Among the many blessing this past year is the Minyan, the religious community we now belong to. I have met amazing people. People I can really connect with.
So Sharon, Traci and Ido come to the minyan. Ido has severe autism, he is one of the first to figure out that although he can’t speak – he has acquired language and he can type. As a young adult he does have some minor verbal communication. He wrote two books, with one finger on the computer – because he can’t type with both hands. Ido in autism land which is about his experience in the autistic world, the second is a novel and is an easier read. In Two Worlds. For a while he had a blog, but now, not too much writing there.
So a hobby that Sharon developed a few years ago was Lumbjacking, he started a ‘club’ in his backyard. the lockdown took its’ toll on the that, but when invited to lumberjack, I jumped on the opportunity.
Sharon and Ido sawing. Btw, they supply all the neighbors with firewood. All the neighbors and the local tree trimmers know to call Sharon if there is a felled tree, he has quite a collection by now.
Here is the set up, a log ready for slicing. This is oak, it it was very hard for me to saw, the grain is very dense, so we put a new log in- cedar.
There is a whole pile of these circle, I guess some end up as fire wood, but they do chop wood as well.
Lets take a look at the saw. This is an antique lumberjack saw from Oregon. there are people who go around and find the old equipment and bring it back to life. Sharon explained all the reasons for the different teeth and that the blade gets thinner towards the top. He is an engineer, he explains things very very well.
The handle isn’t antique, but how beautiful. I know there is a reason why this is bowed, it is also quite heavy – which helps saw the wood.
Note the bottle of oil, before every cut, one must oil the blade.
And yes, it is very hard work.
There is the wedge I sliced off, right by my food. When I say I, mean Sharon and I.
Of course I’m smiling, what an experience!
It came home with me, it will probably dry out and crack, otherwise I’d have to soak it in something, but who knows, I might put it in my close anyway – it is cedar – it does repel moths.
Sharon then demonstrated how to use a single user saw. This one is for competitions, and came all the way from New Zealand. The way he got into this is watching Lumberjack competitions and deciding this is something he want to do.
Then on to chopping wood. He did it with an axe. He and Ido go out to a ranch and chop wood. in one year they chopped 4-6 cords of wood, which is a lot! Then the ranch sold the wood to a Pizza restaurant, that wood was oak- which burns very hot and is very good for pizza ovens – in one year they used it all up. I forgot to ask if the family went to eat the pizza.
Sharon went easier on me, I used a wedge and a mallet. and let me tell you, it’s hard work!
I did it, it wasn’t easy, but I spit the wood.
The winner photo! You can see the wedge sunk into the wood and the two pieces came apart very easily. think this might be cedar as well which is very hard to burn.
There it is!
A wonderful afternoon, of course we sat and chatted, along with the wood work. Such a blessing to get to know such wonderful people. The loss of ‘old’ friends due to the lockdowns is fading. Yes, one can make new friends at any age and it is worth it.
Leah