What boots and gloves do you wear when chainsawing on the ground?

Interesting Stig, please keep me informed of how they work out. Interesting concept & I would love a pair of my pfanner boots converted
 
I tell you why I wear proper chainsaw steel toe boots.

I have debt, a fair amount of it, I need to work to pay it.

I used to get by with ordinary work boots with plastic toe protection.

I saw a picture of a foot that had been bifurcated by a saw, composite toe and all. I went out a got some legit boots that weekend.
 
Mine would have to be custom made, due to the width issue. Footwear is a constant problem for me, as I wear shoes out in 3-6 mo. typically. But ill fitting footwear is also brutalizing my ankles and arches, and the rigid foot makes bending my foot difficult (esp. on terrain), so it's a vicious cycle. Meanwhile, I'll make do with the New Balance Industrials, as they fit far better than the last pair of NB and the Keens before them.

Somebody needs to make a heated steel toe. My Keens were brutal on some of the cold days. If Milwaukee can make a 12V heated jacket and vest, surely heated shoes are within reach!
 
Interesting Stig, please keep me informed of how they work out. Interesting concept & I would love a pair of my pfanner boots converted

They don't convert boots.
They make new soles on new boots.

Check their homepage.
Richard and I have used their thinsulate liner pac boots for winter logging for a decade.

www.hoffmanboots.com

Go to logging boots, then to leather caulks.

I promise you that you won't regret it if you get a pair of caulk boots.

The difference, particularly on wet beech logs is HUGE!
 
Get some custom nicks and be done with it. Best boots I've ever worn.

https://nicksboots.com/



They do caulks on anything you want, also have a few that are ul listed smoke jumper boots, great company. I've worn them for close to a decade, worth every penny. Whites are similar, but i chose nicks and haven't been disappointed at all. Not sure about overseas shipping and all that, but are literally about the best money can buy.
 
Those do look mighty fine. I seem to recall hearing about them somewhere in the past...don't think I've ever known anyone to have a pair though.
 
I might pay them a visit next time I come over.

I am sad about the Wescos no longer being available.

Those have been my daily companions for the last 15 years.
 
At work, if anyone even mentions footwear i make it a point to tell them all about nicks, I've been that happy with their products.
 
When you are on your feet all day, the proper boots just makes life so much better.

That is why I wear caulks for logging.

Far as I know, I was the first to do so in Denmark.

Now we are 3 and soon 5.

But they have all been turned on to caulks by me.

Amazing how working in different countries can change the way you do things.
 
In woods work, there is no comparison. Caulks rule. Doesn't have to be just timber falling. For all my field work, from reforestation to stand measurement plots, most days it was in caulks. Always wore Wescos or Whites. Winter time, I have a set of Hoffman pac style caulks. They were the bomb for the cold/wet all day in the brush.
 
Exactly. I used to have lower back problems, which were cured by switching to nicks boots. My quality of life improved dramatically just by using good boots, which i think is incredible. Certain tools developed in other countries are sometimes better than local methods. Look at the expansion of tower and knuckleboom cranes here in the us, perfect example. As is the articulated mini loader. The Chinese wheelbarrow is another example of perfecting a tool, we need them here.

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbarrow.html
 
I've always lamented the westernized wheelbarrow that is virtually unchanged from the Dark Ages design wherein the laborer does a good portion of the lifting (lever/fulcrum principles). The Asian designs were far superior with balanced loads directly over the larger wheel. This variety at least hearkens to some of those design ideas.
 
Have to be steel toe here, no composite..I like Mongrels or Steel Blue, have a reasonable sole pattern for climbing as well.
I wish those people that make the climbing boots would put a steel toe in them, I would have to change boots after climbing to start cutting in the ground, that's why I haven't bought them yet

What happens if you don't?
 
Mick, do you mean Kevlar- lined and steel-toe, as a proper boot?






If you're felling and bucking with a long bar, PNW production logging style, I imagine it's easy to cut your foot. personally, I don't find myself getting into dicey toe positions, unlike walking a suspended log, limbing in a slope, in the rain, with a 36" bar.
 
From the description of all your efforts in safety Sean I'm surprised you dismiss the need for a steel toe boot so easily. How about for employees running a saw? And I have no idea why you think it would be easier to cut your toes with a 36" bar instead of a 20" one? You never cut trees in ackward positions residentially? Near fences, houses, landscaping, etc, etc, etc?

If you're going to wear a safety toe boot while running a saw it makes no sense not to wear one that resists chainsaw cuts.

When I chose not to wear steel toes it was to wear no safety toe at all because I found them very uncomfortable on steep ground.
 
What happens if you don't?

If you had an accident and worksafe investigated, you'd be in strife.
I've come from a jurisdiction where no-one gives a toss, to being trained in one where steel toe AND chainsaw protection was mandatory, to here in Oz where the minimum is steel toe for ground based chainsaw work...happy medium.
 
First, curious between your two countries.



Why toe pro if not foot pro? Why front of leg pro, but not back? Why leg pro but no arm pro? Why arm pro but no neck pro?


It's hard to know how many lines of defense to put up before, and including PPE?

PPE IS THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE.

Too many people put PPE in the beginning or middle.


It's more that I put up so many lines in between.

I worry more about my flip- line as a single-layer of defense.


I pretty much just don't cut by my toes. Why would I? So close to the dirt.


Issue
It's a human thing, Justin, not Pure logic.

When Stig slipped in the snow/ mush, he's luck to have pulled the trigger across his chaps, not neck.


Frustration is a big distraction. Distraction is a huge danger. I've been accused of being a cyborg by a guy who to probably wanted to cut chat with me, and catch his wind (lakefront, tree in lake, lots of steps up to the chipper). I focus and work.

I expect someone to get my attention if they want it, and I do the same, just as though I was sitting at the desk with the phone at my ear and fingers typing.

No verbal diahhrea... It was in my head and exploded out of my mouth uncontrollably when you weren't listening or prepared to listen, oh and highly focused on 3-6 things.

I'm a real ass, when I'm doing all the coordination, technical work, planning and effort savings, I expect someone to get my attention with , "Hey, Sean!", The same way I call, "Hey, Bob...", And wait for them to finish their thought or action, and be ready to communicate a plan. Then, we go work the plan. Then, ask, "how did the plan work?"

Crazy, I know.
 
The toe cap seems to be wear forestry workers hit their foot. I don't know where to find the 'stats'. But I know people who have cut toes and I've seen a ton of boots with nicks in the toes. Certainly with no safety toe or steel toe it's best practice to not ever cut near your feet and to never let a kickback be directed at your toes either.

I made a personal choice to not wear safety toes at all. But also consciously recognized it as dicey. I wouldn't want an employee making that call like I did. Up here it's required by compo, not a personal choice.
 
My work rules in order of importance...

1. I don't get hurt.
2. Employees and others (custy, peds) don't get hurt.
3. No near-misses
4. No tools get lost
5. Get some productive work done.


I can't figure out any accident that will be cost effective.
 
I can't figure out any accident that will be cost effective.
You could "accidentally" knock another (low value) tree over while felling, and then they add the chipping/brush removal to the work order. Of course, this is just theory... August's last video showed a freebie penance tree, but there could be graceful ways to monetize such situations... :/:
 
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