txlonghorn1989
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2017
- Messages
- 2,786
You're probably wondering what squirrels and cut-off wheels have to do with each other. The answer is not a lot but welcome to my world. Short story long as I'm prone to do so my apologies first off. Our house has a greenbelt behind it as do about half the homes in our not too large subdivision. With that come nature's creatures like owls, deer, lizards, snakes, opossums, raccoons and squirrels. My wife wasn't going to plant a fall garden this year because the squirrels have been eating pretty much everything she's planted except for peppers and the Chinese long green beans. A couple of weeks ago she bought a Havaheart squirrel trap based on the recommendation of our beloved son-in-law. To hear him tell it, he had captured half the squirrels in their county the first day he set it out. However, our trap, or I, failed to capture a single squirrel. I could see doubt written all over her face when I explained the trap was too small, too this, that and the other. Neither one of us believed my excuse that our city squirrels were bigger, faster and smarter than our daughter and son-in-law's small town country squirrels. And even though that goll darn Havaheart trap came close a few times it was ruining my trapping reputation. I can tell you're thinking this yahoo probably couldn't capture a turtle if it rang his doorbell. Just so you know I didn't just get off the bus, I trapped 3 raccoons and 2 opossums in about a week a couple of years ago that were also raiding her garden. So when it comes to trapping garden pests I've got a few notches on my gun belt! By Monday though, I was feeling desperate. I did some google searches looking for anything to get rid of our squirrel problem dead or alive! Well, I spotted the Squirrelinator, 24" x 24" x ~5" with two entrances on opposite sides. This looked to me like it should work even though it was easily twice what the Havaheart trap cost. Confidently, I went to the Tractor Supply store and bought it. I set the Squirrelinator up Monday evening baited with the same peanuts in the shell hoping I might have a squirrel (or two!) in the morning. Even woke up early Tuesday morning excited by my dreams of squirrel **********. Lo and behold, when I peeked out the window there were two squirrels in the Squirrelinator trying to gnaw their way through the metal bars to squirrel freedom. Those two squirrels took a one-way ride to a new home in the next county over. By the end of yesterday I'd caught four of the tree rats. My wife was so excited she said the $60 I spent on the Squirrelinator was easily worth $600. Contrary to what I usually would do I wisely did not suggest she could give me $300 in cash and we could call it even. (Patting myself on the back here.) No squirrels trapped today and haven't seen a single squirrel in the yard or running on top of the fence taunting my wife while she works in her study. And now filled with hope that the garden can be hers once again, my wife decided she's going to put in a fall garden.
With my wife ready now to get her fall garden planted, she asked me to put some stakes along the sides of one of her plastic garden beds. She has some old rebar laying under the deck in the back. I figured that would be good for the job and I cut the first four pieces the old fashioned way with my old Craftsman hacksaw. After doing that I realized her other four beds also needed stabilizing. I knew I had a couple of Diablo metal cut-off wheels (made from some kind of fiber (?) ) with my Makita 4-1/2" corded angle grinder. The two Diablo wheels don't look like they are going to last to job completion. One has already disintegrated and the second is about to. I still have three pieces of 1/2" rebar to cut. I believe I probably bought those two Diablo wheels at HD. I seem to recall seeing actually metal cut-off wheels. Wondering if those work better and last longer than the fiber? Also, my wife is prone to hurting herself when she's out in the garden so I rounded off the exposed end of the rebar with the fiber wheel. Worked well at that task but I'm not sure the side of the wheel was intended to be used that way? Maybe I'll round the remaining three pieces of my bench grinder. I'd appreciate the more experienced guys thoughts/recommendations when doing this kind of stuff because it isn't something I've done much of in the past. What wheels do you use for a task like this? I'm not going to go out and buy a chop saw so if we could keep it to wheels for my 4-1/2" angle grinder that would be helpful in getting this chore completed tomorrow. Who knew squirrels and cut-off wheels were a thing? Thanks guys!
With my wife ready now to get her fall garden planted, she asked me to put some stakes along the sides of one of her plastic garden beds. She has some old rebar laying under the deck in the back. I figured that would be good for the job and I cut the first four pieces the old fashioned way with my old Craftsman hacksaw. After doing that I realized her other four beds also needed stabilizing. I knew I had a couple of Diablo metal cut-off wheels (made from some kind of fiber (?) ) with my Makita 4-1/2" corded angle grinder. The two Diablo wheels don't look like they are going to last to job completion. One has already disintegrated and the second is about to. I still have three pieces of 1/2" rebar to cut. I believe I probably bought those two Diablo wheels at HD. I seem to recall seeing actually metal cut-off wheels. Wondering if those work better and last longer than the fiber? Also, my wife is prone to hurting herself when she's out in the garden so I rounded off the exposed end of the rebar with the fiber wheel. Worked well at that task but I'm not sure the side of the wheel was intended to be used that way? Maybe I'll round the remaining three pieces of my bench grinder. I'd appreciate the more experienced guys thoughts/recommendations when doing this kind of stuff because it isn't something I've done much of in the past. What wheels do you use for a task like this? I'm not going to go out and buy a chop saw so if we could keep it to wheels for my 4-1/2" angle grinder that would be helpful in getting this chore completed tomorrow. Who knew squirrels and cut-off wheels were a thing? Thanks guys!
