By Steve Black
It was about twenty-five years ago, that I had an awesome idea. We lived in Oklahoma at the time and had always bought our firewood. Mesquite trees were an abundant nuisance to farmers that needed the land cleared to grow crops. Our boys were teenagers at the time, and it made sense to me that we could cut our own firewood and after we had enough for our needs, actually make extra money by selling the excess.
I did thorough research on the best chainsaw to purchase – promptly bought one, added an extra chain, a gas can, 2-cycle and chain oil and gloves. Living on 5 acres at the time, we already had a trailer to haul the wood and a truck to pull it. We were ready to go! (Or so I thought). Living in the small rural community of Altus, Oklahoma, all we had to do was ask our country neighbors for permission to cut mesquite trees on their land. They were happy to have someone clear their land for free; so with much anticipation at this easy way to have firewood AND make money on the side, we planned our first outing.
Learnings on our first time out:
- Mesquite trees have long sharp thorns. Like 4 inches long. And they do not like people. So, wear solid boots and have good gloves.
- Dead trees cut easier than live trees.
- There are many more branches to trim off and throw away than actual wood to burn.
- It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself.
- You have to stop every hour and adjust the chain, add gas and chain oil.
- You need a cutter, someone to clear the brush and a stacker to be efficient.
- You must hydrate and take frequent breaks. You make better decisions when you are rested.
- You need to pack a lunch.
- When it’s taking a long time to cut down a tree, change out the chain.
- We changed our minds. It was unanimous. We won’t be making money on this adventure. There is too much hard work involved in the process, so now we will keep everything we cut.
After hours of cutting, both chains were dull. Now what?
I learned there is a chain sharpener that you can run off the battery of the truck. And you can even leave the chain on (not running of course) and sharpen it. Jackpot. We bought it and used it and were able to get a full day of cutting firewood in. #continuallearning
We made it a family event. Melanie, my wife, Taylor our daughter, the boys and I all began to go out and cut firewood on the weekends. At any given time, we had from 6 to 10 ricks of wood cut.
One of our funniest memories of cutting firewood was one time when Rod Smith (former Music Minister at FBC, Altus, OK) wanted to join us, so we told him to meet us out in one of the fields where we cut firewood. If you knew Rod, and his personality of doing everything fast, and rolling with whatever happened, this story would make perfect sense. We started out with Jared helping me and Travis helping Rod. Rod was like the Tasmanian devil cutting down trees so fast that Travis couldn’t keep up. We heard a loud crash, looked over at where they were a little afraid of what we might see. Rod had cut a sizable mesquite tree down and it fell right smack dab on top of his truck. Travis was just looking at us like – “Can I get some help over here?” Rod wasn’t fazed at all. He just continued to cut the tree OFF of his truck into fireplace sized pieces. We’ve laughed about that many times over the years. We did have a lot of fun while working.
Now that we are back living full-time in Colorado, we are supplying our own firewood again. Our property already had about 15 or so stacks of cut firewood on it, but it was just stacked where the tree was either cut down or fell. We would just split, haul, stack and cover our firewood to protect it from the winter elements. Through the past 10 years we’ve learned to fell 50-60 ft tall dead or leaning pines and know where it will safely fall. Then we buck it and stack it to season where we will later split it. There is a certain sense of pride knowing you are heating your home with wood you fell, cut, bucked and split while the snow swirls around your home and the winds howl during the bitter cold of winter.
Melanie & Taylor with a new stack of wood in Colorado after one of our firewood cutting days.
I went out and bought the biggest axe I could find to split the wood after we had cut down several trees and were ready now to get the stacks ready for a long cold winter. Another lesson we quickly learned the hard way, is when you have to split a bunch of firewood; you need a gas splitter. We could have never split all the wood we’ve burned the last several winters in Colorado by using an axe. (Unless you don’t have a fulltime job) Work smarter, not harder. Know your limits. #continual_learning
We have learned living at 8,300′ elevation in the Rocky Mountains, that you need the wood close to the house and it must be covered. We learned this when we got our first 20+ inch snow. #continual_learning
To maintain a good fire over an entire day, you need a good mix of split smaller pieces of aged wood to start the fire. Then you need to switch to larger pieces, round whole logs, if possible, that burn slower. This process will help the wood last a lot longer and keep a steady warm fire. Remember the purpose of the wood is to keep you warm not just to burn it up. #continual_learning
Here are my business learnings from cutting firewood:
- Theory is trumped by experience. Respect those who have been doing it for years. (If you’ve never cut firewood before, I’ll pass on taking advice from you)
- Know your purpose and have the right equipment, and plan for equipment failure. (have backup equipment)
- Sometimes the harder you work, the less you produce. (keep the chain sharp and be situationally aware)
- Teach the team how and why you do what you do. Then listen and be open to the teams’ input. They can and will help you- make it a true team effort. (I learned more from my boys than I thought I would)
- Take breaks -you’re not superman/woman and neither is your team
- You need a good mix of experience to have success and consistency. There is usually more than one way to get things successfully accomplished.
- New meaning to “work smart, not hard” – Before you can work smart, you must work hard and learn along the way! I’ve always said that the grocery business is not for the weak, and we all know how much hard work is involved!
Describing the process of cutting firewood, sure feels like what it’s like to be in the grocery business.
By far, the biggest take-away from this learning is the continual learning.
With all the turnover we’ve all experience these post COVID years, we have to invest in our teams and help them keep their chain sharp!
Our job as leaders in our organizations is to make sure our team has the training and knowledge needed. We have to make sure we set them up for success and be the leader we wish we’d had in our early years. If you learn ways to be successful when you’re young, those learnings just get better over time.
I’m honored and excited to be named, “The endorsed leadership coach of NGA” this month and would love to connect with you to share forty-eight years of “continued learnings” with you and your teams on how to keep the chain sharp!
