Casual coffee 4-14-12

This is what I have, it works well enough but it definitely isn't the same quality as the older ones.

http://cdn.armslist.com/images/posts/6343884582186418125g5uirrc.jpg

Rob R. wrote:Smitty, all things considered that chimney looks pretty good.

I had a feeling someone would say that.

That's the section I rebuilt in '03, from the roof line up. The rest of it looks good because 1/8" of brick sheared off with the flyash. Who knows when the previous owners last cleaned it. Sometime in the 90's I'm guessing.

This is what I have .....

Yeah I can see the difference. The metal on the older ones is at least 3x thicker. Crazy how things have changed in just 3 decades.

My ol' man had a Craftsman one he bought brand new ... and I was working on it 3 months later. The shifting mechanism sheared off inside the case, which required a COMPLETE teardown of the unit. Every single part had to come off, because sandwiched in between the frame, was the gearcase where that rod resided. They put 2 wimpy spot welds on it - no wonder it broke. I welded the *censored* out of it, so I won't be doing that again!

I think we talked about the crappy Craftsman gearbox before, didn't we? I have a Craftsman tiller with counter rotating rear tines. I think it predates those.

Yep - those pics are from a long gone Coffee session.

Speaking of roto tillers... friend has a 6' wide 3 point mount tiller i am using next weekend to put in 4 strips 30>40' long for some Potaters beds.... got mulch pile in next field over of old hay out of barn for past few years... should make a nice bed. Anyone else got Taters in yet?

I hope you like taters, or want to sell them & have a lot of friends. For a few years I just put in a small patch, way less than a quarter of what your planning & we got hundreds of pounds & they were coming up on their own the next couple of years. With just the wife & I we have been cutting way back on our garden.

samhill wrote:I hope you like taters, or want to sell them & have a lot of friends. For a few years I just put in a small patch, way less than a quarter of what your planning & we got hundreds of pounds & they were coming up on their own the next couple of years. With just the wife & I we have been cutting way back on our garden.

Can get rid of the extras with no problem. plenty of local stands, and local supermarkets, and friends to give them too. Sweet poTaters will be about half of plantings. Might even plant beets between the taters to double crop.

There are quite a few potatoes grown around here. I have not seen any going in the ground yet but the fields are getting plowed and prepped for the last few weeks. I plan on planting about 10 pounds of seed. That will be enough for us; we are not big potato eaters. My wife thinks there were two types of potatoes; the ones in a pouch and the ones in a box.

gaw wrote:There are quite a few potatoes grown around here. I have not seen any going in the ground yet but the fields are getting plowed and prepped for the last few weeks. I plan on planting about 10 pounds of seed. That will be enough for us; we are not big potato eaters. My wife thinks there were two types of potatoes; the ones in a pouch and the ones in a box.

Seems she missed the third type... couch.

Finally got some pics of the ol' girl. I started disassembling the carburetor, but my buddy showed up with a spankin' new AR-15 & a pile of ammo ... so that project got shelved for the day.

That looks the same Smitty, minus the battery. The push button for the starter was right inside the end of the right handle. I don't know for sure if the starter was an option or an add on later, but it looked to be original equipment.

SMITTY wrote:Finally got some pics of the ol' girl. I started disassembling the carburetor, but my buddy showed up with a spankin' new AR-15 & a pile of ammo ... so that project got shelved for the day.

Oh yeah! She's an oldie, but a goodie. Theres a rototiller that'll last forever! No plastic!

009to090 wrote:Oh yeah! She's an oldie, but a goodie. There's a rototiller that'll last forever! No plastic!

The new ones are so much sleeker and shinier and have cuter decals. So what if they are an MTD POS? It's bad for the economy (somebody's economy) if they last forever.

Electric start was a factory option...
But the pull start is just so easy...