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    Home » Video » DIY TV

    How ( or how not to ) cut down a tree with a chainsaw

    by Eric · This post may contain affiliate links, its one way we pay the bills. · 11 Comments

    Safety First when using a chainsaw, it is the most dangerous tool one can own without having to be licensed or have a permit to carry.

    A few quick tips: wear ear and eye protection, steel toed boots, work gloves, and if possible, a hard hat. Read the instructions that came with your saw, the booklet that came with my Stihl is quite good.

    Full disclosure: I am not a professional lumberjack, just a DIY guy who wants to get people to pay attention to the proper way to use a chainsaw. One thing that is not in the video, but you should wear a helmet with a face shield and ear protection built in. I bought one for about $45, so go do it, one piece of equipment takes care of your head, eyes, and ears.

    There are more than a few opinions on how to cut down a tree, I've changed the method seen in this video, in this how to cut down a tree video, i use a slant cut on the back side of the tree, and i now use a straight cut just above the front wedge cut. Slant cuts can cause the tree to twist when it falls, which is a very bad thing.

    We have more tree felling, cutting down a tree, chainsaw use videos here on the site, watch them all.

     

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. eric rochow

      February 12, 2007 at 4:54 pm

      Hi Eric!

      I’m from Nebraska and my girlfriend and I just started watching your show recently. Good stuff! Hope you keep it going for years to come!

      Side note: I used to be a professional juggler and was really hoping that you might do some chain saw juggling during the “How to Cut Down a Tree” episode. 🙂 There’s just not enough good chainsaw juggling or “how to safely juggle chainsaw” videos out there. See, I haven’t ever juggled chainsaws myself. Some things like chainsaw juggling, cutting down trees, and parachuting I live vicariously through the internet. 🙂

      Anyway, I’ll keep watching gardenfork.tv, even though my hopes are somewhat diminished for seeing any chainsaw juggling. 🙂

      Thanks for all the neat episodes so far! Looking forward to future reels!

    2. Black & Decker CCS818

      January 08, 2010 at 10:44 pm

      Just saw this nice video, thanks for your great tips sharing and your boy is so cute 🙂

    3. Bob Eldridge

      February 12, 2010 at 2:14 pm

      Really usefull video especially the safety advice. Is there any chance of seeing the remains of the protective pants that you caught in the machine? I will certainly use those when I next use a chainsaw. Thanks Eric

    4. Eric Gunnar Rochow

      February 12, 2010 at 5:00 pm

      i tossed them, but I should have taken a photo of them before i did that. sorry.

    5. Bob Eldridge

      February 13, 2010 at 6:55 pm

      Eric, Ive thought about this and I have a suggestion. Get a shop dummy and let the chain saw just touch its left knee. Then dress it in the special pants and do the same with the right knee. If you film that you may well save loads of people getting hurt. Ive rented chain saws but Ive never used the protection suits. However I will after watching your video.
      Thanks
      Bob

    6. Christina

      March 01, 2011 at 10:58 pm

      This is the best video ever! ROLFL!

    7. kevin

      January 17, 2012 at 8:11 am

      its great to see him starting young and you teaching him right. its good parenting keep it up. good safety tips i like the video.

    8. Joe Redd

      July 13, 2012 at 10:27 am

      Yes, I agree.. these is great videos. I did learn about the safety aspect and I
      need to get the chaps. I just wish they were in black or blue jean color, so I can used these on my motorcycle. I have all the other Hi. //... Joe

    9. Truncator

      October 17, 2012 at 6:53 am

      A great piece one thing everybody should note too is nearly all chainsaws are right handed the blade is over there for a reason (to help keep the blade out of the way with kickback) and a left handed user should use the saw RIGHT handed. if you use left handed the kickback is straight in your face.

      also look at a good sawhorse once you have all the wood down check out our new revolutionary sawhorse

    Trackbacks

    1. How to Chainsaw Tree Logs - GardenFork.TV | GardenFork.TV says:
      June 23, 2011 at 3:44 pm

      [...] can watch our How to cut down a tree with a chainsaw video here Do you have some chainsaw adventures to share? or some more safety tips on the proper [...]

    2. Tiny r(E)volution on GardenFork says:
      September 26, 2012 at 1:07 pm

      [...] bed and make pizza to how to raise bees and replace a damaged fender on your car. Check out his video on how to safely use a chainsaw. It’s [...]

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