Chainsaw Safety – Long Bar Vs Short Bar @Buckin’ Billy Ray Smith
Hey it's Brock here with Rock Hill Farm And today I want to talk about chainsaw Safety and maybe go against conventional Wisdom a little bit So every day I try to come outside and Get some work done and today was going To be a firewood day but I actually Tweaked my back a little bit yesterday We did all those concrete pots that Weighed uh Close to 200 pounds a piece and I was Moving those around and I just a little Bit stiff with my back today so I'm Sitting inside thinking I should have Used better lifting technique And I said I'm just going to take today Off and not really do anything out here Today even though the weather is Beautiful And so what I did instead was I spent All day watching buck and Billy Ray If you're not familiar bucking Billy Ray Has a big YouTube channel about Felling trees bucking firewood chainsaws Axes anything to do With firewood And That guy is amazing he forgot more today Than I will ever know about running a Chainsaw or sharpening a chainsaw I Watched a bunch of chain sharpening Videos today And really if I have advice for you it's Go watch him go watch buck and Billy Ray
And he'll explain this better than I do The only difference is his videos tend To be like 40 minutes long and I still Recommend you go watch those but I'm Going to try to break down just one Point that he makes a lot into a shorter Format And that main point is that the smaller The wood the longer the bar And for bucking I think he's absolutely Right it's safer to use this 25 inch bar Than it is to use this little 18 inch Bar And that's the main thing today's video Is about but before that I want to talk About some other things safety related With chainsaws that maybe don't get Enough attention Everyone wants to talk about whether or Not I'm wearing chaps And I always wear chaps I've had maybe Out of 700 videos I might have had three Times where I was making a single cut And I didn't put them on But generally I wear my safety gear but I don't think that's the most important Thing you can do so I had a decibel Meter out I get criticized a lot for not Wearing hearing protection on the Tractor But a TR a tractor is dramatically Quieter than a chainsaw And if you look at OSHA recommendations For hearing protection and where my
Tractor is at You don't need hearing protection to run My tractor unless you're on it for a Prolonged period of time like an hour or Two hours continuous A lawnmower is much louder a weed eater Is much louder and this chainsaw is like In the jet engine category as far as Volume it's already a loud saw and I put An aftermarket muffler on it makes it Super loud So I think the most important safety Thing you can do is wear hearing Protection I've started putting ear Plugs under my ear muffs because it's so Loud Next thing face shield Stuff is going to fly up and hit you in The face of at some point you could risk An eye injury And then I think the next thing before Your chaps is Technique It's all about How you run the saw And the reason I say that is you know Even your chaps they only cover a small Percentage of your body your arms are Exposed your torso Your feet you know is everybody wearing A chainsaw proof shoe so Wearing chaps is a good idea you always See me doing it but I think it's more Important to think about what you're
Doing when you're running the saw And that's the videos I'm linking to Billy Ray he does all kinds of stuff That kind of looks unsafe in these Videos but the man knows what he's Talking about so one more time go watch His videos I will link those under the Under this one in the description But The most important piece of chainsaw Safety in my mind is being balanced when You're running the saw I think the most common way people get Hurt with a chainsaw is Being on uneven ground or moving and if You're walking and you got tree branches And rounds all around you and you've got Your hand on the trigger like this and You go to step over it like I think That's where your most dangerous spot is Actually that's not even true I think The most dangerous thing when cutting a Tree is having something fall on you Even this log right here it's just Setting here but if I cut it we're on a Little bit of a hill it could roll or Any number of things so the most Dangerous thing with the saw Or the most important safety advice is Hearing protection and eye protection And then the next thing after that Is having something fall on you I just bucked up this massive tree Behind us that was three different trees
Each of them was at least 30 inches and They were all grown together and none of Those fell and rested on the ground we Had these three and four and five Thousand pound pieces suspended up in The air and getting those on the ground And understanding the pressure points And where it was gonna fall and roll one Of my regular viewers actually had a a Log roll onto him he had been cutting Wood I'm not going to say his name he's Told the story in the comments but He was cutting he was an experienced Person he had someone out there with him And a really big log rolled onto him and That was That's the danger that no piece of Safety gear protects you from the only Thing that protects you from that is Experience and patience So you say okay I've done this before I'm just going to walk up and do it no Stop and think how could this go wrong Then the next thing after having Something fall on you Is actually being cut by the saw so now We're in the fourth danger now that Might be the most likely way for you to Get the type of injury you could that Could be fatal or require uh or be Life-changing is getting hit by the saw So it's very important but I wouldn't Put it at the top So the next thing
I want to talk about is the length of Your bar And I'm going to put in a clip here Of me bucking up some logs laying on the Ground with a Long Bar and with a short Bar Foreign Foreign Talk about the most important thing not Getting cut with the saw is being Balanced If I'm standing straight up and down I've got good posture my shoulders are Back Let me come around here Let's So if I'm going to cut this Right now I can I can touch the tip of this bar to The ground Without bending over So I'm completely stable And I can just run through it Whereas With this shorter bar Cut this I've got to get down here Okay that's already a less safe position And if if you're making one cut it's Fine but if you're cutting all day Do you want to spend all day Down here What that leads to is besides possibly Injuring your back there's a lot of
Fatigue and I think the mo easiest way To get hurt running a saw so do it while You're fatigued so For my money I'm gonna stand up and buck The way Billy says Billy Ray Bucking bucking Billy Ray And then When you stand up and buck You're cutting more with the tip of your Bar and he talks about in one of the Videos I shared that your danger zone For Kickback is from here to here you Want to cut with this part of your bar Right here when you're bucking It's not going to kick back and let's Just look at it with some common sense So So if I'm cutting right here First I've got the Chain break on a Kickback that's why I don't put Kickback As the most dangerous that kicks back Right there you just stopped your chain So I mean you really want to be safe make Sure your chain break works Because that's that's what saves you From a kickback is a working Chain break But the other thing is This bar has weight on the end So now I'm running this saw right here It's not trying to kick back I'm Balanced I'm straight up and down And There's enough weight down there that's
Not going to kick back and come all the Way up here okay So That's one thing is how far from this do You want to be Gonna run this saw right here And whenever you start working down Through here you're bending down towards The danger You're bringing your face towards the Danger And This bar is more likely with a shorter Bar depending on the size of wood to get That danger zone of the bar in it anyway A lot of people like to lift logs up in The air and I do it too And then Lift the logs up in the air and get your Base of your saw right up against the Wood and when you do that You're close to this again it's up Closer to your face you don't have Protection on your upper body other than You should be wearing a helmet but Now not only are you dealing with what Happens with the saw but you're trusting Your hydraulics in a couple of ways Number one that it doesn't drop while You're up in the air It's not common but it can happen you Can have that up in your loader and have It drop Also it can shift inside your grapple so
You've got your grapple up and you clamp It tight now you start sawing the weight Changes and you're pushing on it it can Shift the last thing you want is your Log moving while you're cutting so For convenience and for keeping your Back straight with a short bar there's a Lot of advantage and you don't have to Roll the log but You don't remove all danger by lifting That up in the air because it's also Going to drop it can land or roll or Cause problems that way so To me And I had this conversation a while back When I I was cutting some logs And I'd watched Billy's videos about Stand up and buck and I'd had comments From older experienced guys telling me That they think it's better to use that 25 to 30 inch bar And Stand straight up and down to Buck and So I gave that some thought and now I've Done it a bunch of times I've done it Both ways and I can tell you what I Think is safer now if you're cutting Overhead It can be different it all varies with That because It depends on location and how high it Is But for bucking on the ground
I think Billy Ray has knocked it out of The park so stand up and buck I think it's safer Now I think I did a poor job probably of Explaining my thoughts on that so I want You to go watch his videos watch him he Takes a pile of logs like this and he Goes all all the way through it And he recreates Kickback he causes the Kickback to show you and he causes the Saw to throw pieces at him and he does It with different length bars and really Does a great job demonstrating it so go Watch his video And I would watch his videos if you do Anything with a chainsaw I'd go watch His videos Felling bucking anything chain Sharpening check it out so I appreciate You taking time to watch the video I'll Put links on the screen to more videos And I'll see you next time
