What age do you start teaching kids to use saw?

Started using a saw when I was 12 a Mcculloch with a 24 or 28 inch bar .

 

the best drivers I've ever met, are the ones that started driving trucks and tractors around the age of 7. I was begging to run a chainsaw at 12, never had anyone to teach me. taught myself in my 20's...

never miss a chance to teach the younger ones something. you might not get another chance. or they might learn the wrong way from someone else.

 

If he's mature enough to take directions and apply them to his work, then yes, he's old enough to run a saw.
a small saw...limbing or bucking small trees...then graduating to bigger and better...
clear the area and watch him till he figures it out.
Teach him tension, spring poles, compression, pinch points...first! I've been slapped in the face and shins by not reading tension correctly. Luckily all ouchies and no blood...

 

Question for thought. What age were you thought to shoot a gun, or what age did you teach your young ones to shoot?

Chainsaw/guns, both inherently dangerous, but when respected and taught safe handling with proper PPE there really isn't much difference.

 

Had a red ryder from 5-6 until I shot it enough to blow the compression ( who knows how many thousands of copperheads are laying around at camp). Would be able to shoot a 22 rifle with my dads help shortly after maybe 7-8 ish.

Started with a Marlin 39A lever gun. Before I was able to shoot on my own a little older at camp he did this:

Went and shot 1 bullet. He kept the spent casing in it and had me cock the hammer and softly drop the hammer 100 times. If he ejected the empty casing and it had more than one dent, I wasn't allowed to shoot on my own yet, as in reality, I would have had the gun go off accidentally (no safety, you need to drop the hammer to de-cock). When I got tired and dropped the hammer, he explained that the gun would have went off with a live round and I should have stopped for a while and let my sore hands relax before trying to get to 100.

Like I said in an earlier post, he died when I was 14 and now 17 years later, I shoot probably 20,000 rounds a year and still remember learning the respect for any gun early on. I will likely teach my kids in a similar way whenever we have some down the road.

Similar deal on learning to ride the 4 wheeler, I wasn't tall enough to reach the foot shifter so we got a hand shifter that bolted on to it. It was a 5 speed suzuki quadrunner 250. I was allowed to go up and down the gravel drive and the trails around camp in 2nd gear, if he heard me shift into 3rd, my next pass by camp, I was taken off for going too fast.

 

Depends on the kid, and depends on his size.

 

My thought is it's your decision. I wouldn't let my wife, oldest daughter or Floyd hold a running saw. Now on the other hand I would probably let my youngest daughter try bucking limbs on a saw buck like Eric VW had suggested. She is almost 14.

 

12yr old with a small Chineseium limbing saw with instructions to treat it as a standard saw. He has cut small poles at home. This was his first real limbing experience.

 

My middle daughter, the only one to show an interest, was 15.
5’-7” and very stout for a girl. I was already not allowed to ask her weight. 145lbs? and broad shoulders. She immediately took to it.