At Home In The Woods

clemsonfor · May 20, 2013

Dont think i would beleive that!!! I mean grass grows under trees in some areas! Grass will grow in the back of a pickup truck in a wet tshirt and other junk. It may not do as well or be yellowed due to the PH not allowing the uptake of some nutrients as they are bound up in the soil at a low ph, but not growing, think thats a wives tale?

MotorSeven · May 20, 2013

dave1949 said:
But, whether you appreciate the beauty and benefits of clover, or not, I would not apply poisons for purely aesthetic reasons. There are too many known and suspected human and animal health factors having environmental origins to use chemicals for non-essential reasons.

I'm with ya on that Dave. I have used 2-4-D and a few others in the past on my pastures and was not happy with the results. On top of that the little voice kept saying, "this stuff can't be good for critters" so I do my weed control via brushhog & mower.

Obed · May 22, 2013

I'm not thrilled about poisons either. But we are not idealistic regarding them and will occassionally use them. You could make the argument that clover in a lawn does not justify the use of poison and I would have to say that argument would have a lot of validity. Yes I could keep the lawn mowed short enough and frequently enough so that the white flowers don't show. However, that would require mowing every 7 days, something I'm not willing to do. My mowing schedule is every 10 - 14 days depending on how tall the grass gets. So I either poison or look at the white flowers.

Obed

Obed · May 22, 2013

The dehumidifier in the basement stopped working about a month ago. It runs all the time but doesn't remove any water. It came with a 1 year warrantee. It broke 13 months after we bought it. Yesterday I called the manufacturer and they told me to send it back to them. They provided a return shipping label and are paying for shipping. The woman on the phone said they would either fix it or replace it. We paid $320 for it including shipping.

I will probably buy another dehumidifier anyway. Our basement might be a bit large for only one. Also, I'm not thrilled about going another month without any moisture removal in the basement during this very wet spring we are having.

Beltman60 · May 23, 2013

Obed
like others have said for this year just put up with the little white flowers (clover)
in aug. plug aerate and over seed at least in the heavy clover areas
next spring after cutting 3 1/2 to 4" tall the clover should die out some and your fescue will take over

Beltman60 · May 23, 2013

Obed
like others have said for this year just put up with the little white flowers (clover)
in aug. plug aerate and over seed at least in the heavy clover areas
next spring after cutting 3 1/2 to 4" tall the clover should die out some and your fescue will take over

Obed · May 23, 2013

Beltman60 said:
Obed
like others have said for this year just put up with the little white flowers (clover)
in aug. plug aerate and over seed at least in the heavy clover areas
next spring after cutting 3 1/2 to 4" tall the clover should die out some and your fescue will take over

Beltman60,
It would be great if we could control the clover without poison. The trouble with seeding is I believe that's where we got the clover. We now have heavy patches of clover after reseeding last fall. We did not have clover before. Our neighbors don't have clover. Is it possible to get "good" grass seed?
Obed

Obed · May 23, 2013

I moved my welding classroom to the basement back porch. My wife didn't like the smells my welding and grinding created in the basement. Also, I was making loud noise under my daughter's bedroom which meant I couldn't practice welding while she was sleeping (naps and evenings).

More pitiful tack welds. I ended up grinding one of them off. The other held well enough to keep my angle iron from bending at the weld joint during cooling.

Beltman60 · May 23, 2013

pennington makes some great seed
a bit pricey
I think I paid $58. for 40# bag but I didn't have but fescue

clemsonfor · May 23, 2013

Obed said:
I moved my welding classroom to the basement back porch. My wife didn't like the smells my welding and grinding created in the basement. Also, I was making loud noise under my daughter's bedroom which meant I couldn't practice welding while she was sleeping (naps and evenings).

View attachment 318960 View attachment 318961

More pitiful tack welds. I ended up grinding one of them off. The other held well enough to keep my angle iron from bending at the weld joint during cooling.

View attachment 318962 View attachment 318963

You really should not be welding where the vapor and gases can be breathed in my your family, that stuff is not good for anyones health!! Thats the reason welder in enclosed spaces are suppose to wear respirators

clemsonfor · May 23, 2013

And like someone said before GET some thinner metal so that you can learn on something within the specs of your welder. That was you can learn proper technique and not have to deal with the machine not being able to handle the task on top of your less than perfect ability.

The welder may not be able to handle the boxblade support but if so its not lost. Once you learn what you want to do to mount the ball you can easily handle that task with it. Plus a welder is very handly, fixing your equiptment when it tears on the decks or you get holes in it, if you have a stripped out bolt on the mower or truck you can weld a bigger nut to the head of the bolt, all kinds of things. It too will end up something that you cant see how you lived without esp when you do your own repairs.

PAGUY · May 23, 2013

How do you DIY welders feel about stick welders?

jdonovan · May 23, 2013

PAGUY said:
How do you DIY welders feel about stick welders?

Hard to learn on, but for the same money you can get alot more welding capacity than you can on a mig machine.

Also the techniques you HAVE to use on a stick machine to get good welds make the transition to mig VERY easy.

IMO tig, or torch welding is the place to start learning as you've got to control all the variables, heating rate, speed of movement, rate of adding filler, etc....

Obed · May 26, 2013

I made some more practice welds using my 1/4" thick pieces. Here's the first one.

Second one.

Third.

Fourth

Cutting off the practice welds wore out a cutting wheel.

Fifth

Sixth

My last one looked really good to me.

I probably should have done some more to try to burn into my memory the technique that worked. However, the weld looked so good to me, I didn't want to grind it off so I stopped.

Obed · May 26, 2013

clemsonfor said:
And like someone said before GET some thinner metal so that you can learn on something within the specs of your welder. That was you can learn proper technique and not have to deal with the machine not being able to handle the task on top of your less than perfect ability.

clemsonfor, I'm sure you're right but I'm hard headed.

The welder may not be able to handle the boxblade support but if so its not lost. Once you learn what you want to do to mount the ball you can easily handle that task with it. Plus a welder is very handly, fixing your equiptment when it tears on the decks or you get holes in it, if you have a stripped out bolt on the mower or truck you can weld a bigger nut to the head of the bolt, all kinds of things. It too will end up something that you cant see how you lived without esp when you do your own repairs.

The BB crack is in 1/2" thick metal. I suspect my welder may not be up to the task even for someone who knows what they are doing. However, I don't see any harm in trying it once I get my ball mounts successfully welded. Of course, the BB could be the justification for upgrading my welder! :cloud9:
Obed

dave1949 · May 26, 2013

Obed? Hard-headed and as stubborn as a Tennessee mule? Naw. :laughing:

That series of welds looks much, much improved. Congratulations!

dstig1 · May 26, 2013

Welds are looking better.:thumbsup: Try watching CL for a used stick welder. There are ton's out there, and they often go for under $200 here. Find an AC/DC if you can. Then get some rods and practice with that. You are getting a better idea of what looks decent now, so stick should not be too far of a reach. You won't have to worry about not having enough power with any decent stick welder out there. Mind you I do NOT mean one of those 90A HF specials like you have now. Something like an old Lincoln Tombstone or the Miller Thunderbolt or one of the newer Hobart Stickmates. Millions of them out there. Most stick welders are 220V and should give you over 200A capacity. Once you buy the welder, the rods are very reasonable to buy in smaller quantities.

Either that or you need to get a bigger wire feed. The one you have just does not have enough power to do much, as you have found.

jdonovan · May 26, 2013

Much improved!

still seeing quite a bit of little dimples in the welds. Could be an indicator of porosity... in the mig world I generally turn up the shielding gas flow to fix it, but you really can't do that on the flux core machine.

My guess on whats changed... slower wire speed, and you've slowed down your travel speed. One of the new welder faults is they try to complete the weld too quickly and don't stay in one place long enough to get the base metals to melt.

clemsonfor · May 28, 2013

jdonovan said:
My guess on whats changed... slower wire speed, and you've slowed down your travel speed. One of the new welder faults is they try to complete the weld too quickly and don't stay in one place long enough to get the base metals to melt.

You are exactly right. This was exactly my problem when i first started. I was just moving across the seam in a straight like like i was caulking, I ended up with a splattered mess.

As as far as the recomendation for the stick welder i would get a Tomestome Lincoln welder, You can prolly find one for $150-200 with leads. A guy at work was selling one just like that for $200 a year or so ago. You can weld anything with those. If you do not have a 240v outlet at the door you will need to put one if when/if you decide to get one of those for the big stuff.