Scored some wood and got to see some pros in action

geoffm24 said:

A buddy of mine is building a house down the road from me and is having a lot of the land cleared. I asked if I could swing by and pick up some wood and he said it was fine. They had some serious trees on the property to the point where they had a logging truck taking lots of the wood.

I had no idea if I would need to use my saw so I packed everything up in the truck including my safety equipment.

It was awesome to watch them work with their Stihl saws and bobcat, they had probably cleared 2 acres. They were kind enough to buck up some wood for me and I filled my truck with lots of red maple, red oak, some grey birch, and what I think might be ash.

Here is the thing that shocked me, these guys were wearing ZERO safety equipment. No gloves, no chaps, no helmets, no face shield, NO EYE PROTECTION, nothing but some foam ear plugs. Needless to say I was shocked at this. This can't possibly be normal can it?

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It's how I do it - minus the earplugs. I'd bet the great majority do it this way as well.

Some Amish loggers have been harvesting timber on the game lands where I run on the trails. As far as I could tell the only safety equipment they used were straw hats. They did wear leather boots, which I guess count as safety equipment, sort of.

I'm sure their insurance company would love to see them in action like that. Just one word to say for that kind of person. STUPID!

If one of them gets hurt OSHA would have a field day !

It doesn't sound like too safe a work environment, but I think you need to make as many trips there as you can to see how many years ahead you can get on your wood supply!

Slow1 said:

I think you need to make as many trips there as you can to see how many years ahead you can get on your wood supply!

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+1

What about the food?

I think the "food" was wood. I wear chaps, a helmet with a face guard (I look much better with my face covered!) and gloves. I am in the market for boots. If I get hurt cutting wood all of the savings of burning wood go out the door.

Having had debris in my eyes twice now from using a chain saw (yes - twice) - with a scratched retina as the reward - and all sorts of other scars and ER visits from doing things that, in retrospect, are clearly idiotic - I just shake my head. Too much testosterone and not enough brains to learn the easy way is my .02 cents. Anyway, I was a risk-taking kid and, every once in awhile my father would slow me down to say: "there are two ways you can learn this - you can listen or you can feel" and then would go on to explain why is was dangerous to jump a ramp on my bike or climb a particular tree or whatever. Unfortunately, you can't escape your genetics, and now I get to chase my two boys around trying to prevent them from "feeling" their own lessons. My Dad - he just laughs at me and says good luck. Now that's karma!

I think the safety equipment thing boils down to personal comfort and the time lost putting every thing on, I don't advocate not using PPE but I personally don't wear it(other than steel toe logging boots). I'm sure someday this statement will come back to bite me in the a$$!

I've told this story before, but I really feel the need to push this in hopes it will save others.

I've always been huge on face protection, but one of the few times I was cutting on my table saw without a face shield, I got clobbered with a 4-ounce chunk of wood at 175 MPH, (or whatever speed the outer edge of a table saw blade is traveling at). Only had eight cuts to make and couldn't find a face shield. On the eight cut I almost lost my eye.

Hell, it almost killed me because of the impact to the temple. I remember staggering back like I took a Tyson shot to the head and almost going down. When I opened my eye I saw the room disappear in an orange fog. Turns out that was from the blood as the arteries in my iris blew apart. A trip to the local ER bought me a ride in the ambulance to Albany Med with what they thought was a ruptured eyeball. I tore up more stuff inside that eye than I ever suspected existed. Spent three weeks sitting in the recliner without moving to do anything but use the bathroom and see the ophthalmologist every day. Any movement could have caused a vision-ending re-bleed. Three years and several surgeries later, I'm still severely visually impaired. The eye doctor says I'm lucky I can see at all. Doesn't feel lucky.

Wear your chainsaw PPE every time, not just when you feel the danger. I never used it back before my accident, didn't even know it existed, but now I wouldn't dream of going without it. My landlord's helper used to work for his brother's tree service. He's cut on our property and he never uses it and never has. Not a thing, just shorts and sneakers. They're all macho about cutting, and wave their swords around like 42" penises. He smirks at me in my bright red chaps and bright orange helmet with its mesh shield and ear cans. I can deal with it

Okay. You've got me thinking, now.
I usually use ear plugs, and sometimes safety glasses. Only had a small piece of sawdust in my eyes three or five times.
I've got a little scar on my thigh when my FIL dropped an alder bush on my head while we were clearing my first property - my saw was just idling and only cut the first few layers of skin.
My neighbour uses PPE - face shield, pants, steel toed boots, etc. I'll have to talk to the wife for a Christmas present....
Thanks.

maplewood said:

Okay. You've got me thinking, now.
I usually use ear plugs, and sometimes safety glasses. Only had a small piece of sawdust in my eyes three or five times.
I've got a little scar on my thigh when my FIL dropped an alder bush on my head while we were clearing my first property - my saw was just idling and only cut the first few layers of skin.
My neighbour uses PPE - face shield, pants, steel toed boots, etc. I'll have to talk to the wife for a Christmas present....
Thanks.

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You've got 391 posts and nobody here has harassed you about that yet? better get on it. better safe than sorry.

Another thing to mindful of...your energy level. My wife and I were outside all day Monday while a tree service was taking down trees (a great way to spend a day off). We did some land clearning of our own. It was getting late in the day, and we decided to keep working, but shut down the saw. We know from skiing that some times the "oh, I can do one more run" is often when the accidents happen. Same thing with the saw. "I'm tired...but I'll do one more cut...."

I wear gloves and ear protection (saw is LOUD). I think I'll start wearing eye pro now. That's about it tho.

The very best piece of safety equipment you have is between your ears and rule #1 states that if you get tired, stop immediately. When people get tired is when most accidents happen.

Most of you folks would cringe if you were around many mills or logging operations. Or perhaps think of when I was logging and then sawing lumber. Working by that big circular saw certainly did concentrate your attention but accidents can happen. I doubt there was a day went by when I did not think of a friend who had a board get caught in that big circular saw on the wrong side. He was sawing and suddenly had a 2 x 10 (or some size like that) hit him square in the face. It was nothing short of a total miracle that he even lived. Needless to say, not many recognized him after the accident as even with many surgeries, his face never looked the same; it was bad. Back then I do not recall anyone who even wore ear protection; chaps were unheard of as were safety boots, etc.

Go to the woods with whatever you are comfortable with using.

Backwoods Savage said:

The very best piece of safety equipment you have is between your ears and rule #1 states that if you get tired, stop immediately. When people get tired is when most accidents happen.

Most of you folks would cringe if you were around many mills or logging operations. Or perhaps think of when I was logging and then sawing lumber. Working by that big circular saw certainly did concentrate your attention but accidents can happen. I doubt there was a day went by when I did not think of a friend who had a board get caught in that big circular saw on the wrong side. He was sawing and suddenly had a 2 x 10 (or some size like that) hit him square in the face. It was nothing short of a total miracle that he even lived. Needless to say, not many recognized him after the accident as even with many surgeries, his face never looked the same; it was bad. Back then I do not recall anyone who even wore ear protection; chaps were unheard of as were safety boots, etc.

Go to the woods with whatever you are comfortable with using.

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Totally agree. As stated in a previous post as well, when you're STARTING to get tired, stop. I've had some long days splitting by hand, etc and I definitely can tell when I'm just winded from a tough round later in the day or when I'm starting to feel fatigue. Fatigue comes around and it's time to pack up. Although the fatigue comes on quite a bit later since I picked up a Fiskars SS

Elijah, if you'd get a hydraulic splitter, and split vertically with it, you'd tire much much later still. Dang I love that splitter.

Oh you're right, Dennis. I have the hydraulic splitter and we made quick work of about 3 cords in 3 hours with 3 of us at a buddy's house. I've only tried it vertically for about a half hour on some HUGE chunks of chinese elm trunk that I had that had to have been close to a hundred pounds. I just like to do what I can with the SS for the enjoyment of the exercise (I have a desk job) now that I'm working on 2012-2013's wood.

I hear you Dennis, but I also think there is something to be said about experience and daily routine. Those who are engaged in the trade (whatever it may be) are far more familiar than those who do things as a hobby and as such will have much better honed skills. No amount of raw intelligence or 'book learning' can replace real experience. Logger and others who work with saws on a daily basis will have a much better sense of control and 'instinct' for the tools than I will ever have with my once or twice a month use. This I think makes the chances that my safety gear may actually come into play far more likely so I have bought the insurance policy and will wear it.

True it is an individual decision (thank goodness we still live in a free country!) but I encourage others to be careful comparing themselves to "the pros" when it comes to choosing not to wear PPE. Someone who wields a particular tool (chainsaw or whatever) daily can likely predict which way it will jump/kick/pull/whatever far better than those of us who are 'weekend warriors' - and probably will respond correctly to counter these actions without even realizing that they have done so. By time I realize that I've done something totally dumb with my saw I may well have it buried somewhere it doesn't belong... hopefully if it has kicked in my direction it will have missed me, but just in case....

I don't even mow the lawn without safety glasses and ear protection. Lose a toe or finger, fine. But your sight and hearing ... you'll miss them when they're gone.

I'll confess . . . I don't wear safety gear other than steel toed boots in the woods . . . and not to justify anything . . . but I've been using chainsaws since I was a teen-ager and after awhile you tend to know what works and what doesn't . . . and what is a really bad idea to try with a saw.

That said . . . I am not opposed to using safety gear . . . and think it's probably a good idea . . . guess that makes me a hypocrite.