Chapter 165

11/11/2007

Woodworking in Virgil

just lumbering along

 Virgil Woodworking :

Most meaningful video edit to date.

Working with wood runs in our family. Grandpa Hayden showed me the sawmill he worked at in Brainerd, MN when he had to drop out of school to earn money for the family. As a kid I recall the remnants of a mill at his house powered by an old Packard engine. Later he sustained serious injury working at a mill in Cortland.

In this video the mill had been put together behind our house by Dad during his retirement "enjoyment" years. The whole adventure was a laborious process driving his modified 4WD Jeep skidder a mile up Hollenbeck Hollow to cut the mostly hardwood trees and drag em back all by himself. Had long since been fuel oil independent building his own wood furnace (wasn't going to be dependent on the Arabs). The '54 GMC logging unloader truck he acquired looked like Hell, but he had the V-6 running smooth, patched up the hydraulic lines and getting the job done. I believe he had taken one of Grandma Wilna's old 70's Chevy's to power the mill.

You get the picture. We just hope our generations retain some of the character traits of perseverance, dedication, and craftsmanship (not to mention humor).