WorkAway Day: A chainsaw massacre

Most days, you just have a job to do. Other days, you have an unexpected job to do…so that you can do your expected job. Today was one of those other days. It started normal enough, with stretching and meditation and a 20 minute run. After showering, breakfast and coffee were followed by a survey of the trees and shrubs I would be trimming with the chainsaw.

The evening before, I had been watching a great little video featuring Malcolm Smith, a retired American off-road racer who helped make the motorcycle brand Husqvarna big in the US. I was familiar with the Husqvarna brand, but I had never realized they made motorcycles. I typically associate that name brand with garden and lawn care machines. But their motorcycles are pretty slick!If you are interested in old motorcycles, you might enjoy Malcolm’s Bike Stories.

So, when I went to the shed to grab the electric chainsaw, I had to smile when I noticed it was made by…waddayaknow, Husqvara. I also wondered if that was just coincidence, or whether there was more to the connection. The first thing I discovered was that that it was in need of oil, and my host didn’t have any. This meant a quick bike ride to the nearest DIY store for a liter of chainsaw oil. Once the oil had been topped up, I plugged the chainsaw into the extension line. Nothing. Surely I was doing something wrong? Pulled on the safety bar, which should engage the power…still nothing. My host was perplexed as it had worked fine the last time.  After testing several things, it was clear that the problem was ‘inside’. It was also clear that taking apart this chainsaw might well be todays ‘unexpected job’. In the back of my mind, I was recalling listening to Malcolm Smith describe the process of restoring a classic Husqvarna motorcycle…

My unexpected job today was to totally dismantle this little Husqvara, clean it up, make the repair and put it all back together. That meant turning it over and over, looking for all the screws I needed to take loose, keeping all the loose parts in some kind of order to ensure it all went back together correctly, using a brush to remove all the million or so specs of styrofoam (?), putting parts together, still not understanding why it didn’t work, dropping a part whereby an electrical wire was yanked loose providing yet more ‘unexpected’ work, finding ingenious ways to use tools in ways they were not meant to be used, still not understanding why it doesn’t work and deciding that to put it all together is the best option. Maybe, by some lucky chance it will work.

And it did. Just in time for Dinner. Tomorrow, I expect to do trimming with the Husqvara.