A tough customer!

A tree fell during the winter on Bery road, past the school. There are no houses there, so it is only used by the innumerable Alaska vehicles: ATV, snowmobiles, dirt bikes... anyway, the tree was a birch. Since I am obsessed by firewood at this time (the sun is shining, which is so unusual this year that I must take advantage) I thought I'd cut it up for firewood. So I took the car, the chain, the cant hook, and Parsifal --the works-- down there. This was a very difficult piece to saw up. The problem was that it fell down a bank. So the butt was still on the tree, and the top was on the ditch of the road. A beam in tension, in fact. So the tree cannot be cut from the top in any comfort: it will pinch the saw. The first day I pinched the bar on Parsifal about 5 times. Parsifal has a very narrow bar and a "Picco" chain (thin). It does cut down the risk of kickback and it makes nice ripping cuts. But on stuff like this he binds too much. He is 30cc -- not a big chain saw. I love the lightness but there are limits.

Time for plan B. Siegfried the 041 Stihl. 60cc, 50cm bar, wide chain. But Siegfried had a problem: he developed a ruptured artery (gas line break) and required major surgery and some spare parts. So I did the surgery and adjusted the idle and... after about 2 hour's work Big Sieg is running properly. Now, if we can cut that tree guy off at the butt, we can cant-hook the pieces down to the car.
Fire up Siegfried (first pull!) find a place that is close to the butt but supported, and go. One minute later, if that, and I was through the log. No pinch. A cinch! Siegfried dates from the 1980s. Still going strong. After this we bucked to three-droob length, (3x45cm) and muscled the corpses off to the car. The last bit was just too heavy and I used the chain hooked to the car to drag it home. The payoff is at hand:
These gentlemen await more bucking (I'll use Black Mac the McCullough electric It is feather-light and makes much less noise than the gas saws). And, of course, the final appointment with Jack the Splitter.

Moral of this story. If you live in the bush you need more than one chain saw. If you must have only one, make sure it's big enough. Siegfried is labeled "Farm Boss" and they ain't kidding. When he sings his aria, the wood notices it. That's Wagner for you. Loud and lots of brass in the orchestra, but by George you've got an opera.