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Chainsaw Safety

Chainsaws are essential tools for South Skyline residents. We use them to clear fallen trees and branches blocking private roads and driveways, to limb up trees for defensible space, and for general fuel reduction work. They are also powerful and dangerous — chainsaw injuries are among the most severe you can sustain from a hand tool, and up here, the nearest trauma center is 30–45 minutes away. Safe operation requires proper equipment, good technique, and — critically — knowing your limits. Cutting up a downed branch on the road is very different from felling a standing tree. This page covers both, and is honest about where the line is. We’ve included this page to prepare you not to become an emergency!

Personal Protective Equipment

Full PPE is not optional — it’s what keeps you out of the emergency room. Every time you pick up a chainsaw, wear:

  • Chainsaw chaps or pants — Cut-resistant material that jams the chain on contact. This is the single most important piece of protective gear. Most chainsaw injuries are to the legs.
  • Helmet with face screen and ear protection — Protects from falling branches, sawdust, and noise (chainsaws produce ~110 dB, enough to cause permanent hearing damage).
  • Eye protection — Safety glasses or goggles under the face screen.
  • Steel-toed boots — With cut-resistant uppers. Logging boots with aggressive tread are best on our slopes.
  • Work gloves — Cut-resistant, with good grip.

OSHA has an excellent guide to chainsaw PPE and operation: Working Safely with Chainsaws (PDF).

Choosing the Right Saw

Bar length and weight matter. A longer bar lets you cut larger wood, but the saw is heavier and harder to control. A 16–18” bar handles most limbing, bucking, and small tree work — the bread and butter of mountain property maintenance. Saws with 20”+ bars are significantly heavier and lead to fatigue much faster, which is when accidents happen. Unless you have the training, strength, and stamina for sustained heavy cutting, stick with a smaller saw and leave the big wood to professionals.

Battery-powered (electric) chainsaws have become a practical option for lighter work. They are quieter, produce no exhaust, start instantly, require less maintenance, and are generally lighter than equivalent gas saws. For limbing, bucking small-to-medium wood, and defensible space work, a quality battery saw from Stihl, Husqvarna, Milwaukee, or EGO is a real option. They won’t replace a gas saw for sustained heavy cutting or professional felling, but for many residents they are the safer, more convenient choice — especially if you only use a saw occasionally. No spark arrestor worries, either.

Keep Your Chain Sharp and Properly Tensioned

This is not a minor maintenance detail — a sharp chain is one of the most important safety factors in chainsaw operation. A dull chain forces you to push the saw into the wood, dramatically increasing fatigue, the risk of kickback, and the chance of losing control. A sharp chain pulls itself through the wood with minimal effort.

Learn to recognize a dull chain: if the saw produces fine dust instead of chips, or if you have to bear down to make it cut, the chain needs sharpening. Carry a file and guide in your kit and touch up the chain during breaks — don’t wait until it’s dangerously dull. Many operators sharpen every time they refuel. If you’re not comfortable sharpening by hand, replacement chains are inexpensive. Always keep a spare.

Chain tension is equally important. A loose chain can jump off the bar — a terrifying experience. A chain that’s too tight wears the bar and chain prematurely and can overheat. The chain should be snug against the bar but still pull freely by hand. Re-check tension after the first 5–10 minutes of cutting, as the chain stretches when warm. Check it again periodically throughout the work session.

Before You Cut

Before each use, also check:

  • Chain brake — This is your primary kickback protection. Test it before every session.
  • Bar oil and fuel — Never refuel a hot saw. Let it cool for a few minutes first.
  • Spark arrestor — Required by California law during fire season (not applicable to electric saws).
  • All bolts and handles tight, no fuel leaks, air filter clean.

Safe Cutting Technique

  • Maintain a firm two-handed grip at all times, thumbs wrapped around the handles.
  • Never cut above shoulder height — you lose control of the saw.
  • Never cut with the tip of the bar — this is the kickback zone. Contact with the upper quadrant of the bar nose can violently rotate the saw upward toward you.
  • Start each cut at full throttle.
  • Stand to the side of the cutting path, never directly behind the bar.
  • When limbing (removing branches from a downed tree), work from the trunk outward. Watch for branches under tension — they can snap back with force when cut.
  • When bucking (cutting logs into sections), assess where the log is supported. Cut the compression side first, then the tension side, to prevent the bar from getting pinched. On slopes, always stand on the uphill side.
  • Be careful about trunks and limbs under pressure. They may explosively fly up if you release that pressure. This is true both for standing trees, as well as a while limbing a fallen tree if it is lying on one of the branches. Carefully cut to incrementally reduce the pressure, and be ready to escape the moment you detect it starting to crack.

Know Your Limits: Cutting vs. Felling

There is a huge difference between cutting up a downed tree on your driveway and felling a standing tree. Bucking and limbing fallen wood is manageable for most people with proper PPE, a sharp chain, and basic technique. Felling a standing tree — especially anything over about 10–12” in diameter — is a different activity entirely, requiring substantial training, experience, and judgment.

Owning a chainsaw does not make you a feller. Trees are heavy, unpredictable, and unforgiving. They lean in ways that aren’t obvious, they have hidden rot, their crowns catch wind, and they interact with neighboring trees. A misjudged fell can kill you, destroy a structure, or take out power lines. Most chainsaw fatalities occur during tree felling.

Our strong recommendation: unless you have completed hands-on felling training (see “Get Trained” below) and have experience with progressively larger trees, do not fell trees larger than about 8–10” in diameter. Larger trees require longer bars, heavier saws, greater physical strength, and more advanced technique. The difficulty and danger increase dramatically with tree size. For anything substantial, hire a professional — it’s worth it.

For large or hazardous trees near structures, hire a licensed, insured arborist. The safest way to take down many trees — especially those near homes, power lines, or other trees — is actually to climb them and remove them in sections from the top down. This is skilled professional work requiring specialized climbing gear, rigging, and years of training.

Tree Felling Basics

If you do have the training to fell small trees, here is the disciplined process that even experienced operators follow every time:

  1. Assess the tree — Look at lean, crown weight, dead branches (“widow makers”), and surroundings. Check for overhead hazards and power lines. Check if the area to be cut is under tension. Make sure you have a plan for making the cut safely before do any cutting at all.
  2. Plan two escape routes — At 45-degree angles behind and away from the intended fall direction. Clear them of brush and obstacles.
  3. Make the notch cut — An open-face notch (about 70–80 degrees) on the side facing the intended fall direction, cut to about one-quarter of the tree’s diameter.
  4. Make the back cut — From the opposite side, slightly above the notch floor. Leave adequate hinge wood — this controls the direction and rate of fall. Never cut through the hinge.
  5. Listen and watch the tree. Trees don’t fall all at once, you can see and hear subtle signs that something is about to happen. Always maintain situational awareness while you are working.
  6. Retreat — When the tree begins to move, immediately walk (don’t run) along your escape route. Never turn your back on a falling tree.

Use wedges to help control fall direction. If a tree gets hung up in another tree (“barber chair”), this is an extremely dangerous situation — do not try to fix it by cutting the supporting tree. Get help or use mechanical means.

When NOT to Use a Chainsaw

Stop or don’t start when:

  • You are fatigued — most accidents happen when people are tired. Take regular breaks.
  • You are on a ladder or in a tree — this is professional arborist territory requiring specialized training and fall protection.
  • High winds make tree and branch movement unpredictable.
  • You are near power lines — maintain at least two tree-lengths of distance. Call your utility company.
  • Poor visibility — darkness, heavy rain, or fog.
  • You are working alone with no one aware of your location — see below.

Never Work Alone

Chainsaw injuries produce deep, fast-bleeding lacerations. In our area, you cannot count on a fast 911 response. Always work with a partner who can call for help, apply first aid, and help with evacuation.

If you absolutely must work alone:

  • Tell someone exactly where you will be and when you expect to return.
  • Carry a charged cell phone — but remember, cell coverage is poor or absent across much of the South Skyline area.
  • Have your GMRS radio along, ideally having someone monitoring it.
  • Carry a trauma kit on your person, not just in your vehicle.

Be Ready for the Worst

Given our remote location and long EMS response times, anyone operating a chainsaw should have a trauma kit immediately at hand and know how to use it. The most critical skills are tourniquet application and wound packing to control severe bleeding. See our Medical & First Aid page for recommended trauma supplies and training.

Stop the Bleed offers free training in bleeding control — this is essential knowledge for anyone using a chainsaw in a remote area.

Get Trained

Don’t learn chainsaw operation by trial and error. Even for basic cutting and bucking, a day of hands-on instruction will make you dramatically safer and more effective. For felling, formal training is essential — not optional.

For beginners and general chainsaw use:

For felling and advanced work:

  • Game of Logging — The premier chainsaw safety and productivity program, with four progressive levels from basic felling through advanced techniques. Highly recommended before you attempt any felling.
  • S-212 Wildland Fire Chain Saws — The standardized wildland fire chainsaw curriculum, offered through various California organizations.
  • USFS National Saw Program — Federal volunteer sawyer certification with multiple skill levels.

Learn More