thombat4
ArboristSite Guru
This past weekend I return to the site of the mammoth oak logs to see what's left and to hopefully get some more cutting time under my belt. Well, it looks like nobody's been here as those trunks were just as I'd left them previously. It's a bit overcast and rain is definitely eminent. Once again I'm there all by myself. I'm all geared up and start in on some cutting and splitting and hauling chunks to my truck parked about 20 or so yards away. Keep in mind I'm not trying to take everything. I mainly want to work on some saw cutting skills, and if I can bring home a decent load of excellent quality wood fuel too that would be a bonus.
So I'm into about an hour or so of work and it's drizzling off and on...nothing too bad weather-wise. I've got a good truckload going and as I'm carrying some chunks to the bed a car pulls up behind my truck and I can see it's a woman behind the wheel. Not thinking anything of it I continue working at my usual unhurried pace. After a few more trips to the bed of my truck she gets out of her car and starts right in explaining to me in a very thick Russian accent how her husband has spoken to the owner of the property and that he's given them sole rights to the rest of the wood. I try to tell her that the ad on craigslist is still up, and as long as it is that the wood is on a first come first serve basis. Again she tells me that her husband has made an agreement with the owner and now all the wood is theirs and that he's on his way to claim it all. Again I explain what I said to her earlier and she gives me one of those "okays". You know the kind that means ok you just wait til he gets here.
I wasn't trying to claim all the wood but I wasn't about to be chased off either. So I set about trying to finish a tricky cut that I started and she got back in her car and waited for hubby to arrive. 20 minutes later he arrives in a E150 van pulling a really nice flatbed tandem axle trailer.
I keep working on the task at hand and two fellas get out and start unloading their saw and other accessories near the trunks. They both give a friendly enough looking nod in my direction and the older guy with the saw asked me in very broken English if I was going to be taking all the wood. I smiled and told him no and that I was only taking a little at a time. All the while I could see the woman talking to the younger guy who I assumed was her husband. I kept on working and every now and then I'd see mama giving me this worried look as she's talking with hubby. I think she was expecting a shouting match or some such encounter but it never happened.
I was about done with what I'd come out to do and besides that it was starting to rain pretty steady now anyways. The one tricky cut I was working on I just left unfinished...didn't want to risk running my bar into the dirt. So I pack all my tools up all I have left to do is bust up the big chunks that I cut. The Fiskars SS made short work of those big rounds and I could see the impressed look on those guys faces as that wood simply popped apart. Well, I loaded the last bit of wood into the truck, each time having to walk right by mama who stood a bit off the path so she could keep a watchful eye on the proceedings. She was no exotic beauty by any stretch but man did she sport some very nice athletic looking legs
. Again I apologize for the lack of photos.
I figured I'd hang around and watch these guys work for awhile so I put all my gear away except for the Fiskars and sat on the porch steps out of the rain. By this time mama had had enough of standing in the rain and once she was satisfied that there would be no altercation she left the menfolk to carry on and drove off. I couldn't tell what the exact model saw the old guy had but it was a big very new looking Husky with at least a 30in bar...nice looking saw. Made my 55rancher look pretty small that's for sure. The old fella tore right into that big stuff and made very short work of most of it. These guys just weren't dressed right for the job though...just tee shirts shorts and sneakers and here I am all geared up in chaps, helmet with face shield, ear protection and steel toed boots. Oh well.
Every now and then he'd have to stop and he and the younger guy would have to try to whack the rounds off the main trunk with the hammer end of the new looking ax they brought with them. Then they'd try to split the rounds with the ax and it just wasn't happening. It was sort of amusing watching the old fella try to make oak wedges to help split some of that stuff but they weren't hard enough for one, and he wasn't making them in the right direction of the grain if you know what I mean. They just kept shattering on impact. Finally after a few frustrating attempts he eyeballed my Fiskars that I'd left leaning on the porch steps and with a big grin half asked half gestured if he could borrow it. Of course I said yes and he thanked me but when I said you're welcome to him in his native Russian that really broke what little ice may have been present!! Keep in mind guys that I'm a 49yr old 215lb black guy...so when I spoke Russian back to this guy he was floored lol!! They both asked me how I came to know Russian and I told them I work with a few folks on the job that taught me a few words here and there.
Anyway, the Fiskars blasted through that oak with no problem and they were very grateful and wound up giving me that tricky piece that I gave up on earlier and even offered me some of the stuff they cut, so it ended up being another good day for all. Sorry for the looonngg post but some of you guys might enjoy reading!!
Good day to all...
Bryan
So I'm into about an hour or so of work and it's drizzling off and on...nothing too bad weather-wise. I've got a good truckload going and as I'm carrying some chunks to the bed a car pulls up behind my truck and I can see it's a woman behind the wheel. Not thinking anything of it I continue working at my usual unhurried pace. After a few more trips to the bed of my truck she gets out of her car and starts right in explaining to me in a very thick Russian accent how her husband has spoken to the owner of the property and that he's given them sole rights to the rest of the wood. I try to tell her that the ad on craigslist is still up, and as long as it is that the wood is on a first come first serve basis. Again she tells me that her husband has made an agreement with the owner and now all the wood is theirs and that he's on his way to claim it all. Again I explain what I said to her earlier and she gives me one of those "okays". You know the kind that means ok you just wait til he gets here.
I wasn't trying to claim all the wood but I wasn't about to be chased off either. So I set about trying to finish a tricky cut that I started and she got back in her car and waited for hubby to arrive. 20 minutes later he arrives in a E150 van pulling a really nice flatbed tandem axle trailer.
I keep working on the task at hand and two fellas get out and start unloading their saw and other accessories near the trunks. They both give a friendly enough looking nod in my direction and the older guy with the saw asked me in very broken English if I was going to be taking all the wood. I smiled and told him no and that I was only taking a little at a time. All the while I could see the woman talking to the younger guy who I assumed was her husband. I kept on working and every now and then I'd see mama giving me this worried look as she's talking with hubby. I think she was expecting a shouting match or some such encounter but it never happened.
I was about done with what I'd come out to do and besides that it was starting to rain pretty steady now anyways. The one tricky cut I was working on I just left unfinished...didn't want to risk running my bar into the dirt. So I pack all my tools up all I have left to do is bust up the big chunks that I cut. The Fiskars SS made short work of those big rounds and I could see the impressed look on those guys faces as that wood simply popped apart. Well, I loaded the last bit of wood into the truck, each time having to walk right by mama who stood a bit off the path so she could keep a watchful eye on the proceedings. She was no exotic beauty by any stretch but man did she sport some very nice athletic looking legs
. Again I apologize for the lack of photos. I figured I'd hang around and watch these guys work for awhile so I put all my gear away except for the Fiskars and sat on the porch steps out of the rain. By this time mama had had enough of standing in the rain and once she was satisfied that there would be no altercation she left the menfolk to carry on and drove off. I couldn't tell what the exact model saw the old guy had but it was a big very new looking Husky with at least a 30in bar...nice looking saw. Made my 55rancher look pretty small that's for sure. The old fella tore right into that big stuff and made very short work of most of it. These guys just weren't dressed right for the job though...just tee shirts shorts and sneakers and here I am all geared up in chaps, helmet with face shield, ear protection and steel toed boots. Oh well.
Every now and then he'd have to stop and he and the younger guy would have to try to whack the rounds off the main trunk with the hammer end of the new looking ax they brought with them. Then they'd try to split the rounds with the ax and it just wasn't happening. It was sort of amusing watching the old fella try to make oak wedges to help split some of that stuff but they weren't hard enough for one, and he wasn't making them in the right direction of the grain if you know what I mean. They just kept shattering on impact. Finally after a few frustrating attempts he eyeballed my Fiskars that I'd left leaning on the porch steps and with a big grin half asked half gestured if he could borrow it. Of course I said yes and he thanked me but when I said you're welcome to him in his native Russian that really broke what little ice may have been present!! Keep in mind guys that I'm a 49yr old 215lb black guy...so when I spoke Russian back to this guy he was floored lol!! They both asked me how I came to know Russian and I told them I work with a few folks on the job that taught me a few words here and there.
Anyway, the Fiskars blasted through that oak with no problem and they were very grateful and wound up giving me that tricky piece that I gave up on earlier and even offered me some of the stuff they cut, so it ended up being another good day for all. Sorry for the looonngg post but some of you guys might enjoy reading!!
Good day to all...
Bryan
