[AT] Having the right tools for the job

[Dean Vinson]

Cecil, you're right about the potential for bending a lift arm.   I did
think about it, but went ahead anyway.   Lifting it up and out of there on
my own was more than I felt like doing, after already having dug way down
along one side without reaching the bottom of the post, but I knew it had to
be loose enough to come up without a fight.   Of course I'd have cursed my
stupidity loud and long if I'd ended up bending an arm anyway.

 

Osage is indeed outstanding material for fence posts.   This one
realistically would need to be replaced if it had to do honest corner-post
duty again, with a heavy gate hinged off of it, because it's about halfway
rotted through inside right above the ground line.   Can't complain for
being 60+, or however old it is.   And I like its character enough to want
to keep it, and even halfway rotted it should be plenty strong enough to
just stand there with a few fence boards attached to one side.

 

I used decking lumber (actual 1" thick) for the fence boards, and attached
them with torx-head screws with a handheld electric drill.   Funny thing
about the osage, I noticed the screws would go in fairly smoothly.but any
time at all later, even a few minutes, there's no moving them.   No
tightening them up that last little bit, no backing them out, shaft will
snap before it'll turn.

 

And Dean VP, yep, it's darn nice having that tractor.  ;)

 

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris OH

 

 

From: AT [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Cecil
Bearden
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2020 11:07 AM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: Re: [AT] Having the right tools for the job

 

Just my thoughts....  I use a frame I made to move trailers that has a
drawbar between the lift arms and the top link to keep it straight to pull
posts.  One lift arm can get bent.  Not wanting to start a long discussion,
just my $0.02.  That osage orange, Known as BoisD'arc or Boardark, or Bodark
here in OK, makes a great corner post.  It is as hard as granite when
driving staples in.  Just tie the wire around it.  now with the cordless
drills, screws work great to anchor the wire, but the posts are rough enough
that the wire is not going to slip....
Cecil

On 10/12/2020 8:11 AM, Dean Vinson wrote:

Good tractor day.  The "antique fence," as we call it, is an overgrown
flowerbed around a few old fenceposts, the remnants of what long ago had
been the intersection of a couple of different fields.   I decided I'd
remove the old rotten fenceboards, straighten up the posts, clear out the
woody shrubs that have grown up, then put up new fenceboards.   Nice little
fall cleanup project, so I threw some tools in the trailer and fired up the
Super M.

 

Got the old boards off easily enough, but straightening up the big old
corner post was another deal.   Some quality time with the spade, spud bar,
and post hole digger got me about 30" down along one side, but I still
couldn't straighten it up or pull it out by hand.   Too big, too deep.
Time for some hydraulic assistance, courtesy of the JD 620.   Turns out the
folks who set that post maybe 60 years ago wanted it to last:   Nice old
osage orange log, set 42" in the ground.   I'll dig out the hole a little
more then re-set the post back to plumb.

 

Couple other posts need to be replaced completely, and I've got some new
osage orange logs standing by. 

 

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris OH

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