Zachary Hoyt
Well-known Member
I have made what I think may be the ugliest farm implement since the archetypal mud fence, but it works pretty well so far. This summer I finally taught myself to weld a little bit with an old AC
stick welder. A friend loaned me a book he had from a course in farm welding and metalwork. I bought a strange trailer at an auction for $25 and cut 2 feet out of the top of the arched frame
and added 1 foot to the bottom on each side, and then used the tongue that had come on the trailer. At first I used an old piece of pipe I had on hand for the boom, but on the second log I was
carrying I bent the pipe so I made a new boom from the side rails of an Allis WC that I had parted out a few years ago. The cylinder and hose are borrowed from the haybine. I can lift the
whole log a few inches off the ground, which keeps the log cleaner and avoids making ruts. Some of the logs I have carried have weighed over a ton according to the online log weight
calculator, but of course that's just an estimate. It's been a fun project and being able to weld has made a lot of repairs easier and faster. Around here we have two people who weld that I
know of, but one is a very heavy drinker and somewhat unreliable and the other one has a day job at the boiler factory and gets booked up for a week or two out a lot of the time. I know my
welding has a long way to go, but at least it seems to be holding so far and I hope to get better eventually.
Zach
stick welder. A friend loaned me a book he had from a course in farm welding and metalwork. I bought a strange trailer at an auction for $25 and cut 2 feet out of the top of the arched frame
and added 1 foot to the bottom on each side, and then used the tongue that had come on the trailer. At first I used an old piece of pipe I had on hand for the boom, but on the second log I was
carrying I bent the pipe so I made a new boom from the side rails of an Allis WC that I had parted out a few years ago. The cylinder and hose are borrowed from the haybine. I can lift the
whole log a few inches off the ground, which keeps the log cleaner and avoids making ruts. Some of the logs I have carried have weighed over a ton according to the online log weight
calculator, but of course that's just an estimate. It's been a fun project and being able to weld has made a lot of repairs easier and faster. Around here we have two people who weld that I
know of, but one is a very heavy drinker and somewhat unreliable and the other one has a day job at the boiler factory and gets booked up for a week or two out a lot of the time. I know my
welding has a long way to go, but at least it seems to be holding so far and I hope to get better eventually.
Zach
