I've just bought myself an electrical chainsaw. Specifications of the chain velocity of my saw read 55 km/hr.
I've read online that many wood-cutters have encountered chain breaks and want to protect myself against unfortunate accidents.
So, my idea is to always cut with the underside of the blade. This way if a break occurs at the point of contact with the wood and since the direction of motion of the chain is towards me from the underside, the chain will move away from me when it snaps. I am basing this on the fact that the saw has a small sprocket underneath giving motion to the chain. When it breaks the sprocket cannot pull it towards me anymore and given the momentum of the other outward sprocket on the head of the blade, the chain will be pulled outwards, up and away from me. All this supposing that I am always cutting with the underside of the blade.
I do not know if I am correct though! Do you know of any experiments that have been conducted to demonstrate this? Since this is a matter of life and death, I would expect much information about this, but I can't find any!