jonsered
ArboristSite Lurker
i know you mean well though, and this topic is about kickback and injuries that people had
has anyone ever heard........
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jonsered said:
You are so very wrong. Without knowing the bad things that can happen to you you shouldn't even go near a chainsaw. Over the years I've seen way more injuries than I"ve wanted to and a lot of them came from ignorance and carelessness. Confidence won't be lost at all if they're aware of the risks involved. If they're the type of person whose confidence is that easily shaken they might be better off having someone else do their cutting. And to answer your original question...I've seen two fatals from head and upper torso saw injuries. Neither was instantly fatal but both were single-jacking and bled out before anyone even found them. I've heard of others but can't confirm them.
jonsered
ArboristSite Lurker
then the people who were ignorent and careless had it coming to them, it means they were not being smart of thinking safely, i have never, ever had any injuries due to operating a chainsaw, i am not a careless person
jonsered said:
Maybe you're not a careless person...I can't really say. You do come across as being an insensitive cretin however. To infer that the the men I knew who were killed "had it coming to them" is the thought and deed of a morally bankrupt person. Would you care to explain your attitude to their families? Maybe they did screw up...I don't know...and you sure as hell don't know either.
Enlighten us. How long have you been on the saw? Are you a faller or a logger of any kind? A week-end warrior with delusions of professionalism? Don't judge your betters...learn from them. Even their mistakes.
jonsered
ArboristSite Lurker
i'm sorry for blabbing like that, i was not thinking, i am very sorry, and i do log and fall trees, i have been doing it for around 3 years, but i know i do not have "that" much experience but i do have alot even though i have not done it for a very long time
jonsered said:
Okay...apology accepted. I looked up your profile. You're the same age as my boy and sometimes his mouth gets away from him too. Thanks for being a big enough guy to say you're sorry. I've been a logger almost all my life and I guess I'm just tired of packing guys out of the woods and then calling their families to explain what happened.
You keep on being careful and I wish you all the best. Bob
Manco
ArboristSite Operative
jonsered said:
You HAVE to know all the bad things that can happen while using a chainsaw. Also, I consider myself very safety-conscious and I've been bit by the husky dog too. I don't know anyone thats used a chainsaw extensively that hasn't been bit. Come to think of it, there was a guy who lost his footing and fell on a saw that was not running, and received 21 stitches to the hand that was supposed to stop the fall but landed on the bar and chain.
jonsered
ArboristSite Lurker
ouch
BlueRidgeMark
Addicted to ArboristSite
jonsered said:
That what a real man does. Admit when he's wrong. Good on ya.
jonsered, I see by your profile that you're pretty young. Well, that's a crime that we've all committed, so no problem. But, one thing that's hard to teach the young - even the most intelligent - is just how much there is that you don't know - and don't even KNOW you don't know, that is only learned by experience. Thw world is far more complex than you realize, and there are many more things that can go wrong than you are now aware of. So go slow, my friend, with judgements like that. Keep your eyes open, and keep learning. Sometimes these old fools really do know what we're talking about.
Believe it or not, you can learn valuable lessons from someone who has far less intelligence than you. Experience counts.
squisher
ArboristSite Operative
Just in case anyone thinks it can't happen to them.
My whole family has worked the bush for three generations. My uncle had been 25 years in the bush done it all falling, bucking, skidding, running whole shows. To make a long story short he was walking machines to a new block one day and had two trees in the way so he jumped out starting falling the first tree and the dreaded kickback zone touched on the second tree. He was cutting high, it was a ackward position. Before you judge can anyone here who actually runs a saw say honestly that you never cut out of position or high. The resulting kickback came right across my uncles face. Obliterated his nose I mean gone cut right into his cheeckbone. I saw him through a little window in the door of the completely sealed room that he had to stay in for over a week as they operated and tried to reconstruct his face not pretty. The cuts were so bad that they couldn't be dressed and the sealed room was to prevent infection. When the cut occurred my uncle was by himself on that block his swamper was waiting for him to arrive with the machine on the new block. It was over an hour until they met on the bush road with the paramedics. It was one of the paramedics first real call and when they peeled my uncles shirt off his face that guy hurled. My uncle the tough SOB that he is stayed concious during the whole thing and still works in the bush. Several reconstructive surgeries later he doesn't look that bad but his sniffer will never work again.
Lesson to be learned here. It can happen to anyone at anytime so never let your guard down not for a second.
My whole family has worked the bush for three generations. My uncle had been 25 years in the bush done it all falling, bucking, skidding, running whole shows. To make a long story short he was walking machines to a new block one day and had two trees in the way so he jumped out starting falling the first tree and the dreaded kickback zone touched on the second tree. He was cutting high, it was a ackward position. Before you judge can anyone here who actually runs a saw say honestly that you never cut out of position or high. The resulting kickback came right across my uncles face. Obliterated his nose I mean gone cut right into his cheeckbone. I saw him through a little window in the door of the completely sealed room that he had to stay in for over a week as they operated and tried to reconstruct his face not pretty. The cuts were so bad that they couldn't be dressed and the sealed room was to prevent infection. When the cut occurred my uncle was by himself on that block his swamper was waiting for him to arrive with the machine on the new block. It was over an hour until they met on the bush road with the paramedics. It was one of the paramedics first real call and when they peeled my uncles shirt off his face that guy hurled. My uncle the tough SOB that he is stayed concious during the whole thing and still works in the bush. Several reconstructive surgeries later he doesn't look that bad but his sniffer will never work again.
Lesson to be learned here. It can happen to anyone at anytime so never let your guard down not for a second.
jonsered
ArboristSite Lurker
i know what you mean, i always try to be as aware as i can when operating a chainsaw, but one time or another people do get distracted or get over confident, i have done that many times
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Treco posted this pic on another thread....tells alot!!!
Dixie1
ArboristSite Operative
thanks
thank you all for your replies and stories. i think hearing of the horrible accidents does make me more scarred, but it will make me way more cautious. that drawing of the "kick back zone" was helpful. I think I still like the pole saw the best! I'm sure with more experience I will get more comfortable.
thank you all for your replies and stories. i think hearing of the horrible accidents does make me more scarred, but it will make me way more cautious. that drawing of the "kick back zone" was helpful. I think I still like the pole saw the best! I'm sure with more experience I will get more comfortable.
kickback
Andy, a buddy of mine, was cutting firewood with his new saw, 14" bar, just working the little stuff, the saw kicked back and hit him right under the jaw. Took out six teeth on the way up through his lower jaw, so fast if you'd have blinked you'd have missed it. That was 30+ years ago, before the inertia chain brakes.
jonsered said:
Andy, a buddy of mine, was cutting firewood with his new saw, 14" bar, just working the little stuff, the saw kicked back and hit him right under the jaw. Took out six teeth on the way up through his lower jaw, so fast if you'd have blinked you'd have missed it. That was 30+ years ago, before the inertia chain brakes.
jonsered
ArboristSite Lurker
its a good thing chainbrakes were invented, or else a heck of alot more people would have died from chainsaw related incidents
jonsered
ArboristSite Lurker
extremely important safety feature
Props to pros
I just want to say that this thread, and others like it have REALLY helped me out. Chainsaws are cool, and they can be fun, and for a weekend warrior like myself, deadly.
When I look at the people I know in the business, my grandfather was raised on a logging camp in upstate NY. He was born in 1909 and spent most of his life with only 8 fingers.
2 friends in the business have destroyed a leg and a shoulder respectively.
One was a climber, the other a feller. Both had parts of a tree fall on them.
And a good friends father (a weekend warrior) with TONS of experience slipped, and cut the inside of his thigh, almost bleeding to death..
But for some reason, this forum has been a constant reminder of safety, and I have learned a lot.
I have also invested in chaps, a helmet, gloves, etc.
I will admit I used to go out and cut firewood with gloves and sunglasses.
Stupid. And I am lucky.
Respect the saw, and thanks for all the great advice to all you pros here.
I just want to say that this thread, and others like it have REALLY helped me out. Chainsaws are cool, and they can be fun, and for a weekend warrior like myself, deadly.
When I look at the people I know in the business, my grandfather was raised on a logging camp in upstate NY. He was born in 1909 and spent most of his life with only 8 fingers.
2 friends in the business have destroyed a leg and a shoulder respectively.
One was a climber, the other a feller. Both had parts of a tree fall on them.
And a good friends father (a weekend warrior) with TONS of experience slipped, and cut the inside of his thigh, almost bleeding to death..
But for some reason, this forum has been a constant reminder of safety, and I have learned a lot.
I have also invested in chaps, a helmet, gloves, etc.
I will admit I used to go out and cut firewood with gloves and sunglasses.
Stupid. And I am lucky.
Respect the saw, and thanks for all the great advice to all you pros here.
RolloriClimber
ArboristSite Lurker
I got kick back twice both times trimming a queen palm.
1st time out on clearwater beach only been climbing maybe a year then a little to windy that day and was doing off a ladder, I had finished all the trees and the foreman said and pointed out I forgot a dead boot on the last one . So in a hurry be rushed as always, I ran up the ladder went to cut the boot off with my 020 with one hand, the saw bounced and then kicked back out of natural recation I threw my left hand up to block . then I reached up and cut the boot off but with a under cut shut the saw off and thought that was close dare I look at my left hand ? I lift my hand up to see if I hit it and on the outside of my thumb was a very deep cut going in toward my hand.
It looked like the quarter thigh of chicken when you are cutting the leg off.
I stepped down the ladder and wrapped my hand in my shirt , the rest of the crew was cleaning up and loading the fraws in the grapple,they saw my hand wrapped and asked what was up?I said some one needs to take me to the hospital now . At the hospital the doc went to look at the x-ray and saw a perfect cut half way through my thumb bone and had to show about everyone in the hospital.
Second time was trimming all the palm trees in a trailer park maybe a year and half later , from the first inccedent. Boss told me it was a 2-day job , or his old climber it took him 2 days .
I whipped through the trailer park trimming them and I looked at the time it was almost lunch time so I drove around the park to see what I had left to trim. I had 3 palms left to trim of the whole job on the first day. So trying to impress I tried to finish before lunch last palm dead boot hanging out can't remeber if I was using my 020 or that echo climbing saw, but this time had both hands on the saw , hit the boot the saw kicked back my handon the top of the saw when it kicked back nocked my hard hat off , and the saw hit my forehead. It just broke the skin, the hospital couldn't stitch it though since saws don't make clean cuts in flesh like they do through wood and bone.So they pulled the skin together and put this special tape on it they use on burn victoms.
Needless to say I do not rush through jobs any more I found you may get done 1/2 hour later, but at least you are in one piece, and I moved to Georgia and don't do palms trees any more.
1st time out on clearwater beach only been climbing maybe a year then a little to windy that day and was doing off a ladder, I had finished all the trees and the foreman said and pointed out I forgot a dead boot on the last one . So in a hurry be rushed as always, I ran up the ladder went to cut the boot off with my 020 with one hand, the saw bounced and then kicked back out of natural recation I threw my left hand up to block . then I reached up and cut the boot off but with a under cut shut the saw off and thought that was close dare I look at my left hand ? I lift my hand up to see if I hit it and on the outside of my thumb was a very deep cut going in toward my hand.
It looked like the quarter thigh of chicken when you are cutting the leg off.
I stepped down the ladder and wrapped my hand in my shirt , the rest of the crew was cleaning up and loading the fraws in the grapple,they saw my hand wrapped and asked what was up?I said some one needs to take me to the hospital now . At the hospital the doc went to look at the x-ray and saw a perfect cut half way through my thumb bone and had to show about everyone in the hospital.
Second time was trimming all the palm trees in a trailer park maybe a year and half later , from the first inccedent. Boss told me it was a 2-day job , or his old climber it took him 2 days .
I whipped through the trailer park trimming them and I looked at the time it was almost lunch time so I drove around the park to see what I had left to trim. I had 3 palms left to trim of the whole job on the first day. So trying to impress I tried to finish before lunch last palm dead boot hanging out can't remeber if I was using my 020 or that echo climbing saw, but this time had both hands on the saw , hit the boot the saw kicked back my handon the top of the saw when it kicked back nocked my hard hat off , and the saw hit my forehead. It just broke the skin, the hospital couldn't stitch it though since saws don't make clean cuts in flesh like they do through wood and bone.So they pulled the skin together and put this special tape on it they use on burn victoms.
Needless to say I do not rush through jobs any more I found you may get done 1/2 hour later, but at least you are in one piece, and I moved to Georgia and don't do palms trees any more.
