Rod wrote after...
Janet replied to Hayley:

How easy are these to use? Someone has lent us one but we are afraid to
touch it.

Very sensible. Chainsaw maintenance requires sensible precautions by
their owners (having the right chain fitted correctly and kept sharp).
For our OWN safety, let alone anyone else's, we would never lend ours to
an unsupervised novice. An owner who would lend it to you with no
instruction, strongly suggests to me that his attitude to chainsaw
safety and maintenance is very casual, so it may not be safe to use.

My employer has just told us all we now have to do a 'refresher' course
every 2 years, even though we are all experienced and frequent users of
many years standing and who have held NPTC certificates since they became
obligatory for people who use chainsaws at work.
This is following a case where a county council was fined £200,000 when
one of their countryside wardens was killed when he dropped a not
particularly big tree on himself.
You really do need to know what you're doing - many of us elder brethren
taught ourselves to use chainsaws, but only after years of doing what
Janet suggests - that is learning pruning and felling slowly by hand
first.

Certainly don't use one without the proper protective trousers ( they jam
the blade if cut), gloves, face mask and steel toecap boots. If your friend
didn't lend those to you too then I would certainly worry. I would never use
a chainsaw without being properly dressed for the part. Oh, and never whilst
up a ladder.
Best use a handsaw which can cause enough damage in the wrong hands. :-)
If it's clean and sharp it will cut surprising easily.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London