Your worst accident.

[Okrafarmer]

Yes, never startle anybody who is running a chainsaw, or any other dangerous piece of equipment. Flipside of that is, if you are a high-strung individual, or even if you;re not, you should always use dangerous tools with the pre-conceived idea that somebody might very well try to get your attention-- therefore plan your response, rethink your panic impulses. I have been able to do this-- as a teenager I got really peaved with people messing with me-- poking me in the back to see me jump, and so on, while walking down the hallway or whatever, and I learned to intentionally not jump when someone did something like that. It is a planned response, and it takes some practice. It is important to plan your response to being startled. With a little practice, it can be done.

[cutterboy]

I had an experience similar to WDH's. I cut down a nice red oak and cut it into four logs. I was backing up the tractor to pick up a log when WHAM! A branch fell out of the sky and hit my wrist. Man did that hurt! I was sure it was broken. I sat down on a log for a while to compose myself and realized after a while that I was ok. The branch was only 2" in diameter and was green, not dead. I think that when the big oak fell the small branch hit the branches of another tree, broke off, and hung up in them. When I drove the tractor under it it let go and fell on my wrist. Only 2 inches in diameter.....can you imagine if it had been 6 inches?

Now when I fell a tree I look up to see if anything is hanging up there.

[colinofthewoods]

I;ve been pretty lucky so far,

Got whipped out of a tree I was topping,  fell about 30ft before I got caught half upside down by my spur.  Split my head open , broke my hand and ripped most of the skin off my forearms.

Got my hands pulled through a logging block, I was working on a grapple yarder , the operator went ahead on the lines while I holding on to them, luckily it was a chain, so a couple fingers got split right open,  2 of my finger tips are still on a 45 degree angle,  my ring finger was " degloved " , they cut off some of the bone, so it is now what they call parrot beaked.   My grip strength has, suffered, sometimes I can't open a twist off beer cap,  but I can work fine so no biggie.

All the real dangerous stuff was just close calls so I consider myself fortunate. I have fared much better than some of my buddies in the bush.

[colinofthewoods]

I just thought of a funny saw one.  I young guy I was working with,  very green in the bush.  Had a 395 husq. with 36" bar.  Had some kickback in the worst way and actually cut the earmuff on his hardhat.  Not a drop of blood,  I saw the whole thing and look on his face was priceless !!

[Woodchuck53]

Not the worst but last week somehow coming down a ladder I got a couple feet from the bottom and turned around to let myself ease down. I reached with my left hand to steady myself on the fork lift roll cage and set my right down on the lathe bed. Something pricked me so I snatched my hand back and stepped down. I got to short pcs. of 2x4 to finish blocking up the new converter skid and noticed some blood on the shop slab. I looked and found it from the back of the forklift. I then wondered who could have been bleeding since I was there by myself. Aw heck it was me. When I put my hand down on the lathe bed a project I had been working on earlier had shifted. As how the space was tight I had pulled the fork lift tight up to the lathe to set the skid unit up onto a platform to keep it off the floor. Well I must of nudged the lathe enough to up set something. I didn't find any blood but I did find a couple sharp edges on the parts. Need to check the level of the lathe.

That was the easy part. I had to wrap a bandana around the finger and finish setting the skid in place so I could get the fork lift out from under the converter. It leaks down after a while.
Finished that and closed up the shop.

That was the easy part. Walked to the house and found the trailer still loaded behind the truck so opened the shop and got the fork lift so I could take the  loaded trailer off the truck ball.

That was the easy part. I then went to town to the walk in clinic to get some stitches. Waited 1.5 hours when an Mr. Patel came in and got excited when he found out the nurse and clerks had put me in a room with out him knowing it. No problem I needed the rest anyway.

That was the easy part. After 5 stitches and a heck of a shot at the base of my finger I waited till 5:05 and called the wife. Hurry guys clean up the blood.

Now the not so easy part. It went something like this. Hello, hi honey every thing alright? Nope I need the check book were are you? I got off work a little early and stopped to pick up a few things why? Well could you come to the clinic and bring me the check book? Okay what's wrong. Nothing just come see. You know I thought I saw the truck at the clinic and I thought nahhhh there must be another that has a bed cover just like ours. I had a brief thought that he better not be hurt. The clinic is across the street from her office at ROM here in Alex.

She walks thru the door and sees the blood. Looks me in the eye and ask if I can make it back home? Yep, good see you at the house. And she left.                                                             

Shure love that girl for chewing me out at home instead of in front of all those people that thought I was tough waiting as long as I did. She hates me working alone.

[Caloren]

Well. I am like Bert, no major accidents, just a couple jeans been snagged and a boot with a small cut over the steel toe. I have learned that you never can tell where those danged trees will end up :(
Back in the seventies was clearing some small firs [6-8" dia. 30 - 40' tall], asked my wife to move her fathers chain saw case to a safe place, almost told her to move it behind that tree instead of in front of it, but it was at a 90 degree angle from where the tree was going to fall, perfectly safe. Right? You guessed it, twisted coming off the stump, bounced off a few trees and dead centered that case!
Fast forward to a couple years ago; Thining a dense stand of Tan Oak that had grown up in the firs. Cut one about 10" x 65' on a slight, but steep, hill, fell back against a large fir and stayed on the stump. If we could pull it off the stump and down about 4 feet, then would have a clear path to pull it up the hill onto the road. hooked a 50' cable on to the butt and then to my Ford Explorer, told my wife to pull it a few feet off the stump. Yep, that sucker started bouncing off trees and went over 180 degrees to find an opening,the top 6 feet of the tree took off the right hand mirror, radio antenna, and dented the top of the fender >:( 

[aquacanis]

Don't feel bad about a few dents in your truck.  My buddy put 16" dia x 60 foot
dead over the middle of his restored 8N tractor, totaled it.  Yup he moved it to where he knew the tree would not fall.  Just not far enough that's all.  My other buddy decided to clear some of the 60 ft. maples around out camp so the did not fall later on the camp.  First one of the day dead through the camp roof!  Needless to say he roped everyone after that. 

[thecfarm]

8n totaled, don't tell me that. :'(  I'm very careful about dropping a tree on my tractor. I park it about 2 lengths of trees away with many big trees in between. But I won't tell you about the stump that went over the bucket on to the hood.  :'(
I've done other bone head things and wondered how I got there.  :

[AdkStihl]

This is not a real good topic to be discussing really.....bad karma if you will :-\

[davidv]

I knew I shouldn't have read this thread.... aquacanis you made me squeamish.

Luckily I haven't had an accident with a chainsaw and I plan on wearing all my safety gear in the future. My dad has had a few accidents when he was logging though, both involved snakes

One time he was cutting through a log and when he got to the bottom he found a timber rattler laying right under it. So he thought since he had a chainsaw running anyway he might as well just cut it up, big mistake. The snake got caught in the blade and started spinning around and the head was biting into his boot.


Another time he saw a big timber rattler laying on the log next to him and wasn't paying attention to his cut (Wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have an unholy fear of snakes). The saw kicked back and got his hand, glove fell off and there was blood everywhere. He thought it had cut off his finger so he started looking around, then he saw that the snake wasn't on the log anymore. So he's standing there holding his hand, looking around for his finger and jumping at everything that moves. Luckily he realised that his finger wasn't missing but he got to the truck and drove to the hospital.

[Woodchuck53]

Had a fire drill this morning while I was in the shower. Ran to suit up and tore 2 stitches loose on the SCBA harness assembly. Went ahead an took the rest out. Finger looks good and works fine. Another day. Batter up

[cutterboy]

Woodchuck, I know what you mean. The worst thing about having an accident and getting hurt (a little) is having to face the wife. If there is cut skin or ripped clothing she always knows. Then the lecture. :

[aquacanis]

I certainly did not want to bring anyone bad karma or make them squeamish.  I started this thread in the hopes that shared stories would help us all look at what we do on a daily or weekly basis when working in the woods.  For example, the story about the stump falling backwards out of the bucket is a good one.  I put two bolt on pipes on my front end bucket so the logs won't roll backwards onto the tractor and me if I lift them high.  Good discussion on what NOT to do should make us smarter and reduce injuries.  Woods work is dangerous and not for dummies who don't use their head or listen to other loggers.  Good luck, good karma, and have a safe day in the woods.  Don't  forget your ear plugs, HUH?

[sparky1]

one big pointer, and one im sure 90 percent of people on here already know. When pulling a log with a skid loader make sure your pulling with the bucket down (not raised above the cab). I was out cutting wood the other day with my dad and he was in the skid loader pulling logs out. He had the bucket up pretty high. When the log finnaly broke free he had a lot of tension on it. The log came crashing back. It hit the framing of the skid loader luckily. If it would have went right in to the cab, which it didnt miss by much. It probably would have crushed him in the chest. That or nailed him in the legs. Either way it could really have been bad. No harm no foul luckily, just an observation that I noticed and wanted to pass on to others!!

[clww]

My first major mishap (since getting married) occurred on 9 November, 2008, our first wedding anniversary! Spent the late afternoon for 4 hours in the hospital ER with my wife. Not very romantic, to say the least. Here's the story. I was taking down 2 trees for a residential customer from his yard, both within 10 feet of the house. Neighbor's fence 15 feet away, power line fairly close, and the septic leeching field in the one clear area, so both trees are coming down a piece at a time. I got finished with the bigger one, a 28" Maple, with no issues. The second tree was a 18" Oak, 60 feet tall, that forked at about 25' up. I climb it and take out the 10" left fork with no problems. Now comes the hurt! I sawed the face cut on the remaining right side, then come around to do the back cut. I start sawing and it starts to lean, just like the left side had. Perfect? Wrong! Two feet below my cut, it was hollow. It broke at this point, about 6 inches above my flip line, kicks back as it's falling over, and gets me right in the sternum and my right side. I end up on the reverse side of the tree, upside down and minus my hat and glasses. My unorrected vision is 20/400, so with the shock and confusion, I don't even know where I'm at for 30 seconds. The homeowner was watching the whole thing from a safe place. He told me I held the saw out at arms length before letting it go when the tree was coming back at me. I don't remember that part. Once I got upright, I feel liquid on my right leg, above the knee so I figured I'd slashed it with the saw. Nope, that's where my left gaff went.
The homeowner gets a ladder of his and helps me get down from the tree onto the ground. I layed in the fetal position for about 5 minutes trying to catch my breath. The whole time his wife is asking me if she should call "9-1-1". I politely decline. It was a small tree after all! I just needed my glasses and hat. "I'll be alright in a bit".....Once I got up, I start taking a look at myself for injuries. I had a puncture in my left hand, the hole in my right thigh, 3 hyper extended fingers on my left hand, a broken index finger on that hand, a cracked sternum, and 5 broken ribs on the right side. I had a bruise from my belt to my shoulder.
We did put all my gear into my truck before I drove myself to the hospital. The customer had to help me get into my pickup so I could leave. I called my wife on the way so she could meet me there. "Make sure you bring the step stool in the garage so I can get out of the truck, too... See you soon...Happy anniversary, dear...". I discovered the quickest way to the head of the line at the ER is tell the nurse that you're having a hard time breathing and you have chest pain, which I did.

[forest.c]

In 1983 I got my first logging job was cutting budworm damaged fir in Oxbow maine was back to limbing when the skidder operator backed over a 10 inch fir that came down across my head neck area piled me up good I came to in the medical center in Ashland 20miles away got 12 stiches and a concussion went back to work 3 days latter should have taken more time off but to stuborn to admit I was hurt that bad suffered with neck problems for more than a year before it finaly healed !

[tcsmpsi]

Mayhaps be that I was fortunate enough to have cut wood with an ax, crosscut and bowsaw before 'climbing on' my first chainsaw.  Had me cautious upon cautious with a thing that made that much noise with a cutting blade moving that fast.  Scared plumb might be a better analogy.  The noise bothered me more than anything, because I couldn't hear the woods.  When I was a youngun, I was standing on a large log, cutting the top on a smaller tree it had bent over.  My problem was, my balance wasn't as secure as I thought, and as the ax made its last cut through, I leaned right over as it came up.  Caught me under the jaw, up the side of my head and sent me about 40', against a big log, knocked out plumb.  Best I can tell, it was 2 or 3 hours before I was found.  Long enough for all the blood to congeal and stick me to the log.  They went and got water to get me loose.  (dummie)   :D  Cutting on a huge chinaberry for a neighbor about 30 yrs ago or so that had been blown mostly down, it did catch me with unanticipated tension, though I suffered no physical damage, it did take the big ol' 66 away from me and tossed it about 50'. 
I have, and do cut lots of odd trees in dense woods.  Sometimes, there is no open path for felling.  There is limitless danger in cutting and felling.  The key, is limitless.  There is no moment for slack or comfort.  There is no prediction to cover all aspects of what trees and limbs will do. 
Now, a chainsaw...well, I won't even sit one down not running near where I am working.  Just look at the dadblamed cuttin' teeth on them things!!   

[Tim L]

I just had mine last Sunday. Cut throgh my left boot and lost one toe,there may be more back to the surgeon Monday.

[treefarmer87]

I havent had any incidents with a chainsaw. i use chaps and good steel toe boots. i need to pick up another hard hat.

[WDH]

Tim,

That is bad news.  Hopefully you will stay nine toed.

[Tim L]

Thanks, I had on steel toes and chaps but the chain went in just behind the toe.

[sparky1]

ouch...sorry to hear that.. We have to wear steel toes for work too.. It seems that everyhting hits right behind the steel toe part.. In fact I dont ever recall the steel toe helping me out much..

[aquacanis]

Damned I am sorry to hear that Tim.  God speed in your recovery.  I don't yet own em but do you think an actual chain saw boot would have stopped the cut?

[Tim L]

I think it might have.I have never owned kevlar boots but I'm looking into it now. I saw a youtube video that demonstrated the boot stopping the saw. Do any of our sponsers here sell such a thing ?

[lynde37avery]

i cut my boot lace once... but about 10 years ago my own brother was limbing a tree in the snow and cut a wrong heavy pressure limb. and it snapped back breaking his whole left side of face, broken nose, eyesocket and jaw and cheek bone. he was drugged up in a bed for over a month. after 3 or so surgeries now has a bunch of metal in his face from it and partial blindness and numbing of the face...he doesnt log anymore hes now a truck driver so i took his place in the family biz more or less. and needless to say i learned a lot from his accident, check pressure on limbs etc. and i learned to now keep two pairs of boot laces with me.