Slapped by a Chain?

Has it ever happened to you?
This came up in Kimberly 's thread. In almost 30 years of sawing, I've never had it happen. Chain has come off dozens of times (always my fault), I've never had a broken one.
Am I lucky or is it that rare to get hit by a chain?

 

Never heard of it happening, but it must be possible if the chain broke at the exact right point rolling off the drive sprocket and you were cutting a small log up off the ground. Bet it might be more likely with severely abused chains getting super hot from no oil lube?

 

Chains don't always just slip off and fall down nicely.

Long bars and big powerheads will throw them sumbeaches if the conditons are right. They can whip around and come right back at your leg and torso.

There's a reason there's a tank guard on the bigger saws.

 

A friend of mine had a chain come off and got him in the quadricep pretty good. Lots and lots of stitches.

 

I've only broken one chain, a square GTG chain on my ported 084. Nothing was hurt.

 

Watch out for fences!! Lucky fella!!

 

I cringe every time I see that vid come up.

 

A fence always gets mentioned when this vid comes up. It looks like he sticks the nose of the bar into wood and gets a kick back, as expected. Maybe there is a fence grown up in the wood but it looks like the perfect recipe for a kick back regardless.

 

Only time a chain has hit me was when I was using my 261 to clear small trees close to the ground. It was negligence and instead of moving the trees I just plowed through. One of saplings bound between the bar and chain, the chain threw into my boot.

 

Yes, I threw the chain off of my 441 and it hit me on the leg.

 

I watched one fly off and go between a friends legs while I was on the tractor. Luckily no injuries.

 

I have had them come off and sling back around and slap my hand or hit me in the leg. No damage though.

 

I saw that episode ...we watch that show. Watched it that night. I was like oh geeze and rewound it . I was like look how close that was!

 

Sorry, but that was just friggin stupid. He got very, very lucky.

 

I threw a chain on my MS460 while working on felling a tall stump. It shot off of the end of the bar and launched a good 10' - 15', even with the bar only being around 2 feet from the ground. Luckily I was cutting with the bottom of the bar at the time, and the pulling forces shot it away from me. Since then I've tried to make it a point to always cut with the bottom of the bar, unless it's absolutely impossible with what I'm trying to do.

 

What broke the chain, hit something or did it just give it up?

 

As I read all these stories, some several sound very familiar. While I know I've never broke a chain, being lightly contacted by a derailed chain sure rings a bell. It was just so inconsequential (especially considering I had just had contact from a chainsaw chain) that I forgot. I will make a mental note to self next time.

 

Yep chains slapping your hand or wrist is another good reason to wear heavy gloves while running one. I have also cut many pairs of gloves grabbing or moving past the bar and having a cutter slice the glove. Of course bare handed I wouldnt be grabbing the bar or be MUCH more careful doing so.

 

The chain didn't break, it derailed - my bar nuts weren't tightened all the way. At the time, I had 5 different chainsaws set up on my bench, and I assumed that that one was too. Well the bar nuts were only finger tight, and must have shaken loose enough while I was cutting to allow the bar to come off the tensioner pin.

So yes, another case of negligence. I got lucky, but it put some things in perspective. It only takes a couple minutes to run thru the standard checklist. I mostly store them with the bars off in my new bench now.

 

I remember that. I think that happened at Bill Poor's didnt it?