Special Chainsaw Technique For Small Leaners

Small trees with excessive lean pose a special problem if they must be felled. The loading they have from the lean will make them explosive if you drop them with a conventional cut, and there may not be enough wood to set up an open face and hinge with a bore cut. We all like to go home in one piece at the end of the day, so here is a way to safely fold down a heavily loaded tree: treat it just like you would a springpole, by shaving out the compressed side until you hear the fibers pulling on the tensioned side. Back away, and let it come down.

 UPDATE!  Click here to see a quicker, easier method!

That Was A Close One

While I was working on equipment one day I heard Scooter sneeze. Pretty soon he sneezed again...and again. I checked on him and he was a sick kitty. We had him to the Vet in short order and found that he had a fever, and a rattly lung. The Doc gave him a shot of antibiotics, put half a liter of water under his skin to fight deydration, and counted out eight day's worth of pills. If we had ignored the sneezing, our little rose colored kitty would have been a goner. Veterinarians are amazing people. They have the ability to size up a situation with an animal they don't know, reach a diagnosis and treatment within minutes, and save a life. And they do this for several different species. It makes me wonder if I should be going to a Vet instead of our family physician.

Chainsaw Instructor Joe Glenn Builds A Stump Vise

I always look forward to learning new techniques or tricks when I go to a training session, and the chainsaw class at the Dixon Springs Ag Center last week provided a Dusey. After the students had all performed a bore cut on a squared-up stump, Joe Glenn showed them how to build a vise for sharpening and adjusting a chainsaw in the woods. This is going to come in handy! It's one of those things that makes you slap your head and ask, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Doin' What Comes Naturally

Sapsuckers are busy little birds, and homeowners are often alarmed to notice the evidence that the little woodpeckers like their trees. This mockernut hickory in our woods is obviously a favorite, and even though the tree is of no value, we will keep it, because if a bird is pecking on this one, it is not harming one of our good ones.

Yellow-poplar will draw about ten times the number of wounds you see here. Sapsuckers drill lines of holes which attract insects who feed on sap, then the birds eat the insects. I wonder what draws the birds. Do they drill holes in one tree and not the other because it tastes good to them; or can they recognize which trees will be the best ones to attract insects? Any ornithologists out there are welcome to comment.

Not My Victrola; One More Dance Before Monday

It's embarrasing how often I say, "That song is one of my favorites." 'Sleepy Time Gal' is one that I had on a piano roll, more than thirty five years ago, and I pedaled my way through this song MANY times. I still like it. Thanks to pax41 for uploading this to YouTube.

Here It Comes Again!

Yep...Monday! Back To The Old Grind!

GOOD TIMES!

Instructor Joe Glenn (#63) and assistant Dan Schmoker (white beard) pose with their class of eleven chainsaw students at the Dixon Springs Ag Center last week during a break. Many of the participants had never run a saw before, but were anxious to learn. On the second day each student had to discuss and make a plan for a tree to cut, perform the cut, and then be critiqued by the instructor and the class. These eager beavers managed to discuss and cut sixteen trees in one day, even though we had about three hours of classroom instruction, too. We will be doing a second session with this group in May to complete their training. Stihl graciously donated three hardhats, three sets of chainsaw chaps, and a set of cut resistant mitts for this occasion. Thank You, Stihl! More pictures and some video of the good times will be posted here in the days ahead, so check back.

Weekend Steam

'The American Thresherman And Farm Power', April, 1922 clearly shows the trend away from steam traction engines on American farms; most of the ads for farm power are gas and kerosene powered tractors. Farquhar, Advance- Rumely, Port Huron, and Baker steamers are badly outnumbered by the gas tractor ads for; Aultman-Taylor, Advance-Rumely, Minneapolis, Flour City, Allwork, Case (times two), Nichols & Shepard, Frick, and International Harvester.

Now, let's look at a video by The Original WheelsTV on YouTube, of a Baker engine at a steam show.

The April e-Postal Match Is In Play!

Click over to The Conservative UAW Guy to study the rules and print your targets. This month you will put sixteen shots on two targets, and have a little fun with math beyond our comprehension. It looks like lots of fun; take friends and family with you to the range and share the joy.

Crankin' It Up

The record this Friday is an old favorite song of Engineering Johnson. He learned this song from a CD by R. Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders. This recording is by the Cook Sisters, who cut two sides on September 28,1927 at the Brunswick studio in New York, and were never heard from again. I picked this disc up in an antique mall, and unfortunately it has tape on the paper label. Don't do this to your records; it can't be peeled off without hurting the label. Put on your dancing shoes, because this is a nice Fox-Trot.

March e-Postal Results Are Up!

Click over to Mr. Completely's blog to see the scores.

It Must Be Driving The Collectors Nuts

I've been driving by this McCormick-Deering 15-30 occasionally for over twenty years, and the multiflora rose is hiding it pretty well during the growing season now. That is a stationary baler sitting behind it. You have to wonder how many times a collector has gone to the door and tried to buy these old machines. You never get lonely if you have old iron parked by the road.