The Chainsaw That Will Change Your Life
March 29, 2011, By Greg Hoard 15 comments
It was a long winter. Snow everywhere--and ice. So cold it made your bones ache. One thing kept me from going completely daft: the view from my office windows, where I could see the trees in the backyard, their bare limbs hanging toward the ground like a weary witch’s fingers.
Some of the trees need to be pruned. Some need to be cut down. Now that buds have begun to bloom and spring to arrive, I'm eager to get started, savoring the roar of the saw and the smell of sawdust: maple, cedar, locust, oak. I have just the tool to take on the task.
I came across this saw not long ago when my neighbors had a giant oak trimmed in their front yard. Ronnie, the top climber on the crew, roped-up and made his way through the limbs with the agility of Tarzan, a small chain saw attached to his belt. Sixty feet off the ground, he started the saw with two easy pulls and went to work.
The saw was as incredible in performance as Ronnie was in moving among the limbs. Twenty minutes later, the job was done and Ronnie was back on the ground wiping down his saw.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Ronnie was maybe 40, blond, thin and tightly muscled. He had a tattoo on one shoulder and scars on his arms and hands.
“This?” he said, looking at the saw. “Why, this is the best money I ever spent. It’s a Stihl, weighs all of 10 pounds and cuts like a son-of-a-buck. Give it a whirl on one of those downed limbs.”
I quickly became acquainted with the finest and feistiest saw I ever had in my hands. Ronnie, I learned, had done time for some kind of altercation outside a West Virginia roadhouse, but he definitely knew a good saw.
Comments (15):