HUN Chapter 111: The Legendary George

Lin Yu'an showed no panic at all. He released the clutch, and the winch stopped pulling.

He quickly walked to a previously positioned turning pulley, disconnected the steel cable from its original straight-line route, and hooked it into the pulley fixed to a large tree on the side.

He started the winch again. This time, the steel cable exerted force from the side, and the front end of the massive log was cleverly pulled to one side, precisely bypassing the rock.

He said to David who had caught up, "See now, the direction of the pulling force has changed."

"That's amazing!" David watched in astonishment.

Throughout the entire transportation process, he constantly utilized the terrain and pre-positioned pulleys to adjust the log's forward route.

David and Mike became his temporary assistants, and both were quite interested in this novel experience.

"David, help me watch that pulley over there. If the steel cable is about to jump out, give me a shout!"

"Mike, watch your footing. That slope over there is steep!"

After nearly two hours of arduous effort, that heaviest and longest twelve-meter main beam was finally successfully dragged to the lumber storage area beside the foundation.

When Lin Yu'an unfastened the choker chain from the log, both his and David's foreheads were covered with fine sweat.

"Alright, the most difficult one is done."

Lin Yu'an caught his breath but didn't rest for long.

He said to David, "We need to pick up the pace. Before dark, we must transport all the remaining sections back and complete our goal of one tree today."

Over the next several hours, Lin Yu'an displayed amazing efficiency.

With the experience from the first attempt, transporting the subsequent four-meter short sections became much faster.

Lin Yu'an began continuously repeating the process of positioning steel cables, dragging, and dismantling.

By evening, when the last log of the day was transported and placed in the storage area, Lin Yu'an's "hundred-day plan" first day was completed perfectly with the cutting and hauling of one giant tree.

They returned to the tent and filled the massive cast iron stove with firewood, continuing to keep the entire shelter warm.

To replenish the day's enormous physical exertion, he decided to make a hearty dinner.

"David, Mike, don't turn off the camera yet. I'm going to start cooking, which can also be recorded as material."

Upon hearing this, David immediately got up from his cot and pulled Mike to stand in front of Lin Yu'an outside.

They saw him taking out flour, moose meat, and various bottles and jars of seasonings they'd never seen before from the supply boxes.

In front of the camera, he kneaded dough, then chopped the onions bought in town, mixing them with seasonings.

Then he rolled the dough into thin pancakes, sprinkled them with chopped onions and brushed them with oil, rolled them up, then rolled them out again.

Finally, he set a wok on the cast iron stove, brushed it with oil, and placed the scallion pancakes in to cook.

"Sizzle!" The sound of the pancake hitting the hot pan instantly released the aroma of cooked dough.

Soon, scallion pancakes with golden, crispy exteriors and distinct internal layers came out of the pan.

Meanwhile, the large integrated pot-stove outside continued stewing steaming hot moose meat and potatoes, this simple dinner in the Alaskan wilderness.

"Oh my God, Lin!"

David bit into a large piece of crispy scallion pancake and closed his eyes in bliss.

"This... this Chinese pizza tastes incredible! How did you think to make it like this?"

Lin Yu'an smiled, "I didn't think it up. In China, this is a very common homestyle cooking method."

After dinner, David and Mike were so tired they could barely keep their eyes open, and Mike quickly fell asleep.

But Lin Yu'an and David didn't rest immediately, the two continued filming.

Lin Yu'an took out professional tools and began meticulously maintaining his Stihl chainsaw.

For professional chainsaws, daily maintenance after work is crucial.

He first removed the outer casing and used a small brush to carefully clean away the wood chips accumulated on the cooling fins and air filter.

Keeping the air filter clean at all times is essential, otherwise it affects the engine's air intake efficiency, causing power loss.

Then he removed the guide bar and chain, washing away residual resin and dirt with kerosene.

Finally, he took out a round file and a metal angle gauge with angle markings.

He used the "angle gauge" to hold a cutting tooth, then used the file to push forward at a fixed angle, one, two, three strokes.

When David replaced Mike in recording Lin Yu'an's chainsaw maintenance with the camera, looking at those massive logs beside the camp, he raised a new question.

"Lin, now that the wood is transported here, but to stack them into walls, I see that many log cabin timbers have flat top and bottom surfaces, like building blocks. How do you do that?"

"And all this wood needs to be debarked, right? This looks like another major project."

Lin Yu'an put down the chainsaw in his hands and answered, "That's right, before stacking, I still need to complete the debarking and flattening work."

"What you're talking about is a more mainstream construction method now, processing logs into flat-topped and bottomed 'D' shapes or squares, which stack faster and more stably."

"But to complete this work, cutting with chainsaw attachments alone is still too inefficient. We need more professional equipment."

"If I had a portable band saw, that would be the real miracle tool for turning these round logs into standard building materials."

"As for the debarking work, that's much simpler."

Lin Yu'an walked to the supply boxes and took out a precisely structured metal attachment.

A blade head like a small planer that could be fixed to the front of the chainsaw guide bar, with two rotatable planer blades on top.

"This is a chainsaw attachment debarker. It uses the chainsaw chain's power to drive the blades to rotate at high speed, peeling bark like peeling an apple, with efficiency dozens of times that of manual draw knives."

He said to David, "Tomorrow, my Stihl chainsaw will transform. It will no longer be just a tree-cutting tool, but will become a multifunctional debarker! Wait until I demonstrate it for you tomorrow, and you'll understand."

The next morning, after eating a high-calorie breakfast in the warm tent, Lin Yu'an's hundred-day plan officially began its second day.

Today's task wasn't just pure physical output, but also included skilled timber processing work.

He didn't immediately walk toward those massive logs transported back yesterday, but first returned to his supply pile and took out a precisely structured metal attachment.

David and Mike immediately followed and began filming.

Lin Yu'an displayed one of the attachments in front of the camera, "This is the chainsaw debarker, which allows us to quickly remove bark."

Lin Yu'an first skillfully removed the original guide bar and chain from the Stihl chainsaw, then steadily and quickly installed this debarker attachment.

The entire installation process took only a few minutes, and he was as skilled as a veteran carpenter.

He started the modified chainsaw, the engine's roar sounded again, walked to a four-meter-long wall log, and gently aimed the high-speed rotating debarker head at the rough bark.

"Whirr..."

Accompanied by a sharp friction sound, large chunks of bark and white wood chips were instantly thrown off, revealing the white and smooth wood underneath!

Lin Yu'an controlled the chainsaw, moving at a steady speed slowly from one end of the log to the other.

Wherever he passed, the rough bark was "shaved" off layer by layer, like a giant automatic pencil sharpener peeling a pencil.

Soon, the bark of a four-meter-long spruce log was completely stripped clean.

"That's about right, this counts as properly debarked." Lin Yu'an turned off the chainsaw and examined the smooth wood surface.

David's voice was full of amazement, "This is faster than me peeling potatoes! If using traditional tools, peeling this one log would probably take an entire afternoon, right?"

"Yes David, if using traditional tools, efficiency would indeed be slower."

"So this is the charm and significance of modern machinery. It can free us from repetitive physical labor and allow us to focus more on technical work."

Over the next several hours, he used the same method to debark all the logs transported back yesterday.

Beside the camp, several white logs emitting the fresh scent of pine resin suddenly appeared.

Just as they were discussing the day's subsequent plans, the sound of an engine approached from far to near.

The visitor was their old friend Stan! Today he was driving a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle, obviously making a special trip to check on Lin Yu'an's progress.

When he saw the mountain of white debarked logs piled beside the camp, even his usually impassive face showed obvious surprise.

"Lin, your progress looks very rapid, even the bark is stripped."

Stan jumped down from the all-terrain vehicle, walked to a processed log, and ran his hand over the smooth wood surface, seemingly looking for any overlooked details.

"Just normal progress, Stan. Want some coffee?"

"Of course."

Everyone sat by the fire, and Lin Yu'an took the opportunity to present his dilemma to this "local expert."

"Stan, I've encountered a problem. I want to process this wood into flat-topped and bottomed styles, but I lack a band saw."

Stan smiled, as if waiting for exactly this question.

"I was just about to talk to you about this. On my way here, I was thinking you'd definitely be planning how to build your house next."

He took a sip of hot coffee, and his tone became serious.

"Lin, it looks like your woodwork is beautiful, but what about the foundation?"

Stan hit the nail on the head, pointing out the biggest challenge of building houses in the far north: "permafrost."

"On this kind of permafrost, if you can't handle the foundation problem properly, your log cabin will fall apart within two years."

David's heart tightened as he immediately realized this was another enormous challenge worth documenting!

Lin Yu'an remained calm and nodded, "You're right, Stan. This is also my biggest headache for the next step."

"I've researched it. I need to drive deep piles below the active permafrost layer and create an independent foundation."

"But this project, especially the concrete material transportation part, would be difficult to handle with just me and this small loader."

"My original plan was to wait until summer comes and large vehicles can get in, then find others to help."

Stan put down his coffee cup, looked at Lin Yu'an, and said slowly.

"You don't need to wait that long. There's an old buddy in town named Old George. When he was young, he was a professional in construction, worked on the North Slope oil fields for twenty years."

"No one understands how to deal with the permafrost here better than him."

Stan paused, a glint of amusement flashing in his eyes, "And he's got a portable band saw that he treasures like a baby, which is exactly what you urgently need right now."

This information energized both Lin Yu'an and David!

Stan stood up and brushed the dust off himself.

"Come on, kid, stop wrestling with these logs. I'll take you to visit him. It's time for you to meet other neighbors."

"Whether he'll agree to help you and lend you his precious sawing machine depends on your own skills."

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