Two Saturdays back, I had the opportunity to run a chain saw for something other than clearing land or cutting firewood. OK, we did make a little firewood as the Salisbury Rowan Runners worked to reclaim the tennis court in Molly Connor’s yard. Molly is battling breast cancer and Emily Ford came out do a story on Molly and the work. While there, Emily wanted a picture of my legs. No, not for any reason that might quickly come to mind! But it’s where this account gets going.
We’ve had three workdays at Molly’s house, and my chain saw has been a big part of each one. We have taken down some decent-size trees and lots of small ones. Briars and vines were removed too. Lots of good opportunities for running the saw, or actually two of them. Never more than one saw at a time, though.
Emily’s picture of my legs was pretty bad. The briars had done a number on them and lots of little bloody places showed through the chain saw dust stuck to the front of the legs. The weather has been great on the workdays at Molly’s house and I always wear shorts. That picture was posted in the online story.
Good friends Mark Martin and Rob Holmes, as well as SRR Safety Officer Elaine Brown, commented that I was not wearing the appropriate safety gear. Emily even pitched in on that, mentioning that I should be wearing safety glasses. I can hardly keep up with 10 pairs of reading glasses. Mark and Rob mentioned hearing protection and chaps as important, and Elaine threatened a citation. All of them are right, of course.
Long ago, I decided that I love to run a chain saw. For about 10 years, I sold firewood off the farm for a little extra money around Christmas time. The business was called Holiday Firewood, and it did very well. The business grew a little each year until I actually had a partner and a truck big enough to carry five to six cords of wood at a time. A cord of firewood is measured as a stack 4 feet wide, 8 feet high, and 8 feet tall. My partner was Terry Corriher, former star athlete at South Rowan and currently the owner of an accounting firm in Mooresville.
We grabbed every bit of available daylight and opportunity to cut wood. We split everything by hand, because using a wood splitter wasn’t fast enough. Plus, we were pretty macho in our splitting. If one of us couldn’t split a piece of wood, and the other one could, there was a lot of status in being the best splitter for the day. Speed was more important than safety and occasionally we got bit by the saw or some other part of the process.
Probably the most fun was making the wood deliveries and meeting people. Everyone who ordered wood during the holiday season seemed in a good mood. We learned how to take orders, manage money and follow directions. Plus, heavy work like this was a fantastic and productive way to lift weights. We planned ahead and cut lots of wood in the summer. I was just starting to get into running at this time, and Terry and I both played softball. The more we worked, the better we played.
Terry went on to college and his accounting business, but I occasionally again dabbled in the firewood business. It was lots of fun to deliver to those people who really wanted wood for a Christmas fireplace. My chain saw adventures continued.
The most memorable was on a Saturday afternoon here on the farm. It was summer and I needed to clear the ditch of some small trees on the other side of Weaver Road. Wearing shorts and running shoes with no socks, I was moving right along when I sliced into the part of the ankle just above my left foot. The skin was cut away, and I could see white but didn’t think it was bone. Blood started to pour and filled my shoe. My wife and kids were out somewhere and my neighbor was gone too. Much internal debate went on about the need to go the emergency room. I kept washing it out and put peroxide on it. Other than the gash the width of a saw blade, it didn’t look so bad. Driving would have been possible, but a more important thought came to me: “I have a 20-mile run scheduled tomorrow, and if there are stitches, I would probably rip them out. Let’s see how it goes.” More washing and more peroxide later, I completed the 20-mile run the next morning.
Maybe these experiences will help the chain saw operators out there to improve their safety as firewood season approaches. I can see lots of room for improvement on my part.