World's Coolest Tree Surgeon Shrugs Off Near-Death Experience

Incredible video out of Canton, Ohio may have captured the world's coolest arborist shrugging off what would have been a certain-death experience... had he not been wearing his helmet.

The footage shows 26-year-old Vental Waggoner felling a tree in a snowy forest on Monday, and after making the final cut, carefully backing away in the opposite direction, job done. But the tree is not done with him.

Right before he leaves the screen, the young Zaccheus Tree Company surgeon can be seen getting clobbered in the head and knocked completely out of view, dropping his chainsaw and sending him sprawling to the ground.

Stunned, he walks back into view clutching the helmet that was knocked clean off his head... which now has a one-ft long chunk of wood embedded in the crown:

"Well... that's just about as bad as it gets," he very calmly muses.

"I was felling tree for a customer and this one dropped a limb on me as it fell," he said in the vid description. "Honestly it's a rather incredible accident and I'm so glad I was not seriously injured."

In the full video, he reveals he was almost not going to wear his helmet and just wear headphones. "But my goodness, I'm so glad I didn't... that could've been the end of me. Guess that'll make for a cool thumbnail!"

He also shows off the huge 8ft branch that clocked him.

The comments were filled with people praising his good luck — and of course, all the tree-felling YouTube experts telling him what he did wrong.

According to the commenter pros, you are never supposed to back away directly from a falling tree, as it is still in the danger zone: a 45 degree exit is safest.

Also, many others pointed out fellers are supposedly supposed to look up and check after each cut.

Displaying the same coolness he did in the face of death, the surgeon gracefully accepted the constructive criticism and thanked each for the feedback, pointing out that his 45 degree exit was blocked by landscaping stones.

Also, looking up might not have served him best at that particular moment in time.

Vental told TooFab that the reason he set up the YouTube channel was for that very reason: so those more experienced can point out any mistakes he might be making, and he can learn from.

He said that in the state of Ohio, worker insurance is the most expensive of any industry, costing 20 percent of wages, because of the inherent risks... which as this video shows, goes beyond the obvious falling out of trees and chopping bits of yourself off with chainsaws.

On Instagram, Vental credited two for saving his life: the Lord God Almighty, and his rather expensive but apparently worth it Pfanner Protos helmet.

"Right now I'm feeling like it's the best $300 I ever spent," he added.

He has since donated his hero helmet to Endor's Arborist & Rope Supply in Ohio, where it is proudly on display as a reminder to always wear one.