Today I made / bought / learnt .... (for a post oil world) 2

Hagakure_Leofman

One step closer to shedding my chronic oil addiction. Rigged up and test drove my new bike trailer. Details and photos in this thread.

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1396

Hagakure,
I've been following your posts on the trailer avidly. Want to build one for my bike. (See my stupid post in the other thread where I figured out how the steering works.)

I'm curious now about the attachment to the rear axle. I presume that the hitch is slotted, rides on the extended axle, and is retained by a pin on the bottom?

This thing should follow a bike like a well trained dog! I'm impressed enough to try building one. (We have a machine and fabrication shop.) Not to sell of course, and I'll probably make some changes to make it easy for us to build, so no patent infringements. A great magician once said not to worry about how someone else did a trick, but to think how YOU could do it.

I've learned a great deal from your posts. Keep up the good work!
_________________
Local fix-it guy..

Hagakure_Leofman

Brilliant! I've replied to your post in the trailer thread. You could definitely build one. I saw a good example recently and wished I had my camera with me. Tomorrow, I'll take a closer photo of exactly how the trailer attaches so you might gain a few ideas for your own. A bike technician I know told me that he recently repaired a bob saw a lot of action and the bottom mesh was the only issue. In building your own, take into mind punishment from below the bike.

Glad the thread has inspired you!
I've cross posted this reply for continuity.

Lumpy

Hagakure_Leofman

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1396

Worked on the garden tractor, researching a hitch to mount the Brinley plow I got with it. (But nothing came with it to mount the plow.) Plow has Brinley's "sleeve hitch". I found listed on EBay a gizmo to fit my Case 446 tractor, and use the lift for this plow. Cool, except it costs $150 or so by the time you bid enough to get it, then pay freight. One guy had a ruler in the photo, so I did some figuring, sketching, sawing and drilling. Should have it together tomorrow, if business doesn't interfere with pleasure too much.

Also wire brushed and sanded the rust off the plow, got the adustments freed up and gave it a coat of paint. In a few days when that tractor enamel is good and dry, I should be ready for a test run. Still some more sanding to do to get the plow shiny enough to "scour", meaning slick enough that the dirt doesn't stick to it. Has to be mirror bright, to be good.

edit: If this works out well, the next thing is a mini-subsoiler chisel, to dig WAY deep into the clay and help it drain. The plow should be good for 5" to 6" deep, and I'd like to get 12 with a chisel plow.
_________________
Local fix-it guy..

Ludi

Hagakure_Leofman

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1373

Some good things here recently...
We came into an unexpected bit of money. Well, we expected it, but not for a couple more months. So, since it arrived early we've made and/or are making some purchases.

My 1500 gallon water tank was delivered. It's not nearly as pretty as the one I had pictured (the green is a light green, and is more squatty than tall, but it's solid Smile

) but it will work. Apparently it's been sitting out with the top intake hole open to the weather, so there's some algae in a bit of water at the bottom. We turned it upside down to drain (not the easiest task) and now I have to clean it out. I'm thinking bleach and a pressure wash. Anyway, it will be a bit before it's hooked up, but it's here and that makes me happy.

We need to add/re-do guttering before we can hook the tank up. It will collect rainwater off the roof of the house (we had a steel roof installed last year and haven't yet installed guttering). But there's construction needing to be done before we get there.

Today Carlin's getting an estimate of the materials to be delivered to add the new bedroom and half-bath. He's also agreed to make a root cellar through a trap door in the floor of the new walk-in-closet (yay). The addition will give each of the boys their own bedroom, and the addition of the root cellar is something we've needed for a long time anyway.

I'm also looking at plans for a new barn. Ours has worked so far, but it is rather thrown together and has been added onto, modified and changed as our needs have changed. Now it's time to get one that is made for what we need. Since we have dairy goats, and I milk, I'm looking at pouring concrete on the entire floor of the barn and into the new milk room, making it cleaner for milking, and easier to keep clean. Though it won't be so big, I'm looking at something like they have at fiasco farms, with stalls on each side, and a concrete floor down the center asile. That'll be for later this summer, though, and will depend on how much money is left after the other major purchases.

Of course, like always, we'll do all the construction ourselves - so the money being spent is mainly on materials. The only thing I can think of that we might hire out will be pouring the concrete slab for the new barn when we get there.

And finally, we also found a motorcycle for Carlin. He'll be picking it up this Saturday morning. He's like a kid in a candy store - it is a nice bike - and I'm tickled about the money we'll save on gas.

Not a bad couple days.
Kathy

davep

Today I've managed to replace a chevron in the roof without going out on top. It had been leaking around the chimney.

I'm now dawdling on the internet rather than go out and cement round the chimney from on top of the roof. It's a bit scary...
_________________
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. - Buddha

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1396

CarlinsDarlin,
We're thinking about a root cellar as well. Our daughter found some free used concrete blocks on Craigslist, which I'm going after today. They will need cleaned, and will look old, but who cares if they are underground? About 100 the guy said, so several trips with a small pickup truck. We'll still need more, but it will help a lot to stretch construction dollars. Still need more blocks for the solar battery box, too.

If the root cellar does not get done this year, for lack of time, we'll bury a couple barrels, I guess for potatoes, and mulch in the carrots for later use.
_________________
Local fix-it guy..

RedStateGreen

Planted tomatoes, marigolds, peppers, and cucumbers today.
_________________
What, so I'm in no end game
Move my piece right off the board

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1396

I got one load of 34 concrete blocks home, and got rain soaked doing it. The road to this guys place has a sign, "impassable due to flooding during heavy rains". Think I'll wait till the rain stops to go for the rest. (80 to 100 more, and they are free.)

After getting rained out, I hit the plow project again, and got the lift linkage functional. Lots of cut and try involved, when you don't have a sample to copy! But it works now, and I'll finish the welding tomorrow. Looks like I'll have to wait for drier weather to try it out. Our gardens are already tilled for this year, but I'll probably do a spot at our kids' place. In previously worked ground, I'd expect to get an acre a day, or a bit more with this rig.
_________________
Local fix-it guy..

mattduke · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Oct 28, 2005 Posts: 1160

Rabbits ate my garden. I am learning lessons the hard way. Do I have to fence in my entire garden?

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1396

mattduke,
A reliable outside dog running loose will usually put a stop to that, even a nice gentle Beagle will send the rabbits elsewhere. Otherwise, chicken wire netting is cheap and will keep them out, if you stake it down well. A few 4 ft meatl posts, and wire the netting to it. The stuff is very light and rusts out, but if you take it down for the winter it will last several years. I like dogs anyway, so that is my choice.

FWIW Dept. On my concrete block run today, I asked the block mason who was rebuilding this old hog barn was the owner going to make a home out of it? It looked like it, and there was a new septic system. He told me the guy wanted a weekend retreat place. Owner lives in Louisville, KY, and is hiring all the work done. Looks very much like a bug-out pad to me. This place BTW is 6 miles down a hollow from the edge of nowhere. A few farms around, but nothing else. I've seen several such things going on lately. Somebody is getting worried, looks like.
_________________
Local fix-it guy..