with the powerhead not the chain. It split my forehead and bent my beak a bit, but I felt pretty lucky. When you are playing in the trees it can go awfully quick from "hey this is fun" to "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here...............

Frank

 

[sdillen]

I found this site about a month ago. I had run a saws (clearing land) when I was younger. . .and bought a stihl 018 for camping and such about a year ago. Well, the firewood requirements of the new house outgrew the capabilities of that saw, and (based on a lot of the information here) I bought a 260 a short while ago. Main reason for the 260 (after all, within the community of this group, I'd be classed as the typical homeowner/woodtick, well served by the consumer lines of saws)? The lighter weight of that saw may keep me from getting tired which may help prevent more serious problems. . .

Over the last several years it's become second nature to put safety glasses on when I run my bench grinder, drill press and table saw. . .but chainsaw safety >gear< never really crossed my mind. Since finding this site, and reading the information posted here, I keep glasses/gloves/earplugs in each saw case so there's no excuse not to use them, and I bought chaps with the new saw.

I'm building the habit of putting chaps and steel toe boots on before taking either saw out of the case. . .

Thanks for the reminder. . .recover fully quickly.

 

[che]

I don't get it.....HOW does one cut themself on the kneecap with a running chainsaw?

I'm not trying to be 'flip'....my husband did the same thing once....it was gruesome and bloody...but didn't require any stitching. I remember thinking about 'how' (as I was just starting to use one myself), and couldn't figure out how they would become connected....the angle just doesn't seem right. He couldn't (wouldn't) say how it happened.....

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Che, I have personaly helped two cutters out of the woods on Vancouver Island B.C. who had cut their kneecaps, when I questioned them about it later they said they were tired and were batting at whips and undergroth that were blocking their path and actually triped into the saw or it kicked back in their direction, plus they had lost the strength to efficiently hold on to the saw correctly.
Everyone needs at least one close call , or they live in fear of the unknown which is very scary in itself.
John

 

[eyolf]

Even the experienced among us...

I'm going to admit a good embarassment to myself here. Off regular job this week, cleaning up a building lot while the masonry contractor and excavator are champing at the bit to get in and get started. I was bucking up a couple of small stems the excavator had knocked over and shoved together; touched the bar nose to the second one just as I finished an upcut on the first (tension on suspended stem)...luckily I "saw" it happen just as it did, stiff-armed the saw and didn't even trip the brake.

Not ten minutes later, I was limbing, and did it again. This time the brake caught, just before the saw caught me. Mostly just my pride hurt...until I looked around to the peanut gallery applauding.

I did get a couple of veneer-grade oak sticks out of the deal, and maybe $100 worth of firewood, but I wonder if the excavator will call me again if he thinks I'm an accident waiting to happen

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Eyolf, they'll call you again, I just know it. When something wild happened, I'm sure you didn't miss a beat and kept on choppin', and why wouldn't you?
John

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Chainsaw pants

Here in NZ its illeagal according to OSH regulations to use a chainsaw commercially without wearing chaps or chainsaw pants, they are fantastic although a little hot in summer.

The great thing is that you can always spot other arborists around town as they are wearing the same pants and never have to decide what to wear at the start of the day.

Oh yeah, should you ever ditch your bike doing 70mph they provide fantastic protection from Mr Tarmac

Timber

 

[Bigsnowdog]

Originally posted by Crofter
I got educated by a springpole. It was hidden in the leaves and brush under a downed yellow birch and I nicked it with the saw as I cut off a branch. When it let go it knocked the saw straight back into my face, but fortunately I connected with the powerhead not the chain. It split my forehead and bent my beak a bit, but I felt pretty lucky. When you are playing in the trees it can go awfully quick from "hey this is fun" to "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here...............

Frank

I do not know the term, springpole. What does that mean?

 

[sedanman]

A spring pole is any branch or even a whole tree (think SMALL tree) that is under extreme tension, this is NOT natural tension it is created when a tree falls and traps branches or small trees between the trunk and the ground.Enough tenstion to "spring" when cut. Are VERY dangerous to cut. When enough tension is released the holding wood can snap violently and throw the bar out of the kerf.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

can snap violently and throw the bar out of the kerf.

...or hit you in the privates and make your ball swellup to the size of a grapefruit. It never happened to me personally though(spoken in a high squeaky voice).

 

[Bigsnowdog]

What are good brands and sources for chaps and saw resistant boots? Now that I have a keener appreciation of all of this....

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Actually, i think the left leg/thigh area is a high saw injury zone. Especailly, i would think sweeping weeds, especially bent over/crawling placing knee more forward, it wouldn't be toooooo hard to do!

And lots of people have died/ been injured from many types of 'driver's fatigue'.

That lil'Lady sure does swing a mean saw in that pic!

Spring poles make good booby traps to kill annhilate the enemy or innocent indiscriminately, man or nature-all made. Many people killed/injured after tree safely down by such things.

 

[che]

"springpole"....ok, now I know what to call it....

....I was cutting out a downed tree in a pretty dense fence row at the bottom of a steep 'hollar'...mid cut, my saw is grabbed out of my hands and pitched over the fence.....thankfully AWAY from me.

Fairly intense adrenaline rush....would have been the worse place on the farm to have been in trouble.....had to hike in away from the truck for a bit....and normally I won't even take a truck down there. Just ANOTHER thing to keep your eyes open for.

I really appreciate reading about these freaky accidents...it's these types of situations, that I'd rather NOT to have to learn first hand....