Chainsaw lanyard: yea or nay?

[atreeperson]

Got out of the habit for a while, but I'm back to using a lanyard. One less thing to worry about. I always hated how saws hang from the ring on lanyards. Started hooking my saw away on the side handle, nice and easy to reach now

 

[Shane Courville]

So I was never a fan of a chainsaw lanyard, I always felt it was in my way so I didn’t use it. This week I was doing a prune and my brand new 201 came off my DMM transPorter and went for a ride landing in a deck. So needless to say I will now be using a lanyard.

 

[rope-a-dope]

Ouch! A little bit of tangle is smaller price than a smashed saw or smashed whatever. Remember the lanyard is only as good as the connection to the saddle. Get something that locks or one might have to go thru the dropped saw lesson again. I had to replace the handle on my 150 after I let it go to balance after a cut shook me (it was on a lanyard, but the nonlocker rolled out of my gear loop).

 

[climbingmonkey24]

I’ve always used a saw lanyard.

What happens if you need to bail out or get out of the way real fast and need both hands free but there’s ground workers underneath you or a house, roof, deck, pool, etc.?

A saw falling from any kind of height can do some serious damage to property and put anyone on the ground at risk for injury or worse.

Not to mention damage to the saw.

 

[treesap]

I dont climb with a chainsaw (Currently) so Im not as qualified to give an answer, but think about it, its ~$5-1200 and 5-10 LBS a lanyard is cheap insurance even tho it will get tangled around stuff, id rather that than any chance of dropping a saw, especially over a house, deck, or people

 

[rustykfd]

I always use a lanyard. Worth the piece of mind in my book.


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[Cereal_Killer]

I use one. I'm not gonna drop my saw in normal use but it's nice for those times when it gets pinched to be able to use both hands to weight the piece differently so it releases (choke lanyard onto tree with little slack so it doesn't fall far) and it's also great when multiple climbers are passing one saw back and forth, I can toss him the end of lanyard instead of having to get close enough to hand off the saw in a controlled manor.

 

[treesap]

I'm not gonna drop my saw in normal use

im not gonna get in a car accident during normal driving either
not trying to be rude, but its when you start saying stuff like "Im not gonna drop my saw" that is precisely when you drop your saw although, yes a lanyard is a good idea

 

[Cereal_Killer]

I've never been in an accident, at fault or otherwise because I pay attention and am a defensive driver. And I've done a hell of a lot of fucking around in a car, to say I only drive "normal" would be false, I drive an AWD sports car (STi), I drive far from what most people would consider normal on the reg, especially with this weather. Yet I've never once had a fuck up in my almost 20 years of driving (speeding tickets are another story lol).

Sure anything could happen but if you pay attention, exercise caution and plan your cuts I can confidently state I won't drop my saw.
Do you consider it wrong to proclaim you won't cut yourself with your saw either? I sure as hell don't.

 

[owScott]

Lots of good reasons to use one. Only reason to not is inconvience. It only takes 1 time for a saw to land on 1 person and it will be life changing.

 

[owScott]

On my jobsite you wear a helmet, eye protection and a saw lanyard aloft. These are not an option.

 

[cashmoneytreeboy]

Was having a discussion with a co-worker about the practicality of having a leash on your saw while aloft. I used one for quite a while, but stopped a couple of years ago and haven't looked back. I find it is one less thing to get tangled and allows for more freedom of movement while cutting. I get the safety side of things, but I have never dropped a saw, and I pointed out that most guys in a bucket don't use one. Thoughts?

“ never dropped a saw”? I’ve dropped out of climbs and buckets.

 

[Jonny]

Homemade saw lanyard.
Didn’t much like this Kong biner after noticing it seems to be painted rather than anodized, and it fits all my saw handles.

 

[treesap]

I've never been in an accident, at fault or otherwise because I pay attention and am a defensive driver. And I've done a hell of a lot of fucking around in a car, to say I only drive "normal" would be false, I drive an AWD sports car (STi), I drive far from what most people would consider normal on the reg, especially with this weather. Yet I've never once had a fuck up in my almost 20 years of driving (speeding tickets are another story lol).

Sure anything could happen but if you pay attention, exercise caution and plan your cuts I can confidently state I won't drop my saw.
Do you consider it wrong to proclaim you won't cut yourself with your saw either? I sure as hell don't

fair enough

Im not trying to cause any arguments, or derail the thread, but I do know nothing is impossible, so (atleast for me) there is enough chance of dropping a saw that a lanyard is worth it, they arent expensive, although a slight annoyance when they get tangled and snagged

 

[moss]

The option to go hands-free quickly makes a lanyard worth it with nothing else considered. When I'm using a back-handle during takedowns I girth a long sling on to the handle, nice to be able to put that down too when I need hands free. I like a static lanyard for my top-handle, keep it short enough so it's less tangle trouble, I can reach what I need to. I anchor the lanyard on the side of my harness I'm cutting on. I'll move the lanyard to whatever side I'm cutting on, it's no trouble. I work in every sort of crappy velcro-twigged brush-filled viney tree, lanyard is nowhere near the leading problem ;-)
-AJ

 

[southsoundtree]

I tape open my saw-hanging biner, making a big hook.

I don't like moving around a lot with anyone beneath me

Homemade saw lanyard.
Didn’t much like this Kong biner after noticing it seems to be painted rather than anodized, and it fits all my saw handles.
View attachment 73617

A non breakaway lanyard is way worse if a chunk yanks it, and consequently, yanks your body, than losing a saw. IMO, not IME.

I gaffed out and slid a very short distance, like under a foot, I believe before regaining a spur and stopping.
Jammed up a joint in my spine for a couple weeks. Actually considered a chiropractor visit. Couldn't get it to pop.

Hope you consider a breakaway connection to your saddle.

 

[Dan Cobb]

I tape open my saw-hanging biner, making a big hook.

I don't like moving around a lot with anyone beneath me

A non breakaway lanyard is way worse if a chunk yanks it, and consequently, yanks your body, than losing a saw. IMO, not IME.

I gaffed out and slid a very short distance, like under a foot, I believe before regaining a spur and stopping.
Jammed up a joint in my spine for a couple weeks. Actually considered a chiropractor visit. Couldn't get it to pop.

Hope you consider a breakaway connection to your saddle.

I'm using a homemade lanyard made of 1" tubular webbing. No bungee, no tear away feature. Even though it doesn't have a lot of stitching, I'd hate to find out its breaking strength the hard way. Anyhow, I figured the ring on my saw (194T) was the weakest link. My lanyard only attaches to the ring (not the handle.) Anyone have an idea of the rating of the ring? Or failed a comparable ring?

 

[Dan Cobb]

Homemade saw lanyard.
Didn’t much like this Kong biner after noticing it seems to be painted rather than anodized, and it fits all my saw handles.
View attachment 73617

Exactly how is your lanyard constructed? It appears to have bungee or surgical tubing inside, but the resolution isn't good enough for me to tell how the eyes are finished. Is the elastic action strong enough to keep your saw from bottoming out under normal conditions? I toyed around with some bungee and surgical tubing, but couldn't fit enough inside 1" tubular webbing to do much good. (But I only tried stuff I had on hand.) Ended up making something simple.

 

[Reach]

I'm using a homemade lanyard made of 1" tubular webbing. No bungee, no tear away feature. Even though it doesn't have a lot of stitching, I'd hate to find out its breaking strength the hard way. Anyhow, I figured the ring on my saw (194T) was the weakest link. My lanyard only attaches to the ring (not the handle.) Anyone have an idea of the rating of the ring? Or failed a comparable ring?

I do not know what the rating of that ring is, but I know it’s a lot more than what you would expect. I watched a climber (not a very good one, to say the least) get his saw stuck in a log as it went over, and it held in the kerf well enough to bend the bar of the saw 30 degrees, and yank him off the spar. Fortunately his lanyard caught him, but he took a very hard jolt, far more than any breakaway lanyard would ever allow.

 

[Dan Cobb]

I do not know what the rating of that ring is, but I know it’s a lot more than what you would expect. I watched a climber (not a very good one, to say the least) get his saw stuck in a log as it went over, and it held in the kerf well enough to bend the bar of the saw 30 degrees, and yank him off the spar. Fortunately his lanyard caught him, but he took a very hard jolt, far more than any breakaway lanyard would ever allow.

Now you've got me considering adding a low strength component. Thanks for sharing the event you witnessed. I do have a question about it, probably because my limited experience isn't giving me the correct picture, so please bear with me. I'm picturing chunking down a spar. As the log falls over, the kerf you're cutting opens up and is no longer a kerf so I'm not picturing how his bar was held in the kerf. Did he have his saw in a cut that was not one of the "felling" cuts? Did the piece fail while cutting the notch? Screwed up snap cut? I'd rather not learn this lesson the hard way.