[mitchmaine]

guess i forgot to say they sprayed oil on the dirt roads around here until the oil started showing up in the well water

[mitchmaine]

@Does’ Leap 33376 wrote:

Mitch, I plan to oil the bobsled and likely just the runners on the scoot. I like the idea of not having to replace the runners in my lifetime, but maybe I am too optimistic. Makes sense to leave the stoneboat.

George

i saw the pictures of your bobsled, george. its a peice of artwork. that guy knows his stuff. i’d do whatever it took to keep that sled going as long as possible. nice job. mitch

[mitchmaine]

@mink 33344 wrote:

if a man had a 7 foot mower and a team of horses how would it compare to a 7 foot sickle bar and a tractor on the same small field?

not sure about the comparison, mink, but my team and a six foot no.9 will drop about an acre per hour. tricky cause you can get in trouble. its easier to cut hay than clean it up, start small.
mitch

[mitchmaine]

george, linseed oil, turp mix was what i got most often from locals to seal and protect wood. poly stuff is just a plastic coat and if you break thru, water gets in and rots.
but i wonder if with your scoot and stoneboat, your philosophy might be just to beat the ever lovin’ sh%# out of them, work them hard and plan on rebuilding them when needed? you will have the irons for eternity. just rewood when needed? works for me.

[mitchmaine]

hi george, i think that the black in used motor oil is carbon from heat and wear in your engine. its a solid that must not get absorbed totally by the wood, cause it ends up on your hands. its not a pretty color to look at. it works good on fence posts and other things but mostly i think old timers were trying to come up with ways to use their used oil. i remember the town spraying it down on the dirt roads in town to keep down the dust. can’t imagine that being a popular idea today. but in answer to your question, i know there are alot of wood preservatives that you might consider for your scoot runners. timberframe coats are meant for indoor applications, but porch and deck treatments like cuprinol and so on might be a good look. i’ll ask around. mitch

[mitchmaine]

hey george,
i think that under cover is fine as long as they are off the ground. the scoot and stone boat should wear out before the oil would help out. i might oil the sled, that should go a long time, but i have used used motor oil and it works great, but it comes out and you will be the same color as the oil if you use them hard enough.

[mitchmaine]

@rickety 33072 wrote:

Hi Mitchmaine

If Evan is not instered, I am.

rickety@gsinet.net

sorry i didn’t get back earlier. the horse is spoken for. good luck with your search. mitch

[mitchmaine]

hi ed,
same story here. frozen sap. it softened up in the pails enough the other day, that i got a chance to toss away some ice. but the sap left wasn’t enough for a boil. but it sure sweetened it up. i brought some of the ice home and thawed it out and tested it and it was 0% sugar or just water. i started to worry a little bit about the buckets splitting from the ice. that has happened before.
we have about 6″ of snow out here in the fields and 8-10 in around the trees, so if it gets real warm, the snow will keep it cool enough to run some. i am guessing weds. or thursday it may break open. i’m out there most days puttering around cutting some more fir to fatten up the pulp pile, so i get to watch it carefully. my son is coming home for a visit this week to help sugar, and a local farmer helps me collect, and another young man is helping out in trade for some experience driving the team so life is good. we are all waiting for break in the weather. you too, i bet. good luck there, and good sugaring. mitch

[mitchmaine]

hey carl, nice horse you got there. great disposition. looks like (she’d?) be fun to drive. fun video.

[mitchmaine]

hi jim,

how is your new horse doing? show us some photos.
i think this is a length of some crowe rope i’ve had laying around. twelve thread. never was overboard, so not too hard, but still was hard to splice. remember rockport rope? soft. made from rags? loved that line. i spliced rings into the line and then fastened some bit straps to the rings and bridles. works ok. like the feel of line but i truly think 1″leather shows more surface and makes for a better grip. i wouldn’t recommend rope lines to anyone except that i just like the feel.

[mitchmaine]

remnants from hunting season. i hang bells too. this area is hunted pretty hard. its my ounce of prevention. i expected them to be gone by now but they have held on pretty hard. looks like i better pull them off.

[mitchmaine]

Don’t we all make personal choices how far technologie comes into our lives? Its here. The genie is out of the box. I don’t hear that anyone is chopping with an axe and a bow saw, and I don’t, but I expect someone does somewhere and I would appreciate that choice. Hauling horses to the woodlot in a stock trailer is a compromise of a kind, but who cares, right? So how far the gas engine wriggles its way into the woodlot isn’t a failure of any kind the way I see it. We all make choices and that’s that.

With that in mind, George, you said that you logged with a tractor and winch for a spell. How do you compare it to yarding with the horses? Pros and cons? I tried it (the winch and tractor) for two days, and I really didn’t make much more wood with it. But I was on the sharp end of the learning curve. It is nothing like a skidder. I must have got on and off that tractor a million times, with a single horse or team and scoot, we are always on the ground. Anyway I really want to know what YOU think about it. mitch

[mitchmaine]

hi ethan, two advantages of having a tree for a pole is, one, you can find a good crotch and start there for the yoke and do your math and work back to the implement (see pic), and two, you don’t compromise the strength by cutting or milling thru the grain. they do look kinda rough tho.

[mitchmaine]

hey brad, hows it going? jimmys twitch cart was very similar to elmins. size shape and so on. his horses were smaller, but learned to lean into the load. either way, the hitch comes or the cart goes, but sooner or later they come together somewhere. jimmys cart was stolen. he thought it would show up somewhere, but hasn’t yet. it was too good a machine to chop up for iron. i hope. elmin used to load his cart in the horse trailer using the winch. right up to the headboard and then load the team standing on either side of the pole. pretty slick. as i recall, charlie allen had stan wheeler, my neighbor, build jimmys rig. late eightys or early ninetys. brian mitchell built one and there were two or three others. fairly expensive at the time. used a winch with a high reduction gear to hold the load. with a clutch mech. allowing free spool. i started a couple times luke warm, but never finished one.
best wishes, mitch

[mitchmaine]

hey evan,
do i have the horse for you. 16/1600. 10 years. mare. you should come give her a look.

[Author]

Posts