Head, eye and ear gear

Whats everyone wearing?
I’ve been thinking on something with flip down ear muffs and/or a screen. Just wearing a regular plastic hard hat at the moment.

 

Yep, good ole Stihl forestry helmet. $ 80.00ish I think. Decent head gear & muffs. Husky or any color brand you like. All in one that way. Stays in the gearbox in the truck at all times.

 

I recently bought some new ppe for work and was pleased to find the forestry helmet without the actual helmet. I only wear my hard hat when I am in danger of something fall on muh noggin, as soon as its down I switch to something less sweltering. The helmetless setup is comfortable for me most of the time.

 

I have a cheap helmet I wear when felling anything biggish. Ears, at least earplugs every time I start the saw. Eyes, my glasses. The helmet has ear and face protection as well. I also wear chaps most of the time, and leather gloves always when cutting.

 

I've been using Buggs glasses instead of regular safety glasses recently. Takes a bit to get used to but less fog/sweat issue.

 

That's what I have typically used in the past, but I sweat into them pretty good too.

 

Old Elvex made in the USA. A patient/friend gave it to me and I LOVE it. Combined ears and face shield on a orange helmet. Next one will be researched and probably a husky, stihl, or from baileys.

 

Someday I hope to retire my Husqvarna brand helmet and replace with a Rockman. Any forestry helmet is better than none at all. I say this after taking a woodchip to the eye on Saturday. Nothing damaged, just had to stop for a moment to let my tears flush it out. Did not have on glasses due to not having any clear lenses in the truck and overcast conditions. Did not affix my helmet because it was "only a few cuts".

 

Agreed on the tractor. I usually don't have a problem except for when bushogging. Hour after hour of the drone at 2200rpm, even if it doesn't seem that loud, will leave my ears ringing.

I usually only don the forest helmet when I'm felling. Never know what you're going to knock loose up there. Brushcutting is helmet territory for me as well.

 

Chaps, Bullard Helmet w/Peltor ear muffs and face screen every time I cut. Sometimes it is a PITA if you are only going to make a few cuts BUT !!! It only takes one mishap.

 

Only a few cuts is my downfall for PPE too. I snagged a stihl forestry helmet and chaps when I bought my 362. I “try” to always wear them even if only a couple cuts. Found myself skipping Saturday and got reminded when the saw hit an embedded nail and kicked back pretty good. Wasn’t a close call, but good reminder to take precautions I have available.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We all battle complacency every day. I try to practice great care when working to help offset my inevitable slips on PPE. Respect the task and respect yourself doing said task. Activities that are "day to day" for some, are dangerous as all getout for others. It's a relative world. Be careful out there.

 

For felling I have a Peltor forestry helmet with earmuffs and face screen. Once the tree is down, though, I ditch the helmet and face screen and just wear earmuffs or earplugs. I know I should be wearing safety glasses too, but I haven't found a pair yet that fit me well. Plus I start sweating and it drips on the inside of the glasses and then I toss 'em aside. I suppose something like Bugz goggles might work but I am reluctant to spend the $$.

As for earmuffs or plugs, I use either basic Peltor muffs or the foam earplugs, but I just found these plugs made by Moldex, they're called Rockets. Purple and green and they have a lanyard and are washable and reusable. Fit my ears perfectly. My favorite ever. I want to get a set of shooting muffs that have the electronic amplification so that I can still hear ambient sounds but they shut off and block noise above a threshold limit. Not sure how well they work though.

 

Funny story.... just this Saturday was cutting in the yard wearing just my regular glasses. Normally I wear my prescription safety/ sunglasses but it was cloudy and I took some chips to the eye and it burned and itches all day! That’s what led me to start this thread.

As for the few cuts thing... I try to wear my chaps as much as possible after watching my brother cut himself a few years back during a tree job we were doing. 80’ three stem white birch climber takedown. Got the whole tree down and bucked we were working on flushing the 3’ diameter twisted stump. It fought us so we took a break and all took off our chaps to cool down when my brother spotted the tiny little hinge we missed grabbed his saw kneeled down made the cut and when he was pulling the saw out smacked himself about an inch above the left knee! Shredded jeans major blood and me taking a huge heaping load of birch twenty minutes to the ER. 20 stitches and limping on it for a week or two luckily nothing major. Moral of the story only takes a second to get hurt or just to put on the ppe.

 

Here's my MacT that I found at a yardsale for 5$

I started wearing it two summers ago , polly the coolest to wear in the summer , I usually tape on something on the back to keep the sun off the back of my neck .
I always have multiple safety glasses in the truck , I've been wearing glasses since I was eight so grabbing eye protection is second nature .

Sammich time in this pic but here's me wearing a pair of chainsaw pants and Royer chainsaw boots , the safety glasses are on the water bottle .

I'll either have 3M yellow foam rollies in the ears or my peltors and a visor on a MSA helmet , I have other chainsaw boots as well .

I've given away 3 helmet setups to friends .
I have bought a new Husqvarna forestry helmet , I like the visor and muffs but the helmet is homeowner grade .
I did retire my MacT at the end of the summer , I had a friend bring me one of these from down south since we don't have a Canadian distributor .



The ShullBucket is an awesome hat

 

J. Dirt That is what I'm talking about. Had a friend that had finished cutting for the day and removed his chaps on his way back out the trail he noticed a small tree stopped to cut it saw kicked back hit him just above the knee. It only takes a fraction of a second to happen.

 

Im amazed to hear some of you guys can cut without eye pro at the very least. My eyes just seem to be magnets for anything and everything, I get stuff in my eyes all the time even with eye protection but at least its nothing with any velocity.

I put eye protection on pretty much anytime Im out in my yard doing just about anything...all the sunglasses I own are safety glasses as well and they're always on my head. I've had WAY too many things come shooting out and hit those glasses...no way I'd risk it. Also doesnt help that Im darn near blind in my left eye...if I were to lose my right I'd be in trouble!

Eye protection in my opinion is #1, no compromise gotta wear when chainsawing...hearing protection is a close 2nd, followed by gloves. Those 3 I wear about 100% of the time when using the chainsaw. If Im in my pile bucking wood I wear my chaps too...although I'll admit I skip the chaps often when just making a few cuts here and there around the property.

I want to get a forestry helmet but just havent pulled the trigger yet.

 

I had a Stihl entry level helmet for years and was great except it didn’t have the ratchet in the back. That made it a bit of a pain to adjust but was comfortable. My wife got me a Husqvarna technical helmet last year for Christmas and it is a step above for sure but a few steps above in price. I wear it anytime I am cutting or running the trimmer.

Rockman makes a very nice helmet at a reasonable price so they are worth checking out as well.

 

Been using full helmet for years. On my second one as they don’t stand up to the tractor running over them.

As Backwoods said I use earmuffs even if I am just running the tractor as the old ears aren’t getting any better.


And the chaps stay on the seat of the tractor as I never know when I will need them. Plus they cushion the ride for us with old man a- -.