Why do rednecks love chainsaws and woodlots?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the cultural identity associated with being a "redneck," particularly in relation to chainsaws, woodlots, and vintage vehicles. Participants share personal anecdotes and reflections on their own experiences with these topics, exploring themes of nostalgia, practicality, and community connections.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants reflect on their own identities as "rednecks," sharing personal stories about owning chainsaws and woodlots, and the challenges they face with physical limitations.
  • There is a humorous exchange about the criteria for being a redneck, including ownership of non-working vehicles.
  • Participants discuss the potential value of vintage vehicles found in woodlots, with suggestions for selling them for scrap and the nostalgia associated with old cars.
  • One participant mentions a specific outboard motor they are restoring, highlighting its significance and the memories associated with it.
  • There are discussions about the appeal of discovering vintage vehicles in obscure locations, with some expressing a romanticized view of their histories.
  • Participants share practical advice on dealing with old vehicles and the potential for making money from scrapping them.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share similar sentiments about the cultural aspects of being a redneck and the enjoyment of vintage items, but there is no consensus on specific criteria for redneck identity or the best approach to dealing with old vehicles.

Contextual Notes

Some discussions hinge on personal experiences and subjective interpretations of what constitutes a redneck lifestyle, which may vary widely among participants. The condition of vintage vehicles and their histories is also a point of contention, with varying opinions on their value and significance.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in cultural identity, nostalgia for vintage items, and practical advice on dealing with old vehicles may find this discussion engaging.

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rewebster said:
"this county is full of rednecks "

I think they spilled over to my neck of the woods too
To be fair, I might be a redneck. (Foxworthy alert) I have my own chain-saw and woodlot and have cut many, many dozens of cords of firewood, but since losing some balance and coordination to a stroke a number of years ago, I am less enthused about working on uneven ground with a screaming chain-saw. I used to be nimble enough to get out of the way quickly if a tree hung up and kicked off the stump. Not so sure now.

Edit:
I separated this from the natural gas thread.

Integral
 
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"To be fair, I might be a redneck. (Foxworthy alert)"


well, you really didn't elimate yourself in that one comment--soooooo.. congratulations?

do you own more than four vehicles that don't work?
(if you don't, then you're not)
 


rewebster said:
"To be fair, I might be a redneck. (Foxworthy alert)"


well, you really didn't elimate yourself in that one comment--soooooo.. congratulations?

do you own more than four vehicles that don't work?
(if you don't, then you're not)
By default, I am a borderline redneck. When I bought this place, I hadn't walked all the property, and eventually I found 3 40's-50's vintage vehicles abandoned in the woods, including an Olds Rocket 88. I own 'em so I've got to own up to them. I don't have any El Caminos or Camaros on blocks with engines hanging from chainfalls in tree branches. Mine are a bit more hopeless.
 


sell them 'as is' on ebay!
 


rewebster said:
sell them 'as is' on ebay!
My niece's husband (from whom I buy my firewood) has a skidder, heavy truck, and trailer. I have offered to let him skid those rascals out and junk them. It would take him less than a day to retrieve them and load 'em up, and he'd probably get $300-400 each for scrapping those heavy old vehicles - a pretty good payday. He treats me really well on firewood ($160/cord vs the more common $200/cord, bucked up, split and delivered) and I'd like to help him and my niece tuck away some extra $$ for the coming winter.
 


turbo-1 said:
My niece's husband (from whom I buy my firewood) has a skidder, heavy truck, and trailer. I have offered to let him skid those rascals out and junk them. It would take him less than a day to retrieve them and load 'em up, and he'd probably get $300-400 each for scrapping those heavy old vehicles - a pretty good payday. He treats me really well on firewood ($160/cord vs the more common $200/cord, bucked up, split and delivered) and I'd like to help him and my niece tuck away some extra $$ for the coming winter.

Take some pictures of them! If the scenery and lighting is just right, old junkers can make for some nice pictures.

Also, my grandfather has the very second Saab which was shipped to the US (model 93) in 1956, but the car has since deteriorated due to being left out in the weather all these years. I made sure to grab the horn button off of it which has the airplane symbol from when they made aircraft. He opened up one of the first Saab dealerships in the US here in Chattanooga. He also worked on VWs and Porsches out of the same shop.
 


I might make a pilgrimage to the vehicle graveyard to do that B.Elliott. Maybe if some restoration nut sees images of badges, trim, etc, they'll get all crazy about stripping these little bits for projects. My niece's husband can concentrate on selling the steel by the ton.
 


turbo-1 said:
My niece's husband (from whom I buy my firewood) has a skidder, heavy truck, and trailer. I have offered to let him skid those rascals out and junk them. It would take him less than a day to retrieve them and load 'em up, and he'd probably get $300-400 each for scrapping those heavy old vehicles - a pretty good payday. He treats me really well on firewood ($160/cord vs the more common $200/cord, bucked up, split and delivered) and I'd like to help him and my niece tuck away some extra $$ for the coming winter.

Old junk vehicles seemed to bring only about 125-150 until about 2 years ago--I got 250 for a van not too long ago ('84 toyota with a bad tranny-that used to get 35 to the gal---small four cyl)
 


I just remembered that I have crossed the redneck threshold. I have a 1962 Evinrude Lightwin 3 self-contained outboard motor that is currently in the "wait for parts" stage of rebuild. Evo and MIH know that I consider this the holy grail of outboard motors for small boats (I have appropriated my dad's 1960's W.T. Grant 12' aluminum boat) and the portability afforded by such compact gear allows unprecedented access to remote ponds. This current boat-motor set-up is a killer Maine dowry. I could marry off Rosanne Barre with a meth addiction with such a sweet combo. (Granted, she might not end up with someone who looks even vaguely like Brad Pitt or who earns more than the average burger-jockey and McD's)
 
  • #10


turbo-1 said:
I might make a pilgrimage to the vehicle graveyard to do that B.Elliott. Maybe if some restoration nut sees images of badges, trim, etc, they'll get all crazy about stripping these little bits for projects. My niece's husband can concentrate on selling the steel by the ton.

Definitely. I love running across vintage autos out in obscure fields. It's like taking a trip back in time... the life that vehicle went through and how exactly is ended up where it is today. Or, just an overactive imagination.:rolleyes:

Here's the day of receiving the franchise from the Saab US president at the time...

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/hypohonda/Saabdealershipfinal.jpg
 
  • #11
turbo-1 said:
I just remembered that I have crossed the redneck threshold. I have a 1962 Evinrude Lightwin 3 self-contained outboard motor that is currently in the "wait for parts" stage of rebuild. Evo and MIH know that I consider this the holy grail of outboard motors for small boats (I have appropriated my dad's 1960's W.T. Grant 12' aluminum boat) and the portability afforded by such compact gear allows unprecedented access to remote ponds. This current boat-motor set-up is a killer Maine dowry. I could marry off Rosanne Barre with a meth addiction with such a sweet combo. (Granted, she might not end up with someone who looks even vaguely like Brad Pitt or who earns more than the average burger-jockey and McD's)

I can't believe you mentioned Evinrude. A buddy of mine found an old (looks to be late 50's or 60's) Evinrude outboard motor in a shed in his back yard. While looking up specs and info on the motor I really started to get interested in the classic vintage motors. Like these little beauties...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/61/220746655_8d80baa84a.jpg?v=0
 
  • #12


The early 60's Evinrudes were blue, and they switched to white shells at some point. They are really sweet little motors and can idle (slow troll or meander for fly-fishing) practically all day on one fill-up of their internal tank. My dad and I used to fish some pretty rocky shallow mountain ponds, so we pulled the steel shear-pins and cut up lots of brass brazing rods for shear-pins. Better to lose a little bit of brass than buy a new prop.
 
  • #13


B. Elliott said:
Definitely. I love running across vintage autos out in obscure fields. It's like taking a trip back in time... the life that vehicle went through and how exactly is ended up where it is today. Or, just an overactive imagination.:rolleyes:

Here's the day of receiving the franchise from the Saab US president at the time...

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/hypohonda/Saabdealershipfinal.jpg

I remember a Hupmobile carcass out there--I wouldn't doubt that it may still be there (maybe with a few more bullet holes in it by now though)--it had the shape of a model T body
 
  • #14


Here you go, rew...redneck qualifications.

These vehicles would have been in better shape had they been parked in a field. I haven't looked at them in a couple of years, and they've really taken a beating from falling trees and weather. Nothing too artsy about these...

Pickup once owned by the Allen Quimby Veneer Mill - long defunct.
quimbytruck.jpg


Olds Rocket 88 side and front views.
olds2.jpg

Olds.jpg


Station wagon.
wagon.jpg


And here's a picture of the ferny road back to my house. It looks shady and cool, but with temps in the 80's and dew point in the 70's and a horde of deer-flies swooping in for bites, I was glad to get out in the open, where there is at least a bit of a breeze.
roadhome.jpg
 
  • #15


They're GREAT!

it's like you're very own archeological site!


I bet if you took some more photos of each and put them up for sale in some car web site, you may get 600 bucks or more (depending on the rarity--research first!) ---for each one----there are 'some' people out there looking for each one of those for YEARS--and you HAVE them---you just got to let others know that you have them and they are available---thanks--great pics

the outboard doesn't count--(unless you WANT to fit in the 'redneck' social standing)
 
  • #16


With a little work, any of those could be my new home!
 
  • #17


Evo said:
With a little work, any of those could be my new home!

(you want his grapes--)
 
  • #18


Evo said:
With a little work, any of those could be my new home!
You might have to share, Evo. There are big patches of wild raspberries and blackberries between the auto graveyard and the house, and there is at least one bear who LOVES wild berries. I wouldn't mind so much, but he/she sometimes tramples good canes to bring the berries within reach. When it came out of hibernation this spring it made a little visit to my front patio one night and tore down my two wire suet-feeders. The feeders are boxes made of plastic-coated welded wire mesh, so they survived the meal, but the chains that they hung from were torn to pieces.
 
  • #19


Turbo-1

Great pics of the old cars. I have an old hard copy album of pictures that I have taken over the years that I call my "things abandoned" album.

I found an old Essex down in a ravine a few years back. I was thrilled, but my wife thought I was nutz.:cool:
 
  • #20


Too bad it's over 1/4 mile back in the woods. I've got a grown-over road most of the way, but there's a bit of tree-cutting and skidding to do if they're ever going to come out of there. There was a Lombard log-hauler abandoned in the woods a few miles from where I grew up. It's a steam-driven tractor with tracks instead of wheels and steerable skis in the front. It made a great "locomotive" for play. I'm not sure that I could ever find it again, and in the last 45-50 years, it has probably rusted into a pile of scale.
 
  • #21


I found a old tractor (I think) driven sawmill in the woods one time--- about a 30 ft. old rotten wooden platform with a three foot diameter saw blade on an axis---I bet the blade is a souvenir by somebody by now.


I'd still post the make, model, and year of those old cars---I would think somebody would pay some fair money for them
 
  • #22
Slightly off topic: The pics of the cars are pretty cool. Not so much the cars, but the way that nature slowly gets control over them. I like movies with apocalyptic scenarios (the world after a global nuclear war or similar stuff, think "Mad Max"), and the vision of how e.g. in a big city where nobody lives anymore all the skyscrapers are slowly overgrown by plants. The pics somehow remind me of this scenario, I mean, the plants slowly getting the cars in their grip. You might want to take good care of this pics, then take new ones in 10 years and compare them.
 
  • #23
I love the photos, I bet that Rocket was one sweet ride. I've seen autos in much worse shape then those, get returned to their original charm.
 
  • #24
Oberst Villa said:
Slightly off topic: The pics of the cars are pretty cool. Not so much the cars, but the way that nature slowly gets control over them.

You mean like this arboreal boot applied to a car that was parked too long?

TreeHugger.jpg
 
  • #25
LowlyPion said:
You mean like this arboreal boot applied to a car that was parked too long?

TreeHugger.jpg

OMG ! No, not really, but this is pretty cool too ! :smile::smile::smile:
 
  • #26
hypatia said:
I love the photos, I bet that Rocket was one sweet ride. I've seen autos in much worse shape then those, get returned to their original charm.
The Rocket was a pretty hot car at the time. In the early '60's my grandmother had a Buick Wildcat that was a handful. I'd love to have that rascal. That little old lady was a lead-foot and my grandfather bought her a big boat - an Electra 225 - to try to slow her down. It didn't help. There was an alarm on her speedometer that could be set to buzz at any speed, and she set it to 80 at a time when the highest speed limit in the state was 60. My mother wasn't too keen on letting me ride with Grammie.
 
  • #27
LowlyPion said:
You mean like this arboreal boot applied to a car that was parked too long?

TreeHugger.jpg

The cars in that photo have noticed bumper growth
 
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  • #28
This is in Polish, so you won't be able to understand what the discussion is about, but it is mostly small talk. However, take a look at the pictures - if you don't have what you like, you have to like what you have. nasciturus69 decided to make his own wrecks :smile:

http://www.werttrew.fora.pl/wasze-bziki,7/rdza-kurz-i-zapomnienie,1676.html

There are much less old wrecks in Poland, as cars here were hard to get and very expensive, so they were rarely abandoned.
 
  • #29
I get this:

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Zaloguj mnie automatycznie przy każdej wizycie:
 
  • #30
lol I think its a log in page?