BBChevro
Well-known member
Sorry to hear about the loss of your old friend Andy.
Wishing you & yours all the best for 2018.
Wishing you & yours all the best for 2018.
Above 1200 Sq/FT Cleaning Up My Shop
- Thread starter oldironfarmer
- Start date
Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
Guster
Well-known member
Gotta be a good sort if he had your respect and going by your recollection of him I would have liked him too. My condolences.
Pretty soon you have a whole new year to have a crack at... lot of time for more old stories and some new ones!
Is that a half a Studebaker in your workshop?
Pretty soon you have a whole new year to have a crack at... lot of time for more old stories and some new ones!
Is that a half a Studebaker in your workshop?
slimpickins
Well-known member
Sounds like I'd be ashamed too! I'll have to look that movie up!
Sounds like a winner!
Cheers
Bogdan M.
Well-known member
I sometimes read GJ in bed, on my phone, before going to sleep.
Yesterday I read the story of Mr. Lee and really got stuck in my head.
Quite an interesting story about a very special man, a true professional.
Sorry for your loss!
Yesterday I read the story of Mr. Lee and really got stuck in my head.
Quite an interesting story about a very special man, a true professional.
Sorry for your loss!
bolensboneyard
Well-known member
Andy sorry for your loss. Those of us who were lucky enough to have mentors, and I suspect they are many, can certainly relate to your sorrow. The older we get the less likely we are to have access to the staff of their knowledge to lean on; The humility they taught, by their example, leaves us now accessible only to those who seek us out! This can leave us feeling lonely, at times, while we wait to share what will only be available for a short time. May God give us the patience of Mr. Lee when we exchange and receive the knowledge we are blessed with thanks to their kindness!
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drivesitfar
Well-known member
Andy: i know you've already made breakfast, fed the cows (and bull), fed Hershey and probably even started a fire in your stove in the shop you just hooked up in your SPARE TIME that took a couple Saturdays, but i wanted to wish you a very RELAXING SUNDAY and hope you can maybe have some quality time with your family.
great story about YK and you speaking at his funeral he had for co workers in Tulsa. again sorry for your loss, but sounds like his daughter might be stopping by for a visit and give your mole or arm another FREE LOOK. smart does carry on through the GENES doesn't it? again sorry to hear your friend's time was up, but i know he'll be talking to you for many years to come.
here's to another good year above dirt for both of us and all the great GJ MEMBERS we've come to know throughout 2017 and prior to that.
cheers buddy and enjoy your 313 Saturdays in 2018 along with those relaxing 52 Sundays and i'll try to do the same.
great story about YK and you speaking at his funeral he had for co workers in Tulsa. again sorry for your loss, but sounds like his daughter might be stopping by for a visit and give your mole or arm another FREE LOOK. smart does carry on through the GENES doesn't it? again sorry to hear your friend's time was up, but i know he'll be talking to you for many years to come.
here's to another good year above dirt for both of us and all the great GJ MEMBERS we've come to know throughout 2017 and prior to that.
cheers buddy and enjoy your 313 Saturdays in 2018 along with those relaxing 52 Sundays and i'll try to do the same.
jimreed2160
Well-known member
Andy, that was a very moving story about your buddy, YK. We live on in the memories of others and your tribute honored his memory with great respect and love.
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Thank you! I rang in the New Year with the Irish an hour ago. So far so good!
Gotta be a good sort if he had your respect and going by your recollection of him I would have liked him too. My condolences.
Pretty soon you have a whole new year to have a crack at... lot of time for more old stories and some new ones!
Is that a half a Studebaker in your workshop?
Collectively nobody ever met anyone who did not like YK.
It's the top half of a Studebaker...
Thanks for stopping in
Thanks for your comments. Garage Journal has done a great job helping me honor Yee Kwok Lee.
Thank you!
Very perceptive comment. Mr. Lee worked for me for many years, but was always my superior.
Thanks for the kind words! My surgeon friend came back today. He ground on the knife we had forged for him earlier. His wife and daughter came also and the girls and I made a broom for the mom then we used the sock machine to knit a muffler from yarn made from their angora goats. We had such a good time I forgot to take pictures again.
I don't know what has gotten into me. I think I'm good for another year.Thank you! I could have had no greater respect for any man than for YK Lee. And I don't say that lightly. The same way I feel about my father.
Thanks one and all for such a great year. I believe 2018 will turn out even better!
Rex_A_Lott
Well-known member
Happy New Year! Sorry to hear about your friend, Mr YK. Thanks for sharing the story.
Wishing you the best for the new year, looking forward to your adventures in retirement.
Wishing you the best for the new year, looking forward to your adventures in retirement.
sean Buick 76
Well-known member
Fantastic stories about MR Lee, he was an amazing man I can tell! I deal a lot with Engineers of various disciplines in my oil and gas construction work and it becomes frustrating to everyone many times... The mix between education, experience, and knowing who to ask for information is what sets the great engineers apart from the rest. Take care and best of luck in 2018!
sgfarm
Active member
Happy New Year. Wishing you and your family an happy healthy and prosperous new year.
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Happy New Year! Sorry to hear about your friend, Mr YK. Thanks for sharing the story.
Wishing you the best for the new year, looking forward to your adventures in retirement.
Thank you! And I'm looking forward to what's next, too. It is great to have health, a few dollars, and all the time I can stand to do as I please.
Very true words. Engineers with no common sense seem to be the norm. Those few give the other 2% of us a bad name.
Happy 18!!
It seems like it's almost over, a little more winter, pay taxes, get hot, cool off and it's 2019 already.Thank you very much.
Same to you and more of it!!
Thank you Vladimir. I wish you a prosperous and healthy 2018!
Hate to lose good engineers. It was interesting, at the memorial service were probably 40 non-work friends, predominately of Chinese descent, a young couple fresh from India whom YK had befriended, and maybe six retired engineers. All good engineers, and I got to thinking, just the six of us could still do more than the average group of 40 engineers, and we're all sitting home watching daytime TV. Not really, each one is active and learning new things.
One must be ready, retirement age is coming, like it or not.
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
My new doctor friend came with his family to do some foundry work and a little blacksmithing. We hammered out a knife blank from a six inch piece of 3/4" sucker rod. They were kind enough to provide a couple of videos. Everybody likes to see the trip hammer work, and we had a chance while flattening the round bar to let it hit hard for a couple of minutes.
Forging a Knife Blank
Then we started tapering the blade by hand. The doctor started then his 20 year old daughter tried her hand at it. She is a mechanical engineering student with an interest in many crafts (she wanted me to show her how to turn beads on a wood lathe) so I have high hopes for her being an excellent well-rounded engineer. She is not afraid to get her hands dirty.
Hana Hammers
They came back New Year's Eve and worked several hours, even celebrating the New Year with the Irish.
Forging a Knife Blank
Then we started tapering the blade by hand. The doctor started then his 20 year old daughter tried her hand at it. She is a mechanical engineering student with an interest in many crafts (she wanted me to show her how to turn beads on a wood lathe) so I have high hopes for her being an excellent well-rounded engineer. She is not afraid to get her hands dirty.
Hana Hammers
They came back New Year's Eve and worked several hours, even celebrating the New Year with the Irish.
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Then after 2019 the Optometrists are in trouble. We'll all see 2020.
Enjoy the year! At least what there is left of it.
Drives:
Finally got my bull video up. He is still hobbling but doing slowly better. Notice he didn't hobble as much as I got closer. He was afraid I'd try to touch him. Just like a woman.
Just a little more bull
TMcCay
Well-known member
Andy,
Sorry for your loss. But it looks like you have picked up some to friends to share your knowledge with.
I have enjoyed your stories and lessons from the past year ( I have been following along since the start of your thread) and am looking forward to new year of adventures that you share with us.
Happy New Year Andy!
Sorry for your loss. But it looks like you have picked up some to friends to share your knowledge with.
I have enjoyed your stories and lessons from the past year ( I have been following along since the start of your thread) and am looking forward to new year of adventures that you share with us.
Happy New Year Andy!
Farmall450
Well-known member
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Andy: i don't know about you, but I'm loving my Saturdays and Sundays too for that matter even though there are less of them so don't rush us through 2018 so fast cause there are lots of stuff to build, and things to do while we teach and learn and make a few more friends. here's to your slow winter in your warm shop while you finish the StudeDakota truck for your granddaughter.
thanks for the video of the bull and you know if the vets do find the right meds or the bull pulls out of this while also giving you more calves you might have saved a lot of bulls from the butcher before their time.
at least he likes Hershey even if he hasn't warmed up to you yet so give him some more time.
cheers and have a great day.
thanks for the video of the bull and you know if the vets do find the right meds or the bull pulls out of this while also giving you more calves you might have saved a lot of bulls from the butcher before their time.
at least he likes Hershey even if he hasn't warmed up to you yet so give him some more time.
cheers and have a great day.
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Thanks for the kind words! I'm looking forward to finishing up the Studebaker floor and moving on to other work.
That's pretty neat Andy. Proud to be the first like on youtube
Happy New Year!
Thank you so much!
Knowing how fast it goes is my way of making sure i slow down and enjoy it. Thanks for your visit!
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Andy, I enjoyed the video of the hammer in operation as well as the one of the bull. As he was heading for the gate I had the odd feeling I had seen that before. After an hour or two in the car, that's my gait for the first dozen steps.
Hubscrub66
Well-known member
Happy New Year 2018, I miss the 1980s I was born in 82 but I do remember simpler times even at my age I wish I could have seen the 40s 50s etc.I have to go to back to work tomm, so my week and half of Saturdays is over.(don't feel I accompiled much)
just thank God I'm able too.
I was born in 82 but I do remember simpler times even at my age I wish I could have seen the 40s 50s etc.I have to go to back to work tomm, so my week and half of Saturdays is over.(don't feel I accompiled much) just thank God I'm able too.
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Thanks for the videos, Andy! That looks like fun.
Definitely my kind if way to spend NYE...instead of trying not to be run off the road by a fool when I wouldn't bite when he tried to challenge me to a road race. The force was not strong in that one.
jbmatth
Well-known member
Andy,
Just wanted to let you know I'm still around and watching. Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. It was cool to see the video of the knife making and seeing a young engineer in the making getting her hands dirty.
JB
Just wanted to let you know I'm still around and watching. Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. It was cool to see the video of the knife making and seeing a young engineer in the making getting her hands dirty.
JB
dreamingmuscle
Well-known member
I love the credits in the docs videos.
sawduststeve
Well-known member
Evening Andy
Great forge vids, thanks, is it cold in the shop, next to the fire and white hot metal you look well wrapped up ?.
The Bull looks well, livestock is such a worry, we lost 50% of ours before
,
(2 chickens) the other 50% ( 2 chickens ) look healthy enough though.
As long as i get my eggs for breakfast we're good to go.
May I wish you and your family a very happy new year, what's left of it.
Best wishes
Steve
Great forge vids, thanks, is it cold in the shop, next to the fire and white hot metal
you look well wrapped up ?.The Bull looks well, livestock is such a worry, we lost 50% of ours before
,(2 chickens) the other 50% ( 2 chickens ) look healthy enough though.
As long as i get my eggs for breakfast we're good to go.
May I wish you and your family a very happy new year, what's left of it.
Best wishes
Steve
dreamingmuscle
Well-known member
Your bull reminds me of a story I read many years ago in the Readers Digest I believe.
Long story short the bull calf was born in a ice storm and froze to the ice. By the time they found him he was in pretty bad shape. The rancher was going to put him down but as usual the young daughter wouldn't let him. He became the daughters pet and was as gentle as could be.
Although crippled in the back legs. They decided to turn him out with the cows, after they A.I.'d them, to see how he would do. After watching him try to mount the cows only to be kicked off or out ran they didn't have much hope for him . Well after all the AI calves came along. Another batch showed up a month and two months later.
It turns out that after tiring out with no success he gave up chasing the cows. But discovered that if he was patient the cows would come and nozzle up to him when they were ready to be bred and wouldn't fight him off. Then he could mount em weak legs and all.
So all might not be lost with him after all.
Long story short the bull calf was born in a ice storm and froze to the ice. By the time they found him he was in pretty bad shape. The rancher was going to put him down but as usual the young daughter wouldn't let him. He became the daughters pet and was as gentle as could be.
Although crippled in the back legs. They decided to turn him out with the cows, after they A.I.'d them, to see how he would do. After watching him try to mount the cows only to be kicked off or out ran they didn't have much hope for him . Well after all the AI calves came along. Another batch showed up a month and two months later.
It turns out that after tiring out with no success he gave up chasing the cows. But discovered that if he was patient the cows would come and nozzle up to him when they were ready to be bred and wouldn't fight him off. Then he could mount em weak legs and all.
So all might not be lost with him after all.
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OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Glad you liked the videos!
Hmmm, if that matches your gait, maybe you'd cover some cows for me?
Happy New Year 2018, I miss the 1980s
Interesting concept that the 80's were simpler times. I guess everything is a matter of perspective. I was born in 49 so I was a kid in the 50's. As a teenager in the 60's I miss those years. I remember wanting to go to San Francisco when I graduated high school summer of 67. But I was too practical and stayed home to go to college in the fall. Sometimes I wish I had just taken off and gone.
Thanks for the videos, Andy! That looks like fun.
Definitely my kind if way to spend NYE...instead of trying not to be run off the road by a fool when I wouldn't bite when he tried to challenge me to a road race. The force was not strong in that one.
I like using the trip hammer, but don't do it often. Usually when making a chisel or like this, needing to make a bar from a rod. Most work just takes a few well placed blows. This was fun to really hit it hard for several strokes, and the video looks better. I didn't notice the smoke flame as I was concentrating on getting a consistent shape on the bar. You control the blows with your foot on a bail operating a cone clutch. It's not real smooth so you have to concentrate on the metal, the hammer, and the clutch bail and don't have time to enjoy the noise and action.
The motor pulley is worn down and needs work, and the idler pulley I made years ago has had the glue separated by oil and need to make a new one. It still kind of works but will come apart one of these days.
Got to watch out for road rage, it's becoming the norm.
Glad to have you visit! I forged out the blank but he and his daughter did most of the hammering on the blade. He'll run the trip hammer the next time around.
The daughter is sure interested and eager to learn. Refreshing.
Thanks. Credit where credit is due. It's all true. I figured most people would ignore the credits so it's fair game...
Evening Andy
Great forge vids, thanks, is it cold in the shop, next to the fire and white hot metal
The Bull looks well, livestock is such a worry, we lost 50% of ours before
(2 chickens) the other 50% ( 2 chickens ) look healthy enough though.
As long as i get my eggs for breakfast we're good to go.
May I wish you and your family a very happy new year, what's left of it.
Best wishes
Steve
It was about 40F that day. The blacksmith shop is unheated and drafty so we had some cool air. The iron and fire will heat you, but a jacket will insulate you from too much heat as well. In real cold weather your feet will freeze while your arms roast. We just had a short job to do, hammer out the blank and make a poker for his wood stove in his shop. I could have removed my coat but would have had to put it right back on.
Sorry about the decimation of your flock. I've lost hens to a fox, one at a time. It was no fun for me or them...
Thanks for the visits, guys. I started on the Studebaker today, then had an acquaintance come by to get me to help him replace a brake line on his pickup so I didn't get much done. Tomorrow!!
shortykorte
Well-known member
Wonder how big of knife is needed to cut through the **** n bull stories. Oh well, we’ll just forge ahead in the new year.
2018, year for corny comedy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
2018, year for corny comedy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Very interesting story. What hits me is the AI wasn't very well done. They're better now, I think, and am thinking of going that way if the bull was to fail, but he's looking better now.
It's not the size of the knife, it's how sharp it is.
I'm reminded of a phrase "not the sharpest knife in the drawer", guess that's me
Corny comedy, eh? Well, you know you get what you pay for. Not sure how this free humor is working out for you. I have a pay per view thread if you want good humor. Then you could call me the good humor man...
dreamingmuscle
Well-known member
I read the story some time ago 10 maybe 20 years even. Your bull just brought back to mind.
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Farm work today. Well for watering the cattle stopped. Fortunately it was just a bad duplex outlet. But on an outside wall took a while in the cold wind. Got the well running so while I was filling the stock tank I figured it would be a good time to tighten up the Bobcat tracks, the temperature was coming up. They are supposed to have between 1" and 3" sag and probably had 5", in danger of getting caught on a tire and overloading an axle bearing.
The tracks from McLaren in CA came with a nice tensioner. That's it hooked under the track.
The tracks are cast and have pairs of holes. To tighten you shift bolts from the end holes to the inner holes. A lot of the slack is from wear on the bolts.
I'm sure the links are wearing too, but when I remove bolts I turn them around like track pins. At some point I'll have to replace all the bolts and links.
I took up two adjacent pads because there was so much slack.
That's the adjusting tool on top. It has to be used under the track because it holds the pads up as well as pulling them together.
I didn't move the tractor when tightening so I'll get some slack from the rest of the chain when it is moved around. This is a little less than 1" slack but I'm sure I'll have over 1".
The tracks from McLaren in CA came with a nice tensioner. That's it hooked under the track.
The tracks are cast and have pairs of holes. To tighten you shift bolts from the end holes to the inner holes. A lot of the slack is from wear on the bolts.
I'm sure the links are wearing too, but when I remove bolts I turn them around like track pins. At some point I'll have to replace all the bolts and links.
I took up two adjacent pads because there was so much slack.
That's the adjusting tool on top. It has to be used under the track because it holds the pads up as well as pulling them together.
I didn't move the tractor when tightening so I'll get some slack from the rest of the chain when it is moved around. This is a little less than 1" slack but I'm sure I'll have over 1".
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OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
I figured it was some time back. And most people use a cleanup bull as well. If I go to AI I'm looking at February so I'll have November calves. Nice time here because you have no flies to bother the kids until they get larger, and young calves do well in our minimum temperature, usually around 5F.
But you interrupted my track tensioning epistle.
The other side was maybe worse. When I first got the tracks I was trying to keep them too tight. Makes everything wear more. So both sides weren't tightened evenly. I just tightened whichever side got loose.
The adjusting holes were really packed with hard manure on this side, so I had to get a piece of baling wire to dig it out. Fortunately I had a little pile about ten feet away, where I've been throwing it for a few years.
Rinse and repeat
Looks like this side will need tightening again soon, but I need to use it a few hours before determining that. It is less than 3" so if it is within specification it does not need to be adjusted.
Back to the shop tomorrow, I hope!!
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dlcwent
Member Emeritus
Hi Andy. I just wanted to warn you that I'm still around. Post me a link to your pay per view thread, I'll subscribe. I doubt the humor is any better than this one.
Happy New Year. Maybe this will be the year you catch me leaning on your fence, and talking to the cows. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Happy New Year. Maybe this will be the year you catch me leaning on your fence, and talking to the cows. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
OP
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Thanks for stopping in! You can just send me $20 and pretend this thread is a pay per view. I'll tell you when you owe more...
Life is busy and gets in the way too many times. You know you'd be welcome at my humble abode any time. It would be great to have you. If you're here when Don swings by you can help me check his trailer on the way out the gate
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Andy: up to your old tricks again with BOB i see. I know you could probably design and build a better BOB if you didn't already have so much on your plate, but i'm curious if using grade 8 or higher bolts might be something to help you with the WEARING DOWN ISSUE.
i've got a bin of 3 or 3.5 inch long 3/4 inch 400 alloy bolts that i think some of the guys say could go up in space or on a submarines exterior. how big are your holes?
speaking of DON you might want to take your bride for a little road trip and visit his PARTY GARAGE IN PERSON cause he really does love STUFF and he might have more stories than you about almost all his things. he does still love the hunt so i wouldn't be surprised if he brings a commercial truck with an empty container to Kansas and Oklahoma to pick up a few things for his new WESTERN TOWN he's been talking about.
good to hear you might get some shop time or maybe a chance to CLEAN UP while i spend this month trying to vacate one of my 20x20 storage units and take a few days off to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary now that we are empty nesters (we do still have a cat though telling us what to do).
cheers
i've got a bin of 3 or 3.5 inch long 3/4 inch 400 alloy bolts that i think some of the guys say could go up in space or on a submarines exterior. how big are your holes?
speaking of DON you might want to take your bride for a little road trip and visit his PARTY GARAGE IN PERSON cause he really does love STUFF and he might have more stories than you about almost all his things. he does still love the hunt so i wouldn't be surprised if he brings a commercial truck with an empty container to Kansas and Oklahoma to pick up a few things for his new WESTERN TOWN he's been talking about.
good to hear you might get some shop time or maybe a chance to CLEAN UP while i spend this month trying to vacate one of my 20x20 storage units and take a few days off to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary now that we are empty nesters (we do still have a cat though telling us what to do).
cheers
dreamingmuscle
Well-known member
But you interrupted my track tensioning epistle.
I'm sorry for being rude. It won't happen again I promise. Can I please hang around still.
Glen
sublime68charger
Well-known member
I'm sorry for being rude. It won't happen again I promise. Can I please hang around still.
Glen
you Have to pay double for the Pay per view video's from now on,
or Andy say's your back in the clear!
dreamingmuscle
Well-known member
You guys are just being mean now. You know I can't afford to pay double.
booch
Active member
Andy, I don't want to tread too heavily on your thread, but it's good to see you getting Bob back on track.