After I left the Navy I did several jobs both for pay and for myself. I remember helping my late brother in law cutting hard wood for sale. We both had chainsaws and splitting mauls. My maul was a six and a half pound with an axe-style handle. My brother-in-law had an eight pound maul head that he had welded a pipe onto for a handle.
Now, my six and a half was a good maul for me because I could swing it as hard as I wanted and due to the axe-style handle, I could control how the head hit the block. That eight pound man killer would vibrate the whole length of the handle when it hit a solid block. It goes without saying that I didn’t use it much.
I would get home from my regular job at about 7:15 in the morning and as my brother-in-law lived next door, when I got out of my truck he would knock on the window and that was my signal that breakfast was ready.
After we ate and got a thermos of coffee ready we headed into the woods. We would get to our wood yard about 8:45 and get the saws gassed and oiled and check the chains for sharpness. Once the saws had been checked then we started the old tractor we had and would go into the woods for a couple trees to cut. After we had four or five trees then we would begin cutting and loading.
I found out too, that when you work with someone long enough, you get to the point where you can almost anticipate what will happen next. One of my friends went with us one day and he couldn’t get over it when no matter who was sawing the wood, the other could stay caught up to him splitting and loading the truck. Usually when one of us ran out of gas while sawing we would both take a break and not feel guilty about doing so as the only block left was the one that hadn’t yet been totally sawn from the log.
The only time either of us would get bogged down splitting was if we came to a twisted or knotty piece that we had to notch with the saw to split. We worked so well together that by 11 or 11:30 at the latest we would be on our way out of the woods with a cord and a half of wood all cut and split, ready to deliver.
I do know that after working in the steam plant all night it was a good workout the next day. Some would say why do that? I say that back in the day, my generation worked when you could. When asked what I was paid working in the woods, I simply say experience, exercise and a hot dog and coke for lunch.
That was with my brother-in-law but I was paid a wage when I helped another friend who had a hardwood operation.
Mostly though, I had fun doing what I did in the woods, on the farm or in the steam plant. You see you have to really love what you do to enjoy it so that it doesn’t become a chore. That’s why my advice to young people today is that if you have a dream in your mind as to what you want to do with your life, follow that dream! That way when you are my age, you can look back on all the good times you had and not regret but with a smile, you can Remember When …
Guy Woodworth of Presque Isle is a 1973 graduate of Presque Isle High School and a four-year Navy veteran. He and his wife Theresa have two grown sons and five grandchildren. He may be contacted at
lightning117_1999@yahoo.com.
