He won’t go so far as to say he never saw a small engine he didn’t like, but J.C. Hullum Jr. has a fascination with them, and one that doesn’t run presents a challenge he just about can’t resist.

He wants to hear that engine roar or putt-putt or whir into action, to see it biting into a log or landscaping a lawn or clearing an overgrown area.

Give him just a little while to assess the reasons the chain saw or mower or weed trimmer doesn’t run, and it’s a sure bet he’ll have it going again.

There’s no way to even guesstimate the number he’s worked on in his shop or under the big oak near his house on the old Hullum place on Campbell’s Swamp Road.

The home where his grandparents and parents lived is within sight, and large oaks still mark the spot across his driveway where his great-grandparents’ home once stood. He was born in Vicksburg on Feb. 16, 1952, the son of J.C. and Edith Sharp Hullum (the J.C. stands for Jerrol Calvin).

His fascination with engines began when he was 4 years old. His dad had an old 9 N Ford tractor, “and I would sit on his lap and drive that tractor. That’s what got me started.”

He was in high school at Warren Central before he showed a real aptitude for mechanics and remembers the first mower he had. He doesn’t remember where it came from or what kind it was, “but I took a hammer and literally destroyed that thing. After that, I started fooling with ’em and it has escalated over the years.” He said he was never licensed or certified to repair small engines, “But I know how to do it.”

After high school, he spent two years at Hinds and then went to work for LeTourneau, later worked for Melsheimer’s, and since 1991 has been working for the city of Vicksburg.

“They (the city crews) were still running the old Gravely walk-behind tractors,” he said, and for a while he worked on tractors and mowers but now he does “anything that needs to be done,” regardless of the department because, “The way I look at it, it’s a job.”

He’s learned his trade, he said, “by asking a lot of questions and listening to the guys who already knew, listening to what they told me.”

There were lots of trials and errors, he said.

“But I learned from the masters — Julius and Fred Melsheimer, and now from their grandsons, the Katz brothers — Luke and Fred. I learned from Bill Strong, and from the Cooks, from Ernest Krueger and from Richard Beasley at the co-op in Port Gibson.

When he was a lad, he and his brother Ted cut the grass for several of their great uncles, Milton and Romey Hullum and Charlie Luckett. Those days are in the past, he said, for now yard work has become big business with crews doing a landslide landscape business for big bucks.

J.C.’s first riding mowers were two old Craftsmen he bought from Francis Vriesen but since then — and that’s been quite a few decades ago — he’s tried just about every brand and has a lawn mower graveyard to prove it. Name a make or model and he’s either owned one or worked on one. He still cuts some grass for family and friends and keeps up Antioch Cemetery where he started with a Cub Cadet but now uses a Kabota.

He’s seen a lot of changes in small engines and thinks of every particular one as a challenge, especially now because of computerized components.

“If you start simple, it will usually work itself out,” he said, but “this technical junk is confusing and it’ll mess you up.”

Not every broken-down mower or saw or trimmer can be repaired — or is worth repairing, J.C. said. Some are so obsolete you just can’t get parts for them — and he has several antiques engines that fit into that category.

Something that has recently caught he attention, he said, is the number of older mowers he has seen Clyde Strong working on at Katz Brothers, “partly because some of the older ones are better than what’s being made now and I think it also has something to do with the economy.”

Engine repair is also a seasonal thing, he said, for “a lot of people wait until the grass is growing before they want their mowers serviced.”

Following a few simple rules, he said, will increase the life of any engine — things like changing the oil and draining all the gas out of them in the winter months. “Just start it and let it run until it’s out. Never use old gas. A major problem is being caused by ehtanol in the gas. Both Stihl and Red Max add a stabilizer to the oil they market to mix with gasoline.”

Many of the mega-stores sell products that aren’t intended to last more than a season, and J.C. calls them “Chinese throw-aways. They don’t want ’em to last.” His personal favorite chain saw is Stihl — preferably one of the older ones made in Germany — and you have to get them from a dealer.

Though he worked on some big equipment at LeTourneau, his specialty is the small stuff, or as he said, “from

huge machines to little old things.” He doesn’t work on his car or truck — “They’re too complicated” — so he leaves

that up to Blackburn Motor Co.

Added to his knowledge of what makes an engine run, added to his success in his vocation, is his wife, Sue, “who is not into mechanics at all,” but he credits her with being the major factor in his career. They married in 1975, and she works at the Department of Human Services.

“She’s a patient lady,” he said.

Though much of his work comes from friends and neighbors, much comes by word-of-mouth because many of the guys he works with will tell a friend with lawn mower or chain saw problems, “Take it to J.C.”

As long as people buy lawn mowers, trimmers and chain saws, J.C. will have plenty to keep him busy.

Besides, he said, “I just like doing it.”

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Gordon Cotton is an author and historian who lives in Vicksburg.