Chainsaw Chaps & Other Protection

bonner1040

bonner1040

Nick from Ohio
Joined
Nov 25, 2011
Messages
5,853
Location
Indianapolis / Cleveland
Chainsaw Chaps? Who wears em? Who hates em?

Full wrap? Apron Style?

Anyone ever wear the Husqvarna Pants? https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=34&item=1121

How bout that super expensive Phanner stuff?
https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=34&item=1815
https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=34&item=1955

We are required to wear them @ Big Green, which is a new thing to me, however I must say I am getting used to it and they afford me a nice feeling of protection.

We have company branded green ones similar to this:
https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=34&item=1161#detail

Husqvarna even makes a jacket:
https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=34&item=1123#detail

Now most of the guys at my job hate them, and just plain refuse to wear them. Additionally since I had never even seen a pair of chaps before starting at Big Green I imagine that most guys dont wear them?

How do the Treehousers stand?
 
I'll put them on if I have a lot of cutting in front of me, which is 3 or 4 times a year. I have my guys wear them when advisable, which is 3 or 4 times a month. I'd wear them full time but for the overheating issues.

If they are required at big green, how do the guys get away with no wearing them?
 
It goofy to NOT wear chaps, inserts, or chainsaw pants if you are on the ground running a saw. And now with the good pants available the argument can be easily made to where them aloft as well. The new Gladiators are great to climb in.
 
I haven't worn a pair of chaps in over 19 years...since I quit Asplundh. I know some folks are accident-prone and probably need them. I've never been cut by a saw except on the fingers. Once a saw kicked back and my left hand shot forward and it cut a neat slit through the middle fingertip of my left hand. The other time I was holding a piece of wood with my left hand while cutting with a 192. My hand slipped a bit and the chain (barely moving) clipped a fingernail rather too close for comfort. Three days worth of healing.

Back when I worked with Asplundh, it seemed that the chaps gave some of the guys a "bullet-proof" attitude. They'd walk around with the saw against their leg, etc. Stuff they wouldn't do had they not been wearing chaps.
 
If I'm not mistaken chaps are mandated by OSHA on ground saw operaters .The last I heard OSHA was broke though ,ran out of money .

I can't argue that they are not a good protection device to use though although most do not .I'm lax myself which I must admit .
 
Chaps give men a false sense of security. I provide labonville wrap arounds for my guys, and sometimes wear them myself. My first statement is made based on the fact that of the men I've worked around in my life, both in the woods and in the residential scene, the chap wearers have MORE stories of saws hitting their chaps, then the non chap wearers do of saws hitting their legs. I won't knock chaps though. A saw cut to the leg is stoppable. If one chooses to wear the right gear.
 
I've never worked in chaps in my life. They weren't required yet when I worked for the city and Davey. I've been on a couple OSHA regulated jobs since but I was either in the bucket or climbing, not running a saw on the ground. Old dog, etc.
 
Have worn them for 38 years, have no choice seeing they are manditory here. When I got out of logging and then into arborist work I switched from safety pants to chaps, they seemed more practical when different jobs like stump grinding didn't need leg protection plus I don't have a foremen watching over me.
. But last year when I got caught by the Workplace Health and safety officer not wearing my chaps on the job and narrowly avoided paying a $5,000 fine I went back to pants.
Now I don't have to be looking over my shoulder because more then a few times I have forgotten to put the chaps on when the saw comes out. With the pants I'm always ready and my Husqvarna summer pants are actually quite comfortable.
A trick I do on hot days in the 90 F range when wearing safety pants is don't wear underwear, it's amazing how much cooler you are.:)
 
I wear them 90% of the time I am cutting on the ground. My guys wear them anytime the are cutting. I don't even let it be an option for them, same with hard hats
 
HolmenTree said:
A trick I do on hot days in the 90 F range when wearing safety pants is don't wear underwear, it's amazing how much cooler you are.:)
Click to expand...

Now let me tell you the last time I pulled that number was with a cut off pair of blue jeans and a zippered my member .It's bad enough to do when your a little kid but it doesn't get any better as a grown man .--son of a beech that hurts
 
Legal requirement over here. I wear Stihl Hi-Flex and they are really comfortable, I know we dont get the temps over here that many of you guys do but you do get used to them.
 
The gladiators are nice indeed as Dave said. We all wear them here in the UK. Not a problem. Would be a bit hot for those in the south though, heat being the greater danger so I would discard them in warmer months
 
Standard chaps for my 95% on the ground. Two "almosts" really sunk that in for me. If my helper is cutting, (which the current one does not do at the time), they will wear chaps. I kinda feel naked without them, I don't seem to be bothered by the heat either as I make as little cuts as possible.
 
I prefer to wear trousers, I finally found some little ones to fit and they are the lightest and coolest I've found so far.
Arbormax by Clogger, from New Zealand I think, class A (protection in front from waist to cuff and all the way around the lower leg). Stretchy, double fabric on the bum, reinforced at the knees and waterproof cuffs.
I'm wearing them here in hot Bermuda and so far so good, way cooler than the Stihl Hi Flex and a lot less bulky.
I also keep a set of chaps in the truck for the days I'm handsaw pruning, then may need to pick up the saw for a bit of ground work.
I think it was Burnham who said to wear your trousers with suspenders and no belt for better 'ventilation'...
 
Been wearing the same chaps for many years, the forest service green ones. A few short cuts on the part over the thighs, but I will sharpen with the saw on my lap sometimes, so probably not all from saw handling. I feel kind of naked without them, and if I'm real tired I tend to sometimes drag the saw a bit. I recall that was where the chaps saved me from an injury once. I'd like to get the wrap around Husky ones that Stephen recommended, but my current ones don't want to wear out.
 
wiley_p said:
It goofy to NOT wear chaps, inserts, or chainsaw pants if you are on the ground running a saw....
Click to expand...

It's hard to hear that when most of us have gone so long without wearing them and never having a prob. In fact, I think a lot of us would say it is goofy TO wear them. They are hot.

I've got the pfanner pants from treestuff. I love 'em, but they are hot to wear. I wear very thin pants regularly and I've found that these are fine to just pull right over the pants I normally wear.

I got a pair for the other arborist that works with me. We never wear them in the tree and we wear them 80% of the time on the ground.

It's one of the things I'm working on using more. We are good about safety glasses, hard hats, gloves and hearing protection. Just gotta wear them pants more...

love
nick
 
Sorry if I offend anyone, but anyone who would walk up on YOUR jobsite and knowingly cost you $5k out of YOUR pocket over some silliness that THEY thought you should be living by just ain't decent. That's a bunch of hogwash. Who gets to go enjoy the hard-earned money you have to pay to the safety police? Do they live the boring life of a blowfly.....no life at all until something smelly shows up to light on?
 
I never did figure out where the money goes from OSHA fines or the EPA or any other watch dog organization .Maybe it goes to the collector of fines to spend on wine ,woman and song .Most likely at this moment sitting at one of those golf courses in Bermuda enjoying a nice brunch .
 
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