August 2025
FRANKLIN, Ky. — Larry Wood, 70, has been around long enough to remember when sawmill safety was more suggestion than standard. His grandfather, who was born in 1898, logged the hills of northern Tennessee with mules and crosscut saws. Back then, the rule of thumbwas one log per long wagon, Wood says.
Inside This Issue
COVER: Backwoods Degree
FRANKLIN, Ky. — Larry Wood, 70, has been around long enough to remember when sawmill safety was more suggestion than standard. His grandfather, who was born in 1898, logged the hills of northern Tennessee with mules and crosscut saws. Back then, the rule of thumb was one log per log wagon, Wood says.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
SOUTHERN STUMPIN': Spotlight On: Russ Wood
People in the southern loggin’ community, especially near my neck of the woods around the Montgomery, Ala., area, have long been very familiar with J.M. Wood Auction. It’s been around as far back as I can remember. So it was with some surprise a few months ago that we at Hatton-Brown saw the news: J.M. Wood Auction was to be acquired by another famous logging equipment auction company, Ritchie Bros.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW: Beach Bums
Hope you are making plans to attend the Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show in Starkville, Miss., in October! The Backwoods Pew will be there, and we will be hosting a morning prayer meeting just outside the main gate each morning at 7 a.m., so come join us and stop by our table. —Brad
If you live in the Carolinas or have ever vacationed at the beach in those states, then you may have seen the beach bums around the inner dunes along the beach.
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Backwoods Degree
Kentucky Logger Larry Wood Left Lecture hall to forge 40-year logging legacy.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
FRANKLIN, Ky. — Larry Wood, 70, has been around remember when sawmill safety was more suggestion than standard. His grandfather, who was born in 1898, logged the hills of northern Tennessee with mules and crosscut saws. Back then, the rule of thumb was one log per log wagon, Wood says.
His grandfather lived across the street from the mill where he worked and sold logs in Moss, Tenn. Wood remembers playing over there as a kid and helping load logs with a cant hook. “OSHA would cringe and die if they pulled up on a place like that today,” he laughs. “No wheel loaders running around, nothing to enclose the saws, no trip standards within the sawmill and logs rolling right off.” But those memories stuck in his young mind and helped shape a lifetime spent in the hardwood timber business.
For a while, though, he pursued a very different path in life. Wood’s mother always encouraged him to go to college, so he did, earning two degrees from two different universities in Kentucky. He earned his bachelor’s degree in outdoor education from Murray State University and a master’s in park administration from Western Kentucky University. Wood later returned to Murray State, this time not as a student but as a professor. There he taught park administration and outdoor education full time for four years.
He also ran a national outdoor education program for high schoolers at Land Between The Lakes national recreation area through a TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) grant administered by Murray State. This Upward Bound program accepted high school students from low-income backgrounds across the U.S. and Puerto Rico and taught hands-on outdoor skills in a summer camp style format. There were pros and cons to his career in academia, Wood found. “I loved teaching and loved my students, but never liked the administration,” he says. “I worked all the time cutting logs to get through school for my master’s, and these folks had no idea what hard work was. They’d stroll in on Monday mornings, come to my office and shoot the breeze; meanwhile I’m close to having a nervous breakdown because I feel like I’m not getting anything done.”
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