Mastodawn

AI6YR Ben 6d ago

New project acquired. My in-laws wheelbarrow. My son wanted to toss it, his grandmother wanted it tossed, but his grandfather pointed out they had the wheelbarrow since they first got married sometime in the 60's. Already ordered replacement handles and wedge pieces, now deciding how far I go with the metal restoration. On the plus side, all the undoubtedly leaded 1960's paint long gone, lol. Now, to decide on removing the rust or just covering it up after some metal brushing.... #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair

AI6YR Ben 6d ago

First step, a little PB Blaster and some work with two garage sale adjustable wrenches. Pb Blaster really reeks. Ends up a lot of the bolts are rust with no threads. #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair

AI6YR Ben 6d ago

Pile of metal, tire, old wood (rotted!!!). Had to pull out a hacksaw, many of the bolts were more rust than metal, and you can't remove a bolt where there is no thread. #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair

AI6YR Ben 6d ago

Current status: these wheelbarrows have carriage bolts, but when they are very rusty, they spun. An angle grinder would be the best option here, but I have no angle grinder. So, manual hacksaw through the bolt (which works, but is a lot of work. But, great arm workout!) #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair #wheelbarrow

AI6YR Ben 6d ago

Sears wheelbarrow. Probably 1960's or early 1970's. Purchased in Ventura or Oxnard, I understand. #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair

AI6YR Ben 6d ago

I wonder if someone has the appropriate catalog for this one online anywhere. #Sears

AI6YR Ben 6d ago

Going with rust covering paint on this. Did a quick once over with a metal brush while wet to knock off loose rust, and I see the undercoat is most certainly that vintage leaded paint white (it has a certain sheen). So, better covered and encapsulated than removed. Washed with a degreaser. There are bits of ancient cement I can't remove... they will have to remain there I suppose. #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #wheelbarrow #repair

Wheelbarrow parts repainted. New wheel acquired. Waiting on handles. (Will still be cheaper than a brand new wheelbarrow, but not as cheap as snagging a free one off the curb). Restoring it for family sentimental reasons more than anything, lol. #wheelbarrow #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

Uh oh! Made a serious, strategic mistake in the wheelbarrow project. Will likely require reordering yet another set of handles. (Will reconsider what to do in daylight). Do not copy a heavily modified/jury rigged piece of equipment, is the lesson here. #wheelbarrow #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

Ah, screw it, going to see if I can make it work anyway. Now into "what is he doing in there" Tom Waits hour. Furniture clamp time!!!

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

It worked!!! The handles were not lining up anywhere near the right size for the end piece.

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

Aha! This should work. The spacing between the two sides of the wood are now tight enough the wheel will stay in place. #wheelbarrow

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

Earlier today: unwisely cut the wheelbarrow handles to match the onr rotted old one. Now know, it had already been modified and jury rigged, and should be longer. #mistake #repair

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

Also done earlier, the wheelbarrow wedges I ordered did not match the old wedge. Just went and cut new ones on the table saw. But now, wonder if that wedge was also jury rigged. 🤔 #repair #wheelbarrow

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

Sanded and linseed oiled the wood pieces, and then fitted them. Backwards, as it turns out.

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

Anyway, now stalled out as I need properly matched nuts for my bolts, and apparently I have fine thread nuts (but no fine thread bolts, only coarse bolts), plus some metric nuts (also don't work). I may have the right bolts hiding somewhere, but it's probably just easier to go buy some matching hardware rather than trying to rummage through the hardware pile for 3 hours. #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repairs

Clark Breyman (he/him)1d ago

@ai6yr - c’mon man where’s the ambition? Build the die, melt the scrap, cast new hardware?

AI6YR Ben 1d ago

@clark LOL, well, I have a die set... I suppose I could just find some rod and cut my own matching bolts 🤪

Roknrol like the slur 1d ago

@ai6yr Melt down the ones that don't fit and fabricate them fresh; that's the only way to do it properly. You have an anvil, right?

AI6YR Ben 18h ago

@roknrol @clark lol

Shirley Eugest 1d ago

@ai6yr
I appreciate my local Ace Hardware Store for having mounted gauges to allow you to identify the thing you have and then buy just the pieces you need, and write down the size, length and pitch.

AI6YR Ben 18h ago

@EugestShirley I actually bought a guage here! Except I am unsure how to figure out the pitch using the gauge, lol.

Frank Bennett 🇯🇵2d ago

@ai6yr Sweet, well done. Also it's just generally good to support the spare parts industry, similar to the virtue of supporting local independent businesses. Kind of an inverse boycott.

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@fgbjr True that! Always better to repair things, too, if you can.

Paul_IPv6 2d ago

now i have "skip to my lou" in my head

🎶 litle red wagon, paint it blue.
litle red wagon, paint it blue.
litle red wagon, paint it blue.
skip to my lou, my darling. 🎶

thepoliticalcat 2d ago

@ai6yr I decided to get my shorts repaired, instead of buying a replacement. The elastic had aged faster than I have, and it didn't cost much at all. A new pair would've cost a bomb. And probably been of worse quality. 100% cotton and perfectly sized for my fat behind. #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle #repair #shorts

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@thepoliticalcat NICE! Yay on the repair!

thepoliticalcat 2d ago

@ai6yr Feeling so pleased about it. I've always wanted to live in a recycling way, and I've always managed to do it except for clothing. And now I've figured out a way! Yay!

FreddyB Aviation Photography 2d ago

@ai6yr Nice!. But sadly you cannot take it on the highway :(

Paul_IPv6 2d ago

which is grossly unfair. i think that if you can get that wheelbarrow going solidly at 65mph, you should be able to get it on the highway.

Not for highway use.

Are a lot of people riding wheelbarrows on highways these days?

Scott Francis 2d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @ai6yr this sounds like an episode of Top Gear

@darkuncle @ai6yr Do it you cowards! 😁

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @darkuncle LOL looks like someone has tried it before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkq8CEqUvNA

Epic motorized wheelbarrow, best one

YouTube

@ai6yr @darkuncle Somehow I feel like that no longer qualifies as a wheelbarrow... 😆

Scott Francis 2d ago

@ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou this is the inevitable evolution of #BikeTooter

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@darkuncle @nazokiyoubinbou Alas... bicycles lead to roads... and bicycles also lead to motorcycles... both of which lead to cars, which leads to freeways... which leads to suburbs and anti-pedestrian and anti-bicycle infrastructure, and climate change.

Scott Francis 2d ago

@ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou I am looking for a large sign that I can mount at the entrance to the nearby hiking trail that reads “if it isn’t powered by legs you cannot ride it here” because the proliferation of kids on motorcycles (gas and battery alike) is completely out of hand lately

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@darkuncle @nazokiyoubinbou Oh yeah, for sure.

me_valentijn 1d ago

@darkuncle @ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou
Kinda harsh approach for disabled trail users.

Scott Francis 1d ago

@me_valentijn @ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou not when a trail is marked explicitly "no motorized vehicles" and is full of pedestrians and horses. there are other places for people who want to use a motorized vehicle.

me_valentijn 1d ago

@darkuncle @ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou
With all due respect, the place for disabled people using motorized mobility assistance is whereever they want it to be. We can't be excluded from otherwise accessible places just to preserve your vibe.

Scott Francis 1d ago

@me_valentijn @ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou this isn't about disabled people but about kids on motorcycles on a trail marked "no motorized vehicles", because motorized vehicles on a trail with horses is how people get seriously injured. Regulations about trail use are there for good reason.

me_valentijn 1d ago

@darkuncle @ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou
So the solution wouldn't involve a sign which incidentally forbids disabled accessibility, yes?

Scott Francis 1d ago

@me_valentijn @ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou not every hiking trail everywhere is accessible to everybody, nor should they be. this particular trail system is moderate to difficult, unpaved, largely in the wilderness, and heavily trafficked by folks on horseback from surrounding ranches.

I see you're not located in SoCal so may not be aware of the local situation (which is quite different from Netherlands), so I will stop arguing about it now.

me_valentijn 1d ago

@darkuncle @ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou
Yes, I had a great deal of fun on similar trails (including short stretches of literal horse trails) on my mobility scooter when I could still sit up long enough to go anywhere.

Again, you don't get to decide where we can go.

Inky says "What the hell?!"17h ago

@ai6yr @darkuncle @nazokiyoubinbou I dont know about that, at least not without going back to wagons and carriages.

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@darkuncle @nazokiyoubinbou (In my best English accent) "Let's see how fast the Stig can take this wheelbarrow around the track!"

@ai6yr @darkuncle *A loud boom can be heard*

Oh and there goes another tire. Looks like there is a reason they aren't rated for high speed!

@ai6yr @darkuncle @nazokiyoubinbou Some say he pushed three monks to a mountaintop in Tibet with a wheelbarrow. All we know is he's called The Stig.

Christian Huitema 2d ago

@W6KME @ai6yr @darkuncle @nazokiyoubinbou You make me nostalgic. I should get a wheelbarrow like the one we had when I was a kid. All wood, except for the axle, and a strip of iron to circle the wooden wheel. Worked great. Ideal for carrying a load of manure...

Violet Madder 2d ago

@darkuncle @nazokiyoubinbou @ai6yr

Need at least 250cc for the freeway!

John Burns 2d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @ai6yr

If there is a warning...

... someone did it.

😉

@JohnJBurnsIII @ai6yr Lol, jokes aside, someone probably towed one or something.

Still, it definitely would be bad.

John Burns 2d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @ai6yr

I once saw 2 teens riding a normal powered push mower down the street. Whirling blades and all.

One sat on engine with feet right behind front wheels. Other standing beside back wheels with his hands on shoulder of his mate.

Going from one house to another for mowing gigs.

Now walking behind it... riding on top.

😱

@JohnJBurnsIII @ai6yr

Often the Darwin award is awarded posthumously. Food for thought.

John Burns 2d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @ai6yr

The barrow tires are same as what's on my 4 wheel cart... and they have tubes in them and cannot support the weight they say they can - at recommended highest pressure... (800 lbs).

I could only get 400 ish lbs on it - before it could not be pulled through grass. On ashphalt - yes... but rolling on 3" grass was no-go.

---
Can't imagine someone tries to use those cheap cart tires for anything where human life is at stake.

@JohnJBurnsIII @ai6yr Honestly I imagine it's more of an issue of they can't handle that speed. At a speed like that a weaker tire would just rip itself apart.

Someone probably towed one at the back of a vehicle or something. I can imagine the tire probably blew and sparks were flying. I also imagine they didn't notice and kept going until police pulled them over or something. 🙄

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @JohnJBurnsIII Ha, this is in the Congressional Record as part of a 2004 law... (the 2004 Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act).

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lawsuit_Abuse_Reduction_Act_of_2004/Zp5l2OaDcWEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=wheelbarrow+tire+lawsuit+highway&pg=PA17&printsec=frontcover

@ai6yr @JohnJBurnsIII Douglas Adams has that part beat too: https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Wonko_the_Sane

I would tend to assume any time they have to write that on there someone somewhere actually needed it.

Yes. They are the words that finally turned me into the hermit I have now become. It was quite sudden. I saw them, and I knew what I had to do." The sign read: "Hold stick near center of its length. Moisten pointed end in mouth. Insert in tooth space, blunt end next to gum. Use gentle in-out motion." "It seemed to me," said Wonko the Sane, "that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include a set of detailed instructions for use in a package of toothpicks, was no longer a civilization in which I could live and stay sane.

Wonko the Sane

John Watson, also known (at his own request) as Wonko the Sane was a marine biologist and scientist who lived in coastal California and is very sane. He and his wife Arcane Jill Watson lived in a curious place called the Outside of the Asylum. John calls himself Wonko in order to remind himself that a scientist must be like a child in having no preconceived notions - "Wonko" being a childhood nickname bestowed by his mother. Wonko added the epithet "the Sane" to his name in order to reassure...

Hitchhikers

Greg Parker 2d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @JohnJBurnsIII @ai6yr I bet somebody took a wheelbarrow wheel and used it on a car when they didn’t have the right spare.

@gparker @JohnJBurnsIII @ai6yr It's the wrong size. That's impossible.

...

....

Oh god, someone probably tried it anyway.......

@nazokiyoubinbou @ai6yr well they do get great gas mileage..

@KM7CDC @ai6yr I imagine that depends on what the person pushing it ate for lunch.

it's B! Cavello 🐝2d ago

@ai6yr Wow, it’s looking amazing

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

@b_cavello Hopefully the handles will arrive tomorrow, though I think I will sand the handles and treat with linseed oil (which tends to be better than the normal gloss they put on them, as long as you keep it up).

it's B! Cavello 🐝2d ago

@ai6yr Yesss! We love a more subtle sheen 😻