Vintage Chainsaw talk with Walter my buddy

So I had a long day today and one of my last stops in town was to pick up a couple saws that I had finely tuned by my old buddy, Walter Magrum.  I've already got my firewood in this year, so now the saws are zooming ready for next year or emergencies.  

Walter turned 90 this year, and he can still pull start a difficult to run chainsaw like the old faller that he retired from a good looonng while back.  In fact, he's just slightly less than twice my age, and I'm in pretty fair shape, and... well, you should see how functional this guy is!  At any rate, he has a bent up upper back and that seems to be his only major issue.  Remarkably resilient and just a great guy.    

I came into his house (actually a trailer with a small addition with a cranking hot woodstove) and on his very cluttered table was a napkin that had writing in felt pen on it that said something like "Youtube. Vintage Saw Talk: Titan 40/60 with Walter Magrum"  So I had to check it out when I got home, and sure enough there it was.  This guy is a hero/genuis in the local chainsaw builders and maintenance dept.  His shop is like a chainsaw museum and his rates on most of his stuff are... well, lets just say that I almost always give him more than he asks.  He talks a shit ton, and so I have to actually be rude to leave him most times.  He's taught me a lot about my 4 saws, and about other ones... cause he just keeps on yakking.  But he's so great, I just keep going back... even though I could probably do all the work myself now that he's showed me the finer nuances.  

The other primary chainsaw guy in the valley is equally chatty, but Walter is cheaper and more reliable in doing only what you ask.  The other guy is always doing more things that you didn't ask for, and the cost is always to match his labor and his extra stuff... which would be fine, if you expect it, but...     ...Anyway, here is the youtube of Walter.

Great post, Robert.  It connects for me not only because I've (by necessity) been a chainsaw user for many years now, plus the friendship you describe is heartwarming.  I've known those sorts of skilled, friendly, helpful older people too.

Besides the chainsaw-related stuff, your post reminds me of something that has irked me a bit about the Permies site... not this site itself, but how people have so often represented themselves and their homesteading endeavors.  It's that, as a homesteader, there is such a tremendous amount of valuable things to learn from homesteaders for whom "permaculture" may be something they have only vaguely heard of (or maybe not even heard of at all).

This is a very lively forums site, and I like that much information is exchanged every day — and a lot of the info is very up-to-date.  Still, I suspect that actually, in the longer run, the majority of things in their lives that most permie homesteaders are going to deal with will be very much like what homesteaders in general deal with.

Interestingly, the site's subtitle is Homesteading and Permaculture all the time.

Now Walter has likely not heard of Permaculture, but he's always keen to hear about my projects.  His opinion is never damning, but always asking get the questions that make me think more about it.  He's seen chainsaws evolve from their infancy... and his shop contains most brands that were common in my province over the coarse of the last 60 or more years. He's got a keen mechanical know how that is uncommon these days. There are a lot of reasons why that is pertinent to Permaculture,  including developing a relationship with a historical icon like him, and, even though his passion is toward this tool that burns petroleum, so too are those permits who choose to have a tractor or a chipper.  

Permies not permits.

Roberto pokachinni wrote:Permies not permits.

Yeah, I understood.

By the way, whose Youtube site is that?  Good little vid.  Quite interesting.  And a great ol' guy.

I don't know who's site.  Not familiar with the name.  I'm assuming that it might be one of his granddaughters husbands or something... but it could be anyone.  I'll ask at some point.  The video was edited.  Which is too bad.  All the foul language and dirty jokes are not apparent/are absent.  The guy has a great sense of humor that doesn't really come across.  Not that that matters much to the content. Even then, the guy knows way more than this video shows.  I've sat in his 'museum /inventory' and been given the tour of many an old saw with stories galore. This guy is a real historian with experiencing working knowledge of all things chainsaw. I do know the lady who did the background music.  She's a local forester.

Hi Roberto.
Thank you for your kind post about Walter...he is my(our) Dad.  He is a very knowledgeable, resilient and a strong man.  We are proud of him.
To let you know that we don't know whose Youtube site that is.
Cheers!

Hi K. Ung.  Thanks for your comment, and Welcome To Permies!   Now I'm curious of who made the site.  I should ask Walter some time.