Daily Fabrication Thread

[Ed_K]

 If you start on the left side of a sapling you'll get kick back. Always go from the right side and use like Mike said a swinging a mock golf swing. Am I right guys?

[mike_belben]

I havent had it kick or stall yet but next time i use it i will try to see if there is a better side to swing at.  Hadnt considered that, thanks ed. 

[barbender]

It makes a big difference which side you come from, especially when you get up to the upper limit of what one should be cutting😁 

[mike_belben]

Other day i decided to try a little chinese crane mast and snatch block to winch tangled logs from up higher. I didnt plan the attachment for this but got lucky and only needed to weld a tab for the jack base. 


 I need a mechanical helper for some shed framing soon and this ought to do. Also have some shrubs to pull up that are over a slope where the backhoe cant go.  I think with a pair of limbs cut and propped under as a tripod that ill be able to winch them out. 


So while i was at it i asked myself what would @Stephen Alford do, and built a rack to hold everything i would ever want to drag out back.  Everything has its place now, sort of a mobile command post.  We got room for a cooler, grab handles for the kids and even a spot for TP.  Should make for less trips back up to the house now.  Tried the tongs and it was a waste of time, chokers are better. 






My favorite is the saw sharpening station off the side.  As my eyes get worse having the work up close sure helps.  Got dark early today.  Maybe some LED work lights next. 

[Walnut Beast]

Mike your ready for all out war in the woods! I like it! Everything you need even beverages and goodies 👍

[mike_belben]

How else ya gonna keep a 7year old from whining?!

;D


Actually, hes fine all day if you turn him loose with a hatchet.  Her not so much. 

[mudfarmer]

I don't know Stephen but have read a lot of his posts, where's the teapot? ;D

Looking good Mike! Was running a crew one time on a job and it took me a bit to get them to understand that every time they screwed off to walk back for a tool/part/piece that was lost production and probably a pay cut for us all. We worked up some nice carts with everything you'd need for specific jobs and it really ramped things up. Only way to fly is to have everything you need ready to rock and roll.

[thecfarm]

I added a few things on my tractor to make it easier for me too.



 



 



  

No pictures of a plywood box behind the seat. None of the steel artillery box either. I made a place to put a cooler of water too.

[Stephen Alford]

lol...right on brother thats awesome.  My pandemic project was to gear up a barnfind atv.  By the time I lugged saws fuel lunch etc etc etc to the woods the only thing I wanted to do was have a nap.   Found a couple ol ramps from smashed delivery trucks to load it...



 

Got it up and running...



 

as if hauling my own junk wasnt enough i have started yarding other peoples junk....same as wood just shorter twitches...

 

[mike_belben]

Well buddy yer still an old brute to be heaving those ramps up every day.  I used to get around $200 each for them for the junkyard.. Guys building car trailers mostly.  


I spent a lot of time turning my old cheap king quad into a limb fetcher and service truck to go fuel the machines [didnt have a 4wd pickup at the time] and when it was finally all dialed in, the thing is falling apart and just sitting outside waiting to be pushed into the firepit.  Constant intermittent hiccup and stalling.  An oxymoron, i know.  



Thought it was fuel, thought it was valve adjust.. I guess its spark and just wish the part would fail fail so i could ID it instead of throwing parts at it or endlessy tinkering.

[BrushSaw]

 

 Mike you cant give up on the Zuki  .. I revived one from the local power company. Granted it needed brake work, carb boot, valves adjusted, carb rebuild and some fresh gas... 

But this thing  was way before it's time, diff lock, multiple speed ranges, and small enough it doesnt need a trail to make it thru the woods. I wanted to sell it to get a Honda but couldn't part.

[mike_belben]

So Ive got this scrapped service crane with a telescoping stick,  hydraulic winch and worm gear turntable that will be the basis for a forestry crane build in the coming year, i hope. I had to get it out of a corner that is always mushy before the winter rains set in.  I get stuck in this spot every time.

So i laced up one of the bear paws i built on my spare wheels with bald trailer tires off a parts machine to see if theyd clear. which they do.





Made a big difference.  i sunk pretty good but that side clawed me out. The other side wasnt doing anything.  They will dig a fast deep hole if ya overdue it.  Rototills the topsoil.  Horribly lumpy on hard ground.  Real bad.



I have to mod the other chain slightly and put my regular ladder chains on the backs, see how it does in the woods all chained up.  Will build tracks someday, interested to see which will be best.

[Walnut Beast]

Looking forward to seeing the Forestry crane 🏗 

[mike_belben]

Changed the tooth profile on the clearing saw today, its more agressive but also more grabby and abusive to the tool now.  I dont think i like it, especially near fence.










Will be reaming out the bore hole on a husky clearing blade thats very different pretty soon i think. See how that works.


scheming on a bobcat plan ive kicked around for a while too.  

[Firewoodjoe]

I got the on for winter yesterday 

[mike_belben]

Welp, i got my big bucket down from taxachusetts and got it hung then cleaned up the links and shortened pins to length, put on collars etc. 







 Boy has been flogging the wood chip pile for a half hour.  Theyre out of school for atleast the next month and already driving me nuts so i figure 50cents of diesel = small price to pay. 













Still have to rebuild the joystick heims when money comes along.  Right side is barely useable.   Flushed out the last round of red diesel and put 20w hydraulic in today.  Hafta get a filter soon.

[Tacotodd]

@mike_belben  I know it's just an optical illusion but that dog looks like it has horns 🤣

[mike_belben]

Dog dont but some days the kids do!

[Crusarius]

@mike_belben  I know it's just an optical illusion but that dog looks like it has horns 🤣

Dog dont but some days the kids do!

Truer words have never been spoken!!!!

[mike_belben]

Bit of progress on a rainy day.  I finished my deer sled/wood cart and it works great.  Fencepost, rebar, conduit and 14" rubber full of spray foam.. All free junk naturally. 

[Walnut Beast]

One mans junk is another mans treasure!! Nice job Mike 👍

[barbender]

Shine that up and go into production. You'd probably pay at least $200 for that, maybe even an SGU, at Home Depot.

[Tacotodd]

Mike, fantastic!

[mike_belben]

Then to hide from the kids i buried myself in one of the sheds with a file and another clearing saw blade.  This one is a fairly large husqvarna unit that i found in a stack of random blades and unlike any other ive tried, it has tooth set.  Then up at my dads i found a few more styles which all had the same sub 1" bore.. So i machined the hub down on my trimmer head to accept this apparently standard size without any more blade boring like the first one i tried.  



On this saw i started by refacing the mushed teeth to a blunt edge for tryouts and it cut fairly well without being grabby.  I will call this a low kickback, homeowner tooth profile.  Its still a sorta smashing cutter tooth rather than ripping, but it made a real kerf big enough to saw into without smoking or binding in the cut like grass and brush teeth






But im not a homeowner yet, so that had to go.  I filed and refaced the teeth into basically the meanest chainsaw style beak cutters i could manage today.  
















Which turned it into a complete animal.  Its very grabby and kickbacks are serious in 1" and up wood anywhere other than the 4-5 o'clock position where its a manageable animal.  Its basically a skil saw on a stick now, behaves just like one.  

Probably good up to 4 or 5 inch stems with excellent dexterity and ability to cut stuff RIGHT next to keep stuff.  Im amazed.  Will never be without one now.

Thanks @Stephen Alford  !  

[mike_belben]

Shine that up and go into production. You'd probably pay at least $200 for that, maybe even an SGU, at Home Depot.

i hate production.  Btdt.  Ill sell ya the rights for $500 plus a tip for jeff
;)