Highbinder crossed over. Never be forgotten, Running things solo on farm

[LadyDraco]

Cut another  load  of  wood  today.
About like  that other  load.
I'm really digging them Greenworks saws!
They truly run great, no smell , As  soon as  you lighten up on your  grip they stop on a  dime..
Very nice  safety feature ..

I  highly recommend  the  Greenworks  80 V  Pro. It  has  a  4 yr.  warranty and  8 on the  battery..
  The  battery is  a  spring load so she  pops  up when you hit the  battery release.

The  Greenworks Commerical  does  not have  this  feature, But has  others  that the saw  doesn't .
Like  an low  oil safety, and  a  chain /bar check.. This  little red light comes on..
SO you do  have  to figure  what is  up.. I wish the  battery had a  spring as  it is  a SOB  to get out  with my small hands . But I manage.. It's  warranty is  2  yrs.  saw  and 3 on the battery.
The top handle  saw  is  operated  with 1  hand  if  need  be, You know  you are  hanging from the  tree and  limbing .. You can use  1  hand  but of  course  it's  not recommended..

I  have  cut a  lot of  fire  wood  over  20yrs..
It's  also nice  not having to wear  ear plugs  ,IF  you don't  feel like  it.

[carolinarider09]

Never heard of the "Greenworks" line of tools.  Just gave it a look and they look interesting.   May just have to try one out. 

One of my issues is I don't have to use the ICE powered tools very often so, the motors can get fouled.   

Battery sort of solves that. 

[LadyDraco]

The  fellas  that Gifted  me  that big 18" bar 80V GW Pro,  2  fellas  have  the  very one  .
So they had  tested them out  pretty good  before  getting me  one..
The one  Fella Steve said  he  had  4  other  brands .
And  this  one  Out performed . I think they picked  it up at Cosco  of  all places.
   

[3fan4life]

Never heard of the "Greenworks" line of tools.  Just gave it a look and they look interesting.   May just have to try one out. 

One of my issues is I don't have to use the ICE powered tools very often so, the motors can get fouled.   

Battery sort of solves that. 

That is the same reason that I've gone to battery with those same tools.


My cordless drill and some other cordless tools were Ryobi, so I've stuck with Ryobi for battery compatibility.

If you have several battery tools already, I would look at what is available in that same brand.

It helps when the batteries and chargers are interchangeable.

[LadyDraco]

Yes  that is  very true.. Sadly my 2  Green works  are  different batteries..

My  buddy was  told  to stay away from Ryobi for  chain saws.
But the  M18 from Milwaukee makes  a  good top handle chain saw.
But he  saw  the  safety switch dug in his  hand , and  he  said  if  it dug in his  he  knew  it would  be  even more  Un comfy in mine.
    He  said the  Stihl was  nice  . But $$$$$$  And  the  safety was  a  bit  of a  pain as  well, the  push forward. Needed  getting use  too as  well.. .There was something  about the Husqvarna he  didn't  like.

     So that how  I  got the  Top handle  Greenworks 48V  top handle Arborist saw.
And  he  is  right it is  very user  friendly
As  it the  other   big GW saw.. 
 

[LadyDraco]

Morning  it's  50* and  THUNDERING !!

It feels  balmy out.
I repaired  the  woodstove  this  morning .
     It really should  have  been thicker. Sadly I  got the  thickest

I could  find and get ..

The  1" width  was  perfect.

I  had  78" so I said WTH  double  it.

If it  only lasts a  the  season . That's  OK .

It wasn't a bank breaking price.

And  I  still have  plenty left.

I scraped  ,vaccumed,scrapped  again , used  Isopropyl alcohol  to clean.

And  yes  wore  exam gloves. Knowing it was fiberglass..

I  had  already cut off what I  needed



And  installed



Later  today I'll work on the  snow plow..
I  had  to do work on it last week, Added  a  rubber strip  to the  cutting edge.
And  a  skid foot  was  missing and  has  been for  a year. So I   got  2  new  ones.
 I'll load  pic   later. Of that job..

I  just love  it  when jobs  come together  with out a  hitch.

[carolinarider09]

I  just love  it  when jobs  come together  with out a  hitch.

Ahh yes, I know the feeling.  Usually makes me smile. 

 

[LadyDraco]

I still need to put the  new skid feet on .  It  was just too damp and  nasty to lay on the  cement ,

The first mock up for hole marking


I hope this holds for a while till I can get someone to weld on it ,, I even have the very old blade bottom that we have cut a piece off of for something..SO I have a piece that has the square seating..
So when I can get Jason or Charlie to fiddle with it and  add a  piece  to it. 



The finished product.. I have a huge pile of the cut up belting..
So if it wears down who cares I'll just make more ..
You can see how that cutting blade is curved .
I'm very happy with the finished product..
And I did use 2 belts.. I'm glad I did...
I think it came out good..



So all I  have  to do is put it  back on the quad  and  set the  new  skid  feet up..
Maybe  tomorrow

[carolinarider09]

Very interesting.   And good work. 

I built a small trailer once, to tow behind a garden tractor when we were building the house.  Used it to haul tools from the Observatory to the building area. 

I bought a small Arc Tungsten Arc welder to do the work.  I did take a class at the local tech school on welding.  It was fun.

Still have it and the two bottles gas for the flame unit.   One bottle of Oxygen and one bottle an Acetylene.  But they are close to 15 years old. 

Me welding the 4 inch steel rails for the observatory roll off roof.  The mock up of the rails are shown in the second picture below.   It was fun.

[LadyDraco]

Thank you. I was  going through all ways  to just cut that rubber coal belting  strips,
the  stuff  is  almost 1/2  thick..
They used them for  fencing around  here.. I was thinking of  Sawzall, I  just used  a hacksaw and  the vise. Then I  was going to use  a  drill press  to make  the  7 holes.. I  just wound  up using a   hand drill..

That was something  we  both always  wanted  to do .
Learn to weld... Never  did ... 

[da prez]

  Tracy , you are a woman of many talents.  As far as cutting the belts , I have used conveyor belts from gravel pits for jobs. It cuts easy with a sharp Stanley knife. If there is a formed curve in the belt , have the low spot down . Use a straight edge and make several cuts the length. Push down on the outer edges and cut again.  I have been a fabricator for many years and have found a lot of different methods to accomplish the goals.

                                               da prez

[LadyDraco]

Thank You..

Don always  said  I  got  my tinkering from my Mum..
And  him..
I did  try a new blade in my utility knife.
Too much push on them aged  coal belts.
Seemed  a tad  dangerous.

The  hacksaw  was  truly the  easiest .
I  was  lucky that I  have  a  huge  pile  already  sliced  in 4" - 5 " wide long strips .

I  have  some  New Zealand mates  that ask  , If  I'm an Kiwi.. 
They say I would  fit right in ,if  I  ever  move  there..

They have  seen some  of  my other   innovations .. 
On the  farm

[LadyDraco]

Well I brought 2 wheelbarrows around and stacked it in the house rack. Let it dry the dampness off..
I should have done this yesterday.. Oh well....



Yeah they are  not small loads.



Why Don always  call  me  his  little  bull..

[carolinarider09]

 

That is an impressive load in the wheelbarrow.   I am not sure I could handle that.  Excellent!!!!

[LadyDraco]

Thanks there  are  days  where  I do 6 of  them, as you can see the  rings  in front.

[LadyDraco]

The  wind  had  finally stopped  blowing today

And  I'm back in one  piece.  It took 5  skid  loads  off  the  slope

But this  is  a  good  days work. It was a  pandoras  box  at one  point.

I  even broke  a  chain, well the  cotter  pin broke. I was  in

a shite  load  of  brambles. So glad  I  have  my heavy duty Bibs  on..

  The  stuff underneath this  upper  load  needs to be  split .

Still need  to clean up the saws. And  of  course  unload.

It's  all dead ash, and  1  dead locust .

so 2  chains  and  1  winch,  All worked  out good .

HB  would  have  been very proud..

 

LOL that tire  is  NOT  low on the trailer,  that is  how  heavy this  load  is.

I  had to quad  in extra  low  to get out.. And  up the  driveway. She  did  fine

It's  45* cloudy all day , but that was  fine ,

[LadyDraco]

I had about 18 logs to split, I just didn't feel like moving TheBeast to get the splitter out.
SO I bulled through it and hand split 17 of them, 1 log after 8 whacks wouldn't even give me a hair line crack.
It will be an all night'er. I put a sweet tater in the toaster oven before I went out to unload ..
Ya got to love it when ya walk in and know you can go right to eating.
Remembering ya didn't eat all day :fpalm: , Just a caramel here and there. LOL.
Like I said this morning hitting the ground running.
I did have 8 cups of coffee..

[LadyDraco]

I ate  today !  You know  the  stove  is  HOT when Puff  has  steam blowing out his  nose!

[carolinarider09]

I continue to be very impressed with your "chores".   Yesterday my main chore was raking leaves.  Spent about two hours doing that.

It's been a month or more since I did any log splitting and that was just some logs I had gotten pre-cut to use in the smokeless fire pit we bought a few years ago. 

Impressive work.   There is a benefit to this.   It keeps you occupied and your body fit.  Something I probably should do more of.   

[LadyDraco]

which Smokeless pit do you have  ?

[carolinarider09]

Its a Breeo, X series

https://breeo.co/?msclkid=8f3266e5c4eb1485154d0334f953f0f9&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP%20-%20TM%20-%20US%20-%20General%20-%20HV&utm_term=Breeo%20Fire%20Pit&utm_content=Breeo%20Fire%20Pit

Only issue I have is starting it.  I use a blowtorch but it does not like to work pointed down.  But..... It gets things going the best. 

[LadyDraco]

Cool I  had  gotten Don this  one, For  us  when we  would  go stealth camping.
About 4 yrs  ago. For  Christmas.
  Fireside Outdoor https://firesideoutdoor.com/?_atid=fxO62CmNHSBrgs4nh94hSSQJYMqAD7

We were  going to do some  BLM  camping .
And  this  was  100% approved
But we never got the chance.

 I did get to use it here . When a bunch of buds stopped by to help me  this  past fall..
To get the farm ready for  winter  with me..

[BudMan]

That was something  we  both always  wanted  to do .
Learn to weld... Never  did ...  

I took a welding class at our local VoTech. Well worth the time!!

[carolinarider09]

I will try and take some pictures of my welding stuff.  Its old but and has not been used in recent times...

Will also include a picture of my trailer build.

[LadyDraco]

cool ,  would  love  to see  it  all

[Jess from VA]

When I worked in the steel mill, a guy let me try to weld (440 arc).

I got pretty good at sticking rods to the work.  He laughed.  Better stick to painting son.   

Once I put that dark black welders helmet shield on, I could not see one damn thing.

[carolinarider09]

Long post (well not so much in words but pictures). 

I mentioned I did some welding when I was younger.  I think I may have even taken a course at the local tech school (don't remember for sure).  Know I took a course to get my HVAC Certification so I could buy some freon for my 1996 Ford Explorer.

So, I liked the notion of being able to weld.  I did weld the rails for the observatory roll off roof.  I did build a small trailer and a jack stand for the Valkyrie. So....

The trailer was built about 2003 after we started the construction of our current home. The observatory was built in 1990's sometime.  So, I have had the welding gear since the mid to late 1990's. 

Here is a picture of the first thing I built with the TIG Welder a trailer to pull behind our small tractor (actually a riding lawnmower without the mower underneath).

We needed an easy way to get equipment from the observatory where the equipment could be secured to the home building site.  So, I welded this small trailer.  This is a picture as of today.  (I did not count the welding of the steel rails for the observatory roll off roof as "building").



Next I made jack stand for my Valkyrie.  One piece got ripped off when I forgot to "remove" the jack stand before I took the bike for a ride (that was just a few years ago).  It dropped off and broke the one piece off to top.  Still works.
 


So, the welding was done with a Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welder.  In my case a Hobart. It says Hobart 120. 





I also got interested in doing some Oxy-acetylene welding.  I used the system mostly for "bending" steel (as for the jack stand) so I got the tanks.  Also got a tank of inert gas for the TIG welder. If memory serves the TIG wire, if you got the right stuff, generated its own "gas" for the inert gas part.

So the torches, visors/face/eye shields and the tanks. 











Something I did not know, until I purchased the tanks (and I think I sort of had to rent them but I forget), was that the tank for the acetylene was filled with some foam and acetone to hold the acetylene in the tank. Or more from the website linked below: 

Acetylene is unstable in its free state at pressures above about 15 psi or so. Therefore, it is dissolved in acetone to make it stable at the pressures encountered in a welding cylinder. The cylinder is full of a porous material which absorbs the acetone/acetylene solution. The gaseous acetylene is drawn off the top of the cylinder. For this reason, NEVER operate an acetylene cylinder on its side. Always keep them vertical. I personally know someone who incinerated his truck and nearly lost his life by failing to observe that rule.

https://weldtalk.hobartwelders.com/forum/weld-talk-topic-archive/welding-processes/8846-inside-an-acetylene-bottle
 

[LadyDraco]

Cool  stuff and WOW  on that fella..
Thanks  for  sharing...

[The emperor has no clothes]

Long post (well not so much in words but pictures). 

I mentioned I did some welding when I was younger.  I think I may have even taken a course at the local tech school (don't remember for sure).  Know I took a course to get my HVAC Certification so I could buy some freon for my 1996 Ford Explorer.

So, I liked the notion of being able to weld.  I did weld the rails for the observatory roll off roof.  I did build a small trailer and a jack stand for the Valkyrie. So....

The trailer was built about 2003 after we started the construction of our current home. The observatory was built in 1990's sometime.  So, I have had the welding gear since the mid to late 1990's. 

Here is a picture of the first thing I built with the TIG Welder a trailer to pull behind our small tractor (actually a riding lawnmower without the mower underneath).

We needed an easy way to get equipment from the observatory where the equipment could be secured to the home building site.  So, I welded this small trailer.  This is a picture as of today.  (I did not count the welding of the steel rails for the observatory roll off roof as "building").



Next I made jack stand for my Valkyrie.  One piece got ripped off when I forgot to "remove" the jack stand before I took the bike for a ride (that was just a few years ago).  It dropped off and broke the one piece off to top.  Still works.
 


So, the welding was done with a Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welder.  In my case a Hobart. It says Hobart 120. 





I also got interested in doing some Oxy-acetylene welding.  I used the system mostly for "bending" steel (as for the jack stand) so I got the tanks.  Also got a tank of inert gas for the TIG welder. If memory serves the TIG wire, if you got the right stuff, generated its own "gas" for the inert gas part.

So the torches, visors/face/eye shields and the tanks. 











Something I did not know, until I purchased the tanks (and I think I sort of had to rent them but I forget), was that the tank for the acetylene was filled with some foam and acetone to hold the acetylene in the tank. Or more from the website linked below: 

Acetylene is unstable in its free state at pressures above about 15 psi or so. Therefore, it is dissolved in acetone to make it stable at the pressures encountered in a welding cylinder. The cylinder is full of a porous material which absorbs the acetone/acetylene solution. The gaseous acetylene is drawn off the top of the cylinder. For this reason, NEVER operate an acetylene cylinder on its side. Always keep them vertical. I personally know someone who incinerated his truck and nearly lost his life by failing to observe that rule.

https://weldtalk.hobartwelders.com/forum/weld-talk-topic-archive/welding-processes/8846-inside-an-acetylene-bottle
 

That Hobart welder appears to be a MIG not TIG welder. The wire you are referring to is a flux core wire. It is for MIG welding only steel. Aluminum requires gas. TIG welding doesn’t use wire, but and electric arc melting the metal with a metal rod of the same used as filler.

[LadyDraco]

Went up on the  mountain today cut a  little  locust 3  nice dead  poles..
Only what I  can carry on the  quad. But it  did  fill my wheelbarrow  up .
Yeah I  took  my roc straps. So the  load  was   pretty good..
Cleaned  the  spring, it has  a nice  flow.. Checked  all the  junctions.

Off  to feed   and  let the  cattle  in.. They are  looking for  grain...

[carolinarider09]

Me, I just raked 10 or so wheelbarrows full of leaves and pine straw.  Not much work today. 

Sounds like you have a good day. 

[LadyDraco]

Yeah till I  had  to fix  fence, Tore  my hand  up with a  glove  on from HI- tinsel Barbed  wire.
 I  just get all the tools  put up. Quad  away.
Fix  my hand up.. Sit down the  phone  rings .. One  of  your  Young-ins  is  at my place..
   get back up  grab a  coat gloves get the  quad  out gate  open close , get down below  Yupper   my 2yr  bull is  at the  neighbors.
I  think the  big bull tossed  him over  the fence.  As  the  Big bulls  mum is  in heat . And  the  Big Bull will not breed  her, but he  doesn't want anyone   by her  as  well..
    At least the  kid  when right back with ease, Neighbor  helped  me  with the  fence.
I  hope  they  settled  down..

[LadyDraco]

I had  to work on fence  yesterday, from 10 am till  4:30  made  for  a  long day.
I  needed  a  t post, I  have  plenty  around  on the  farm just doing nothing , that's  what ya  find  when a  place  has  been around for a 100yrs.  Don use  to help me  pull them when we  needed  one  or  2 ..
    SO I  needed  to figure  something  out ,That I could  pull  alone.   
I  did  think of  an old  tractor  jack, but we seem to have lost ours in a  few  moves. That happens.
 Of  course  these  T posts  are not in the  best of  places  for  a  tractor.
SO I  had to figure  out something  for  the  Quad and  the  winch  !

I  had  rigged  up my own device. Didn't  have  a  whole  lot of  room.

I  used screw pin anchor shackle  , a  mate told me  that's what it's  called:
It looked  just like  this  below.



It fit over  the  post  tightly Then when I  added  that little  bar that screwed in on the  end.

And  then hooked the  hook from the  winch. She  couldn't  move  up the  post..

I  had   worked  the  T back and  forth a  few  times  to loosen the  spade bottom.
These are  in the ground  about 2+ feet .

About 5 up and  downs  of  the  winch and  plucked it out like  a  bad  tooth.

It sure  did  squat that quad  a few  times. I strung 3 strands  of  top line  barbwire,
Where   we  did  the  quick fix the  other  night.

I  had  to cut my stretcher  down with my chain saw.

Why you might ask,  well the  bottom of  the  handle was  so rotted I  had  to cut the  bad  wood  off  till I hit solid.

Thank goodness they have  such long wooden handles , this  one  was probably 70 yrs. old!

SO cut maybe  about 12" + off it.. At least it  fits in the  quad  basket nice..

It still worked  Just fine ..
This  is  just a  file  photo from the  web.





Some  of  the old  locust  posts  I  was steepling in, I  had  to pre drill the  holes .As it was just bending my 2" steeples. They are  the 4 barbed kind steeples .I sure  would  have  liked  shorter  ones  , But  2" was all I  had around .



Thank goodness I  only needed  1  T post..But I  will pull more .
The  set up I rig  really worked  well.




I  hay the  stock today as  well..



I did  have  a  nice  chat with a  dear  friend  today..
Made me  forget  just how  body sore  and  tired  I  was..
And  that truly helped... 

[carolinarider09]

Again, I am truly impressed with your work and your ingenuity.  Frankly, I have always thought that was what we Americans were all about.

But you have just given a good documentation as to why it's true.

Also remember the old adage "need is the mother of invention". It is what we are good at when we are allowed to or need to produce.

[LadyDraco]

Thank You I'm trying my best .. 
 

[f6john]

Thank You I'm trying my best .. 
 

How big a herd do you have to keep an eye on?

[LadyDraco]

Only 14 head,4 are bulls ! 2  steers, the  rest are cows.
3  old  mares.

I need  to sell some  beef on the  hoof

[LadyDraco]

The 27th is  coming up 5 month mark..
I would  be  honored  if  ya'll would  have  a  toast with me ..

I was  really hoping it would  get easier, but it  hasn't.
It just the  new  normal.. And  it Sucks..

[carolinarider09]

I would be honored to raise a glass on the 27th.

Your writings, however, inspired me to do some work here at our place.

With the new (to me) car in the garage area, it being a little longer than the 1996 Ford Explorer it replaced and the tractor in the same area, I could not get the car all the way under the garage.

So, had to move the tractor down to the workshop. 

To do that I had to move some trash that is laying there ready to take to the dump (It was in a wheelbarrow), move 20 2"x6"x16' treated pine boards (to be used to replace some of the porch flooring that is begins to decay, and some general cleanup.  So....

First, moved the 2 x 6 x 16's inside the workshop (will be moved out next week to replace the deck boards but....( don't want them out in the rain). 



Cleaned up the area and then moved the tractor in.





Here is the cleaned area in front of the picnic table.



Oh, and I forgot, I put the side broads on the trailer so I can carry that trash I had to move to the dump.




Just a nice fun day (and it did rain a little.).

[Jess from VA]

Oh, and I forgot, I put the side broads on the trailer so I can carry that trash I had to move to the dump.

I'm not the spelling police (like some).

But I'd like to see a couple pictures of the side broads on the trailer.  


I keep two Interstates in a 10 X 12 shed.  The only way they fit is to get the first one in as close to a wall as possible (it's not like you can just drag the rear end over).  Then shim the kickstand to stand it up straighter.  Then the 2d will drive in, but it's a tight fit.  So I ride one for 3-5 months, then switch them around.  Today I had both out, cleaned and shined, aired tires, filled tanks (non ethanol), checked fluids, and ran them.  The shed floor is carpeted.  So I drug the big vacuum out and ran it around.  Then took the (trunkless) supervalk for a little shakedown in anticipation of warm weather the next few days.  They are both in perfect tune, but the 107K mile supervalk has always run smoother than the 57K trunk Valk.

Not bad for 24 years old.