A professional always makes his craft look easy. That's what you notice about Quenton Eiland as he moves among the topmost branches of the tree, casually slicing off branches with his agrily roaring chainsaw.

His moves seem effortless, even graceful.

Eiland is giving the tree a crewcut as a way to make its removal easier.

While he wields the chain saw, Eiland is suspended from what looks like three flimsey fords.

But they're not. "Each of them will support 700 pounds," said Michael Blight.

He owns the 8-year-old American Tree & Stump Removal, a Fayetteville company that removes unneeded trees and whisks away stumps.

While he's obviously comfortable in his present role, the contrast between it and what he was in his former life could hardly be more stark.

For openers, his work day is now nearing an end at about the time he used to go to work.

Different paths

He was a casino manager, and before that had been a pit boss and croupier, or gambling-table dealer.

A native of England, Blight worked in London casinos. He had risen to be pit boss before succumbing to the siren call of the cruise lines.

"I worked all over the world, on different cruise lines" as casino manager, he said.

He would be at sea for a few weeks and then make his home on the ship for several days before another voyage began.

In the interim, "I was free to do what I wanted," he said, adding that he led a glamorous life.

"It costs quite a lot to get into the United States, legally," he said.

His move to the United States meant he was separated from the work for which he was best trained.

"My career had been taken away from me," Blight said.

Six weeks as a car salesman at Reed-Lallier Chevrolet convinced him that that work was alien to him. By that time, he'd become acquainted with Bill Strickland and joined him in the tree removal business. A year later they parted amicably, and Blight bought a stump grinder and went out on his own.

In 1994, Blight added tree-removing as part of the business. He had spent a long time looking for "the best person in his business" to be the foreman and found him in Mike Nance.

"It stumps me, some of the things he can do," Blight said. "He's incredible."

One feat was removing a full-grown pine after Hurricane Fran at an apartment complex.

A deck had been built around the tree. It had to be lifted out by a crane.

Its operator couldn't see the tree crew from his position on the side of the building, and they couldn't see him. They had to communicate by two-way radios.

There was a 2-inch gap between the deck and the tree trunk.

"We never touched the deck," Blight said of the task of lifting the tree trunk out.

Popular During Storms

When storms strike, Blights always expected his phone to jump out of the cradle.

Before Hurricane Floyd, a few people had called to get on his list in case they lost any trees. Some did.

Blight's phone started ringing a few minutes before midnight and didn't let up for days.

He's also been in demand because of the 22-inch snow in Moore County in January.

His crews recently cleared away some of that storm's debris at Wally Anderson's home in Pinehurst.

"They were professional and did exactly what they'd said they would and when they'd said they would and when they'd get it don," Anderson said. "I'm thoroughly delighted with the job they've done. On top of that, they're a very fine young group of men."