We had a change of venue this week, and we met at Chil’s house as she kindly let us use her back-garden.
Akela has his own business, which means that he plants, prunes, looks after, and cuts down trees and hedgerows. On Monday, he showed us how he does his job!
He first showed us the safety equipment he has to wear day-to-day, such as trousers with Kevlar, a first aid pack, and a helmet with a visor and ear protectors. The Cubs then proceeded to check out if the ear protectors were sound-proof!
Next we looked at a variety of chainsaws, and Akela explained how they worked. Did you know you can only hold chainsaws right-handed? Everyone was able to have a go at holding one, and it was a lot heavier than most of them thought it would be!
Akela then gave a demonstration of how to cut down a tree with a chainsaw. He cut a wedge out of it the side of the tree that he wanted it to fall, and then gave it a nudge and it fell easily.
After the tree, Akela then cut up some logs using the chainsaw. The Cubs loved watching the demonstration, and each of them went home with a slice of one of the logs!
Finally, Akela moved on to the wood chipper! With this machine, he put in logs and branches, and it turned it into wood chip! It made a very loud noise, but was good fun to watch.
It was very interesting to see what Akela does, and exciting to be so close to the machinery (at a safe distance). Thank you to Akela for showing us!