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Posts Tagged ‘equipment’

Tips on Chainsaw Safety

July 26th, 2009 No comments

If you want to cut wood for heating up your home or for removing extra branches and trees from your garden, then owning a chainsaw can prove to be very helpful. Although chainsaw is an extremely useful tool, it poses lots of danger to the security of the operators and other people around. The cutting tool which can cut a 12 inch log with such a high speed can also cause lot of harm to the human beings. According to the statistics, a chainsaw becomes the cause of a huge number of misfortunate accidents every year and for the most part, they could even be avoided. The major causes of such accidents are either the operators did not abide by the safety warnings of the chainsaw or they had not learned to operate a chainsaw properly. Here are some questions you need to ask yourself while operating this tool:

1. Have you chosen the right size of chainsaw for your job? It is very important to use the right size of chainsaw, depending upon the job you are going to do with it. After all, you cant cut a 6 inch log with a 24 inch bar chainsaw. You may get caught and slip as the bigger chainsaw will rapidly cut the small log and you may be harmed in the end. You should not think that a chainsaw with a high power will do your job fast and more efficiently. Always choose the chainsaw as per your requirements only.

2. Wearing protective clothes. Wearing proper clothes when working with a chainsaw is of utmost importance for your safety. Some items that will provide you safety include boots made up of leather or those with toes made of steel, ear plugs so that your ears remain protected from the loud noise and glasses to save your eyes from any flying debris.

3. Do you check the chainsaw before starting it? It is important to check the chainsaw before starting it. All the bolts should be tight, fluid levels should be sufficient and chain tension should be proper.

4. Do you know how to start the chainsaw properly? It is easy to start the tool while holding it with a single hand, buy this is not the proper technique to start a chainsaw. The proper method is to place the chainsaw on the ground and then start it.

5. What to do while carrying the chainsaw? You should check some things before carrying your chainsaw to a rough terrain. The chain brake should be engaged or the chainsaw should be completely shut off.

6. Proper Cutting Technique. Do not start cutting from the tip of the chainsaw as it’s possible for the chainsaw to kick-back quite a bit. Some saws have a tip guard, which should not be removed.

7. Sharpening. In order for the chainsaw to work properly, it must always be sharp. You can either take it to a local store to have it sharpened, or purchase one of many different types of chainsaw sharpeners so that you can do it at home.

8. Proper way to hold the chainsaw. To keep the chainsaw safe for yourself, make sure that it never goes above your chest area. If you want to move the chainsaw in different position, then move yourself rather than over-reaching. By stretching, you may lose your body balance and this can result in some serious incident.

By taking care of all these precautions, you will be able to use your chainsaw in a safe manner without hurting yourself or those around you. Always use safety precaution while using chainsaw.

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Lawn care- Getting your family involved

July 20th, 2009 No comments

Do you want to get some work done along with play? Well, the ingenuous solution is to make lawn care a combined family activity. There are numerous benefits of doing this. You, as a family get to spend time together and that too in a productive way. When you involve your kids in lawn care along with you, it is a great way of establishing rapport with them. Also, by giving them lessons on how to build a beautiful and clean lawn, you are instilling valuable lessons of responsibility in them. Kids anyways yearn to help parents with outdoor tasks as it makes them feel grown up. If you present lawn care as an exciting venture, you will have a devoted bunch to help you whenever you want them to.

However, even though the idea seems great, is it as simple to put in operation as it sounds? Well, it could be if you put some thought in to it. Family lawn care can become a problem if you are always neck deep in your work and do not find the time to spend time together with your family. To get rid of embarrassing situations later, the best idea would be to go in for some planning. Begin by delegating particular tasks to everyone and also fix schedules which you can follow with your work. This way, you won’t have to bear the stigma of broken promises later.

If you are wondering how to assign tasks to your children, make a decision based on their age. With younger children, you could ask them to go to the garden store and get the seeds for grass planting. On the other hand, if your children are older, they could lend a hand in sowing the grass seeds. You have to exercise great caution when it comes to handling fertilizers, especially the chemical ones irrespective of the age of your child. It is better not to let kids deal with fertilizers even if they are older because of the possibility of dangerous consequences.

Similarly with lawnmowers, you need to be careful when kids are around. It would be advisable to keep kids away from lawnmowers. Since this equipment can be hazardous, do not let them even lay a hand on the lawnmower unless you are around to keep an eye on them. If you have very small kids who are persistent about their desire to help you with the mower, you can indulge them by seating them on your shoulder and asking them for instructions to help you operate the lawnmower. After some time, you can take them to the house while you keep on with your lawn mowing work.

Thus, by making lawn care a family task, you not only have an entertaining time but also get quicker results in any front yard landscape designs exercise. Isn’t that great?

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