Playing with power
Brian Wilson
“Don’t we need permission from the city to do something like this?”
My son Alex, asked me that question recently as I was eyeing up where to make the first cut to take down a smallish tree that was growing too near my house.
Alex has, what is probably a very healthy, skepticism when it comes to my use of power equipment around our yard. It is not that he doesn’t have faith in my abilities as a would-be woodsman, it is more likely he was worrying about having to make a 911 call and how he would explain it to emergency responders, and to his mother, in the very real likelihood that the tree would fall on me.
To fully appreciate the scene, we have to back up several months.
I had been hinting to my family for about the past year about how useful and practical it would be to own a chainsaw. When stopping in at Klingbeil’s for building supplies for various projects, they would invariably find me distracted by the display of red and black Milwaukee power tools.
My past experience with chainsaws has been fairly limited to borrowing a friend’s to clean up debris from a tree that fell and to covering a number of woodlot owner events over the years which had workshops on chainsaw safety. I also have done enough stories on people who come out worse for wear from logging accidents, so I know enough to be extremely cautious and to know my limits. It is best to leave the big jobs to the pros who can do it much more quickly and safely than I ever could.
A major deterrent to getting a chainsaw in the past has been their basic mechanics. I have never been a fan of pull cords, feeling like an idiot when I can’t get a reluctant motor to turn over. Then there is the whole fuel thing. I have sent several pieces of lawn equipment to early graves with forgetting what can had their particular gas to oil mixture in it.
It is with keen interest that I have been following the explosion in battery-powered power tools. I have had a set of 18 volt Milwaukee drills for a long time and have become a fan of the brand and its durability and dependability.
I recognize that much like football teams, tractors or car brands, individuals have their preferences for brands of tools easily identified by their distinctive colors. You can walk into someone’s shop and instantly determine if it is a DeWalt family or if they prefer Ryobi or Makita or some weird off-brand that a well-meaning spouse got them which promises to be “just as good” as the name brands, but which they are secretly embarrassed about using in front of their friends.
A battery-powered chainsaw seemed the ideal fit for my needs as someone who would only need to use it occasionally and would just as soon not have to become an expert in small engine maintenance just to keep it functional.
As I have noted, my hints became increasingly less subtle about how a chainsaw would make a nice gift for my birthday or Christmas or just because I am a swell dude.
My breakthrough came as we surveyed our yard earlier this spring and saw just how much damage last winter’s ice storm did with branches down, shrubs flattened and some trees looking less than healthy.
As a happy coincidence, Klingbeil’s happened to be running a promotion on Milwaukee battery-powered chainsaws at just that time, so I ended up with an early Father’s Day present.
This brings us back up to where I am getting ready to make my first cut and Alex is expressing his lack of confidence in my ability and the legality of removing trees without a permit.
I assured him I knew what I was doing. Strangely enough he did not find this reassuring, and proceeded to rat me out to his mother when he felt one of the trees we removed was too close to where our trailer was parked. As a result, I feel no guilt in pressing him into being the muscle to load branches onto our utility trailer and help haul them to the city yard waste site.
Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News.
