[AT] Still thinning

[John Hall]

 There are a few pieces of equipment here that are taking up valuable shed 
space that are probably worth more as scrap than what they would sell for, 
but I just can't bear to part with them yet. Two are Oliver Superior grain 
drills--last used in about 2001 but are both field ready. Then there is a 
four row JD corn planter and MF 4 row cultivator and a Dearborn corn 
picker--none of which have been used since I abandoned growing corn about 
4-5 years ago. Sitting outside is my Dunham-Leer culti-mulcher--not one of 
those "sissy" ones you can pull behind a drill but rather about a 12 foot 
lift type model with 2 sets of teeth that takes about 40hp to operate 
efficiently--worthless now as a field tool (everyone here is no-till) but 
would bring good money as scrap iron.

 Yes getting rid of this stuff would free up some more shed space which 
might not be a bad idea seeing how I've been pricing a new metal building.

John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Francis Robinson" <robinson46176 at hotmail.com>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:38 PM
Subject: [AT] Still thinning


>     This subject line applies to my hair and farm equipment both.   :-)
>     I think I found a buyer for my old IHC 4 row planter (with harrow in 
> front) yesterday. One of Diana's brothers is wanting to start planting a 
> fair sized plot of sweet corn to sell and he is looking for something 
> cheap. I figure my scrap guy would give me around $100 for it as scrap so 
> I'll offer it to my BIL for that. It "ran when parked".   :-)  And still 
> should be fine.
>     I was looking at my old IHC 4 row front mount cultivators today while 
> I was mowing... I decided to get rid of them too. I used to have visions 
> of showing them on a tractor but the hauling would be just silly. The 
> front section is about 10' wide and in one piece. I hate to scrap them but 
> I can probably get twice as much out of them for scrap (they are really 
> heavy) as I could get selling them as cultivators even to a collector. I 
> used to use them on my S-MTA but haven't used them at all in maybe 10 
> years.
>    I have two old New Idea hay rakes (on steel) I am not using. I think I 
> will save all 8 wheels and maybe the one trussed arch section of both 
> frames and scrap the rest.
>    My old John Deere rotary hoe will also go this month. It only has value 
> as scrap unless I tear it apart and paint the hoe wheels like flowers and 
> sell them. Those sell pretty well but I don't really need another project 
> right now.
>    My Old Gleaner F while still a decent old combine is also likely worth 
> more as scrap than as a combine. There is not a lot of weight in the 15' 
> grain head but that 4 row wide corn head is super heavy.
>    It saddens me a little to scrap this stuff but I need to follow the 
> money. If I took it to a consignment auction it would probably sell for a 
> lot less than what my scrap guy will give me, still go to scrap and I 
> would have to pay auction commission to boot.
>    I was going to scrap about a dozen old rolls of fence wire back in a 
> woods last year but it was beginning to crumble in places and I didn't 
> really want the scrap guys scattering bits of wire all over the place 
> while loading. Instead I planted Virginia creeper, big-leaf winter creeper 
> and old English ivy around the base of them and they are almost invisible 
> now under the vines. By next year they will be completely out of sight and 
> with all of those vines on them it should all rust away completely in a 
> few more years. Meanwhile it should be a super bird nesting habitat.
>    I have about 5 small hopper bed wagons and I want to keep maybe two of 
> them that are extra good. I will pull the beds from the other three and 
> probably scrap them, nobody wants the small ones any more. I want to make 
> a couple of flat bed hay wagon beds for those running gears. If I have 
> enough hay wagons I won't have to unload them right away. I can just pull 
> them in the barns and pull the pin and unload them when the timing is 
> right. I have two loads of hay sitting on wagons in one barn right now.
>    I have one  somewhat larger hopper wagon on a good reasonably heavy 
> running gear and one very good (but needs paint) larger still EZ-Flow 
> hopper bed on an EZ-Trail gear. I need to clean the EZ down and paint it 
> to sell it. It should sell quite well here. Painting it will make a good 
> January project in the shop. I still don't know what I will do with the 
> mid sized wagon. I'll probably sit it out and sell it as is I also still 
> have 3 other wagon running gears. Not real heavy but two would make decent 
> smaller hay wagons OK so I'll keep them. The third is pretty good but is 
> made from an old truck frame and is on 20" wheels. I'll probably scrap 
> that one since most people don't like oddball stuff these days, everything 
> has to look "store bought".
>    I need to do some moving stuff around and sort some other smaller 
> stuff. I'm still waffling about whether or not I want to sell my old Deere 
> 4020 and all of my larger tillage implements. I am keeping stuff like 
> seeders and my fertilizer / lime spreader etc.
>    Retiring is a "process"...
>
>
> --
>
> farmer
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at hotmail.com
>