I decided to clean out a closet instead of going woodcutting in the rain. I found a few pages of a journal. Here's my first days on the thinning crew. I won't name names. I think I was 23 at the time? The FS saw training was here's a saw, here's how you start it, don't get hurt, cut at least an acre a day or you'll get laid off. Luckily, back in the Discount School of Forestry, I had paid attention to the chainsaw lecture. Here goes...
We, (crew names) are working up on the South Summit. The first week was hellish. I was sure I had pulled a muscle in my back. I had to walk all hunched over. It took a while also to make the trees fall where I wanted. _____amuses himself by setting pitchtops on fire on down trees. He also lights the moss on standing trees which causes it to catch on fire and climb the tree bole and go out as soon as the moss runs out. Today I went through two chainsaws. Both worked a little, then quit. At least I can do more than_____ who is in charge of the project.
March 25: Today was some day. Could a day go worse? Left pack with lunch and book at ranger station. Spent the morning changing chains from one saw to another and then back again. In the afternoon the saw got plugged up with a stick and I had to take off the guard to remove the stick. This saw had a habit of dying and not starting till it had cooled off. The day was cloudy and yucky.
March 29: One of ____'s fires burned about a quarter acre of slash, leaving the live trees OK. It was a pitch top he started (on fire) and then I dropped quite a few trees on it because there was nowhere else to put them.
April 7: What can I do to get even? The guys were giving me an exceptionally hard time today. _____ apologized later but ____ keeps pushing. I almost blew up. Dropped a tree-it hung up in another. I worked around it--forgot about it, and wham! right on the head. What would we do without hardhats?
That's the end of the sawing part. Some explanation is needed. I was the first "girl" able to last on that crew. I was the last person brought on, so had least seniority, and had to run the saws that nobody else wanted to run. I was dumb. I went through several saws till I found an old boat anchor that was reliable if I left the chain loose. The chain would come off a couple times each day but the saw would run and cut. The senior crew members had the newer Macs with more plastic. They also took the chainbrakes off and the guards...we were running bowbars. We got in trouble for packing our gas and oil in anti-freeze jugs and after that had to pack it in heavy metal cans. It was an adventure and I really liked dumping trees on the ground after I figured out how it was done--I think.
But within a couple of years, that work was contracted out, so no more.
We, (crew names) are working up on the South Summit. The first week was hellish. I was sure I had pulled a muscle in my back. I had to walk all hunched over. It took a while also to make the trees fall where I wanted. _____amuses himself by setting pitchtops on fire on down trees. He also lights the moss on standing trees which causes it to catch on fire and climb the tree bole and go out as soon as the moss runs out. Today I went through two chainsaws. Both worked a little, then quit. At least I can do more than_____ who is in charge of the project.
March 25: Today was some day. Could a day go worse? Left pack with lunch and book at ranger station. Spent the morning changing chains from one saw to another and then back again. In the afternoon the saw got plugged up with a stick and I had to take off the guard to remove the stick. This saw had a habit of dying and not starting till it had cooled off. The day was cloudy and yucky.
March 29: One of ____'s fires burned about a quarter acre of slash, leaving the live trees OK. It was a pitch top he started (on fire) and then I dropped quite a few trees on it because there was nowhere else to put them.
April 7: What can I do to get even? The guys were giving me an exceptionally hard time today. _____ apologized later but ____ keeps pushing. I almost blew up. Dropped a tree-it hung up in another. I worked around it--forgot about it, and wham! right on the head. What would we do without hardhats?
That's the end of the sawing part. Some explanation is needed. I was the first "girl" able to last on that crew. I was the last person brought on, so had least seniority, and had to run the saws that nobody else wanted to run. I was dumb. I went through several saws till I found an old boat anchor that was reliable if I left the chain loose. The chain would come off a couple times each day but the saw would run and cut. The senior crew members had the newer Macs with more plastic. They also took the chainbrakes off and the guards...we were running bowbars. We got in trouble for packing our gas and oil in anti-freeze jugs and after that had to pack it in heavy metal cans. It was an adventure and I really liked dumping trees on the ground after I figured out how it was done--I think.
But within a couple of years, that work was contracted out, so no more.
