Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire kickback

I have been running chain saws regularly for over 25 years but today I had the closest call/worst kickback I have ever experienced. Thank God the chain break worked and I had a death grip on the saw because that thing flew back at me with the speed and force of vengeance. I barely avoided getting sliced from forehead to chest.

To make it much worse, by 10 year old son was in the danger zone. We were cutting a load of firewood and unbeknownst to me he had come close behind me to grab a piece I had cut a few minutes earlier. So I was in the awkward position of explaining "son I just fvked up but don't you ever get anywhere close behind somebody using a saw or any other power equipment." Not that he hadn't been told before but this time I think it will stick.

The kickback happened when the tip of my saw contacted the other stem of a forked tree that was on the ground. I was cutting the last piece from the crotch on my side and wasn't careful enough about avoiding the obstruction. The saw was a stihl 360 and it came back hard.

Scary stuff. Sounds like you are a careful operator and today it may have saved your life. Very good job.

My uncle had a similar thing happen but he did not have a chain brake or other safety stuff. Sliced his face open from his eyebrow to the corner of his mouth.

Scared the hell out of his kids and wife...they sent him to the cleveland clinic and docs were passing on doing the stitches until one doc volunteered and did a nice job. Can't tell it even happened unless you get inches away and stare hard.

Sliced his eyelid in half but somehow did not touch the eye. Lucky man.

Several years ago a guy I worked with dad had the same happen to him but he wasn't as fortunate. His chainsaw kicked back and hit him right across the neck causing catastrophic damage and he bled out within minutes. Son said he tried shoving his fingers and t-shirt into the gaping wound trying desperately to stop or at least slow the blood loss but it was so severe nothing made a difference.

Wow glad you’re okay. I love using chainsaws but they also scare the crap out of me.

Glad you were not hut!

My neighbor had quite a scar across his forehead and bridge of his nose from a "kickback"!

Another MONKEY PAW WARNING

Don’t monkey paw the bar. Left hand fingers on top. Left thumb wrapped UNDER the bar.

And move to the left of the cut so your face and body are not in line if it does kickback.

NOBODY is fact enough to move out of the way. Look at kickback videos on YouTube.

Glad you are alright Ol Buddy.

yes, happens FAST don't it? glad you and the young one are OK

20” bar???

That’s a lot of saw for firewood.

But if you’ve been doing it for 25 years, I can’t preach to you.

I took the 18” off of my 290 and went back to a 16”. I’ve been lucky I guess, I only use stihl chains too FWIW.

I had a 3” oak limb lying parallel to a 20” run of chestnut oak yesterday. It keep kissing the tip of my chain on every cut. I was mindful of it but I just gave it hell let kiss on into the fugger as I melted through all my cuts. I was too lazy to move that smaller pole away from my zone.

I had a close call years ago where fatigue was the cause. I pulled the saw out of the cut and let the saw come down in front of me. The only issue was the fatigue did not allow me to stop the saw before hitting my pant legs in the femoral artery area. Fortunately, the saw only cut through 1 layer of the double-layered pants. That was a wake-up call for me.

To this day, I won't cut without chaps or a forestry helmet with a screen. My wife calls me an alien but at least I'm safe(r). Nothing substitutes taking your time and being smart when you use a chainsaw. It cuts without remorse.