I have seen what a chainsaw can do. Although I mention in every other post that I’m a teacher, in the summer I’m a photographer. (Well, I’m always a photographer, but in the summer I have more time.)
This summer I shot a bunch of timber shows, or lumberjack competitions. At one, a 17 year old boy was helping set up the competition. He was using a chainsaw, and it slipped…and it went perpendicularly into his foot (on the inside). It went in about…three inches.
He was at the competition. He had the bone fragment removed during surgery…along with the x ray. He said the wound never did hurt. Even after the surgery. In my experience, the sharper something is, the less it hurts.
My favorite story about chainsaws, however, is from when I was a kid. My dad was a building contractor, and one day we were touring a lumber mill. One of the foremen was telling us chainsaw stories. A man was running a chainsaw when it “kicked back.” He stopped it just as it hit his chest…but not before the chain cut the guy’s necklace. That story has stuck with me for 30 years.
Yeah, but that guy was lucky too. He had a big gash on his palm between thumb and forefinger that somehow left the tendon to his thumb intact. Really easy to tell it was intact because it was clearly visible and you could see it moving when he bent his thumb. Life gets much more difficult if you no longer have an opposable thumb on your dominant hand. Of course you can repair a severed tendon but the problem with chainsaw wounds is that they tend to remove chunks of tissue rather than just cutting it so your repair is under tension as you try to bridge the gap. The tension makes the repair more likely to fail.
I cut my thumb pretty badly once putting a new chain on my chainsaw. I bandaged the thumb and it healed fine. Until I was able to remove the bulky bandage, I answered the “what happened?” question honestly, leading to-- > :eek:
Also, I knew a guy who was clearing remote property after work one night. H opened up his leg and bled out. Another guy I know was removing a storm damaged tree from his yard. He lost two fingers. He was a dentist, and although he tried to return to work, the injury effectively ended his career.
The lesson is that it’s important to have a spotter when you’re working with a chainsaw. Someone to call 911 and collect your fingers (or other appendages) and put them on ice. Make sure your spotter is not too squeamish. Do not ask your spotter to hold the tree limb steady while you attack it with the chainsaw unless your spotter also has a spotter.
One day all work stopped in my shop we were watching in rapt attention at the guy across the street cutting down a tree. He was cutting off all the limbs he could reach while standing on a ladder before he eventually dropped the tree. At first we were wondering if one of the limbs was going to take him out while on the ladder, but he seemed to be doing OK. Show was over until…
He repositioned the ladder, climbed up and looked like he was about to cut off the branch he had the ladder leaning up against. For a second it looked like Darwin was going to get a winner, but he cought himself.
We were using our brand new circular saw this weekend to make our retaining wall - I’m glad I didn’t read this thread before that. :eek: (Okay, the thread started Monday, and we built the wall Saturday - details.) My husband taught me how to use the saw, but I don’t see me using it a lot - that same day, I slipped off the side of a walkway block and bashed the holy shit out of my calf (it would have a spectacular bruise if I bruised - as it is, it’s just a slightly discoloured patch with a big lump of clotted blood under the skin). I have developed a very healthy fear of sharp things.
Please be careful, featherlou! My cringe-inducing story is a FOAF whose mind wandered for a moment and he sawed off all four fingers with a circular saw. Just watched them slip down the roof, apparently. aaugh.
It’s the tablesaw that creeps me out the most. No one uses the safety and it’s just sitting there waiting for me to trip and fall into it.
Considering I originally misread the thread title, and changed shin to chin, this is exactly what I thought you had done. Glad to know it wasn’t, because going crosseyed looking at the spinning chain millimeters from your face would be … :eek:
And now, for your edification, my favourite chainsaw video.
I just cut a slash in the bottom of my foot stepping on sharp metal. I wish after I cleaned up an area somebody wouldn’t throw shit back in it. It’s only about an inch long and quarter inch deep.
My brothers were working in a building with other contractors. one of the guys cut of a finger with the circular saw. It wasn’t a big deal, because he’s cut off fingers before, as has his wife, and his kid. :eek:
When I first moved up to NJ 13 years ago, my then SO and I were clearing out masses of those wild thorn roses from our property. He was using a weed whacker with the blade on it, and I was using the rake to remove what he whacked. I stepped toward him at the same time he turned towards me, and the blade went right into my outer right calf.
Definitely in the running for Best Combination of a Thread Title and User Name.
Might I brag that the male spousal unit not only read the entire manual that came with our chainsaw, but performed both Demonstration and Operation Under Observation Training for other family members? (What else would you expect from two quality systems professionals?)
Of course, we both regularly draw blood with secaturs and pruning shears, because we keep them nicely honed. I can testify that one does not feel the cut from a sharp blade.
I plan to invest in a manual chainsaw. I figure it will be easier to avoid a falling limb, than a falling limb and a falling chainsaw and a falling chainsaw wielder.
I approximated such a saw using what I had around the office, namely a gigli saw. Worked beautifully for taking down a limb, and works equally well for amputating a limb!
