I sort of skimmed through this thread,but a few things hit me that i feel the need to address.
I think in reality we all need to think back to the first time we picked up a saw,wether it was under the close supervision of a father or we were slung into it after we had left the nest.
Me,I learned from some of the roughest crowd there is, cranky old uncle who was like a father to me, and after I reached my teen years the logging crew in Cougar,Washington that lost their senses momentarily enough to hire me as an apprentice.
From my uncle I learned very little.He would shout, "dog gone it boy,dont do that!Them things cost money!" until his face turned as red as a babboons bottom,and I never learned a lot.
When I hired on with the pro crew, the trees got bigger,the bars got longer, and I found myself settling into even worse habits.But luckily for me, an old and wise man took some pity on me and realized that I needed a friend to work with,not an instructor.Instead of yelping, instructing,cajoling,and demonstrating,we worked together and he answered each and every question that I had.It became important to me to be as productive as he was, so i copied his style.He instructed me with an example and a twinkle in his eye, and within a month I was limbing with the best of them.
I guess my point is each and every instructor and student are different.If you really want to teach someone something, you need a couple of things.A willing student, and an instructor willing to take the time to find out how that student learns. Lord knows I have had more than my share of newbies come over and want to hoist a saw to wood, but I do my very best to make it a memorable occasion for them.I always figure they are going to learn more if I make em not only laugh a bit but actually get something done they can be proud of.I have never had a newbie learn a dang thing by losing my cool at them,even when they to screw up a chain.
