Bad Habits: Part One.

It always amazes me just how quickly new students pick up bad habits. I've lost count of the times that students returning to me for more chainsaw tuition have got into bad ways! I kind of expect 'old-hands' at using saws to have already fallen into bad habits, but not people who have just passed their CS30 and are coming back after a couple of months to do their CS31! So what are these common pitfalls? Find out more after the jump...

There are several, common poor practices that I see again and again, and in the first of a short series I'll be picking up on these and try to explain why they're such a heinious crime not a good idea.

In this first one, we'll take a look at the Wandering Thumb Syndrome. You can probably make out in the picture above that this student has moved their thumb on to the top of the front handle. Not a good move, and a potential failure point on your assessment.

So why is this so bad? After all, it's often quite comfortable working this way, but the problem starts should you suffer from kickback. What's going to happen to the handle when the tip of the bar contacts some timber and throws the saw back? The saw handle will come out of your left hand as there's nothing to stop it.

Compare that with keeping your thumb around the handle... try it out, just hold a saw with your thumb on top of the handle, and then wrapped around it. You'll see that if you were to get any kickback, the handle just pushes back into that squashy part of your hand between thumb and forefinger.

So, for your own safety (and to get you through the assessment!) always keep your hand securely on the front handle, and that means keeping your thumb round it.