How'd it go today?

Splitter bits.. autocorrect and no reading glasses... The little pieces of wood that fall from big pieces when they don't split cleanly along the grain.

I like hand splitting. My body says "yes" for a while, then my wrists and runs will hurt for a few days, so machine splitting with a 4-way wedge.
 
Recently I began considering trading my 18' tandem axle trailer for a 14' single axle tilt trailer. I have a long list of advantages and only 2 disadvantages. First of all, I have had 2 accidents in the last year with the 18' trailer. Maybe my age or maybe I am just not as good of a driver as I think I am. But the constant tire issues, banging stuff with the fenders, and dealing with the ramps every time I unload are all irritations for me.
I am looking at a 14' single axle, 7000 lb capacity tilt trailer. I would need to build a frame mounted rack over the front of the bed to hold my extra attachments that I currently carry in the front of my trailer. I also have a few other mods to customize the trailer exactly how I want it, nothing too crazy. I can sell my current trailer for about $2k I think. New one will be about $4000 plus modifications. Here is a link to the trailer I am looking at (Alabama dealer has it for $1000 less than local dealer). Equipment Trailers for Sale Leeds Alabama | Trailer Dealer | 4RATU1413SG016842
Pics of my current trailer.View attachment 145649View attachment 145650
I just realized I never updated you guys on my new trailer. After buying it, I had the rack built and several other mods. I added a step on either side for my gimp ass top get up easier, I have a holder in the front for my cheater pipe for closing my chain binders, I added a mounting plate for a small bench vise for sharpening saws and I moved the spare tire mount to one of the rear stake pockets to rebalance the tilt deck (adding the rack to the front frame actually put weight on the front of the tilt deck).

I am super happy with how it turned out. My fuel mileage has gone up from 5.4 to over 6mpg and it is so much easier without having to deal with ramps every time I load or unload. IMG_20250629_103604531.jpg IMG_20250629_103634231.jpg IMG_20250713_135436391_HDR.jpg IMG_20250713_135500019.jpg
 
Chipper has been parked infront of the shop for weeks waiting on me to get the drive to go do more work on it

walked by it today and noticed the entire bottom of the infeed table is covered in cracks, looks like the torch is coming out tonight and some slightly major welding is about to take place, practically have to rebuild the whole table, its bent so I welded it open a few years ago, and I'm just about to go all the way with making it a fully reinforced welded feed table since it'll never shut right anyways
 
Today was nasty humid. I welcomed the storms that moved in. Was able to end the day and felt great getting rained on. Had a great view as I was standing the boom up to catch a slight breeze. IMG_8899.jpeg
I was fetching a broken top while the guys were continuing the wild cherry genocide on this job. You can see the nice firewood pile we have started there.
 
Love the view. Dont know I could handle the high humidity in heat any more.

Today, the mr fixit got more to fix. So I got a couple things done after a late start due to animal mayhem.
The hitch chain on the gooseneck dump got pinched and broke, so that took a priority seat after putting Katy's Yukon complete. Now she can clean it out and sell it.
Trailer only had one chain, neededtwo, never got done. So now its done. i am going to figure out a spring retainer for the new chains to see if it will keep out of the bind zone. Battery was low, so that is on a charger. I have another battery if needed. But we need her this week. Got to be ready. Had a flat tire a week or so ago.

Going into town and back for chain and an oil filter, the battery light on the 7.3 came on. Stopped at O Reillys to test it after the hardware store. Levi works there, so we get his discount. But its the three year old alternator. Should be under warranty. I have a spare I'll put in tomorrow . Rotate some tires, order two more. Then see if I have time to pressure wash the chipper and do an oil change. That might have to wait till Mon afternoon. Almost time to weed eat for an hour. Still pecking away at it.
Love these restful weekends.
 
chipper project half done, started to put things back together and started having fitment issues, started getting frustrated and ended up accidentally shoving a glowing 3/32 6011 into the bottom of my lip somehow, so thats it for tonight

so. much. torch. work, having to cope around the back of the chipper and make things nice when you're dealing with hundreds of pounds of steel sitting on slippery forks isn't really fun, worse when you ran out of MIG wire and cant stick weld to save your life
 
Say that again in English please?
Ok. All the valleys and ridges that make up your chewing surface of your tooth is called your occlusal table and the valleys and ridges specifically are called your occlusal anatomy. You have very defined anatomy which is nice. Tooth geek talk from a bygone profession. lol
 
Ok. All the valleys and ridges that make up your chewing surface of your tooth is called your occlusal table and the valleys and ridges specifically are called your occlusal anatomy. You have very defined anatomy which is nice. Tooth geek talk from a bygone profession. lol
Ooo, I have questions! 😆
 
I need to invest in a 3M adflo before I do much more welding, feeling sick as a dog today, worst sore throat of my life, living off cough drops and honey today

just curious, how many of you have a fire skid/water wagon? I'm sure most of you out west will, I don't really burn brush anymore since I don't have an excavator, but we do still work in the woods and dry hay fields often, along with frequent wildfires in my area which won't get any better if/when we end up moving farther from town, I'm looking at building a very large self contained skid that I can load onto my flatbed with the wheel loader, not exactly something I have to have or really want to spend money on, especially now that I don't burn brush as often, but I do think it'd be very worthwhile, all it takes to have a really expensive day is one bad bearing on the mulcher or one stray spark from chipping a piece of metal when we work in these dry fields


thoughts? I can legally haul 1000 gallons (I called the state and asked, I don't need a tank endorsement as long as the truck is under CDL) and I can build the whole skid for about $2500 with some marketplace creativity
 
Still hot and humid here. I almost feel bad mentioning it while others live in much hotter and more humid areas but at least here it’s understood. I’m about to walk in the house and I’m sure my wife will let me know how nasty it is outside. Like I haven’t been in it since 6:00 am. Grr. I get grouchy in this weather.
We took down a big ass willow tree today because it had grown over a sewer man hole. We took turns running the bucket. As the other noticed the guy in the air making small mistakes, he would take over. No one died, it was a good day
 
I need to invest in a 3M adflo before I do much more welding, feeling sick as a dog today, worst sore throat of my life, living off cough drops and honey today

just curious, how many of you have a fire skid/water wagon? I'm sure most of you out west will, I don't really burn brush anymore since I don't have an excavator, but we do still work in the woods and dry hay fields often, along with frequent wildfires in my area which won't get any better if/when we end up moving farther from town, I'm looking at building a very large self contained skid that I can load onto my flatbed with the wheel loader, not exactly something I have to have or really want to spend money on, especially now that I don't burn brush as often, but I do think it'd be very worthwhile, all it takes to have a really expensive day is one bad bearing on the mulcher or one stray spark from chipping a piece of metal when we work in these dry fields


thoughts? I can legally haul 1000 gallons (I called the state and asked, I don't need a tank endorsement as long as the truck is under CDL) and I can build the whole skid for about $2500 with some marketplace creativity


I never have had a bad sore throat from welding and I have done a lot of it. I know covid is on the uptick.
 
Could be. I know lead paint still is around. One would think it would be banned by now.
I sure hope its not lead, should just be whatever epoxy paint Bandit uses, but then again my chipper was re painted atleast once and zero care was taken so the odds of it being lead are higher than factory


had a lot of honey, 2 cough drops yesterday, woke up this morning and my throat feels fine, might not even be the smoke, but it sure feels like it, that stuff had me wanting to vomit for most of the time I was out there welding on it
 
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i use cheap 3m respirators, i think they are around 30-40 euros, whenever welding or grinding more than just a little bit. sure they suck when its hot but seem to work.
 
How long do they have you on doxy Dave? That shit had some nasty side effects in “rare cases”. I only had a 7 day cycle and just happened to have bloodwork done at the same time. Bad liver readings. I’m now getting bloodwork done again next month to make sure they went back to normal. I was a little pissed once I actually read the side effects.
 
I planted some seeds from a red seedless watermelon...


...it produced very seedy yellow watermelons. Yellow WM tends to taste bland, kind of like some seedless WMs, but it did have some spots rich in flavor that tasted just like seedless reds.
 
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