Interactive lesson

The chainsaw, step by step

Interactive lesson: protective kit, kickback, starting and fuel, felling a tree, cutting wood under tension and first aid.

Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Chainsaw use and safety module. Already bought? Unlock

This lesson is general guidance, not professional training. Local regulations and expert advice always take precedence. Read our disclaimer.

The whole lesson as text

1. Before your first saw

The chainsaw is the most useful and the most dangerous machine on the homestead, and the chain moves at about 20 metres a second.

Learn from someone experienced — You learn the chainsaw alongside someone who knows, not from a video. This lesson is not a substitute for a course.
Never alone — Always two in the woods, with a phone and a first aid kit. Someone always knows where you are.
When the saw stays put — Tired, ill, on medication or you've had a drink: the saw stays in the shed. The same in strong wind, freezing rain, darkness and thick fog.
Three bans — Never cut above shoulder height, from a ladder or a roof, and never one-handed. Prune fruit trees at height with a handsaw or a pole saw from the ground.

Why: Most serious injuries happen in the same few situations: kickback into the face or neck, a cut to the left leg, a tree that falls the other way and a branch that strikes from above. That's why you must know the rules by heart before you start the saw for the first time.

Best of all, do a recognised chainsaw course: Lantra or NPTC in the UK and Ireland, extension services and forestry associations in the US and Canada. Check the requirements in your country, state or province.
Children, animals and onlookers stay further away than two tree lengths, or 5 m (16 ft) when cutting on a sawhorse.

2. Protective equipment

No chainsaw trousers, boots and helmet with visor, no starting the saw, not even for "just two cuts".

Helmet with visor — The helmet protects your head from branches, the mesh visor your eyes from chips, the ear defenders your hearing. Replace it by the maker's date, roughly every 4–5 years.
Chainsaw trousers — The commonest injury is the left thigh. Class 1 (up to 20 m/s) is the minimum, marked EN ISO 11393 (UKCA/CE) or ASTM F1897 (US).
Boots and gloves — Boots with a steel toe cap, cut protection and a non-slip sole. A left glove with cut protection is better.
Jacket and first aid — A close-fitting jacket, orange or yellow, with nothing flapping. The trauma dressing and tourniquet go in your pocket, not in the car.

Why: Chainsaw trousers and gloves have layers of long fibres. When the chain catches them, the fibres pull out, wrap round the drive sprocket and stop the chain in a fraction of a second. That's why the kit must carry the chainsaw pictogram and must never be patched.

Don't wash chainsaw trousers hot and don't patch them. Trousers that the chain has cut once must be replaced.
A set of good kit costs roughly £150–350 ($200–450). That's less than one day in hospital.