Unsung benefits for wearing your safety gear!

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7acres

Minister of Fire
Dec 5, 2013
653
South East USA
Sure chainsaw chaps aren't going to enhance your comfort. But I like wearing hearing protection, eye protection, hard hat, gloves and steel toe boots because I can work with more focus and fewer disturbances to my workflow all while simply being more comfortable.

Let's start from the top:
* Hard hat: In the Summer I like my hard hat on anytime I'm mowing, trimming or using the chain saw because it keeps the Sun from baking my head. It provides a good 1" air gap between the fiberglass shell and my skin keeping my head cooler.

* Eye protection: Nothing interrupts your workflow like sawdust getting in your eye or a big dust cloud from the mower's discharge blowing back in your face. Sure a splint of wood could fly out of the table saw and take out an eye. But I wear my eye protection mostly because I don't like getting dust in my eyes.

* Hearing protection: After mowing and string trimming for a short while my ears hurt from the whine and roar of the engines. In the shop I can ignore the agonizing shriek of the angle grinder or sound of any direct drive saw motor and focus on my work. It's much more pleasant to work with power tools when you don't have to hear them at 110Db.

* Respiratory mask: Who wants to spend the first 5 minutes of their shower blowing dirt or fine sawdust out of their nose. Nuff said.

* Gloves (and long sleeves too): You can attack a pile of brush, logs, splits, etc. much faster as long if you don't have to worry about cuts scrapes and poison ivy.

* Boots: When logs are rolling or dropping or you just need to give something a good kick a good pair of boots let you do what needs to be done without jamming your toenail up into your toe.

All in all, the primary reason I end up getting motivated to don my PPE is because I can work faster and more comfortably with it on vs not. I'm just raising awareness of an unsung benefit to wearing your PPE every time you work!
 
I just plain feel manly when I put on my chaps and helmet . . . in my mind I look like a professional logger . . . but to others I no doubt look like a middle-aged, fat, balding guy just looking to avoid cutting off his leg while using his chainsaw.
 
It also serves as wife/girlfriend repellant..............LOL
 
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It also serves as wife/girlfriend repellant..............LOL

Some women like the rugged logger type of look ? It sure is not for the money because the 2 people I know who log timber for sale and profit always complain about not having money and come to think of it I can't stand their wives either who complain more than I care to think about.

Perhaps business suit and tie is better. Na too much trouble to keep a suit clean. I'll stick with my carhartts and work boots.
 
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It also serves as wife/girlfriend repellant..............LOL

The smell of the two stroke exhaust is what my wife finds not so very appealing.
 
The smell of the two stroke exhaust is what my wife finds not so very appealing.

Walking around the house with a 1/4" layer grass trimmings stuck on my pant shins will get me driven out of the house!
 
Nah ... it's no big deal ... just says it smells bad.
 
Above and beyond the safety that chaps provide, I like the fact that chaps save my jeans from pickers and briers, raspberry bushes, etc.. Also keeps the chain oil off your pants.

Hope to never need the protection of chaps, but am happy with saving my pants just from the gnarly stuff in the woods you come across.
 
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I am amazed how many people I see on TV using a chainsaw with out glasses on.
 
Some women like the rugged logger type of look ? It sure is not for the money because the 2 people I know who log timber for sale and profit always complain about not having money and come to think of it I can't stand their wives either who complain more than I care to think about.

Perhaps business suit and tie is better. Na too much trouble to keep a suit clean. I'll stick with my carhartts and work boots.
10/4 on the Carhartts and work boots :)
 
I find that when I put the gear on, other folks tend to pay more attention.
 
I'm picking up chaps too, not only for chain protection but as another layer of protect from poison oak. I had everything else on but tripped on poison oak vines which ran up my boots and scratched and cut me under my jeans. Two days later, the nightmare started. I had to go to urgent care for steroids and meds and it looked like my entire legs were melting. So bad that I had to change socks every hour. They are evil plants.
 
I'm picking up chaps too, not only for chain protection but as another layer of protect from poison oak. I had everything else on but tripped on poison oak vines which ran up my boots and scratched and cut me under my jeans. Two days later, the nightmare started. I had to go to urgent care for steroids and meds and it looked like my entire legs were melting. So bad that I had to change socks every hour. They are evil plants.

Reminds me of the time I decided to tame an overgrown area of the yard of my newly purchased property. String trimmer + poison ivy + shorts = lesson learned 4 life!
 
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