A year or so back I had a bit cedar tree cut down and saved half a dozen pieces of the trunk, thinking Barb’s nephew might carve them into something interesting. He didn’t. Today I moved them to the edge of our drive to serve as a barrier when backing out of the garage.
I’ve never failed to stop before reaching the edge but it’s a 15 or 20 foot drop and the thought of rolling The Truck down that 45 degree slope into the propane tank… well, I don’t want to think about it.
I fired up the chainsaw yesterday and cut up a couple of dead trees that have been on the ground for a couple of years.
I’d normally just leave these but I plan to drive the Land Rover down into the woods from time to time and these would be in the way.
I only have one power tool: the chainsaw. And I love cutting up downed trees. We’ve got more firewood than we’ll ever be able to burn and I can’t give it away. But getting it up to the house is hard work. So the plan is to spit logs as needed, toss ‘em into the back of the Land Rover and haul them up to the house.
A few years ago I spent several months cutting and hauling brush. The hardest work I’ve ever done. I recently had a few big cedar trees dropped and limbed and decided to bring in some pros. This is how you adios brush piles. The guy driving the front-loader (?) could make it walk and talk. I think our job was their first of ten scheduled for the day. And it’s hot.
I spent a few hours with the chainsaw today. A perfect day to be in the woods. As I slowly brought order to chaos I wondered how people got along without chainsaws. And is it one of those rare tools that can’t really be improved on, like the fly swatter. I headed over to Wikipedia for some history:
“The first portable chainsaw was invented in 1925 by what became the German company Festo in 1933. The company now operates as Festool producing portable power tools. Other important contributors to the modern chainsaw are Joseph Buford Cox and Andreas Stihl; the latter patented and developed an electrical chainsaw for use on bucking sites in 1926 and a gasoline-powered chainsaw in 1929, and founded a company to mass-produce them. In 1927, Emil Lerp, the founder of Dolmar, developed the world’s first gasoline-powered chainsaw and mass-produced them.”
While they’ve made lots of improvements to the tool, the basic design seems unchanged for what, 85 years? I daydreamed (not while sawing) of ways to improve this wonderful tool. Quieter? The noise keeps me on my toes, always aware of the potential danger in my hands. Lighter? Maybe, but the weight of the saw seems to make cutting easier. I guess if someone could come up with a tiny (safe) fusion reactor to eliminate running out of gas. But I look forward to the rest breaks those provide.
If the chainsaw never gets better than it is, it will be good enough for me.
“When stripped of formality and returned to its natural shape, Zen is earthy and ordinary. Nothing special.”
“It is so uncontrived and subtle that it goes nearly unnoticed. And no one can deliberately do it.”
“Taoism and Zen cannot properly be understood, but they can be experienced.”
In the low 30’s today here in mid-Missouri but I spent a couple of hours with the chainsaw making little one from big ones. These will have to be stacked unless the lumberjack elves do it while I sleep. By the time this project is complete, I think I might have enough logs to fill 50 pickup trucks. Maybe more.
Short of hiring someone else to do it, there doesn’t seem to be any easy way to tackle a job like this. The trunks have to be cut into logs; the logs have to be moved and stacked; the limbs have to be dragged and piled. Lots of lifting and walking, up and down the hill.
Josh Stevens clearing trees on our three acres. (5 min)
Last December’s ice storm destroyed a lot of tree. Parts of our property have looked like an artillery range for the last six months. Today a crew of hard-working lads are cutting down the fatally wounded. The price tag seemed a little high at first glance, but after seeing the guys 30 feet up with a chain saw roaring in one hand, it seems about right. I’m proud to say that I gave NO thought to attempting this project on my own.