I have used chain saws for many years.
I used to cut about 5 full cords of hardwood every year for our wood burning stove. I had the use of a 65 acre woodlot in Indiana.
Mostly I dropped trees and bucked up the stove wood working by myself, with help coming later to load.

I was using my small 18" saw to clear brush in a Locust stand and managed to hit myself across my Left Knee. I cut through to the bone on my knee cap. That day I had help with a tractor and my friend got me to the emergency room. No major arteries were hit, although many stitches were required.

Naturally after this I started wearing brush chaps when doing this sort of thing and they have saved me on a couple of occasions.
My hard hat and face shield have also saved my sorry ass on several occasions.

I went to one chainsaw vs leg encounter as I was simply the closest LE not really the Highway Patrols normal call.

Guy hit himself on the thigh with a small saw he was using to limb a downed fir.

Nasty, deep gash down to the bone, yellow fatty tissue present, but little bleeding. Biggest issue was the man was definitely in shock.

He did fine as I have seen him occasionally over the years. My ONLY encounter and thankfully no personal experience. I treat a running saw like I was handling a rattlesnake. Both scare me.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FN in MT,

NOt personally, but a former neighbor was on a ladder trimming a tree in his front yard, damn near cut his thumb off, apparently being on a ladder in combination with kick back wasn't good, he was sitting in the front yard calm as could be waiting on the ambulance.

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Originally posted by TMats:

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I had on every bit of PPE that I could have that day except for chaps.

Brain fart is all I can say. I went form doing something else to running the saw. I grabbed a helmet, gloves, eye pro, but forgot the chaps.

Needless to say that's a mistake you only make once.

Witnessed an incident involving a buddy of mine - got to be 40 years ago.

We were driving from NC to CA after he started his terminal leave from the US Army. Stopped to visit his cousins in Wyoming, and while we were there, went with said cousin to collect firewood in a park or preserve. As I recall, there was some program in place - either before or after a forest fire - that let you collect any wood already on the ground.
Anyway, it was near the end of the day, and we were all hot, sweaty, dehydrated and dirty as hell. Bob got a little careless with the chainsaw, it kicked back, and got him in the thigh. No PPE that I recall. Pretty nasty slice, down to the fatty yellow tissue, and plenty of blood.
I remember it delaying our departure to Reno, and then S. Lake Tahoe for a few days. Him still being on active duty also complicated things. And I seem to recall that I drove the rest of the way to California.

I learned a little from that incident.

Timely post, made me more cautious even running the small saw on an extension yesterday trimming some trees. I can see how these "extenders" on electric saws can get folks into trouble......

I walk without a limp today thanks to steel-toed boots. That chain saw was after my piggies.

I had one. It was relatively minor.

I was cutting up a fallen tree in my backyard wearing shorts (stupid). I got complacent and wasn’t keeping an eye on the chain tension (stupid).

The chain came off and whipped my bare leg. I got a nice long gouge along my leg, but it wasn’t deep. I was lucky because it could have been worse.

No but had a co-worker under my supervision had one kick back and cut thru the chaps with no injury other than a scratch. Would have been a lot worse if not for the chaps and our safety requirement. Also eye protection is a must.

Brother in law had a close call. Not sure what exactly happened, but he ran it down the inside of one of his thighs.

My sister won't allow him to own one now.

Been using chainsaws for about 45 years. No accidents so far. I get hurt more from what I'm cutting up. Poked with thorns ,smacked from branches whipping me in the face etc.

In my twenties while working on a survey crew, had one throw chips in my un-protected eye. It was damaged for a short while, but mostly healed, can see a small speck sometimes.
While in the minor emergency for that little incident, an employee of a rival survey company was dragged in the front door. His thigh was laid open
from a saw. Always wore eye pro, and put the brake on every time I was not cutting after that.

Responded on the Rescue to a Wood Chipper Accident. We never did find his fingers.

A couple of nicked pairs of jeans. Recently bought a new Echo CS400 saw. I now have the Husqvarna chaps also. Just patiently waiting for the weather to cool off to try them...Ya right...

worked for a friend of dad's in high school,

excavation job,

he had a contract to clear a roadway and a few lots in a development,

owner would push the trees over and pick them up with the loader, (dozer with the clamshell type blade)

one guy a few years older than I (I was 16) would cut the tree at the trunk,, I and another guy would limb it up,


dude cutting the truck hit something, or moved wrong, and the saw came back on him and fortunately only cut himself in the shoulder, and deeply,

some stitches, etc, and out of work a week or so,


same day, for some dumbass reason, I let go of the Poulan I was using with my right hand and let the saw swing in my left,

no brakes etc backthen, so the chain was still moving just a bit when it hit my pants leg,

put a pretty good rip in my jean, and a small cut on my thigh,

it was just a flesh wound,,, , more like a bad paper cut,


still enough to spook me enough to be more careful,



many many years ago I did get lucky,

storm had blown over a decent sized oak in the woods behind the house,

the top of the tree just barely crossed the line into the neighbors yard at the driveway,

so I went over, limbed it up, dragged all teh brush back in the woods and then went over to cut the root ball off, hoping it would just flop down in the space,


about 1/2 way thru I kept noticing yellowjackets flying by, but not landing on me or after me,

I took a look to the right, and noticed a damn yellow jacket nest in the rootball, about a foot from my right ear,,


the exhaust was pissing them off, but they were getting away from it, not after me,


I kept he saw running, backed away with the saw wide open, then shut it off and walked away,

Years ago, I was cutting everyday except Sunday and from first light till after dark.
I was cutting one day. Some trees had been blown down at the local Ohio State branch campus.
I was standing on one of the trees that was down while cutting one that fell on top of it.
I was cutting one handed while trying to hold on and balance myself with the other.
When the saw got through the piece I was cutting, I lost my balance and the saw swung downward and sliced my pants on the inside of my thigh.
I dropped my pants immediately, in case it got my artery, but was surprised to find that the saw chain just barely scratched my skin.
Do not stand on another tree where you might lose your balance. Do no cut with one hand either.

There were times when I was up in a tree cutting with one hand while...holding on with the other.
Safety first.
When I was in the National Guard, being in an engineering unit, we took down lots of trees.
The danger of working in a group, is that some of the guys had no idea where the tree they were cutting was going to fall. We dodged lots of falling trees in those days. I will no longer cut near others who are downing trees.

Back when we lived in the Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach NC a routine hurricane came in. Towards the end of the storm we had a wind burst which took one of the oaks in the driveway and twisted one heavy branch about 30 degrees in place and left it across our driveway. Because we had a tree lined driveway there was no way out- I had to get the branch down.

As soon as I searched for my extension ladder I discovered that my uncle had dropped by and “borrowed” it.
The only other ladder I had was a shorter non-extension ladder which would barely reach the broken branch.
Disclaimer: I knew this was a bad idea but given that we were on our second day with no power I decided to take the precautions possible and give it a try. So I trimmed the big limb (about 10” in diameter up at the tree) on the branch end and prepared to cut it from the tree.
I had my toolbox on the ground behind me and I warned my wife to get well back and gently began cutting the branch base.
Again- I knew this was a bad idea…

As I began cutting I started hearing cracking (of build up tension in the twisted branch starting to release).
I stopped cutting, shut down the saw and began to move back. Unfortunately there was a lot of energy there and the branch spun, ripped off the tree and whacked me off the ladder. I fell backwards and was able to toss the saw away (it was off anyway) and of course landed on the toolbox. I got up and didn’t have any broken bones, but as I looked down I realized that my right arm was cut by the sharp edge of the toolbox all the way down to the bone. It wasn't bleeding much, so I wrapped a towel around it and pulled the branch off the driveway and my wife drove me to the emergency room.

New Hanover Hospital ER was like a zoo and packed. We checked in and sat down to wait.
Next thing I knew I heard screaming and the police came in with a couple that had just been arrested after a domestic altercation.
Evidently while they were working outside, they began arguing and she struck him in the forehead with an old school rake (the hard kind). He was bleeding profusely from his head and they were arguing back and forth while the policemen tried to calm them down. They proceeded to wrestle around knocking over tables until the police subdued them.
It took four hours to get my 21 stitches.

So I learned a number of lessons- 1- never cut a twisted branch from below it. 2- Never leave a toolbox under your position on a ladder.
3- No matter how badly you are hurt NEVER go to the New Hanover Hospital emergency room during a hurricane…

No

Chain flew off when I was a teenager and hit me in the leg. Luckily it had slowed and caused no damage.

Cut through a branch a few years ago and hit myself in the knee and thigh area. Luckily I'd let go of the trigger but there was still enough movement that it chewed through my jeans and nicked my knee enough to draw a little blood.

Younger brother had the chainsaw bounce off the top of his head when he was around 5. He ran under the dad who was on a ladder trimming branches trying to help. Again lucky the saw wasn't going full bore. He got a couple stitches, a scar, and a great story about the time dad hit him in the head with a chainsaw.

Aunt somehow got her hand caught doing some tree clean up and required a trip to the ER and many stitches. No permanent damage.

My ongoing lesson is always pay attention and don't get lazy on safety. It takes but a second for the tool to be on you and do some damage. I've been really lucky.

Finished the cut on a big oak 10-15" diameter, watched the tree fall cleanly where it was supposed to - and after it was down had a large branch that must have been hanging hit me directly on my helmet. No injuries but would have been dead without the helmet.