First memory of a chainsaw

[John H]

I can't remember how old I was, but the only PPE I had was a pair of corderoy short trousers and some hand knitted gloves with no end on the fingers. My job was to hold the branches over an old carpenters saw horse while my Father used an incredibly noisy Danarm chainsaw to cut them up.If you can imagine the noisiest 2 two stroke motorbike and then take it's exhaust off, that would still be quieter than that saw. I used to quite like the job, it was only when the branch got down to the last 6inches that I got worried!!

As I got older I took over the use of the saw, it was always a brute to start and if one was slightly tentative it would backfire ripping the handle out of ones grip.

I got my own back on the Danarm a few years later. While doing a spot of welding on an old Morris Minor, I had not realised someone had patched the fuel line with a bit of plastic, which melted. We found the remains of the saw as we cleared the burnt out shed.

[David H]

When I first went into Forestry @ Dartington we had two very old chainsaws in the training room. I never ran them and to be honest I would not have been very keen to do so ! they both had 4ft bars on them (that was not the worry) but one of them had a handle at the tip of the bar for another person to hold onto the saw this also had a lever which you would have to open and re latch the bar at the pitch you wanted it as the carbs back then could not cope with being turned upside down-tilted ect. neither of them had chain catchers fitted so if it went it went big time and would get ya ! the chains fitted were very crude compared to todays chains. The people that had used these saws were pretty sure to have white finger from using them they were brutes of saws big heavy but after all that they looked liked peices of art :-)

Dave

[RichardKing]

In the aftermath of the 87 storm I cut up a couple of Ash trees for my Father in law using his little Stihl 010

[The Barrowers]

Hello,

I bought a Husqvarna 345 tac, a lovely well balanced tool with a trio back brake (it's an additional way of braking the chain) on the throttle end which I'm sure the pros would say makes you lazy and is a gimmick.

I'm not sure with this "bad" practice using the right hand to be an additional stop for the chainsaw is "bad" unless you were taking chainsaw qualifications.

The first impression was revving the trottle and the front end lifting, a nice smell with a robust sound.

Plus point is the chain tensioning without tools. Alas you still need to sharpen the chain but that can be quite therapeutic.

[steve rollnick]

My first memory: 2 weeks ago! I felt and looked like a fear-ridden demented spider, using a new little Stihl saw, under the gaze of my friend and tutor, a tree surgeon. We have planned our second day of training soon. If caution, good kit and a clear sense of doing the simple things first, if these things help, then I'll be fine. I feel more like an octopus now with the saw in my hands. Slow, firm and much wiser.

We have 8 acres of mostly oak in West Wales, two fires in the house in Cardiff, and plenty of larch, spruce, mountain ash to use..... and some isolated overgrown hazel coppice here and there that look too majestic to cut down.

I'll be posting sometime soon about those muck trucks - I am not sure the wheels will handle muddy slopes....

I had chainsaw dreams for a week after that first experience. I prefer those dreams that have me being and feeling like a log, but we'll see how soon they return.

Steve