Post by herchenx on Mar 16, 2014 1:32:14 GMT -5
Today was a comedy of errors, all day.
I'm typically never in shape, so about a month ago I started working out. Nothing fancy, just pushups, calf raises, some other odds and ends to start building a little muscle for the hounding season. I've been feeling pretty strong lately which is a nice change, so I thought I'd get a jump on a nice spring day (albeit a bit windy and chilly) and cut down the aspen stand we've been working for 2 years to kill so we can get the thing out of our yard.
Got the chainsaw, which has been crated up for 2 years, to find all the bar oil had leaked out into the base of the case, and took a major effort to clean off the saw and out of the box. Dug around the garage for another 30 minutes until I could find where I put the jug of bar oil the last time I used it and already had a sense of how this day was going to play out.
Got the gas/oil mix found no problem, oiled it up and to my SHOCK is started right up. Zip Zap Zoop, the 3 biggest aspen were on the ground (only 5 total) with all their limbs off and I was cutting the trunks into firewood-length pieces. Then I stood upright and my back spasm'd (smasmed? started spasming?) and I hit my knees in pretty decent pain.
I made it inside and grabbed some water and medication and plopped in the recliner almost unable to move.
3 hours and 3 ibuprofen later I went back outside to finish the job once things seemed to settle down. The wind had been howling and my gloves were nowhere to be seen. I thought the worst was over so I cut the other 2 smaller trees down, then into firewood.
Then I went to get the electric chipper for all the limbs. So many limbs.
Got the cord out to the yard and I was 20 feet too short of my pile, so I found another cord and plugged everything in. I haven't used that chipper in at least 5 years so I had no idea what to expect, but when I flipped the switch it just lurched and wouldn't spin, then its internal breaker tripped.
I remembered how to take it apart to clear the chipper mechanism, so I unplugged everything and cleared it out, put it back together and it ran like a top. I fed 3 or 4 small limbs in and it took a good 25 minutes. The thing was as dull as the operator.
I pulled it apart again and there were 2 blades held onto a blade assembly by 4 large screws with allen heads. I dug out my allen wrench set and none of my wrenches was big enough. I SOMEHOW stumbled onto my bike multi-tool and wonder of wonders, it had the right size allen wrench.
I got it in the screw and started applying force, and the blade spun and caught my thumb in one of the slots (not the one with the sharp edge) and it smashed my thumb good.
I must have made quite a spectacle because as I hobbled back into the house my phone rang and it was my neighbor behind me seeing if I was OK. I took a few more minutes to compose myself and went back out with a socket wrench to pull the whole blade assembly off. No problem, came off with no issues, except when I grabbed the blade to secure it while I turned the socket, I forgot each of the dull blades had a razor sharp edge on the other side (they are made to reverse when dull, like an ice auger blade) which I promptly spun into the meat of my left hand. So I carried the detached blade assembly into the house and my wife saw the steam of blood running down my arm into my shirt sleeve. She's a nurse, but readily admits she could not be an ER nurse, so the flap of skin and whatever else was in there hanging open did not sit well with her, but she managed to put me together enough I could keep on trying to kill myself.
Back to the garage. The vice, a hammer, a torch, no luck getting the blades off the blade assembly. I carried it downstairs to my jewelry bench and used the fordham with a SIC grinder to do my best to sharpen the dull edge while still on the blade assembly. It worked much better than expected so a few minutes later I headed back outside, carefully put the assembly back on the chipper and was off and chipping.
We went a good 2 hours chipping most of the branches. It got really chilly, enough I could see my breath, but I wanted to finish. I ignored the numbness in my hands, still without gloves since the wind took them away earlier in the day. No major problems until I went inside to wash my hands for dinner and discovered I had removed many pieces of skin on both hands, unable to tell due to the numbing cold. The feeling came right back when the warm water and soap was scrubbed deep into the many cuts and I imagine the neighbor was probably almost ready to dial back for all the commotion.
We ate, the lack of movement helped all the sore muscles get nice and stiff. We watched a movie with the kids and everyone got ready for bed.
Except me. I hadn't had enough yet so I headed out to the garage.
This time, though, everything went smoothly and I was able to spend a couple hours piddling with rocks and got some nice slabs.
I bought a chunk of plume on eBay 2 years ago, it was just a random plume (no locale or name) but looked pretty from what I could see and it was cheap.
It is pretty solid, and I love the colors. It lacks the bright orange and bright white of Wyngate, but there are some color similarities which attracted me to it.
I was fun to see it come off the saw and really pop, I'm very happy with the colors and patterns.
I'm hurting and tired, so I'll close the lid on this day and hope for something less painful and error-prone tomorrow
I'm typically never in shape, so about a month ago I started working out. Nothing fancy, just pushups, calf raises, some other odds and ends to start building a little muscle for the hounding season. I've been feeling pretty strong lately which is a nice change, so I thought I'd get a jump on a nice spring day (albeit a bit windy and chilly) and cut down the aspen stand we've been working for 2 years to kill so we can get the thing out of our yard.
Got the chainsaw, which has been crated up for 2 years, to find all the bar oil had leaked out into the base of the case, and took a major effort to clean off the saw and out of the box. Dug around the garage for another 30 minutes until I could find where I put the jug of bar oil the last time I used it and already had a sense of how this day was going to play out.
Got the gas/oil mix found no problem, oiled it up and to my SHOCK is started right up. Zip Zap Zoop, the 3 biggest aspen were on the ground (only 5 total) with all their limbs off and I was cutting the trunks into firewood-length pieces. Then I stood upright and my back spasm'd (smasmed? started spasming?) and I hit my knees in pretty decent pain.
I made it inside and grabbed some water and medication and plopped in the recliner almost unable to move.
3 hours and 3 ibuprofen later I went back outside to finish the job once things seemed to settle down. The wind had been howling and my gloves were nowhere to be seen. I thought the worst was over so I cut the other 2 smaller trees down, then into firewood.
Then I went to get the electric chipper for all the limbs. So many limbs.
Got the cord out to the yard and I was 20 feet too short of my pile, so I found another cord and plugged everything in. I haven't used that chipper in at least 5 years so I had no idea what to expect, but when I flipped the switch it just lurched and wouldn't spin, then its internal breaker tripped.
I remembered how to take it apart to clear the chipper mechanism, so I unplugged everything and cleared it out, put it back together and it ran like a top. I fed 3 or 4 small limbs in and it took a good 25 minutes. The thing was as dull as the operator.
I pulled it apart again and there were 2 blades held onto a blade assembly by 4 large screws with allen heads. I dug out my allen wrench set and none of my wrenches was big enough. I SOMEHOW stumbled onto my bike multi-tool and wonder of wonders, it had the right size allen wrench.
I got it in the screw and started applying force, and the blade spun and caught my thumb in one of the slots (not the one with the sharp edge) and it smashed my thumb good.
I must have made quite a spectacle because as I hobbled back into the house my phone rang and it was my neighbor behind me seeing if I was OK. I took a few more minutes to compose myself and went back out with a socket wrench to pull the whole blade assembly off. No problem, came off with no issues, except when I grabbed the blade to secure it while I turned the socket, I forgot each of the dull blades had a razor sharp edge on the other side (they are made to reverse when dull, like an ice auger blade) which I promptly spun into the meat of my left hand. So I carried the detached blade assembly into the house and my wife saw the steam of blood running down my arm into my shirt sleeve. She's a nurse, but readily admits she could not be an ER nurse, so the flap of skin and whatever else was in there hanging open did not sit well with her, but she managed to put me together enough I could keep on trying to kill myself.
Back to the garage. The vice, a hammer, a torch, no luck getting the blades off the blade assembly. I carried it downstairs to my jewelry bench and used the fordham with a SIC grinder to do my best to sharpen the dull edge while still on the blade assembly. It worked much better than expected so a few minutes later I headed back outside, carefully put the assembly back on the chipper and was off and chipping.
We went a good 2 hours chipping most of the branches. It got really chilly, enough I could see my breath, but I wanted to finish. I ignored the numbness in my hands, still without gloves since the wind took them away earlier in the day. No major problems until I went inside to wash my hands for dinner and discovered I had removed many pieces of skin on both hands, unable to tell due to the numbing cold. The feeling came right back when the warm water and soap was scrubbed deep into the many cuts and I imagine the neighbor was probably almost ready to dial back for all the commotion.
We ate, the lack of movement helped all the sore muscles get nice and stiff. We watched a movie with the kids and everyone got ready for bed.
Except me. I hadn't had enough yet so I headed out to the garage.
This time, though, everything went smoothly and I was able to spend a couple hours piddling with rocks and got some nice slabs.
I bought a chunk of plume on eBay 2 years ago, it was just a random plume (no locale or name) but looked pretty from what I could see and it was cheap.
It is pretty solid, and I love the colors. It lacks the bright orange and bright white of Wyngate, but there are some color similarities which attracted me to it.
I was fun to see it come off the saw and really pop, I'm very happy with the colors and patterns.
I'm hurting and tired, so I'll close the lid on this day and hope for something less painful and error-prone tomorrow