- Joined
- Mar 27, 2008
- Messages
- 193
Last Monday I was home with the my two kids after my shift at the firestation. We were waiting for my Wife to get home after work when the steady rain we had all day picked up. Soon the wind was whipping the trees like crazy and hail was flying. We live in an earth berm in the middle the Ozark woods and there is a section of the house as a designated twister area, which was starting to sound like a good idea. Soon however everything calmed down and 20 minutes later my bride came walking thru the wood's from the backside of the property. I ran over to her thinking that she had gotten stuck or worse. She told me that our county road was blocked by fallen trees and she had to park on the other side of the hill and walk thru the forest. The rain had slowed so we all walked down our driveway to check out the road after I grabbed my 5.11 bag with some supplies and HI Tin Chirra attached to the side. Two large Oaks were down across our drive, and 5 HUGE Oaks had been torn from there roots and completely blocked the county road. My neighbors barn had been relocated 200 yrds away from where it had been and his hay bales were strewn along the hillside. My family hanged tight while I did a check on the neighbors too make sure nobody was hurt as it seemed that there had been either a tornado or some crazy straight-line winds. The first folks driveway was invisible, completely covered by a grand fallen Oak. The usually dry stream between his home and the road was swollen and spread out thru the forest, I waded in the slow water about thigh deep using the Tin Chirra to get past a jumble of fallen cedars to the other side. The elderly gentleman was just coming out of his home and was fine, just shocked that his driveway was completely covered by the tree. After checking on everyone else in the area we were blessed to find that no one was hurt and no homes were damaged....just a barn and a bunch of trees toasted. Next job was to clear the road so the county had access to get the electricity back up, cause it was lost in the storm. The two chainsaws were perfect for the two foot across Oak trunks and massive limbs, cutting them small enough to roll into the nearest ditch. The Tin Chirra was invaluable on the rest of the cleanup, it chopped thru limbs over 6" quickly and safely then I would drag it to the pile for pick-up. Within two hours the road was driveable and darkness had set in, the sap stained blade stood as proof of all the work it had done. It never slipped in the hand, even though it was still raining and the blade was still scary sharp! The folks watching me work could not believe that a knife could cut that efficiently, now I am not saying that it kept up with a chainsaw but allowed me to get a ton of wood off of the road.....big wood. We all parted ways after the work was done and I now have promised some of them that I would get HI's information to them. Yes, even the guys with the chainsaws wanted my blade 
.
The next morning the power was back on and first order of business besides thanking God for no injuries or homes lost was too clean up the blade that I had oiled the night before since the leather sheath was rain soaked. A few strokes with the steel, some passes on a buffer and my workhorse was ready to rock again.
It was a real comfort having this large chopper with my emergency supplies during and especially after all the damage. While checking on everyone I knew that if needed, I could make forcible entry and its a lot easier to carry than an fire tools...especially when you are crawling over trees. Anyway sorry for the long post and yet another story about my Tin Chirra but maybe some of my fellow addicts can use this to explain to their wives why they NEED to have one of these fantastic tools!
.The next morning the power was back on and first order of business besides thanking God for no injuries or homes lost was too clean up the blade that I had oiled the night before since the leather sheath was rain soaked. A few strokes with the steel, some passes on a buffer and my workhorse was ready to rock again.
It was a real comfort having this large chopper with my emergency supplies during and especially after all the damage. While checking on everyone I knew that if needed, I could make forcible entry and its a lot easier to carry than an fire tools...especially when you are crawling over trees. Anyway sorry for the long post and yet another story about my Tin Chirra but maybe some of my fellow addicts can use this to explain to their wives why they NEED to have one of these fantastic tools!
