How did you get your start?

[jrider]

Coming up on Christmas and feeling a little nostalgic. Thinking about my dad who left this earth 6.5 years ago. I remember being just a pipsqueak thinking at 5 years old i was helping the old man moving brush for him and now realizing I was most likely just slowing him down. Fast forward me at 19 or so and my brother deciding he would sell some wood on the side- maybe 8-10 cords that first year. He being my big brother I naturally wanted to help him. Next thing you know, big brother and I, along with dads help and guidance, we were cutting on many winter weekends- all 3 of us. Seemed grand at that age, what else is better than 2 boys and dad in the woods on a weekend?

Time has moved on as it always does and now it's me and some helpers where I can find them. Dad is no longer here- in the flesh- but always in my mind. Big brother works full time on a blueberry and cranberry farm and skis all winter long up north and I've sold 112 cords so far this year. Started out helping them with a strong back and a little 45cc saw. Now when the time comes, I run an 80 cc saw and cut down the hairy trees, even though I'm still just a firewood hack.
My start seems so distant from where I am now. Don't really have much of a point with this post, just interested in hearing where you all got your start.

 

[svk]

My dad had hernia surgery the spring when I was 11 years old and was unable to do any manual labor for several weeks. I had been chomping at the bit to run his saw but he felt a 65 cc with no chain brake wasn't a starter saw. We went down to the Husky dealership (which at that time also sold sewing machines) and picked up a shiny new 41. I still remember him standing behind me in the woods as I first started cutting with it.

It was a nice light saw but within about 4-5 years I worked my way up to the 65 as I loved the extra power.

My dad has been gone for almost 15 years now. Would give anything to have him back.

 

[Jakers]

i got my start with an axe and a bow saw when i was about 10. if i wanted heat in the shop, i had to cut wood. simple as that. 20 years later i own a tree service and 20+ saws

 

[woodchuck357]

I was seven when one of my uncles took me out to the wood pile, gave me a newly hafted broad hatchet, pointed at a pile of slabs cut about 16 inches long, and told me that from now on it was my job to keep Granmaw's wood box filled with cookstove splits. As best I remember, that haft was 26 inches long and the head was a three pounder.

 

[TreePointer]

Since we didn't heat with wood, we only cut a little firewood for ourselves and cleaned up anything that fell in our yard or blew into our fields, but there was never a chainsaw around. Bow saws, axes, and grandpa's two-man crosscut for the big trees were the only tools my parents trusted their four boys to use without killing themselves, lol! I was 11 when I started bucking with a bowsaw.

It wasn't until I was much older and on my own when I purchased my first chainsaw to process the treetops after my parents had a timber harvest, and I've been hooked on them (CAD) and making firewood ever since.

 

[olyman]

married, moved to town now in, and oil bill was outrageous first year!! checked,, NO insulation!! partially insulated house that summer,,but wasn't going to pay anymore for fuel oil.. got the riteway,,254 oly chainsaw,,and all ancillary items...and built the splitter that summer also..learned real fast,, to get the wood in before winter!! took a few years out,, heating with wood,, when nat gas was dirt cheap. that came to a abrupt halt about 4 years later!!!! gas companys are sooo broke.....uh huh....

 

[ppkgmsy]

jroder, This is a great post. It's my son's 12th birthday tomorrow and he's been helping me since he was old enough to lift a 6# maul. Back then, I came to recognize working with him would take me three times as long to accomplish 1/3 as much. And it was worth every single extra minute! Sounds like your Dad raise a fine son. Here's hoping someday our boys will post something like what you wrote about us.

 

[troylee]

Quit driving over the road 1.5 years ago, found this site, now I am stockpiling wood for my first firewood season. 2 ported saws bought and sold, another one bought and one waiting on a ride to the Master.

 

[hayboy]

I was seven when one of my uncles took me out to the wood pile, gave me a newly hafted broad hatchet, pointed at a pile of slabs cut about 16 inches long, and told me that from now on it was my job to keep Granmaw's wood box filled with cookstove splits. As best I remember, that haft was 26 inches long and the head was a three pounder.

The slabs I cut were from the cutoff saw of a large sawmill that Mom's kin worked at. they were all planed slick pine boards that I begged to let me split for the wood stove. Then I went on to a Lombard saw to cut firewood for the family cause dad was in the bed with his back. This was around 1960, @66 now, still cutting wood for my family, I just love it I guess.

 

[zogger]

My dad, having gone through the depression as a young kid, freezing, cutting everything with a misery whip, never enough food, etc, wanted nothing to do with firewood or farming once he came back from the war and got his first house. We had fireplaces, but mom bought the wood, cherry and apple mostly, I bandsawed anything that needed it, mostly didn't split much. Once I was an adult and on my own, I cut firewood to keep from freaking freezing, plus helped friends do theirs, plus some for sale, working for other people. Also worked for a town doing maintenance, one of the duties was clearing dead and downed trees on roads or at the cemetery. Been cutting off and on since 70 with a chainsaw. Absolutely doesn't mean I am a pro at it though, just a willing amateur hack.

 

[DFK]

Got started when I was just a kid. Helping Daddy cut for our home. He started selling some back in the 70's gas crunch.
Funny thing, He got $100.00 cord way back then. Cant get much more that that now. Any way Daddy let me start running a saw when I was 11. It was a small Hushvarna. One of those tear drop shaped saws. Lake a Skill Model 947. Momma DID NOT KNOW.
Cut wood with him untill I went off to college. Worked a full time job most of the way threw college. And, Met a 6' Red Head chick while there. 23 years later.... Have tried cutting some firewood to sell. To much work for too little money. So I quit that. Tried Tree Removal as well for a short time. Same proplem as cutting firewood. If you are not going to go big dont go at all. Now, I cut three or so cords of wood a year for our home. Also head up a Baptist Disaster Relief Chainsaw team.

David

 

[CRThomas]

My firewood business got started cause of a extra high light bill. After buying all the stuff to do firewood fowned out the bill was a mistake. But I had a mountain of split firewood people came by wanting to buy it so we sold it now my wife and I are full time firewood venders $300.000.00 dollar worth of equipment and years later here we are the biggest bundled firewood deals in are area.

 

[Fred Wright]

Well, our father didn't cut wood. We grew up in a house with oil heat.

It was years later when I got hitched and her Dad showed me how to cut and split firewood. He was an old firewood seller from 'way back. Kinda like a cross between a horse trader and a fortune teller, Dad knew tricks. And he knew a lot of folks, could get pretty much anything he needed. He taught me how to use a chainsaw, a big HomeyLite that wouldn't break no matter how hard I pushed it.

He'd man a limbing saw, had gotten too old to buck logs on the ground anymore. He took his time, paced himself. That was a good lesson for me.

We'd take a break from cutting. Turn a couple rounds on end, pour a coffee from the thermos, sit and burn one. Dad would get to chatting about his years of running a local milk route, back when they still moved milk in those metal cans. Or his times as a kid down to the swimming hole with the local gals. They'd get drunk on wine and swim nekkid. Boy, did he have stories to tell. Stuff you don't talk about when the womenfolk were around.

Dad passed away some years ago. I'll always remember those days of cutting wood with him and sitting on freshly cut rounds, BSing when he wasn't "done settin' down yet" as he put it.

Dad was more than a father-in-law. He was my best friend and taught me well.

 

[CTYank]

My seeds were sown, so to speak, in college summers with a 3-man tree crew. I learned by watching one of the real masters with chainsaws. After a while, when I asked if I could borrow his huge Homelite for a side-job, he surprised me by saying "Yes". Brought it back as I received it, or would have died first. Liked the fact that I could do useful work with that Homey beast without getting killed.

Fast-forward to age-30 & just-married. Cruising a Navy Exchange, a Poulan S25 caught my eye. Took it home, then convinced bride that we should consider a small woodstove. We chose a little one, installed it, and I got to scrounging any down wood in the region. Of course, I had to get a p/u.

That all worked well to bypass the gas company, and it's all been downhill from there, just progressively better stoves & saws. Learning what you're doing and passing it along, like on forums such as this, priceless.

My dad never saw any utiliity of using chainsaws or wood for heating until really late in the game when a little stove I hooked up in his basement helped with power outages. No matter, my boys know how to use chainsaws safely and what to do with fuelwood.

 

[Greg Perryman]

Growing up we never burnt wood, grandparents did though. Growing up with two other siblings, things get expensive. Dad started selling wood to help pay bills. He started out with I believe a Homelite then trashed it and bought a super 038 stihl. Later he bought a 170 and a 044 to help get the wood out faster. I remember using the 170 cutting up the small limbs while he bucked the main tree. I was probably around 11 or 12. We sold 70 cords of wood that yr. I think one Saturday we cut, split, and hauled 5 cords of wood. Looking back compared to now, I truly see why my parents done this.

 

[watsons dozer]

My start was really simple. My dad and I bought a small farm, 50 acres. 14 is large hardwood. I hired a dozer to push dome trees over for a new fence line and when he was done I saw all those trees about to waste. So I bought a cheap saw and a spliting maul and started making firewood. About a rick into splitting green oak by hand I bought a Lowes 27 ton hydraulic splitter. Yes I know green oak by hand not smart. But I learned quick. 10-15 cords a year for the last 5 years. And oddly enough I don't have a fire place on the farm. But I sure love the smell of fresh split oak. Now I am teaching my boys ,10 &5, the value of a hard earned dollar.

 

[MechanicMatt]

My pops got very sick when I was in third grade, spent months in the hospital, then was laid up for about a year. Its a miracle that was 25 years ago and he is still with us. Well with pops down and out it was my turn to step up to the plate. Now I have my own family, first winter I went broke paying the oil man, second winter I burned wood. This will be my third winter burning wood, wife at first hated me spending money on all my saws, now she doesn't mind because our oil bill is zero!

 

[zogger]

My start was really simple. My dad and I bought a small farm, 50 acres. 14 is large hardwood. I hired a dozer to push dome trees over for a new fence line and when he was done I saw all those trees about to waste. So I bought a cheap saw and a spliting maul and started making firewood. About a rick into splitting green oak by hand I bought a Lowes 27 ton hydraulic splitter. Yes I know green oak by hand not smart. But I learned quick. 10-15 cords a year for the last 5 years. And oddly enough I don't have a fire place on the farm. But I sure love the smell of fresh split oak. Now I am teaching my boys ,10 &5, the value of a hard earned dollar.

Put in a wood heater, it is the *best* most comfortable heat.

 

[ttyR2]

I never had a good saw (hadn't had any saw in over 20 years) until I bought a well used Stihl 026 Pro off ebay. Put a new OEM piston and rings in it, opened up the muffler, and had a killer little saw. Then I bought another...and another...and another.
As far as wood heat, only have a wood stove in the shop.

 

[Toxic2]

I was poor..nb power is rich...i bought my house 10 years ago ripped the oil furnace out an never looked back...not much has changed...im still poor but at least i have 20 cords of wood out back so if the world runs outa gas im laughin..ahaha