How'd it go today?

Tucker943 said:
I'll be honest at the risk of getting flamed. I don't use a chain brake all that often. On dangerous ground of course. In tight quarters, always. But when I pull my saws out of wood, they stop spinning quickly and don't spin at idle. My chains are not too tight either. Just tight enough is all. I use the brake if handing the saw to someone also. But If I pull the saw out of a cut, and walk 3 feet to make another cut, I just don't use a brake.

Flame away. But if hurling insults and rocks at me, remember Im not new to tree work. Cant play the whole "once you get around the business more" card. lol.
Click to expand...

I do it the same way, exactly!

And I'm not new to treework either.
 
Like I already said, I don't even think when I do it. It would actually be hard for me not to do it.
 
Ive come to believe that chain brakes, and PPE are a blessing and a must have. But what I also see in some people is a false sense of security. They take these safety features and equipment and assume they are bullet proof. I don't know how many loggers and tree rats Ive seen with chainsaw boots and chaps that look like they got run through a woodchipper. Yes, that gear should have been replaced, but what I get from that is those people think that safety gear and gadgets make them immune from injury. Its a false sense of security. Yes, the stuff helps, and is a must. But NEVER should it be relied on. I did a small informal study in my mind of guys I know in the logging and tree business. Informal and more just a thought then anything. What I looked at is guys that wear chaos versus guys that don't. The guys I know of that wear chaps almost always have a story of the saw hitting their chaps and saving their leg. The guys I know that don't wear chaps, well, only a very few of them have cut their leg.
With that said, I believe we should all wear chaps, even though I am not entirely faithful about it. What I did conclude in my mind though, was that many men that wear chaps, become complacent more cavalier about their saw handling. Same with my forestry helmet. I wear that thing FAITHFULLY with my screen down, but I don't trust it. Ive had stuff fly at my face and bust my face right through that thing. Chain brakes too. Yes, I use them, but I don't put full faith in them. they're mechanical. Everything mechanical is prone to fail eventually. I rely on my saw handling skills to protect me over anything.
 
Table saws are unforgiving to use improperly, and there also is the element of twist or tension in wood that can make it bind in the blade during the cut. I can't imagine why else wood will bind, unless the fence isn't set up properly in relation to the blade. You also don't want to be without great care cutting short wide pieces that can rack between the fence and blade and throw the wood back at you. With confidence and experience you can get very fine with them, have your fingers right down in there close to the blade, essential for some types of work. Concentration is the key. I would say the major cause of accidents is when someone has their fingers in line with the blade on the other side of it, perhaps pushing the wood through that way. If the blade should grab or you try to connect an error by backing out the wood in the direction of the rotation, it can be an instantaneous and serious thing that results. A sharp blade also is important, you shouldn't have to push hard to make a cut, where a slip is more likely to occur. A powerful saw is both a blessing and potentially quite dangerous.
 
Im not good with electric power tools Jay. Im a terrible carpenter. My mindframe that Im terrible actually causes me to be worse then I really am.
 
You're ok, Chris. I think better to be real good at one thing, as you are with trees, than so so good at a number of things.
 
Tucker943 said:
I'll be honest at the risk of getting flamed. I don't use a chain brake all that often. On dangerous ground of course. In tight quarters, always. But when I pull my saws out of wood, they stop spinning quickly and don't spin at idle. My chains are not too tight either. Just tight enough is all. I use the brake if handing the saw to someone also. But If I pull the saw out of a cut, and walk 3 feet to make another cut, I just don't use a brake.

Flame away. But if hurling insults and rocks at me, remember Im not new to tree work. Cant play the whole "once you get around the business more" card. lol.
Click to expand...
You SOB! How dare you not wear your PPE every second you are on the job, because don't you know bad things just never happen while wearing your PPE. Ok joke over. I do pretty much exactly the same thing.
 
There's a video out there, quite funny. It's a guy gearing up to crank his saw and he spends 10 minutes putting on more PPE than I've ever seen in my life. When he's all geared up, he cranks the saw and cuts the tree. The tree is a tiny, 'lil thing, maybe 6 feet tall. One cut, boom - it's over and he starts taking off all the PPE he took 10 minutes putting on.

Anyone see that?

:lol:
 
I should talk about my lack of chain brake use at the buzz. See how long until Im hanged, drawn & quartered. Those chicks would lose their lid if I spoke my thoughts there.
 
See that? No. When I was logging, our landing for about 9 months was 4 miles back through the woods. We drove back on an old railroad bed. This one reject I work with was a few minutes ahead of me on day getting to work. I come down the railroad bed and he is putting on saw boots, chaps, and a forestry helmet. I get out and walk around his truck to see the issue. A tree fell in the woods and the central leader stuck out in the road. About 4 feet stuck in the road. He made one cut, 4" diameter wood. Took his gear off, put it away, then tossed the branch out of the way. If I was running that job id have smacked him for such asinine and time consuming garbage.
 
There's probabley been more people chewed up on tablesaws per year than on chainsaws .Any power tool demands respect weather it is powered by gasoline or electric .To get complacent or overly confident will in time result in an accident .It's not if but rather when .
 
I put on my chaps today and used a saw whose chain brake is broken.. Feel better?? :lol:
I don't always use the chain brake. I treat it as I do any guidline for safety. I don't always wear chaps. It all depends on my day and what terrain I am working on. I use the chain brake in the tree a lot. Set the brake when I near my ropes. Unlock, make cut... tunr off saw or set brake... cross ropes...... Or if I am barber pole-ing a tree. I will set my brake if I leave the saw running and let it dangle until Iflip up to position for the next set of boles. Just safer IMO. I always remind myself that a saw will spool up as it runs dry of fuel. Just because my chain stops at idle does not mean the saw will not spool up.
I always judge my situation and react accourdingly with a safety procedure. No biggie. Slam the brake NO. Use it when appropriate.. Absolutely. Someone does not want to use a chain brake.... hey no problem. You just won't work for me, you are an adult and can make that decision for yourself in your company and work place. No biggie..
 
For the most part on the ground, IMO, chain brakes are for kickbacks, and for starting when in brush.

A lot of people use the chainbrake when they should be releasing the throttle interlock on the pistol grip.
 
Oh I use the chain brake Stephen. Don't let me mislead you. But like many, I use it more in some situations and less in others. A dangling climbing saw by my legs is a chain brake worthy moment.

Lost my right hand man. Quit me. He was a money maker too. The best ive ever had. Got a winter night job. They promoted him after 2 weeks and with the promotion gave him company paid health and dental. Plus its 1/4 the distance from his home as my yard. Im not mad at him. He has kids and a wife. needs to go where he can do best. Im pissed that he wouldn't tell me he wasn't returning. I had to call him up and pry it out of him. Ive been as good to him as he was to me. I did a LOT outside of work to better his life for him and his family. I loaned him $500 before Christmas too. I wont see that money. Im happy he moved up in the world, but would have appreciated if he was straight up with me so I could share in his joy and support his new endeavor.
 
I always look at a hire as someone I am training to be self sufficient. It is much less frustrating. Consider them an apprentice. I loan money (in the past) based on pay and would rather buy them a chainsaw of their own. I alway look at a loan as I will never see it again... Did I better some ones life? Perhaps. It really is up to them to take what I offer and do better by it.. Kudos if they do.
 
Its one thing to go for a different, especially more compensating (benefits are huge for the family man), job. Not paying a loan is chitty. Hope you get it back, but as was said, loans are better hoped to have returned, than counted on being returned. Collateral is good.

Hope you find a good replacement, Chris.



We knocked down about 18 trees today. Nothing to major or minor. No major calamities. Lost a water faucet, literally. Disappeared under a big fir trunk. I had hoped that the hinge would hold it to the lay, but since it was a hollow drum, and there really wasn't much integrity to the one side of the hinge, tangled branches pulled it over 10 degrees. Nicely, someone else will fix that for us.

Pulled a couple dead trees away from a primary line into the woods. One to the lay, one had, the hinge fail very early, but landed plenty satisfactorily, even if 60 degrees from the intended lay, still 120 degrees from the wires, which was all that was important.

Got some freshly baked cookies from a volunteer campground host, still warm from the oven. :)

Hanging out in a hotel room, watching bad TV, which is something we don't have at home. Escape from NY on AMC.

Watched Lizard Lick repo show last night. Crazy line of work.
 
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