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Safety First in the Forest

If you find the sight of blissful ignorance in the face of near-death entertaining – and I think in this case most of you will – check out this video of a hapless (though kind of loveable) youth committing egregious safety violations with his chainsaw. (There is some foul language, so if you’re sensitive, beware.)  There’s a certain voyeuristic thrill in watching someone boldly look death in the face and come away unscathed. But there are also a number of teachable moments. If you’ve heard loggers speak of a “barberchair” but can’t really picture what that is, you see a partial one at 0:28, and a full one at 1:48. Note, too, how good boots, chaps, and a helmet would have made the proceedings feel safer, and how a better planned escape route would have looked less Matrixey but would have helped Kete’s mother sleep better at night.

As you can see from the comments on the video, many viewers were appalled by Kete’s cartoonish disregard for personal safety. Fair, for sure. But the truth of the matter is I’ll bet everyone reading this blog has had some dangerous and/or embarrassing moments with a chainsaw. I’m certainly not going to cast the first stone. I’ve barberchaired a tree or two myself and pinched who knows how many bars from poor-cutting technique. I’ve had a chainsaw deflect and hit my thankfully-protected-thigh (before that I wore chaps maybe 70 percent of the time; afterwards, 100 percent). I’ve watched a springpole take the helmet off a cutting partner and had a family member cut a tree that ended up landing on his truck.

The point is that it’s easy to look at this video and think: I’d never be that stupid. But accidents aren’t reserved for the ignorant. The old cliché “just smart enough to be dangerous” applies to most things in life – chainsaw use especially. And while I don’t wish it on either of us, there’s a good chance that the old cliché “it’s not a matter of if [you’ll have an accident], but when,” probably applies to anyone who uses a saw regularly, too.

In the spirit of all this I finally got around to taking Game of Logging (GOL) the other weekend, something I’ve been meaning to do for years. For those of you who don’t know, GOL is a world-renowned training curriculum that teaches chainsaw skills. The program I took was administered by Northeast Woodland Training, Inc., whose business it is to train people and companies who do forest work, and organized by my local conservation district.

The whole course is set up in four installments; each installment is a day long. Levels 1 and 2 cover how to safely get a tree on the ground, springpoles, and chainsaw sharpening and maintenance; Levels 3 and 4 cover firewood bucking and limbing, dealing with hung trees, snags, dead wood, and dangerous situations. It costs $115 per level. There were 10 people in my Level 1 and 2 classes, and Al Sands was the instructor.

The crux of what Al was teaching is the bore cut, which legend has it was invented by Swedish logger Soren Eriksson in the 1960s. For hundreds of years, people had been felling trees by cutting a notch in the direction they wanted the tree to fall, then making a backcut. (Or, like Kete, just making a backcut.) Eriksson found that he could control the tree better by making an open-faced notch and a hinge to guide the falling tree and keep it attached to the stump. He’d then make a plungecut into the tree, leaving just a trigger of wood to backcut, which allowed for him to get his body into a safe position and for one final look at the area where the tree was headed. Used correctly, these methods make felling a tree an orderly, no-drama affair.

I was familiar with this technique before the class, but quickly learned that I’d missed several of the finer details. I’d been making my notches way too deep, and my notch angle way too small. I’d been cavalier when it comes to bypassing my undercuts, which was messing up my hinges. The class corrected my bad assumptions, helped me better understand the physics of what was going on, and gave me a better sense of confidence in the technique. The Level 2 primer on chainsaw sharpening and maintenance was also very valuable. In all, I found the whole class to be well worth the time and money.

As important as anything that was taught that weekend were the stories that were shared. One of the students was a homeowner who’d forgotten his chaps one day; his chainsaw to the thigh needed 18 stitches, and had it been running could have required 800. One of the students was a utility lineman who spoke of a chainsaw accident that claimed a life. Al shared a story of teaching a class in the wake of a similar fatality; the sad look on the faces of that worker’s colleagues when they realized that this technique could have mitigated, if not eliminated, the hidden danger no one saw coming.

When I was new to using a chainsaw I was more paranoid than Kete, and thus, perhaps, safer. But I’ve been using one for long enough now that my chances of an accident are going back up. You get comfortable with it and you forget it’s a series of knives whirling around a bar at 70 miles an hour just inches from your feet and legs and face. That a 2-inch springpole can carry more punch than Iron Mike Tyson used to pack in his prime, let alone the force in a head-crushing tree or limb.

When my partner asked what I learned that evening, I said: That using a chainsaw is goddamn serious and I better not ever forget it. At which point she got up, walked over, and gave me a hug.

Safety Gallery

Instructor Al Sands demonstrates a proper notch undercut.
Instructor Al Sands demonstrates a proper notch undercut. | Photo: Dave Mance III
Instructor Al Sands determines notch placement.
Instructor Al Sands determines notch placement. | Photo: Dave Mance III
Fear is a mind killer, but if exercised judiciously, it can also be a body saver.
Fear is a mind killer, but if exercised judiciously, it can also be a body saver. | Photo: Dave Mance III
The class discusses why this saw pinched.
The class discusses why this saw pinched. | Photo: Dave Mance III
A safe looking stump.
A safe looking stump. | Photo: Dave Mance III

Discussion *

Jul 30, 2014

Most of the women I know have men who use chainsaws (and do not have the ability or inclination to use them ourselves), and each time we hear that thing rev up, we fall on our knees and pray to whatever higher power we believe in that the day will not require a trip to the emergency room.

Conversely, chainsaws are about the best way to cut down trees that’s ever been invented. And there are many circumstances when it’s necessary to cut down trees.

The only thing scarier than a chainsaw is a Sawzall.

Carolyn
Jul 28, 2014

Great blog, Dave! It’s a miracle this individual wasn’t injured or worse in this instance, as he did nearly everything wrong in every step of the process.  We have seen many, many injuries and deaths from much less egregious lapses. If nothing else, it serves as a stark warning that felling trees is not for the untrained. Thanks for the nod to GOL. Ed

Ed Wright
Jul 25, 2014

Thank you for sharing this!  Too bad we all need these types of reminders to keep our heads straight but, glad I watched it.  I have taken a safety course and am glad I did. It is way too easy to make mistakes. Those of us that are lucky learn from them, no matter who makes the mistake.

Dave Coulter

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