Good luck to you! I let hubby handle the chainsaw, and I make sure he wears metal tipped boots. Our next door neighbor was only wearing sneakers once. He accidentally sliced where he shouldn’t have, and had to have surgery to correct that mistake. He’s all healed, as this is many years later, but yeah, sometimes you gotta learn from someone else’s mistakes. Just be careful.
I ‘swamped’* for the trail maintainer sawyers for almost 20 years. After watching them (all have to be certified by the US Forest Service), I am familiar with analyzing situations, where & how to cut, etc. I have my own Kevlar chainsaw chaps & I know the other safety gear I need to wear. Believe me, I will start slow & ‘small’ ... eventually I will work up to taking down the big dead chestnut tree near the shop, but I will definitely have help when I finally tackle it.
*A swamper clears cut brush and trees behind a sawyer