this is why amateurs shouldn't be alowed chainsaws...

[Peter_t]

i really think its wrong that chainsaws are widely available to anybody without any kind of training. the amount of accidents involving them is huge! even a small, low power saw is lethal in the wrong hands. chainsaws can kick back towards the user if something comes into contact with the tip of the bar and cause horrible injuries to the legs, arms, necks and faces! but your average joe is unaware of this.
also imagine trying to explain this to your neighbour lol
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bFI_4e66b-8&feature=related

also a mate of mine brought a saw of some guy who was convinsed it was broken to find out that the chainbrake was on lol

pete

 

[Eric_Methven]

I'm very much against banning people from owning or buying a chainsaw simply because they haven't been trained. It's a matter of personal choice and common sense to get proper training. However, the powers that be have enough of a strangle hold on society already with regulations for this and regulations for that. Making it illegal to own or use a chainsaw without proper training is just encouraging them to erode a little bit more of our free will and personal choices.

Eric

 

[robin wood]

So who was the guy in the video do you know him, was he an amateur? I would have thought more likely a pro felling a street tree between houses and as usual its not the saw but the tree that causes the accident, felling a dead tree and not realising how brittle the hinge is.

Do you have any statistics on how "huge" the number of accidents involving amateurs rather than pro's using saws is? I don't mean "well everybody knows" or "I know a bloke who" I mean HSE accident stats, I am sure they exist and I would be interested to see them. I have worked professionally with saws for many years and helped many amateurs with their own saws and my impression has always been that it is one of those tools that people do give healthy respect to and I have never met anyone who used a saw that was not aware of the danger of kickback.

I once heard a guy who had worked in A&E for many years talking about DIY accidents, they call Easter "bloody sunday" apparently and when asked if there was anything that folk could do to avoid ending up there he said "ban nail guns".

 

[Tor helge]

I'm very much against banning people from owning or buying a chainsaw simply because they haven't been trained. It's a matter of personal choice and common sense to get proper training. However, the powers that be have enough of a strangle hold on society already with regulations for this and regulations for that. Making it illegal to own or use a chainsaw without proper training is just encouraging them to erode a little bit more of our free will and personal choices.

Eric

I second that. I`m a true believer of common sence, and very much against banning everything just because it is dangerous.
If one doesn`t have common sence, well tough luck.
It is clearly that the nanny state mentality have come a longer way down on the continent than in my country (more and larger cities?), but we too are storming in that direction.
I`m always surprised to see how many people people who are willing to lay endless restrictions on others that are out there for no real reason. I really fear for the future.

Tor

 

[Cairodel]

Unfortunately, nobody can ban stupidity.....!?!

 

[SiWhite]

It's a shame chainsaws weren't invented when Darwin was around......he'd have loved them!

 

[BOD]

Unfortunately, nobody can ban stupidity.....!?!

Every herd needs a cull now and then

 

[saddle_tramp]

I kinda gotta disagree with the whole kick fear. Kick is variable knock when you touch the top corner of the guidebar tip against something under power. As such its something to avoid doing, but once in a while it happens. It dont take your head off, or stick the tip in your face or any of the gory pub stories that go around. its just a bit of a kick. The big danger I see when inexperienced people are using saws, is when theyre frit of the damn thing, and get transfixed with fear of the saw itself instead of the real dangers above and around you.

 

[Peter_t]

ok maby i did exadurate a bit. cutting up firewood etc is fine but its when people take on jobs out of there ability is when it gets dangerous.

 

[RobertRogers]

Chainsaws are incredibly dangerous to use. But so is driving a car.

 

[British Red]

As said before "there is only one cure for stupid". The last thing we need in this repressed nanny state is more laws. The only person who is going to get hurt is the person using the saw - and its their life to risk if they choose.

Violent people will always be violent

Stupid people will always be stupid

When you make something idiot proof they will invent a better idiot!

Actually we should be encouraging more people to take charge of their own life and their own safety and to have to live with the consequences of their actions.

More "mummy knows best"? No thanks

Red

 

[alpha_centaur]

the only problem with making things foolproof is fools are so ingenious

 

[jojo]

There are already far too many laws, rules, regulations, banning & preventing people from doing too many things. I don't want to see even more. Too many personal freedoms have been put in straight jackets by so called lawmakers and bureaucrats. I just wish they minded their own business and leave me to mind mine.

If I wanted to play with a chainsaw, I'd learn first how to use it properly. If I want to play with a knife or an axe, I learn how to use them properly. If I cut myself, tough, my own fault. I wont go blaming the knife, or the axe, or the chainsaw manufacturer.

And the state should be encouraging this self reliance and personal responsibility rather than trying to remove "risks".

Being alive is risky, are they going to try to "regulate" life?

Rant over, guys....

 

[saddle_tramp]

heres a nice clip for yous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_UqhcByRdY

check out the size of that thing!!

 

[korvin karbon]

i hate seeing old growths being felled, yes there are reasons for it, stopping disease spreading, unsafe etc etc but i still find it sad that something so old has to die.

 

[Tadpole]

And the state should be encouraging this self reliance and personal responsibility rather than trying to remove "risks".

Being alive is risky, are they going to try to "regulate" life?

Rant over, guys....

They are finding now that kids don't know what is risky and what isn't as they have been over protected for so long they are becoming relent on others to make their choices. So now instead of falling from a tree a few times and breaking bones, they are running in front of cars and dying.
Kids need to be making their own mistakes and learning from them rather than relying on others to tell them what and when and how to do things, as a kid I made a lot of mistakes, mostly ending up with just cuts and bruises, a couple of breaks. A broken nose falling out of a tree, broken cheek bone, when I tried to catch a ball with my face, but like most kids of my generation I made each mistakes only once. and none of them were fatal I learnt by mistakes. Kids today often aren't allowed to make mistakes until they are in their teens and the first mistakes tend to be their last.

 

[korvin karbon]

tadpole.

I doubt that you would find anybody who disagrees with what you are saying, no idea why it is not acted upon however.

if i was ever to have kids i would encourage them to be KIDS and no way would they have a games console to replace proper playing.

 

[ZDP-189]

Yeah, I was going to say there's things more dangerous than a falling tree, like kick back...

 

[Tadpole]

tadpole.

I doubt that you would find anybody who disagrees with what you are saying, no idea why it is not acted upon however.

if i was ever to have kids i would encourage them to be KIDS and no way would they have a games console to replace proper playing.

We live in a society educated by mass media, and sadly quite a lot people, who are parents now, were kids when it was decided by “them” by them I mean government, media, child experts, interfering busy bodies, and television, that you “have to protect kids from any danger”, and by “any danger” I mean not only real dangerous stuff, like playing on the pylons and disused quarries, but kids stuff, broken bones, bloody noses, cuts and bruises, from normal stuff like climbing trees/falling out of trees, dandy cart races, and sledding on plastic tea trays and old spades.

Now, if you were told all your life that green was pink and black was blue, it would take a lot of effort on your part to throw off the trapping of your childhood. Even experts screw it up, now and then

They got it wrong, killing 99% of germs all the times, till your kids are school age just means little super clean Jonnie and Jenny will end up catching all the disease that their class mates bring into school in the first couple of weeks in reception class. Not allowing your kids to play in dirt and soil means they will get no protection from the bugs that may make them a bit sick as kid but may kill them or blind them later in life. By not letting you kids take risks or make decisions as kids where you are there to pick up the pieces, will mean that they will screw it up big time when they have no one is there to sort out their mess.
If my little girl wants to waste her cash on rubbish and sweets, I let her, but once it’s gone she knows there is no more till pocket money day. She bought a lot of rubbish in the past, but now she has learnt, and saves up for the stuff she really wants, you know the stuff she still wants after saving up for months. She doesn’t come whimpering to me when she has muddy hands, she wipes them on her jeans, just like kids are meant to, (note to mothers, washing clothes gets out all the mud, there is really no need to panic, even a ham-fisted git like me can do it) I’m not saying I’m any better at letting my little one have as much freedom as I had, because I’m not, I’m trying really hard to allow her to have a childhood though, and my daughter, unlike her friends, minds less about getting muddy and wet/cold then she does about doing boring kids stuff.
She gets to play with fire; she gets to play with a sharp SAK she gets to see her food before it looks like food. I’m sure when she is old enough to have kids, they will have more freedom, and be able to reclaim childhood. I think by telling kid the truth, and showing them that yes there are dangers, and bad things do happen, that may hurt them, they learn more than protecting them from it.
rant over I return you to your normal service

 

[Peter_t]

ok im getting slated here lol
i just that i saw a guy the other day that was trying to prune a bush with a top handle chainsaw. for those who dont know top handle saws can (but shouldn’t under most circumstances) be used one handed. he was hacking at this bush like a madman and clearly had no idea what he was doing. why he was using a chainsaw is beyond me as it would probably be easier to use a folding saw and some secateurs. he was holding bits and cutting them with the other hand (very dodgy as this gives you very poor control over the saw and because you are not gripping the front handle so the chain break will not save you if a kickback was to occur). i was thinking to myself sooner or later he’s going to have a serious accident.

ok it was wrong of me to say they should be banned but i think maybe its not such a good idea that people buy them off the internet. in a shop they can give advice and on appropriate saws to get. for instance in the industry you can get in allot of trouble with health and safety law for using top handle saws unless you are using them off the ground because they are so dangerous to use. these are not for use for anybody but professionals with the right qualification and some dealers will not allow you to buy them without them, but others such as dealers one ebay do.

Pete