# I cut my shin open with a chainsaw today **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710 "2008-08-12T04:09:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/1 "2008-08-12T04:09:34Z")
And it wasn’t even running. I am always cutting myself. I posted a few years ago about cutting myself with a knife that was pointy side up in the dish drainer. Not too long ago I split the skin in my eyebrow open by running into a cupboard. Some day I should learn how to suture myself… Today I rented a chain saw to limb up some Douglas fir trees. Ugh, what a job. Took all freaking day. Anyway, the starter cord was a bit sticky. I had it on the ground, and pulled the cord…but it only went halfway. Somehow I sort of yanked the saw up in the air and the chain landed on my shin. It barely touched it. Didn’t even hurt! I mean…ZERO pain. I didn’t know I had cut myself. Still, I looked down because I thought maybe I’d been scraped. I know, unfortunately, all too well what a cut that needs stitches looks like. The wound kinda smiles at ya and there’s no blood…at first. Then it gushes. I had rented a pickup and the saw…there was NO WAY I was going to get it looked at right then. So I put a bandage on it, finished the job, and six hours later went to a friend’s house. His mom was there and she’s a nurse. Everyone agreed that, while stitches were a possibility, it would probably heal on its own. She cleaned it out, put in some hefty anti-bacterial ointment in it, and band-aided it up. It never did hurt. Every once in a while I feel a twinge down there, but that doesn’t even last long. The ENTIRE time I was using the saw I wondered what it would have done had it been running… (And I’ve seen examples!) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/2 "2008-08-12T04:11:56Z")
Is it just me, or is there a certainly irony in “Runs with Scissors” cutting himself on a chainsaw? Good thing YOU weren’t running either! Get better soon, and stop being such a klutz ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/3 "2008-08-12T04:12:32Z")
You should stick to running with scissors. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/4 "2008-08-12T04:20:32Z")
Oh, man, Broomstick and Anastasaeon…I totally missed that!!! ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/5 "2008-08-12T04:24:47Z")
Holy crap man! Glad to hear it wasn’t running. I have a buddy who was awarded a contract to clear 10 acres of woodland forest. I went up the mountain to help him one weekend, and near the end of the day I was getting tired. As fatigue set in, I cut a limb, let go of the saw with my right hand, stood up, and rested the saw against my leg. The only problem was that the saw was still running. Fortunately, I had on a pair of chain saw chaps, so the nylon webbing came out and bogged down the unpowered saw pretty quick. Even though I wasn’t injured because my PPE worked perfectly, it was still a very frightening feeling knowing that you just touched a still moving chainsaw blade to the front of your thigh. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/6 "2008-08-12T04:40:35Z")
see [an earlier post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465554) of mine 😃 Heal up well! ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/7 "2008-08-12T04:54:34Z")
[QUOTE=Runs With Scissors] Oh, man, Broomstick and Anastasaeon…I totally missed that!!! [/QUOTE] Well, all jokes aside, glad you didn’t lop your leg off. Chainsaws are serious business! While I’m certain you are well aware of that fact, it’s a little unnerving how quickly things can turn positively _dire_ around the damn things. I don’t like 'em. Give me an axe and me calloused hands, I say. It’ll take me eight days and a hernia, but I’ll do it. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/8 "2008-08-12T07:24:03Z")
At least you didn’t try to stop the blade with your hands or genitals. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/9 "2008-08-12T09:57:46Z")
[QUOTE=Runs With Scissors] I had it on the ground, and pulled the cord…but it only went halfway. Somehow I sort of yanked the saw up in the air and the chain landed on my shin. [/QUOTE] A technique that avoids this is to hold the starter pull cord in your right hand and sort of drop the saw with your left. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/10 "2008-08-12T10:04:53Z")
At least you have contributed to one mofo of a Sequential Thread… thank you! Sending pious thanks that the saw _wasn’t_ running. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/11 "2008-08-12T10:15:58Z")
Am I the only one that loves chopping wood and often wishes that my urban, city-dwelling self had more chances to swing an axe? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/12 "2008-08-12T10:51:26Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] Am I the only one that loves chopping wood and often wishes that my urban, city-dwelling self had more chances to swing an axe? [/QUOTE] My aunt likes to cut wood, and my uncle has no problem letting her do it. They used to sell it to people that heated with wood, and everybody had to cut it on the weekends. I hate cutting wood with a passion. The thing is I would bicycle for about 10 miles out there on the weekend. Cutting wood is better than throwing hay bales. In the last 45 days I’ve cut my hand nasty with the pruning shears twice. One of these days something is going to be missing. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/13 "2008-08-12T15:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=Runs With Scissors] And it wasn’t even running. [/QUOTE] But the chainsaw was running. So I guess you won’t be changing your username to reflect this incident? [QUOTE=Runs With Scissors] I am always cutting myself. I posted a few years ago about cutting myself with a knife that was pointy side up in the dish drainer. Not too long ago I split the skin in my eyebrow open by running into a cupboard. Some day I should learn how to suture myself… … [/QUOTE] I accidentally cut myself a lot, too. I cut myself on butter knives and plastic knives. I have a lovely 4 inch scar on my right leg below the knee from carefully lowering a cabinet’s sliding glass door to the floor so I wouldn’t break it. Of course I ran it down my leg to keep it steady. The corner cut a nice clean swath in my skin. I didn’t feel any pain, didn’t even realize I did it until I looked down and saw blood starting to seep out and realized I was an idiot. Chainsaws scare me so you are a braver person that I. I do have this wonderful folding Japanese saw that I use for cutting tree limbs (even fairly big ones), and yes I have cut myself on it but nothing too big which I am sure would happen if I tried to use a chainsaw. Keep that wound clean and be careful! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/14 "2008-08-12T15:25:40Z")
Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/15 "2008-08-12T17:03:55Z")
Hmmm… “Runs with Chainsaw”, it does have a ring to it… ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/16 "2008-08-12T21:26:17Z")
Yikes. I’m so glad it wasn’t running. Unlike the chainsaw vs. hand case I saw in the ER a couple weeks ago. When was your last tetanus shot? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/17 "2008-08-12T23:28:42Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] Am I the only one that loves chopping wood and often wishes that my urban, city-dwelling self had more chances to swing an axe? [/QUOTE] Nope, when I lived in Oregon two girls that we were friends with had a home heated by a wood burning stove and my and my roomates loved going up on the mountain and picking big limbs off of slash piles and bringing it home and cutting it up with chainsaws and then splitting the smaller logs with a splitting maul. Made me feel like a man. I loved that, and I’d hate to have to do it all the time, but I’d love to do it at will. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/18 "2008-08-13T00:04:43Z")
[QUOTE=pendgwen] Unlike the chainsaw vs. hand case I saw in the ER a couple weeks ago. [/QUOTE] That doesn’t sound like much of a contest. I presume the saw won. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/19 "2008-08-13T02:26:07Z")
I cut my shin open once with a 5 gallon pickle bucket. Ain’t no way I’m going to try to operate a chainsaw. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710/20 "2008-08-13T02:27:57Z")
I cut my shin open once. I tripped over my own two feet while I was chasing a soccer ball. _hangs head_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cut-my-shin-open-with-a-chainsaw-today/459710.md?page=2)