[AT] A message for Ralph

[Ralph Goff]

On 11/2/2013 7:03 AM, Cecil R Bearden wrote:
> Ralph:
> I had to cut out a plugged crimper on my Owatonna swather with the JD
> crimper.  I used the Chainsaw.  Once in a while I would hit the steel
> roller, but it was not a good chain on the saw anyhow, so it was no big
> loss..    A new chain was worth a lot less than 1/2 day of my time....
>
Cecil, and others who have commented on this, that flax straw is like no 
straw I have ever seen. Even after 15 years of growing the crop it 
amazes me. The strength and durability is incredible. I cut a bit with 
the saw, then use pliers to pull out pieces. The more you work with it , 
the stronger it gets. Plus did I mention the torture of laying on 
combine straw walkers while sawing? For those unfamiliar with them, try 
to picture a school of sharks with steel dorsal fins and me laying on 
that. I have no padding on my body so every move was painful. There is 
just no other way to get at that rear beater. The worst of it was that 
it was my own fault. I had double swathed part of the field laying two 
21 foot swaths side by side. Normally the combine will handle that much 
material, slowly. In a heavier part of the field where the crop had 
lodged and the swather left some "lumps" I guess a slug hit the cylinder 
just too hard. I will say that the JD posi torque cylinder drive is 
absolutely unstoppable, right up to the point that it stalls the tractor 
engine in a split second. There is just no slippage. Unplugging the 
cylinder was child's play compared to the beater behind it.
Probably more than you wanted to know about harvesting flax.

Ralph in Sask.