We should have. Stihl made the best chainsaw 20 years ago, because that's what my dad used and he was a certified chainsaw instructor among other things, but now? no idea. They're probably still pretty good.
Dad and Uncle Paul say that Stihl is the best, and I should only use orange chainsaws. But who knows if that's just habit. Or if the chainsaws are twenty years old, frankly. I've only been allowed on the little limb-cutting chainsaw so far; I just started sawing this spring. Before that I was just hauling the chopped rounds over to the trailer, and running the splitter. (We go out and chop up the dead trees for firewood, most years. Most of the family uses wood at least for supplemental heat; saves on heating bills, and it's basically free, so...)
Several houses, firewood we got ourselves was the only source of heat. There was a beechwood close to the house and my dad was allowed to cut in there (it belonged to his employer) so he'd take out ones he selected to be good culls (overcrowding, or dangerously damaged, mostly) and fell them. No power splitters, though! Just wedge and hammer and axe. Beech splits easily, though.
That's awesome. Basically the same situation for us; my family's been in the area for close to a hundred and fifty years, so we've got the old farm, and then the old woods for firewood. There's always at least a couple of trees that get hit by lightning, or which have their centers rotting out, so they'd need to be felled anyway. The power splitter definitely makes life easier. We're mostly chopping oak, and the big rounds get up to... eh, at least three hundred pounds, maybe four feet in diameter. I'm told that's a pain in the neck to split with an axe; the axe tends to get stuck when the log's really big. Dad's cousin Duffy is a maniac with an axe, though. When Dad's splitting with him, he just goes in a circle setting logs on end, while Duffy follows behind, splitting them. :D
My dad's got a 28" Husqvarna that kicks ass. It's well over 20 years old, probably more like 30. We've taken down some pretty big trees with it.
Sounds awesome. :D Chainsawing is... weirdly fun, I was expecting it to be more terrifying than it is. I mean, I have had SUCH LECTURES about how chainsaws and trees will murder you. But it's still kinda fun. I like hauling logs around, makes me feel buff and manly.
I have a bit of a fondness for physical labor too! It makes me feel strong and accomplished, like, you can see your accomplishment really clearly. I haven't done much in the way of it tbh cause like, lol surburban lyfe, but there's honestly a lot of satisfaction i get rn in being this small 20 year old girl who goes outside and mows the lawn in the 90 degree heat (especially since like, all our neighbors have ride mowers. and there's all these construction workers who look absolutely befuddled sometimes) so.. yeah. chainsawing and all that sounds fun. god i need to start working on my body strength, i want to be strong :c
@amberbydreams So much this. I find it really helpful to exercise by doing awesome, badass things; exercising for its own sake is really boring to me. XP So my hobbies involve hurtling downhill at 40mph with only a helmet to protect me, setting fires from horizon to horizon, and chainsaws. You're in the general southy part of the US, right? Can I suggest volunteering like http://www.fernbankmuseum.org/support/give-time/polaris/forest-restoration-volunteer/ , if you have the spoons? The keywords are "forest restoration" or "ecological restoration", and in practice, that involves a lot of chainsawing and manual labor to haul invasive species out of a park. There's usually some weeding as you would do in a garden, but there's also chainsaws, things like this http://aldoleopoldnaturecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/IMG_4871rs.jpg (which will be about twice as big and then set on fire), and digging up waist-high burdock ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...ockLeafInHand.gif/170px-BurdockLeafInHand.gif ). Most parks that are at all foresty or natural-ish will probably have volunteer weekends; you don't need to have a car or leave town to do it. Unless you actually mow down the whole place with a giant lawnmower - not ideal - then ecological restoration requires a lot of manual labor, and it tends to attract cool, nerdy people who will tell you all about birds and native plants.
See if Game & Fish or DNR needs volunteers too. Hauling trammeling nets for the fish breeding programs is a hell of an upper body work out. Slightly less badassery than chainsawing but it's like Deadliest Catch Lite.
Wow, thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely look to see if there's anything in Savannah area I can do like that, manual labor stuff definitely helps me destress during school too >w< This last year my friend and I started volunteering at a local horse barn, and that definitely helped my stress levels as well, plus I've gained a lot of confidence i'd lost in my horse riding skills from the place I grew up riding- we had a lot of catty gossip-y horse riders who loved tearing into me because I was the city girl coming out to lease a horse and ride instead of a country girl :P so I always felt like I was sorta a bad rider, then suddenly volunteering at a new barn and they start asking me to help re-train horses who got into bad habits and things, and I actually managed to help! Great feelings all around sry for tangent, but yeah! thanks a bunch for the suggestions : D
