The Derelict Ranch: The New Derelict Garage

[dcmus]

WOW! An incredible amount of work.....and potential!

 

[egnorant]

Liking what I am seeing! I cleaned mine out and all I got was a 1996 Aspire! Throw in a bunch of "Ts", tractors and such and I would have exploded.

Bruce

 

[fergus]

Yeah, its all cool stuff. The problem is there's only one of me! I never finished all the projects I had started before we moved here...jeez.

The speedster "ran when parked" but apparently was parked due to a tired motor. As the story goes, Grandpa was driving it into town for the parade, but couldn't even make it up the freeway overpass cause the compression was so low. So there's a whole 'nuther project.

 

[fergus]

So I had been holding on you guys for a while...got the old '43 Jeep running a while back. Drug it out to the ranch this weekend. Its a ton of fun to run around on - like getting the mail, or running down to the end of the field. Made a short vid. Excuse the cruddy camera work if you will.


JeepRide1 by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

 

[fergus]

I had a greatly unwanted break from garage cleaning - a slow shower drain forced me to attempt to snake out the clog. Well, first time ever I got the snake stuck. Completely. So I figured out I had reached the septic tank.

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

I hate being right. There was a rag wrapped all around the snake which caused it to bind up. Genius.

Onto random cool pic/find of the day:

by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

All of Grandpas blacksmithing tools!!! Plus some dollies and body hammers! I was so happy I almost cried. Now to make sure nobody else has plans for them... blacksmithing is something I have wanted to do forever, just could never justify. I already have a blacksmith's vice and a blower if you remember. Yeah baby!

I almost made my goal for last night of parking my jeep in the garage. I made some decent progress again.

by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

The whole south wall is cleared out, and I can actually see the east wall again! I've got to figure out what the story on the stove is so I can know what to do with it. Hopefully the guys will come back this weekend and pick up the body or the touring T and I can complete the cleaning, then start moving in for real.

 

[jb3]

You are doing a great job keeping yourself focused on getting it cleared. No 3 months breaks saying screw it

 

[fergus]

No way man. I'm wanting to move my stuff in ASAP.

 

[bolensboneyard]

Got your work cut out just cleaning up. But must be some treasure there

 

[egnorant]

I can SOOOO relate to this!

Septic tank adventures, but mine involved cows and frogs rather than just a snake.
Finding cool old tool and resisting the immediate urge to play with them.
Totally cool and useless stove.

I look at the last picture and nearly have flashbacks! Ladder that is scary only 60% of the time, 2 (or more) trash cans that fill up too fast, big stuff in the way, stuff I am not sure if I should throw away, "where is that dang dustpan!!", I'm gonna need a bigger broom, look at all this room/****!

I still recommend taking down to completely empty at one point. might be just on a pallet outside the door while you blow out the cracks and sweep the floor, clog the rat holes or...I'm sure you have your own list.

You might put some stuff right back where it was, but it is your choice to put it there.

Bruce

 

[fergus]

Hahaha ^^^ you read my mail Bruce!

Ladder = shady
2 trash cans: put in liner, fill, drag out, empty, repeat
Big stuff...meh. Need a tractor.
Shovel grew legs.
Found ANOTHER adjustable/pipe/weirdo wrench...think I can save it...how many wrenches does one guy need?
Trying to save only stuff that is really truly useful. I'm shooting for mostly empty by the weekend. I'm becoming more merciless on throwing stuff out.

I'm running out of time. I got a lot of stuff to do before the rains get here.

 

[Knyte Tyne]

Absolutely Awesome Score on those Blacksmith tools. I share in the need to want to start working hot metal... I recently got a tree stump - Now need the Anvil - The forge - The tools - The everything hahaha. Space is coming together. I know how much of a pain it is to chase the weather. I hope you get as much done as possible before it hits.

 

[LB-1911]

No way man. I'm wanting to move my stuff in ASAP.

Get you jeep moved in?

Your getting there.

 

[fergus]

Absolutely Awesome Score on those Blacksmith tools. I share in the need to want to start working hot metal... I recently got a tree stump - Now need the Anvil - The forge - The tools - The everything hahaha. Space is coming together. I know how much of a pain it is to chase the weather. I hope you get as much done as possible before it hits.

Yeah there's a lot to it. I'm very lucky that I just get to walk into all this stuff.

Get you jeep moved in?

Your getting there.

Ahhh - BUSTED! I didn't. I did make a load out of the old paint and pesticides that were where I want to park the Jeep. AND I cleared off one whole work bench. But I did run out of gasoline and haven't been to town yet.

I was too tired to do much this morning - both my knees are hurting and so is my ankle - I've had to snake the drains four separate times now to get all the blockages (rags) out and all that work on my knees is getting to me.

So instead of real work, I went to the dump, Home Depot and In-n-Out for a early cheeseburger. Got something to help keep the rats out of the shop. I'll post a pic a little later.

 

[fergus]

Well, you guilted me into it. I cleared some stuff out last night and backed the Jeep in - just to feel like I've actually accomplished something.

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

It has occurred to me that I don't yet have a solid plan for the shop when I get everything clean. I have a general outline, but I'm not sure how to make everything flow. I want to have a master plan and not move everything like las time.

Here's the rough out line:

Left bay: Old car storage. I've got two cars plus a bunch of parts that are going to live there for now. That's already underway.

Center Bay: Open for working on vehicles and large projects. My reasoning is that the middle has no walls, so its easy to have vehicle doors open, as well as undercarriage work that requires extra space on the side of a vehicle.

I'm also thinking that towards the back wall, I will have welding/metalworking type stuff. Maybe some welding curtains will be hung up on rails for easy spark containment.

Right bay: Woodworking tools and eventually a woodworking bench. Table saw will reside sort of between the center and right baysMaybe a small office area in the future. It seems for some reason, I prefer to have my main work area on the right side of the shop. Maybe because I'm right handed? I have no idea. The man door is also on the right hand side of the shop.

What do you guys think? Is there an optimal workflow orientation theory out there? Any good threads?

 

[clippedwings]

Is the Jeep an MB? Also what year?

 

[LB-1911]

Is the Jeep an MB? Also what year?

So I had been holding on you guys for a while...got the old '43 Jeep running a while back. Drug it out to the ranch this weekend. Its a ton of fun to run around on - like getting the mail, or running down to the end of the field. Made a short vid. Excuse the cruddy camera work if you will.


JeepRide1 by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

 

[fergus]

It is a 1943 GPW. It belonged to my grandfather - he purchased it in the early 1960s. My mom learned how to drive it when she was 8. I brought it home about 5 years ago. Runs very well. I've rebuilt the trans, carburetor and countless other small things. The plan is for a motor pool restoration. It is not a numbers matching jeep - the engine is out of an MB and was likely swapped out at a motor pool depot in France - it has a French rebuild tag on the motor.

 

[SouperGrover]

I live in LA now, but grew up in a Midwestern farming community with plenty of scenes like this, so this whole cleanup is very nostalgic. Thanks for sharing your progress from beginning to end. Very excited to see this through with you.

 

[fergus]

That's cool man. I grew up in L.A. county... Glad to have you along for the ride.

 

[fergus]

More cool pics from yesterday. A few things my neighbor gave me when I hauled some scrap for him:

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

The plane is a Bailey 5-1/2 and the vise is a Wilton! Score.

 

[fergus]

Very cool pic of the day:

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

This was buried in a corner of the shop. Its likely that there are no objections from that the fam that it stays right where it is.

 

[ZRX61]

Ya better go register that Lathe on the SB registry

Serial# will be on the tail stock end of the bed.

 

[fergus]

ZRX,

Cool man, thanks for the tip. I was wondering where the serial # was!

 

[fergus]

My goal for the day was to get these shelves completely empty and out of here. If you look at earlier pics, you can see they were completely full of old paint and automotive products. Abiding the 125 pound/15 gallon limit (CA DOT), it should only take me 5 trips to get rid of it at the dump. We'll see...

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

If anybody does not know what having rats around looks like...

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

I was worried that this dust might mean termites - it was totally part of the rat mess though.

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

 

[jwith68]

About a month ago, ...
Ranch... The Beginning by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

...Anyway, wish me luck.

Fergus, great project you have there and super progress so far. When you get past the shop cleanup and re-furb, and other things that must be done, and get to the old iron, that Farmall 706 will make a great project.

They can clean up pretty nicely with a bit of elbow grease.


This is an old picture (15 years old, hard to believe!) but she still looks pretty darn good today.

 

[BuickFarmer]

Congrats on the move. Love the old farm house. You gotta be having some more fun going through all of gramps old stuff. I know you're wanting to get it all cleaned up and all but be careful what you take to the dump.
Subscribed.

 

[Zeke]

Tim, you're killing me. My grandmother had a place near Wasco pretty much like yours. My grandpa died when I was little and she stayed on farming the land (with hired help, of course). I spent my summers there when in school until she died before she was 60. All of the things you have shown were there and then stolen over a short period of time, Word gets around fast out there in the country.

Oh, and I have a '44 GPW.

 

[fergus]

Well yeah, the 706 is a neat machine. Unfortunately though, an uncle believes it's his, and will likely try to sell it. It sure would be nice to have an old IH around...they are a fairly capable machine.

Congrats on the move. Love the old farm house. You gotta be having some more fun going through all of gramps old stuff. I know you're wanting to get it all cleaned up and all but be careful what you take to the dump.
Subscribed.

Thanks 'Farmer. I'm having some fun...followed by more WORK. I'm careful whilst cleaning up. I go through every box, every pile, every drawer before I toss it. A lot of the good stuff was already gone I think, but as you can see, a few really neat things are still hanging on.

It's quite interesting that the majority of tools I have found are ones that I did not already own...some planes, brace and bits, reamers, stuff like that. I'll post up when I've got everything cleaned up a little better. It won't be too long til I'm done cleaning.

I believe that I am on my last load of trash out of the garage.
That makes 10 loads total. So far

 

[egnorant]

Rats are such lousy tenants! I spent 3 days in my mask, trash bag gloves and waders while scraping up rat damage. My favorite tool was a triangle garden trowel and putty knife (flexible). Luckily I have an all metal building so I could seriously soak everything and power wash.

My rickety shelves held up for decades until I unloaded them and tried to move them. Literally had to sweep up shelf parts to get them out!!??

There are a few new muscles in your face that may get a workout making the EEEWWWW!! face and those ghost itches that you know are some sort of critter or 70 ready to destroy you but have fun!

Get a floor squeegee. I got a 24 inch foam one and it seemed small when the shop was empty but is just right now that I have stuff in the way.

I will say this was the hardest part of my cleanup. I kept wanting to put it off and jump into some of the more exciting stuff. Had my electrical stuff but was operating off a single quad outlet so I had music, a fan and a couple of worklights. My lift was outside on a pallet and wood for a workbench was sitting over there with a couple of loose vises and a grinder that were tempting me to blow off chipping dirt dauber nests and spider wrangling.

Bruce

 

[fergus]

Zeke,

That's one of the reasons why we moved within about 3 weeks notice: Nobody was living at the ranch.

Truthfully, there isn't a whole lot of valuable things left, even the Model T stuff isn't really all that valuable. We do have a whole houseful of antique furniture all crammed into two rooms. But I think more it is sentimental value. Also, the amount of usefulness to be gained from the equipment and tools will be immense. All of that requires a little bit of effort though.

One bite at a time. (Breathe deep, you know?)

PS. Pretty sweet that you've got a GPW...Need pics of your '44!

 

[xtremek]

Great progress. I have the shorter version of that ladder. We used to call it the "Ladder O Death", but I added a cross brace. Now we call it the "Ladder of Severely Maiming". And boy am I glad I don't have rat issues. Keep up the good work.

 

[MrQuinn]

Oh what an adventure... We have the Old Model T Ranch here. It's a wrecking yard or a wonderful portal into a time long past. I see things in your pictures that make me smile. More like an adventure worth taking...

It looks like you have a good handle on the place so far. The rats and associated mess are an unfortunate find though. Thanks for the pics and the Jeep video too. I think the lathe was a real deal in the day, it must have been a major investment in the day for him.

Good luck, and good fortune to you too!

 

[LB-1911]

I believe that I am on my last load of trash out of the garage.

Your gaining on it.

 

[fergus]

Day 30

So yesterday morning I hauled off the 10th load of trash out of here (11 if you count the scrap metal run). Approximately 11 tons so far. That's the last load out of the garage!!! Cleaned up the last big rat nest that was under a cabinet the drill press was sitting on.

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

Ironic the little buggers dragged a bunch of dust masks under there. Its almost like they were flying the middle finger at me. Whatever.

Everything left of the transit tripod is the "keep" pile. Argh. I threw out everything that was not eminently useful. That pile is probably about 95% tools. Same holds true for the pile outside the door. I'll likely give a bunch of stuff to my brother in law.

Untitled by Tim Ferguson, on Flickr

Not one to rest much, we've already started another load of garbage - cleaning off the back porch today...we tossed out two cabinets and all their belongings as well. So load number 12 is already underway. Yikes.

 

[SouperGrover]

Keep it up, Fergus! Many people would be totally overwhelmed by the amount of work you are putting into this renovation. But once it's done, you're going to be extremenly proud of what you went through to get to the end.

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

Im confused and intrigued. You move to the farm and seem to have gotten saddled with task of clean up, yet you dont get to keep much of the stuff?

 

[Jo Diesel]

View media item 21429Here is a picture of what you need along the bottom of your siding to keep the rats out.

I would start at your left wall and insulate and sheet then get some shelves up floor to cieling to get some of the stuff your keeping out of your way. My shop is heated all winter and when it is hot stays at least 10deg cooler than outside. With a window AC unit I can keep it 75.

DRAW A PLAN. I did not do this and I really wish I had started out with a written map and make a lot of notes of what I wanted. If you take a trip without a map you don't necessarily get where you wan't to go.

 

[fergus]

Keep it up, Fergus! Many people would be totally overwhelmed by the amount of work you are putting into this renovation. But once it's done, you're going to be extremenly proud of what you went through to get to the end.

I'm keeping my head down man. I do get overwhelmed, but the secret is just to focus on one small task at a time.

Im confused and intrigued. You move to the farm and seem to have gotten saddled with task of clean up, yet you dont get to keep much of the stuff?

Yeah, we're keeping what we need. When it comes to the power tools, I think everything will stay here. I have quite a few handtools, so I don't mind sharing the bounty. I honestly couldn't deal with a half dozen antique cars. The uncle says the 706 belongs to him. I'll likely end up just buying an old Ford 8n, JD A model or Farmall Super C or something else gas powered - much cheaper to maintain - I just don't need diesel power for what I'm planning to do.

 

[SouperGrover]

DRAW A PLAN. I did not do this and I really wish I had started out with a written map and make a lot of notes of what I wanted. If you take a trip without a map you don't necessarily get where you wan't to go.

^^^^^^
THIS

I'm going through a multi-phase shop build myself and change my mind on what I want at least 3 times a day. I'm going as far as to create a model in Sketchup so I can see how things will fit together more accurately. If doing things on the 'puter isn't your style, at least get out some grid paper and draw it out. You will be VERY happy you did. Especially since you are a long way from the end and have a long time to keep changing your mind on what you want

 

[fergus]

Yeah, I've already downloaded Sketchup on my new machine...hopefully get a rough plan this weekend.