Protective head, eye, and ear gear

[vtfly]

If this is not the correct forum please tell me where to post appropriately. I will be felling, bucking, and splitting for firewood purposes. What do you folks use for protective gear and where do you purchase such items?

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Each person is different. I wear chaps (inside the pant or outside depending on where and what I'm cutting), a helmet (also differing on where and what I'm cutting) and gloves. Some guys don't wear much at all beyond gloves.

Try a search for "PPE, Chaps, Helmet" and you'll get tons of reading. This has been discussed quite extensively before.

Welcome to AS.

Jeff

 

[314epw]

hard hat

I use a hard hat with ear protection,and a face screen.You can see this on ebay.$40 to $45 dollars.I also recommend leather gloves in case the chain comes off and wants to bite you.Some people might make fun of you, but I guess they never had to take anyone to the hospital. I have.It is not fun.
Ed
Getting old and gray:deadhorse:

 

[upandcommer]

I personally wear safty glasses ear plugs (much better protection than muffs) and chaps along with heavy leather gloves over kevlar cut resitant gloves I bring home from work never had a problem myself I also have met guard boots i have to wear for work that I wear. Steel toe and a steel chank on both sides of the laces sewn directly into the leather you loose alot of foot flex so no climbing is to be done in them but they have saved me from a broken foot more than once.

 

[computeruser]

Welcome to AS!

You'll find that it is the weekend warrior/homeowner types who cut without protection, whereas the pros and enthusiasts take their PPE seriously. Interesting...

For myself, protective chaps are a must unless I'm only working above ground or trimming branches. Ear protection, usually in the form of muffs, is always worn - open, modified mufflers are LOUD! Sturdy work boots, good leather gloves, and some sort of eye protection round out the package.

Hard hats with face screens are not a bad idea if you're cutting in the woods, either.

Most of this sort of equipment can be sourced from your local saw shop, assuming it is well-stocked. If your local saw shop doesn't stock this sort of stuff or if their prices are absolutely insane, fear not. Apart from the hard hat/face screen and saw chaps, everything else can easily be sourced from a good shoe retailer and a good hardware store, and the hat/face screen and saw chaps can be ordered online.

Me, making the big dollars doing some storm cleanup - chaps, sturdy woork boots (can't see 'em, I know), good grippy leather gloves (some are slippery, not good!), muffs for ear protection, and eye glasses for eye protection (not the best choice, admittedly):

 

[Brushwacker]

brushwacker

Hello, I am a newbie member who has been making about 1/3 my living with or around chainsaws for about 25 years. Until around 10 years ago I never used chaps, which I started wearing at my part time job then. I highly recomend them for their protection. Remember they are not bullet proof and in your more extreme accident would probably only lessen the extent of an injury, not prevent. I have seen a moving chain come in contact, but the throttle was not on and only the chaps got cut. I really like my stihl chaps, some I tried didn't feel comfortable. I talked them into buying some stuff from Bailey's at work and their chaps were nice to. Our old ones had a scrench pocket which I liked also. Chaps also protect your pants from bar oil so they don't get as dirty. Hardhats with muffs and eye protection is what I use. Good muffs help hold the hardhat on your head. Some faceshields are on the heavy side and don't feel as good as others. If I could find safety glasses or goggles that didn't collect sweat and fog I would go that route and consider taking off the shield. I can see better without the shield and sometimes forget to put it down. The stihl helmet I find comfortable all around,some I tried were annoying the way they fit and stayed on your head. Flat land here and I use leather boots and prefer steel toes.I haven't been to particular to gloves other then I don't like them open on top where saw dust and chips can get in. Don't dress to warm in cold weather. Activity keeps me warm. Light layering.If its windy cold or rainy I use an almost snug windbreaker or breathable raincoat. I find a lot of quality cloths at second hand stores that I otherwise would not be able to afford.

 

[Big Woody]

I prefer a full body balloon suit with an outer layer of Kevlar bonded to a layer of carbon fiber composite and a full face motorcycle helmet. However this is very hot to wear so after I get it all on I sit in the air-conditioned truck and hire an illegal alien to actually cut the wood up while I look out the window. I don't think he wears anything special. Good to have people around that will do the jobs Americans won't.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Ah likes one of dese:

Do a search on chainsaw helmet and you'll find some dealers. I'm sure several of the ArboristSite sponsors carry good stuff.

Plus chaps and stout leather gloves. Good boots, of course.


BTW, ear plugs do NOT provide better protection than muffs. Some of the sound that damages your hearing comes through the mastoid bone, behind your ear, and not down the ear canal. Plugs do NOTHING for this. Properly fitted muffs attenuate this sound considerably. The BEST protection is muffs PLUS plugs.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Hello, I am a newbie member

Welcome aboard!

Remember they are not bullet proof and in your more extreme accident would probably only lessen the extent of an injury, not prevent.

Good advice. Complacency can kill.

Sometimes lessening an injury is the difference between a cut artery (and subsequent death) and just a bad cut that might require some surgery and rehab. Had a friend get mauled by a Rottweiler, and the paramedics said he was 1 millimeter from death. That's how close a fang came to his carotid artery.

I find a lot of quality cloths at second hand stores that I otherwise would not be able to afford.

Yup. Shop the thrift stores in the ritzy areas and you can get some amazing bargains. I got an LL.Bean jacket for 5 bucks - you couldn't tell it had been worn.

 

[Husky372]

Steel toe boots either chaps or (pants preferd dont snag in woods) I like the husky helmet. Dont like the ones with the knob tightner. Face screen if I remember to put down. Eye glasses fog and sweat up. Sometimes I wear the husky gloves. But usually just in winter or when coldish.

 

[woodbug]

Always wear the PPE. No matter how hot or how expensive it seems it is always worth the effort and money. I see people regularly with out a stich of PPE and it makes me nervous. It's easier to put the effort in before the job than to spend the next couple of months healing up and out of work, wishing you had.

 

[smithie55]

Howdy and welcome,
PPE is good, just don't get over confident because you have it on.
Nothing can substitute for proper handling of the saw and being overly cautious. When you get tired quit don't try to make that final cut.
Iv'e been bit by that one.
If you can't afford the chaps right away at least buy double front pants.
Are we allowed to give more then 2 cents worth?
Good luck
Happy sawing.

 

[jimmyq]

sawpants, helmet with muffs and shield (and in summer impact rated sunglasses too), gloves.... I have chainsaw gloves and the funky chainsaw gumboots for certain occasions if I get really close to the WCB offices.

 

[046]

depending upon what I'm doing. Stihl chaps, kevlar gloves, ear muffs, leather boots, eye protection, hard hat, etc

 

[SteveH]

Ear plugs, leather gloves, leather boots, chaps, safety glasses that wrap around the side to keep chips out.

Chaps I just started using this year, after 30 yr. Love them. Got mine from Gempler's and they seem, looking over the Stihls, to be very similar to those.

I have gone to using gloves with the elastic band at the wrist to keep junk out of them. Big improvement. Only took me 20 yr. to switch. [I find them hotter in summer weather, but worth it...I no longer have to dump sawdust from them now and then.]

No hard hat, but probably I should...was knocked out cold once by falling tree. Not the one I was cutting, one nearby the wind took down from rotted root system. Duh. Ten stitches in my head at the emergency clinic [I heard the nurses in the hallway refer to me as Paul Bunyon. As in, "Ok, gotta get in there and check up on Paul Bunyon in room 3."

 

[beowulf343]

I always wear a hard hat with muffs. If in a tree I wear glasses, on the ground faceshield. I always wear chaps on the ground and steel-toed workboots (knew a guy who once lost track of his feet in the snow and nicked his toes.) I personally hate gloves and will only wear them when it gets too cold.

 

[madmax]

I was taught to use all, (OK most of) the above mentioned equip., but the main thing to use is your brain, and the rest will last forever

 

[cord arrow]

it's 92 degrees here, and they're throwing in a four lane out here to rural America.

considering i'm in cutoffs, bet your butt i'm sportin' my chaps........

most everything else, as well, these state guys will run ya off in a heartbeat if they sense you're any kind of liability.

now, you can wait 'till they leave, but then ya gotta deal with drunk bubba & his drunk brother..........

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

considering i'm in cutoffs, bet your butt i'm sportin' my chaps........

Spent a good part of today dressed that way!