www.reeleak.com

Doh!

Had a bit of a mishap last Tuesday whilst dismantling a dead multi stemmed HC. As I was chogging off a section of one of the stem, cutting holding the saw with my left hand ( I know operating a saw one handed ) and pushing the section with my right hand to stop it from pinching the saw. The section broke away, as planned and expected, but my left hand with the running saw rose up and I didn't move my right hand away quickly enough resulting in a mid air contact!

The tip and top of the saw cut into the palm of my hand and down my wrist towards the underside of my forearm. Youch! Came down out of the tree calling for the first aid kit, but once I took my glove off quickly realised there wouldn't be enough plasters in the box to cover it and a trip to A&E was called for. Still thought after a couple of stitches I would be back on site in time to help the lads out cleaning up. Sadly it wasn't a simple as that and I ended up in hospital for four days, requiring an operation to clean up and repair the damage..............

A stupid mistake to make, and despite the mess you see in the pics I was still extraordinarily lucky as I managed to miss all of the vital structures in my hand and wrist, such as the tendons and arteries by a fraction of millimetres.

This was an entirely avoidable accident. The diameter of the section I was cutting was just over the length of my 12" bar on my MS200. I elected to cut straight through the section one hand using my free hand as leverage. I could/should have used either a step cut, or a gob and back cut, and probably used a bigger saw instead as well. These options would have cost a few extra seconds, maybe a couple of minutes at the most changing up to a bigger saw. Instead I've unnecessarily put myself into hospital for four days and out of work for upto 3-4 weeks!! Muppet. 

So think about what you're doing ladies and germs, and stay safe.

-gnarlyoak