Chainsaws (was [ANNOUNCE] London.pm technical meeting about "What is Moose....")

[Jonathan McKeown]

On Wednesday 28 January 2009 09:53:16 Nicholas Clark wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 12:10:01AM +0000, Edmund von der Burg wrote:
> > use the spikes to pivot the blade through the wood. NEVER cut using
> > the top of the blade. (That last bit is actually important).
>
> I'm guessing that there's more than one reason.
>
> It's not going to be "because the bits of wood fly towards you" because
> they do that on the bottom of the blade.
>
> I assume that a big reason is because if the chain snags on the bottom,
> momentum takes the chainsaw away from you. Whereas if it snags on the top,
> the entire mess comes towards you rapidly.

Many years ago I remember hearing a discussion about product warnings on Radio 
4 (ISIHAC or similar). They ran through the predictable: packet of peanuts 
warning ``this product may contain nuts''; kid's Superman costume with 
warning ``cape does not enable wearer to fly''.

The winner was allegedly from the manual for a well-known brand of chainsaw:

CAUTION: Accidents with chainsaws are rarely trivial.

Jonathan