Uff, duh! Talk about getting your bloomers in a knot!
Many years ago, a friend of the wife called up and asked if I had ever taken down a tree. I answered yes, many, and she asked if I could come over and help supervise her son taking down a tree on her property, I agreed. I loaded up the saws, fuel, and gear and headed out. When I got there, she showed me a brand new chainsaw, so I left my old beat up saw in the truck. I spoke a while with her son who was my age (45 or so at the time) and decided that he had no heart for running the saw. As such, I agreed to take down the tree, show them all the how's and why's of the process, show them how to fuel, lube, safely run the saw, and help them understand how to use the machine. Wife's friend was adamant that she needed to learn how to use the saw. First up, I chose to set the saw up, lube, fuel, start, and run the machine. It worked well and had a nice sharp chain. I turned it off, and let the son start the saw. He was successful but looked like a man forced to kiss a pit viper. Then it was his mother's chance. She followed my instructions but could not handle the saw at all. I had told her to leave the saw on the ground and while controlling the saw by pressing down with her left hand, pull the start cord. Instead, she lifted the saw and the chain kicked down and hit her in the calf cutting her. Luckily, she did not even get the motor to turn over. I told her I did not think she should use the saw; she was in shock from the saw hitting her but agreed. I took her into the house and bandaged her. When I came out, I cut down the tree, limbed it, and cut it into fireplace logs. While the tree was tall perhaps 80' and close to the house, I felled it nicely away from the house on a slope which made it easy to cut up. After I cleaned the area up and stacked the logs, I went up to the truck to brush off the saw shavings. They gave me the saw saying they did not feel comfortable using it, and clearly, it would make a good gift for me. I still have the saw. Of the 20+ trees I felled at Stately Maddog Manor, I think I used this saw for at least one-half of them. I've never dropped a tree on a house or building, but as wife says, there is always next time. Yes, there is that.
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