These things are the fucking bomb, as are the bigger ones.
15 years ago I was working in A&E in Leicester when a guy was brought in with injuries from an accident with a chainsaw.
There was more blood and bits outside of him than I’ve ever seen. He didn’t make it, and the medical team concluded that that may have been the best outcome 
He was pruning a tree in his back garden apparently.
If you can do it with a pruning saw then do it. If you can’t then hire somebody.
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The closest I came to injury (well I was injured but not seriously) was when our team dismantled a huge tree. I was just finishing the stump and had to use the bigger saw, 48 inch bar with 128cc engine , a big boys saw 
I was in a kneeling position and the chain snapped at full throttle ( hit a load of nails about quarter way in) it blew the chain catcher on the saw to smithereens and wrapped the 8 foot chain tight around my lower leg luckily the ballistic trousers stopped it cutting me but it hit me so hard it left bruisin for about 2 weeks. If I would of had normal trousers on the hospital would of been unwrapping the chain out my skin and bone.
Some twat must have put a load of nails in the tree years ago and the tree had grown naturally around them, you would of never known that they were in there.
This is why training, body positioning, angles, safety awareness is all important, I’d have been dead if that was at neck height where there is no protection for me, but training gives you all this, most people that hire them have no awareness, training , protection etc.
The worst thing about using chainsaws are what they call kick back for professionals, well everyone, you just don’t know when it’s going to happen, hence the inertia break on every saw.
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Stihl 088?
The only option I would contemplate 
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A bough of a tree in the garden has broken off. I’d always thought I’d never use a chainsaw, my view was softening. This thread has put me back of track. I’ll get a saw and get busy.
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But does that only work when cutting down? If you hit a knot cutting up on cheaper saws it still kicks back.
Does the professional kit you use have additional protection?
If kickback is upwards the brake will be operated by your wrist.
Just after it hits your leg, split second kick.
Get one of these. I got a park side one and it’s been great. The chain is far enough away from you that it would take a real effort in stupidity to get in in any position you could injure yourself.
It will cut up to around 3-4 inches in diameter without too much of a fuss.
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Yeh, I think it was a 088 , it was the biggest one Stihl had at the time in the late 1990’s… It was massive and bloody heavy.
That why proper training is essential, if it hits your leg you had your leg in the wrong place.
Always know where the bar is and where it may kick, never have you body there.
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Removed a storm felled oak from an ornamental lake in a large garden in Bath, used an 088 with a 48” bar, like a fucking jet ski when that dipped in the water.
I think it was 48”, that would’ve been around ‘93 ish
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Chainsaws are fucking scary. If my reciprocating saw isn’t up to the job, I pay someone else to remove limbs, so to speak.
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All pro chainsaws have an inertia brake as well as a manual top handle brake. It operates in a similar way as a car seat belt, so any rapid movement of the chainsaw in any direction will / should engage the chain brake.
The rest is about positioning, handling , knowledge of were the dangers are and putting yourself in the safest place to avoid being injured.
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I remember the first time I put a saw in the water, I got absolutely soaked I just didn’t expect a waterfall to come out the back of it. All my colleagues pissed themselves as they knew what was going to happen. Bastards !
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