[AT] 'farmer' Francis Robinson

Mon Jan 30 15:03:42 PST 2017

This stuff is pretty on topic since wood cutting is so common on the farm.
In my case I usually use a truck at the woods in the next county but here
on this farm I often use either "Fergie" the little Ferguson TO-20 with the
forks on the back or "Casey" the little VAC Case with one trailer or the
other hitched to it. Sometimes I use "Major" the Farmall CUB.I need to make
a better "special" pallet for hauling wood and stuff with the forks.
Anywho, One observation I have made over the years is just how much better
chains and bars are now than back in "the good old days". I used to do a
lot of cutting starting about 1962 and even a lot more later. Egads those
old bars were easy to burn even kept absolutely flooded with oil. Chains
also wore loose quickly. My standard practice as I was taught by an older
cousin was to always remove the chain at night and put it in a coffee can
of oil overnight with the whole chain completely covered. If it sat for a
week or more it was still stored in that can of oil. The bar was cleaned
and stored in an oily cloth bag.
I always marked which way the bar was ran last so I could always put it
back on upside down from that so that it and the chain would wear evenly
and  matched to each other. I still do that but I don't have them apart all
that often these days but I flip the bar right away if I notice any
tendency for the cut to veer off a little.
On the first chainsaw on the farm I kept constantly pumping the manual
oiler as I cut and my father, who never operated it, would stand on the
other side of the log and squirt oil from a very long spouted oil can onto
the outer end of the bar. Still bar burns were a lot more common than you
would think.
Today I can't remember the last time I burned a spot on a bar. The oil tank
on the saw is quite small and you must look very closely to even see any
oil coming off of the chain but both bars and chains seem to last a long
time.
I just use common bar oil these days. Years ago I used to mix a lot of my
own since the stuff I was buying back then didn't seem very good. My mix
was one quart of cheap motor oil, one quart of Arco graphite motor oil and
one can of STP. It worked quite well.

.

On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Indiana Robinson <robinson46176 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 50 years ago when I was cutting wood in zero weather I used to set the axe
> near the truck heater going to the woods. The woods was about 12 miles
> away. Now I don't worry about it because if it is below about 35 or 40 I
> just don't go wood cutting...  :-)
>
>
> .
>
> On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 2:10 PM, charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> That gets back around to a discussion I believe we had many
>> years back about cold  embrittlement.
>>
>> Very interesting phenomenon.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: John Hall
>> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2017 5:03 PM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> Subject: Re: [AT] 'farmer' Francis Robinson
>>
>> Never heard the expression, this is what a search found:
>>
>> *Don’t chop with a cold ax. *If you’re chopping in cold weather, warm
>> the ax head a bit by the fire before you get started. Striking a cold
>> steel ax head can cause it to chip or even shatter. When warming the ax
>> head by the fire, don’t get it too hot — fire takes the temper
>> (hardness) out of steel. It’s warm enough if you can still touch the ax
>> head with your hand.
>>
>> John Hall
>>
>> On 1/28/2017 10:06 PM, rlgoss at twc.com wrote:
>> > Got a question for you guys.  This is VERY OT and I can't think of any
>> way
>> > to bring a tractor reference into it.  Have you ever heard the slang
>> > expression "warm chopping ax?"  This occurs in a couple of letters that
>> > were written just prior to the 20th century by some young people.  These
>> > were farm people who understood how to cope with the technology of the
>> > day; cook stoves; firewood; butchering chickens; elementary animal
>> > husbandry; etc.  I have been unsuccessful at finding a definition for
>> it.
>> > It could be used in all innocence, but I suspect that it has a fairly
>> > bawdy connotation.  The whole sentence is: Give your warm chopping ax my
>> > love, and your little warm one too.  The writers were in their teens and
>> > early 20's.
>> >
>> > Oh wait! This writing predates farm tractors by a couple of decades.
>> > (There's the tractor reference.)
>> >
>> > Larry
>> >
>> >
>> > ---- Indiana Robinson <robinson46176 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> Last year I replaced the wood furnace in the house with a new larger
>> one
>> >> that also has blower forced firebox air and automatic controls
>> including
>> >> a
>> >> remote thermostat. I pushed the old one (still in excellent condition)
>> >> back
>> >> in a corner until I could move it to the farm shop. That didn't happen
>> >> yet
>> >> so that is what I am doing this week. May need to get Scott to help me.
>> >> Once it is in place I will be able to heat the shop up fairly quickly
>> so
>> >> I
>> >> can work in there the rest of the winter and early spring.
>> >> Go ahead, ask me how many doctors, specialist and medical technicians
>> you
>> >> can see in a day...  :-) I had always hoped that we would just get old
>> >> and
>> >> fall over someday without dealing with all of this nonsense.
>> >> The Coq10 has apparently done a lot to repair some of that muscle
>> damage
>> >> done by the Atorvastatin at maximum dose. Now if I could just find
>> >> something to deal with my arthritic spine.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> .
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> .
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Jan 28, 2017 at 8:44 AM, Cecil Bearden <crbearden at copper.net>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> I deleted my Facebook account 3 days ago and all those calls I used to
>> >>> get from solicitors quit!!!!
>> >>>
>> >>> Cecil in OKla
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On 1/28/2017 1:09 AM, Indiana Robinson wrote:
>> >>>> Yeah, I'm still kicking...  :-)  Just not as high or as fast.
>> Facebook
>> >>> has
>> >>>> gotten kind of out of hand and I no longer accept any friends there
>> and
>> >>> am
>> >>>> going to cut some and some groups I am on there. More than once I
>> have
>> >>>> considered dropping it completely. I would if it were not for family
>> >>>> contact I never otherwise see.
>> >>>> I still try to keep this list read but sometimes it gets a week ahead
>> >>>> of
>> >>> me.
>> >>>> I have not shown any tractors for some time but would like to again.
>> >>>> Son
>> >>>> Scott and I get to about 3 nearby shows a year.
>> >>>> I have more to post but it's 2:00 AM and my drive belt is starting to
>> >>>> slip...
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> .
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 9:52 AM, Stephen Offiler <soffiler at gmail.com
>> >
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>>> robinson46176 at gmail.com
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 9:37 AM, Gene Waugh <gwaugh at wowway.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>> Thanks, I will see if I can locate him.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Gene
>> >>>>>> Elgin, Illinois
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> On Jan 25, 2017, at 7:28 AM, Stephen Offiler <soffiler at gmail.com>
>> >>>>> wrote:
>> >>>>>>> Still around... he posted something on his Facebook page two days
>> >>>>>>> ago.
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> SO
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 7:55 AM, Kenneth Gene Waugh <
>> >>> gwaugh at wowway.com
>> >>>>>>> wrote:
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> Does anyone know the status of farmer (Indiana)?  I for one have
>> >>>>>>>> not
>> >>>>>> heard
>> >>>>>>>> from or of him for ages.
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> Gene Waugh
>> >>>>>>>> Elgin, Illinois
>> >>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>>>>>> AT mailing list
>> >>>>>>>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>>>>> AT mailing list
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>> >>>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> --
>> >>
>> >> Francis Robinson
>> >> aka "farmer"
>> >> Central Indiana USA
>> >> robinson46176 at gmail.com
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> AT mailing list
>> >> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > AT mailing list
>> > http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> --
>
> Francis Robinson
> aka "farmer"
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
-- 

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com