Serial record breaker claims dangerous title by balancing running chainsaw on his chin

David Rush is back with another record-breaking stunt – and this one was dangerous.

The 41-year-old American, who goes by the nickname “Record Breaker”, has claimed the title of longest duration balancing a running chainsaw on the chin with an unbelievable time of 4 minutes 0.99 seconds.

But don’t worry, someone was standing by to unplug the chainsaw if anything went wrong. Although David was confident it wouldn’t since, as you might have guessed, this is far from his first rodeo.

David, who shares three kids with his wife Jennifer, currently has over 200 records to his name, and he’s broken many more over the years.

So why this record?

He explained: “I started balancing things on my chin when I was getting my electrical engineering degree at MIT and had founded the MIT Student Juggling Club. I wanted to expand my juggling routine repertoire, and balancing is a natural way to do that.

“A decade out of MIT, I started breaking Guinness World Records titles to promote STEM education, to show students that if you set your mind to a goal, believe in yourself, and pursue it with a passion, you can accomplish virtually anything.

“It started with juggling records, but then I branched out to balancing records, and after doing several for balancing pool cues, ladders, bicycles, and non-running chainsaws on my chin, I decided it was finally time to attempt the scariest balancing record I’ve ever done.”

To prepare, David trained to build up his strength and stamina. He uses a barbell with 30 or 40-lb weights on one end, balancing that on his chin to get used to holding so much weight.

He also took lots of safety precautions, wearing a helmet, gloves, goggles, and neck protection and of course, with someone on standby to pull the plug if necessary.

One problem that came up was oil running down the chainsaw on to David’s face. The goggles stopped it going in his eyes but didn’t stop it making his chin slippery and therefore way tougher to balance the chainsaw.

Read about more wild records like this in our Hobbies and Skills section.

Speaking of the danger involved, he told us: “If done without the proper safety precautions, this could have terrible consequences.

“I have spent literally decades balancing things on my chin, so I’m confident in that aspect, but the chainsaw is an inherently dangerous item, and with the engine running, it shakes a lot, so it’s not as easy to balance as a static object.

“It’s also more difficult to balance than say, a lawnmower because the acceleration of an object tipping is inversely proportional to the height of the centre of gravity, meaning the higher the centre of gravity, the slower it tips. So for a lawnmower, where the lawnmower is well above my chin, the centre of gravity is high and the handle is on my chin; it tips rather slow. Versus a chainsaw, which has the lightweight blade up high and the heavy engine right next to the chin, so it tips a lot faster, making it much more difficult to balance.”

Fortunately, David wasn’t injured while working towards breaking this record, although he did suffer pain in his lower back due to the position he has to stand in while balancing the chainsaw.

The stage for David’s record attempt was his son’s soccer practice party, which did cause quite a few raised eyebrows from the other parents.

He admitted: “When I announced to the parents what I was going to do, half of them were like, ‘Is he actually going to do that?’ and the other half was like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s totally going to do that.’ It just depended on if they knew I was a serial Guinness World Records title breaker or not.”

For anyone hoping to improve their own balancing skills, David offered some tips.

He said: “If you’re interested in learning how to balance objects on your chin or your finger, a long feather is a great way to start, and then try objects with a weight on one end that are kind of long, such as a broom, because that higher centre of gravity means it will tip slower. And if you’re not good at it at first, practise, because you can literally get better at anything.”

Top tips from a seasoned record breaker!

Oh and it probably goes without saying, but please don’t begin your balancing practice with a running chainsaw.