Chainsaw Safety Tips- You Must Follow It

The chainsaw is a magical wood cutting device. You can’t deny this fact. From home to woodshop, chainsaws support to cut, resize, divide the woods. You can’t cut a big tree without this cutting machine.

We should follow chainsaw safety tips like we keep our health safe and sound by following some rules. Supporting them helps to have a worry-free cutting operation. What would be these tips chainsaws?

Is it sharpening the edges of the saw? Is it changing the blades?

Well. We have listed some essential chainsaw safety tips which a user or an expert should follow. Here are them:

Essential Chainsaw Safety Tips:

• Never skip reading the owner’s or user’s manual. Note the important points about the chainsaw. This manual can be different for every model. Follow or cut woods according to the manual to eliminate the risks.
• Learn all the controls and know how the cut-off switch works. You should also learn how to sharpen and lubricate the chainsaw.
• Never compromise your safety to your ego. You must know your limit or capability. If you can’t use saw, leave it to professionals. Otherwise, you may witness uncertain incidents.
• Don’t bother to cover yourself up with necessary protective gear. Put on a mask, eyewear, boots, hard hat, gloves, hearing aid, etc. to maintain the safety.
• Keep yourself a company, first aid kit when you are cutting wood. It will help you in case there is an emergency.
• Look after the chain brake and also the guide bar. The bar shouldn’t touch anything.
• If you are not an expert, avoid climbing trees with a chainsaw. You can use a pole saw as an alternative medium to cut the tree branches.
• As the blade is too sharp and also rotates faster, you shouldn’t rush to cut the wood. Check every part of the saw before you turn it on.
• If you are new to a chainsaw, you should practice a lot. Cut the light, dry branches of a tree first. Then gradually move to thicker or bigger branches or trees.
• Do not use the blade nose or tip. It can kick you back and cause serious accidents.
• Do not use the machine when the weather isn’t being friendly. You may feel odd when there is a strong gust of wind or too hot.

Body Posture Tips

• Make sure you hold the chainsaw with both of your hands tightly. A good encircling grip can prevent unwanted accidents.
• Do not move your eyes to another place from the bar when you are cutting.
• If you are not comfortable with your posture, you can’t do well. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Avoid squat down or overreach during the application.
• Many users have back strains due to cutting logs for a long time or in the wrong posture. Stretching and powering your back can reduce all the muscle strains.
• You must avoid using a chainsaw when your body is shaking due to having alcohol or prescribed medication.
• Avoid cutting woods, which is above your head or shoulder height. You can use scabbard to pick the device to the right spot.
• When you are climbing a tree with a ladder, turn off the chainsaw.
• If you are right-handed person, put your left foot in front slightly at a 45° angle. Keep right foot a slight back. Maintain this boxer alike stance.
• No worry if the saw is pulling you towards the log or trunk of the tree. When you cut on the bar bottom, it may pull you. For top of the bar, it may give you a kickback.

Felling Tips:

• Felling a tree can be risky when you are using a chainsaw in the wrong manner. So, you should assume where the object will fall.
• Avoid cutting in such a way that may lead to trees fall on other obstacles like plants, trees, fences, even if your house.
• Remove all the bushes or other obstacles surrounding the targeted tree. Maintain at least two paths for any emergency to go away before you start.
• Keep other people safe when the tree is about to fall. Call any other person to move from the spot.
• When you start the first cut, do it at 6” above the ground. For more significant size trees, experts suggest executing the “V” cut. You may hear it as a felling notch. Do this at the third of the possible direction of tree-fall. Do the second V cut in the opposite direction. To slow down the tree-fall, leave a hinge between these two cuts.
• When the tree falls, it may bounce off the stump. So, a couple of feet away when the tree is falling. If you didn’t complete V cut correctly with a chainsaw, it might fall in the wrong direction.
• You should not use the chainsaw if the tree falls upon another tree. Use the cable winch attaching with a tractor to pull the hung tree. Mark the area where the tree is hanging to make other people aware of any danger.
• You may use another chainsaw felling notch method. Make the hinge and a felling notch above the tree’s swell of the butt. Later on, cut or remove the remaining one- or two-feet tree part.
• You may ask the professionals to know how to do tree felling with chainsaw safely.

After completing tree-felling safely, it’s time to cut all the limbs. This process is also known as de-limbing. It can be dangerous for a chainsaw user. You need to cut limbs that are close together and smaller in size. Even your legs remain close to the saw while cutting the branches. So, you should follow these instructions:

Removing the Tree Limbs

• Have a correct plan to start cutting the tree’s bottom end. You will get ample space to move the bar and make an easy way to reach to the bushy top of the tree.
• Make sure you are keeping your feet on the one side where you are working. Avoid straddling and over-extending you reach when you are moving to the top.
• Keep your body side inline where you are using the cutting device.
• You should trim all the smaller limbs off in working with firewood. Then start working from the limb tops towards the joint where the limb is connected to the trunk.

Bucking the Tree

• Bucking the tree means you are using the chainsaw more and more to resize, shape the big trunk into particular pieces of logs. So, here you should also maintain safety.
• If it is sawlog or pulpwood, cut according to its purpose, for which you want to use the wood.
• You can cut the trunk according to the requirements of the sawmills.
• If it is firewood, keep the size in such length that one or two persons can easily carry it.
• Logs may roll down and hit you accidentally. So, your stance should be correct while using the chainsaw. Stand on the tree’s uphill side.
• If you want to keep saw away from pinching, you need to make two cuts. The first cut will be at the pressure side, and the second one will be below the tension side. If you are giving support to the tree on one side only, then you can do the opposite.
• You can use sawhorses to avoid cutting into the dirt. It also helps to reduce the pushes when you are cutting the trees.

Conclusion

Maintaining the chainsaw safety tips isn’t too hard to follow. It can keep you and your surroundings safe. It also prevents damage to the saw and helps cut the tree at the right size and shape. So, we suggest you follow them.