CJRages said:
The data show that if you have found it in your budget to purchase a pair - you will use them all the time. Why?
I believe why/why not is a personality driven decision. Some people aren't bothered at all by risks. Others are so scared they won't do anything dangerous. My personality drives me to take reasonable precautions to make the risky activities I enjoy less risky.
I like using a chainsaw. I like my face, eyes, and ears enough to spend $50 on a chainsaw helmet. I like my legs enough to spend $80 on a pair of full wrap chaps incase I screw up. I also wear a helmet, gloves, padded pants, padded jacket, armored boots, and armored back protector every time I get on my motorcycle even though I've never crashed going more than 3mph. The flip flops, shorts, and Oakleys I see others wearing while riding and sawing would have protected me good enough so far, but if I knew the exact moments I was going to screw up in life I'd have done a lot of things differently over the years. LoL
If you find $50 too much to spend on entry level chaps and don't have REALLY GOOD disability and health insurance read this.
http://www.madsens1.com/chaps.htm
"Top chain speed on today's pro saws exceeds one hundred feet per second. Perhaps a more amazing fact is at this speed,
a chain on a 32" bar travels around it more than ten times a second."
"We revved up the saw to full speed and let off the trigger as the chain came in contact with the jeans - just as an operator's reflex would do in a real accident. In an instant, the ham was cut to the bone, which surprised us. This grizzly test demonstrated two things. 1)
Chain saws make nasty cuts. They don't cut animal tissue like a knife; they tear it. The least gruesome way to describe the test wound is... well, it would have kept a doctor busy sewing for a while. 2) The second thing our test demonstrated was just how quickly an accident happens.
In an instant, a chain saw can cut you to the bone. This happens so fast, no thought of moving your leg would have made it out of your brain in time. Even an alert person would not have had time to respond before they were seriously injured."