You learned someplace else, I guess.

Rocking the saw, actually tilting the nose up or down alternately, is a
tactic to cope with large logs so that the chain speed can be kept at or
near full. By tilting, less wood is in contact, chips are more easily
ejected, and the whole operation's safer.

The reason the handle mounts around left is for felling.

You'd probably have a cow watching a good woodsman plunge a veneer log to
prevent heart pull.


"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
link.net...
Your right hand does not control kick back. Your left hand does. It's
the
hand that exerts force downward. The right hand is not supposed to rock
or
pivot against the tree dogs as a lot of people do. You certainly can do
that, but the saw is designed to cut straight down through a log.
Pivoting
the saw is an indication of a dull chain or a novice user. Kick back
occurs
one way and one way only. The very front of the bar has to come in
contact
with something. The tip of it. Your left hand is what resists that
kickback should it occur. Pivoting the right hand can produce kickback if
the bar is burried in the tree, which is common with trees that are larger
in diameter than the saw bar. Pivot the bar past 90 degrees and you hit
the
point where the tip of the bar is the contact point. Guaranteed kickback.
Not probably - guaranteed.


They're basically dangerous and uncontrollable.

This is patently untrue.

They're only
justifiable if you're working up a tree and need one hand for yourself
- more an arborist's tool than a lumberman's.

Equally untrue. That would be the worst time for an ill managed saw. But
then again, these are not a design that is inherantly ill managed.

If you get a kickback,
the saw _will_ jump up, because you simply can't control it in one
hand. Your only hope of vaguely safe working is to reliably always
know that when it jumps, you aren't where it's going to be heading.
This requires skill and practice.

This is pure bull. The saw is always going to kick back in a consistent
direction. Unless you're a contortionist and a very strong one at that,
you'll not be able to get the saw in a position so that kickback is not
going to bring that saw directly back to you. Skill and practice have
absolutely nothing to do with it. Nobody learns how to control kickback
and
put it to some useful purpose. Kickback is something that is avoided at
all
costs. The only safe way to use a chainsaw is such that you are always in
the direct path of kickback, so you make it a practice to avoid kickback.


My, that looks a bit dangerous. With the throttle at the point of
balance
of
the saw the grip is really just a pivot point. Given the choice I think
I'd
rather be taking the limbs off by hand.


The right hand is always just a pivot in that you use it to keep the saw
level. The saw does not look to be any more dangerous than a conventional
design and in fact appears that it could be an advantageous design for
some
applications.

--

-Mike-