Chainsaw Chaps *bloody pics for emphasis*

[craig333]

Reminds me, I haven't seen my chaps since I moved. Time to hunt them down (unfortunately they're a dirt brown color, blend in well).

[TerryD]

'"Not so terrible". Looks terrible to me! My dad laid the whole back of his hand open when I was a kid with a chainsaw. It snagged a twig and just kicked. You could see all of his finger tendons moving. Could have been bad since he is a professional jazz saxaphone player. I bought the chaps but I understand that feet take more chainsaw hits than legs. Boots and thick leather gloves are just as important as the chaps. I nicked my chaps once and that was close enough. They give confidence and made me careless enough to cut in a very compromised position. I won't make that mistake again because the chaps only clog the chain. They will cut.

Terry, glad all you got were a few stitches. For sure chaps will be the only thing to protect you from cuts when you lay the saw against your leg.

A few other pointers.
An additional safety item, maybe one of the most important, is keep your chain sharp and properly maintained. A dull chain, and/or one with the depth gauges incorrectly set, is a lot more likely to grab and attack you.
If you're putting pressure on the saw to get it to cut, your chain is dull. You should be getting wood chips, not sawdust from it.
Also, a chainsaw is not a hand saw, you don't use it by sawing back and forth. Unless you're limbing a tree, the spikes should engage the wood.

All good suggestions for those who may not be familiar with chainsaws. Another one, DON'T GET COMFORTABLE. Looking back I think that's mostly what happened to me. I just got to comfortable behind a piece of equipment that's designed to cut whatever it touches.

[Master-Pull]

Glad you are ok, it could have been a lot worse if you had nicked the artery!

-Alex

[4lowdean]

Chaps saved my leg once. Was cutting through a good sized tree with a Stihl that had a 30" blade. I was expecting the tree to be a tough cut so I planted my feat and knuckled up for the long-haul. Turns out the tree was 75% hollow and the Stihl went through it like a hot knife through butter... and then the saw went for my leg when I lost my balance. Luckily the chaps did their job and it stopped the blade in the blink of an eye. The best was when I went in to talk to my boss.

Me: "Hey boss, I got good news, bad news, and good news."

He swivels around in his desk chair and gives me an inquisitive look. This wasn't the first good-bad-good news story I've come to him with. "Okay, what's the good news?" He asks.

Pointing to my leg I say, "I did *not* cut my leg off."

He cocks his eyebrow and gives me a rather stoic look. "And the bad news?" He asks; his voice void of emotion.

"Bad news is we need a new pair of chaps," I say as I hold up the shredded pair of orange chaps.

His eyes go wide. "The good news?"

With a smile I hold up the saw with a fresh blade, "I managed to fix the saw already."

At this point he finally lets his guard down and starts to laugh. He is a rather jovial man who usually ended up playing Santa Clause at holiday parties.


I have a similar story involving a DeWalt drill, a 36" auger bit, and a 40' fall from a tree.

+++

Anyway, to the OP, glad you are on your way to recovery!

[TerryD]

Returned to work today. Got the usual "need chain saw safety lessons" and other jabs. All in all, glad to be back rather than another week of laying around. Knee is doing good, healing up nicely. Stitches are supposed to come out this weekend and I can get back at that willow tree. Gonna go get a pair of chaps first though. I don't want a repeat of this. Thanks for all the well wishes guys!

[foxhunter]

My wife got me a pair of safety chaps after seeing a few pairs of jeans come into the laundry with obvious chainsaw cuts from close calls. Its a sign of love.
Any power tool can be dangerous. A few yr ago my cousin's nurse wife had just left him for a plastic surgeon. He decided to remodel.One evening he got out of the shower and still in the nude started drilling a hole in his fireplace. The drill hit something hard and jumped down, catching his foreskin and completely degloved his manhood from tip to base. A nurse lived next door and gathered up his skin after unwinding it from the bit and took him to the hospital where the plastic surgeon who stole his wife sewed the skin back on his male part. He did fine but the drill was forever known from that day forward as the Black and Decker Pecker Wrecker. Some things you just can't make up.

[Dirtytires]

Foxhunter, do you really believe this ? Come on..

[Treenail]

I've made my living as an arborist for around 37 years. In that time, touch wood [my head full of sawdust], I've never cut myself with a running saw. One time I had a saw slip off the back of the ATV and knicked the back of my calf. Ugly chomp...five stitches.

Chainsaws have been described as the most constructive and destructive tools made by humans.

If you're going to buy chaps the best choice is to get full-wraps. The lower portion wraps all of the way around the calf. If the saw does catch the chaps it is likely to 'climb' and pull the saw around..to where the meat is

I'm glad that the cut wasn't worse and you mended quickly!

Tom

[foxhunter]

DirtyTires
I am on staff at the hospital he went to and while I didn't witness it firsthand, I heard the same story from my cousin, the nurse who cared for him and the ER doc. So while my cousin(distant) has been known to tell a whopper, he had corraboration on this one. Now,knowing my cousin, I am not sure he was innocently drilling when the accident happened or was trying to turn the drill into a sex toy. After nearly 30 yrs in medicine, I have better stories than this one. Just none that involve power tools.

[PV Hiker]

As learned over and over being certified from the Forest Service...when finished a cut set the chain brake. Walk around and get in position and un-lock chain brake and make next cut. If you are not engaged in cutting lock the brake. There is a new requirement on chaps with the forest Service...mine cost me ~$150 but such a small price for your health and safety.