Messing around in the shop

[JSinMO]

@JSinMO I see a tube on the floor . I assume that it is from the tire . Do you have another or can it be repaired ? As for the rim being rust and ruff ,what you did is a good start . What we use up here to protect tubes from rim damage is to line the centre of the rim with an old tube ,or wrapp it with duct tape . Glad you are having fun in the snow and hope your are is getting better .

I do happen to have a new tube that I used. I grabbed an old tube I had laying on the shelf and cut a strip out of it to line the rim.

Taking a look at the old tube I found the hole!

I put the nail there to mark the hole. I patched it and I’ll leave it aired up for a few days if it doesn’t leak I’ll keep it for a spare.

That hole is on the outside of the tube so I thought I better have a look at the tire. And sure enough I found a thorn that had punctured it.

I got that out a put it all back together. Time to go back to work!

[JSinMO]

My old battery charger quit on me so I thought I better have a look at it.

Not sure what decade of the last century it’s from but I guess 1970’s or 80’s. I suppose I should get a newer one, but I don’t want a “smart charger” for sure. This one is handy since it will charge 6 or 12 volt, several of my tractors are still on the original 6 volt system.
I did some testing and it turns out the wire is broken right at the plug. I dug around in my electric pieces and parts and came up with a replacement.

Good as new, hope it last for awhile longer!

I ended up coming home with one of these propane weed burners the other day. Never used one before, any of you guys have experience with them? I’ll have to play around with it in the spring.

I have plenty of things I could be doing but nothing pressing at the moment, let’s go take a drive around the place and see how things look.

The hills around us still have some snow cover. Made a nice scene.

The pond is frozen over, the deer have really been moving back here. Their tracks are everywhere.

With the leaves all down we can have a look at the old observatory in the field next to ours.

It’s empty inside now, I was told the old telescope was donated to a museum long ago. Must have been quite a sight to see the roof open up and rotate back in the day.

This time of year the bald eagles come into the area to nest and hunt. It’s common to see them riding on ice flows in the Mississippi Rive looking for fish. Usually you could dang near count the cars that come through our little town on one hand. But the Missouri department of conservation and our village hold “eagle days” every year. This weekend the town is packed with visitors, kind of nice to see, but I’m still glad I live outside of town!
They have an eagle they rescued some years ago that they bring to show the visitors, pretty impressive to be up close to one.

[DavidBarkey]

I ended up coming home with one of these propane weed burners the other day. Never used one before, any of you guys have experience with them? I’ll have to play around with it in the spring./quote]
I have the same one . Use it in the spring to burn of the weeds and surface seed before planting the hills . When the seedlings are small , terracotta pots make great heat shields for weeding . Works great and cuts down on the hand weeding later in the season .

[Spike188]

"I ended up coming home with one of these propane weed burners the other day. Never used one before, any of you guys have experience with them? I’ll have to play around with it in the spring."

@JSinMO Jeff, a weed burner can have many uses like stress testing cast, getting diesel to start burning, stipping paint, and stressing wood to name a few.

[Harry]

I purchased a propane burner awhile back to melt ice around my daughter’s house. The side door had so much buildup on the driveway the door wouldn’t open. Since then I used it to start my brushfires in the back yard. I bungee corded the 20 pound grill tank on a two wheel hand cart and connected the hose to the tank. Made it easy to wheel it around in the field. I also used it to preheat a casting that needed repair, thanks for the reminder Spike. They are a handy tool to have in your toolbox. Harry

[JSinMO]

Thanks for the ideas fellas. Sounds like this is going to be a useful tool!

[DavidBarkey]

Lets play guess what I am making .

[DavidBarkey]

second batch of pics

[Spike188]

A variable speed drive sheave. Maybe the spring loaded idler side.

[DavidBarkey]

A variable speed drive sheave. Maybe the spring loaded idler side.

From an old mtd mower . Thats what it was . Can you guess what it became ?