What did you do today?

[J Tiers]

Busy folks you are....

My only accomplishment today, or really for several gays, is confirming that it will be a number of weeks before I can get a cap for the new truck. And that I have plenty of time to get the Line-X in the bed of it, no worries about the cap.

I had determined that I needed the cap first, and could get the Line-X anytime later, of course, so this just inverted the priorities. Apparently, now that 2019 is nearly over, the cap companies still have no caps available in the type I want for the 2019 Ranger 6 foot bed. Go figure. For the 2000 S10, no problem.... probably because that had been made a few years with few changes.

maybe I will get down to the shop and get a few rounds of scraping done on the current project. Still waiting on the straightedge needed to get the Rivett 608 bed started, but it is due in shortly. I better get the mill table and carriage off the bench all done soon.....

[The Metal Butcher]

12 Hr shift. 6 am - 6 pm.

According to my iWatch ...

18,432 Steps.
9.23 miles.
21 flights of steel steps.
1.5 bicycle miles.
Isolated, de-pressured, triple nitrogen purged and LOTO a Worthington 4 stage high pressure Hydrogen compressor.
Made HUGE flames come out of the Hydrogen System flare tower while purging.
Climbing on stair ladders above grade and crawling on hands and knees under the deck to close 33 valves.
Avoided having my personal H2S monitor get me in trouble while opening 8 bleeders.
(Watching steam leaks and the LOTO tags sway in the breeze so I could stay upwind to avoid the hydrocarbons and muckey stuff spraying out)
Threw down and filled 18 five gallon sewer covers for Hot Work.
Helped a trainee de-gas a pump and generate various work safety permits.
Pulled and ran multiple tests on cooling tower and steam generator water samples.
Took delivery of 400 gallons lube oil.
Made a perchlorethylene, isopropyl alcohol, high octane blend stock mix for reactor catalyst activity level.
Drained assorted knockout drums and waste oil collection points.
Wrote a turnover and gave a verbal to my relief Op.
Drank 5 cups of coffee, 5 bottles of water and a Powerade.
Had a 20 minute lunch.

19 more shifts ‘til I retire.🥳

Some kids on this forum will be restoring you in 2070 since you're clearly a machine.

[PStechPaul]

Continuing my yard cleanup and preparation for the shed I plan to build. I made a place to store my mowers, temporarily, at least. Put down some 8x16 pavers to keep them off the mud:







And I made a little "porch" on the side of the old woodshed for another mower. It will need to be moved when I build the 8x12 shed:


I was separating the rubble from the old foundation into usable rocks and bricks, and concretre chunks. I found this embedded in one piece:


I was able to bust it out - an old flat iron!


I cleared most of the area where the shed will be. Rocks are up the hill on the right:


And the concrete rubble. Not sure what to do with it. I may use the rocks for a retaining wall on the hill behind where the shed will be, and maybe some of the concrete rubble can be used as well, although it's rather ugly:


I also have an old shovel that I think was my grandfather's, possibly from 1920s Germany:




I used some cold galvanizing compound on it to help preserve it. It's an antique, but I still use it. I got this can of Rustoleum and two others, free, from a neighbor:

[Cenedd]

I was able to bust it out - an old flat iron

...or 'stock' as we spend-thrift machinists call it!
Looks more like a trench-digging spade to me. Could you braze the crack(s) to give it a little more stability? These days you'd just replace it but I figure it has some sentimental value to it given the story.

[RMinMN]

...or 'stock' as we spend-thrift machinists call it!
Looks more like a trench-digging spade to me. Could you braze the crack(s) to give it a little more stability? These days you'd just replace it but I figure it has some sentimental value to it given the story.

You could braze it but welding works pretty well too. I have welded a couple of my spades that cracked like that.

[Cenedd]

You could braze it but welding works pretty well too. I have welded a couple of my spades that cracked like that.

Ah. Wasn't sure if it was too thin to weld easily. I have a stick welder and have welded a whole 12 inches of test bead....so I'm really well educated in this field Thought brazing would be a lower heat so as not to blow out the steel of the spade. If a blat from a MIG gun would do it, it'd be quicker, I'm sure.

[Baz]

Amazing that the handle is still in such good condition. We get a lot of old forks and spades given to us in the Men's Shed with rotten shafts but the cost of a piece of good wood for a replacement is more than the cost of a new stainless implement. We have therefore only repaired a couple that had sentimental value for their owners.

[RMinMN]

Ah. Wasn't sure if it was too thin to weld easily. I have a stick welder and have welded a whole 12 inches of test bead....so I'm really well educated in this field Thought brazing would be a lower heat so as not to blow out the steel of the spade. If a blat from a MIG gun would do it, it'd be quicker, I'm sure.

I didn't say it would be easy to weld, just that it is possible and that I have done it. A MIG welder would probably work better than the stick welder but since that is what I had, that is what I used. I had welded a bit before I tried a spade though.

[reggie_obe]

Looks more like a trench-digging spade to me. Could you braze the crack(s) to give it a little more stability? These days you'd just replace it but I figure it has some sentimental value to it given the story.

That's a nursery spade.
This is a trench or drain spade.

http://cdn3.volusion.com/oh2c3.ohvt5/v/vspfiles/photos/DSSS-2.gif

[PStechPaul]

It works OK as it is, so I see no need to braze or weld it. And I have a feeling that the heat from such a repair may damage the wood, which I think is curved so it extends close to where the crack is. It may be a "nursery spade", but I find it has the right size and shape for digging trenches for laying 8x16 concrete blocks, and it also works well for scooping small size rubble and gravel.

I have had many implements fail due to wood handles breaking. This has most recently happened with a cutter mattocks



And a couple of rakes:









I also have a shovel with a broken handle. Many of these tools had been left outside, and were damaged due to rain and insects. Now I have my woodshed rearranged and organized so I can keep them in there.

[J Tiers]

You need better hardware stores. One here is pretty old-fashioned, and they have handles, and not too expensive. I fix rather than replace, partly because I cannot even buy, at any price, the equivalent. Like welded socket shovels.... most all no are stamped, and not as strong.

[PStechPaul]

I just recently bought the red-handled shovel you see, and a similar red handled rake, at Ace Hardware, for $10 each on sale. They have fiberglass handles, so should last quite a while, even if exposed to rain. I always repair things even when the cost exceeds what I might pay to replace them. So I will try to replace the handle, either with one from the hardware store, or possibly with a suitable piece of wood from a tree. There are some very strong and straight locust branches that might do the job. I also have a lot of hollow fiber (black and red Garolite) tubes, that I might need to join and reinforce with a piece of allthread.

[Tim The Grim]

Some kids on this forum will be restoring you in 2070 since you're clearly a machine.

Thanks, that’s funny. Truth be told the next day I spent 40 minutes in a 102 deg. hot tub and was pretty much a cripple my whole day off. Yesterday I was at least functioning and went to SS to sign up for Medicare Part B.

Today I got to put that same compressor back in service with newly installed valves. Differential pressure between 1st and 2nd stages is off the alarm threshold and nobody got hurt.

[Dave C]

Drain spade also called a sharp shooter in these parts. lol.

[danlb]

Today we managed to spend $750 at Costco. I'm not really that loose with my money. it was all one time purchases. We needed a new printer ( HP ) , which needed new ink cartridges (Of course!!!) , so that was $300 right there. A smart thermostat (Ecobee4) was on sale so that was another $150. The rest was Christmas presents and such. And can't forget that 10% sales tax. Yuck.

I like the ecobee. It works with the Amazon Echo (alexa) as well as my other Home automation.