I used to teach CCC chainsaw classes back in the 80’s through a local community college. I’d cover basic operating safety stuff, kickback hazards, and spend the better part of a week out bucking and brushing. After a 30 hour training I could say that basically none of the corpsmembers were ready to do any falling. Even without all the hazards associated with sizing up a tree, etc. most of them couldn’t execute the cuts required, lining up the cuts for the face and and getting a backcut started right. I used to drop a few trees and leave stumps four or five feet high for practicing on…even that got sketchy. Nothing against the corpsmembers: they just didn’t have the hours running saws to really be able to not tunnel vision on the saw and watch the tree instead.
There was then and there still appears to be a sort of talisman mystique about using chainsaws. I wonder if the quieter electric saws will have the same aura?