Cutting some head-height pine branches for firewood with his 31-year-old chainsaw, Mr Weare (59) lost his footing and fell backwards.
"I thought `****, I don't have a bloody clue where she went'!"
Lying on his back, Mr Weare could hear the chainsaw, which has no safety guard or automatic stop, still running at full power.
Not realising it was on his stomach, he raised his chin to look around and the cutters on the tip of the 18-inch bar cut his bearded chin.
"It could have slashed my bloody head off," he said.
He instinctively pushed the blade away, using his right hand, which was sliced to the bone.
Dripping blood, and with his woollen jersey slashed, Mr Weare bandaged his hand with rags from his ute, then retrieved his still-roaring chainsaw.
"I couldn't leave her behind - she has been a good friend."
Returning to his house, he phoned his wife, a nurse, and told her "I might need a ride to the [emergency department]".
In surgery for two hours to repair a severed tendon, Mr Weare spent the night in hospital, pondering possibilities.
"I didn't realise the gravity of it until I saw people's reaction about my injuries. I guess I could have been killed."
People should not become complacent about chainsaws, he said.
Mr Weare, a security guard, was likely to be off work for up to six weeks.
