Clattering into the New Year

As we come into the new year I am not one to make a hundred resolutions or even finish projects before the new year.  If anything I get less done at the end of the year with the holiday season than I usually do.  With that being said I have put off blogging just a little with the holidays and work being so busy so you are in for a long read and a bunch of pictures. 
     To start off on a year ending beat I did get the furnace and oil tank completely hooked up in the shop. 

I got the nice stand for the oil barrel from work and the barrel I got from my brother.  Since I am mainly burning oil I get from work I cut a hole in the top of my barrel and using a five gallon bucket made a screen of sorts to keep the larger debris out of my oil barrel.  I did install an in line filter on the furnace but the cleaner the oil the better. 

On Christmas weekend it warmed up and rained so we subsequently had a flood in our lower field.  The rain alone did not cause the flood but the stream was iced over and the excess water caused the ice to break up and jam.  This water is over 200 yards further into the field than it normally is. 

 The ice was so big Cricket, Emily and I were able To have a photo shoot standing on one of the "icebergs" that had come inland before the water went back down.

 

The ice that was jammed was about eight inches thick and there were some huge pieces left behind.  There were a few at almost 100 yards ashore that measured at least six foot by six foot. It was strange to see our usual slow moving shallow stream raised up around seven feet and moving chunks of ice downstream at record speed. 
             Another project that I have started in this year that I definitely plan on carrying into the new year is not so much a project but an interesting change of scenery.  This past Sunday I got to haul logs again.  I am driving for Hillside Excavating On the Paper mill property.

For now we are just hauling softwood from one of the mill's wood yards on the property down to where they feed the wood into the mill.  It is by no means a long haul but it is fun and a change of pace.  For this post I am going to call it good and have another one ready for your viewing tomorrow. Here at Rusty Gold Farm we wish you all an amazing new year!!!

Christmas Time is Here

With Thanksgiving gone by Allyssia decided we had to have a Christmas tree and all of the decorations.  Now we did not get a perfectly manicured tree from a tree farm but we did get a big tree.  Being one of the last trees off from the Oullette tree farm and topping out at eight feet tall I give you this years Christmas tree. 

Luckily we have Cathedral ceilings!  My favorite part of Christmas decorating is the Christmas village.  Last year was only our second Christmas so we didn't have many houses or village items.  Well over the summer and when the villages are on clearance we bought quite a few pieces.  What we found out when we took it all out is that we needed more room to put all of the village.  Allyssia found the idea of using an old ladder with boards across the rungs for the village but alas I couldn't find one that would work.  So with some of my hidden 2x4's and pine boards I built a Christmas ladder. 

Allyssia is already planning on expansion so next year I will have to build another one to fit all of our villages on!  Until next time stay tuned and check back often. 

Introducing (sir) Galloway

As I slowly continue working in my shop I have come to the realization that I have not introduced you to the newest "member" of Rusty Gold Farm.  As usual this new member showed up needing work and not running and so far we haven't come very far.  Rolling in at a whopping 5 horse power I am glad to show you the Galloway engine!

The Galloway needs some care and fixing up but on the bright side it has an original Webster Magneto and a reproduction brass carburetor.  Now the carburetor was something that was custom made that Grampa bought for the engine.  The Galloway is complete and there will be updates soon as I make progress as well as more progress on the Oliver soon and a whole slew of new projects.  Until next time stay tuned and leave me a comment. 

Closing in the Front Porch

Home ownership I have found is just one long project that never ends.  On today's segment of the never ending fun I am finishing off my front porch/mud room.  The previous owner framed the porch up and had the windows framed out but, no windows.  When Allyssia and I bought the house I had high hopes of getting the porch closed up quickly and I went out and bought windows.

For the six months after the porch looked just like this, with the windows leaning against the wall inside the porch.  Since it is getting colder and I am remembering how much of a mess 2 dogs and 2 humans with barn boots make, I decided to get my rear in gear and put the windows in and finish that mud room!  Now I have never installed windows before but it was surprisingly easy as long as I had shims and followed the directions.

I am rather proud of myself because I don't think of myself as a great carpenter but I think that these windows came out really well!  Next step is putting the last board around the bottom of the wall and then on to the inside.

The next step (which took until winter) was to put the last board on the bottom of the wall and insulate the room. 

Using Roxul and lots and lots of spray foam - the mud room is finally all sealed up.  I still have to put a ceiling in the room and insulate the floor but I laid plywood on the floor for a sub floor and that sealed up all the cracks and gaps until spring.  This weekend I plan on framing the ceiling up but I am on call so I can guarantee nothing.  Stay tuned as we finish this room off, add heat, and make it into the nicest little mud room possible

A day Working with Grampa

Before Allyssia and I bought our property in Farmington the only way for me to get my hit and miss fix was watching YouTube videos or going over to Grampa's.  With that said, over a year ago, the whole family was at Gramie and Grampas and being a nice day I went out to the garage to start an engine just for fun.  My engine of choice on this particular day was a Gray engine. Now Gray is the brand of the engine not the color.

 This engine has accompanied Grampa and I to many shows and earlier in the summer I had taken it to a show and ran it.  It has always been such a fine running engine and an easy starter so I was shocked when trying to start it the flywheels would not spin all the way over.  What we found was a pin had slipped out and got caught in the governor weight bending the half inch pin.

The bent pin is in the blue square on my picture.  It was hard to get a decent picture of the pin but you can see it is sticking out and the bracket it is holding on is not flush against the main casting because of the bent pin.  The pin is not bent severely but just enough to stop full rotation. Fast forward a year or so and it was time for the chain fall and some proper disassembly!

With the spreader hooked on to pull straight up on both flywheels we started going up.  At about half an inch off from the engine when we realized that the timing gear would also have to come out.  So with careful checking and marking we removed the timing gear. 

We so carefully checked and rechecked the timing gear because it is imperative that the teeth match up exactly as they originally were or the engine wont run right or it wont run at all.  With the timing gear safely out we were free to raise the flywheels and crankshaft off from the engine block.

Rather than work under the flywheels we rolled the engine away while we got the bent pin removed.  We were extremely lucky that the pin only bent in one spot and was able to be pulled right out of the bracket without any trouble. 

It was at this point that we were able to work in the warmth as we retreated to the machine shop in the basement.  In the basement we chased down a short piece of 1/2" cold rolled round stock to make our new pin.  We started with drilling the hole in it for a cotter pin and then set it up on the milling machine to cut a flat spot for the keeper bolt to rest.  None of my shop pictures came out well but I did get a picture of the finished product before it was installed. 

As you can see nothing super special just a two and a half inch long pin.  I enjoyed making it and getting to work in the machine shop.  Every time I have the chance to work in the machine shop it is a learning experience and I absolutely love it.  We then moved on to reassembly which went just as smoothly as could be and thanks to our well marked gears the timing was exactly as we started. 

According to the pictures here it looks like Grampa is doing all the work but I swear I was helping and not just taking pictures.  Now for what we have all been waiting for, the sweet sound of this engine starting up after having been torn apart for repairs. 
                                                             The Gray engine in Action
Overall it was a great day well spent.  At the end of the day we had one more running engine and Grampa sent me home with my next Hit and Miss project but that is a story for another day.  Stay tuned and leave a comment I love hearing everyone's input.

The Long Overdue First Drive

I can remember the last time that Grampa and I used the Oliver at his house like it was yesterday.  It was winter and we had gone up into the woods on the four wheeler and we got awful stuck.  At the time it seemed like we were ten miles into the woods and we had to walk all the way down out of the woods and through the field back to the house.  Once back at the house we took the Oliver all the way up to where the four wheeler was and got unstuck and cleared a path to drive back.  Then it was back down to the house with the Oliver and you can see where this is going, another ten mile walk back up in the woods!  I know that Grampa used it after that some but I don't remember riding on it after that.  Since about 2003 the Oliver has set out back of Grampa's house and he has had multiple opportunities to sell it but he held out knowing that I wanted it.  As I have said before I hauled it home two and a half years ago and since May 2018 the blog posts have been piling up like crazy updating you all to the craziness getting it back into running shape.  

It has taken me seven long months of tearing this apart, replacing parts and ordering things to get it running enough to drive it around the driveway.  I still have a ways to go to be where I want to be with the Oliver but I will be honest and say that I have been just a little bit disheartened by all of the problems that I have had throughout the last seven months.  Getting to finally drive this tractor that I have dreamed of driving for a good many years was all the motivation that I needed to get myself back into high gear and get the old girl running and pushing snow, dirt, manure and anything else that gets in my way!!  So without further delay I have video proof that the Oliver is a running machine!
                                                   Finally some fun with the Oliver
Needless to say you will definitely be seeing more blog posts about the Oliver and many more videos but the good news is that it is running.  I would also like to recognize that Allyssia braved the cold with me to take the pictures and push the starter button 700 times so that I could have the Oc3 running tonight! Stay tuned and remember to leave a comment.

Carrying in a New Project

Up until the past few years most of my projects have involved wheeled machinery that I can push, pull, or drive into the shop.  I have been slowly switching interests so to speak to larger tractors and another type of farm equipment.  The other type of farm equipment is something that I was introduced to young and have always been interested but have not always had the room for.  The farm equipment I speak of is of course hit and miss engines.   I have owned a few engines for a while now but had no job for them to do.  I also did not have the room to store them or a permanent place to build for them.  Since buying our farm I now have a garage and land that I can build a nice pole barn to store my newly acquired Bulldog and saw rig. See previous blog (The Bulldog Blog)  I am also looking for a few other hit and miss powered pieces of machinery to play around with as well. 

One of the pieces I would like to find is a hay press.  A hay press is basically a  baler that you feed by hand and have to tie the bales together by hand.  It would be a fun way to take care of the hay that I cut around the pastures and I would be running a hit and miss engine at the same time. 

The other major implement I would like to have is a Clark mills foundry wood splitter like the one shown above.  These splitters were made right in Rumford Maine and I would like one just to go along with my saw rig.  Back to the topic at hand! I finally brought one of my engines home that I had bought about three years back.  It was stored at my parents but is coming home to get fixed.

It's a smaller engine than my other two and luckily the skid steer was able to lift it out of the truck and set it into the shop.

So here it is, another project to pile up on top of the other projects.  I always want more projects even if I already have a lot of them.  So there it is, the longest introduction to a new project ever.  Stay tuned for more tomorrow, I have a fun little day planned with lots of pictures to come. 

Warm the Heart

Here in the great forested state many of us enjoy cutting, splitting, hauling, and stacking firewood for the winter.  It is especially pleasant in the winter when you have been out shoveling roofs or snow-blowing and are chilled to the bone.  To be able to sit in front of the radiating heat coming from a wood stove that is going full bore is a feeling like no other. With that said, today I finally was able to move my old oil boiler and move my wood stove into place.  Tomorrow I will pick up the stove pipe and on Thanksgiving I can have a nice fire to keep the house warm for the festivities. 

Just a little history on this stove before I call it quits for tonight - this stove was given to me by a customer when I inquired about it. He said "If you can get it out of the basement it's yours"and that should have been my sign to leave it there but I persisted.  With five people, a lot of swearing and a lot of struggling we got it out of one basement and into Allyssia and my old house's basement.  We used it for two winters there and when we moved it followed.  Here it has set in my garage for a few months and then moved to the front porch and finally, to it's last resting place in my basement.  This winter if I am not in the shop you know you can find me sitting by the wood stove in my tractor seat stool soaking up the heat.

A Workshop

Farm mechanics know donning your workshop in the form of cover-alls, a bomber hat, heavy mittens and a scarf is not a pleasant experience.  Trying to hold small parts in gloved hands or better yet having fingers that you cant feel, all while trying to install the smallest nut or screw that is of the utmost importance and nearly irreplaceable is basically impossible.  All of us have been there and know what I speak of.  Some of us have been there for our work whether it be plumbing and heating or operating and doing maintenance on your own log truck.  Then there are those of us who also subject ourselves to that very same cold for the sake of our hobby.  I fall into both of these categories.  Though I may complain about the cold, and let me tell you I sure can complain, I still venture back outside to work on my equipment in the cold. 

If you've been following the farm right along I'm sure you remember this, replacing the engine on the caterpillar mid winter in the snow.  If you are new to the farm blog be sure to read back through and feel free to comments on any of the previous blog posts.  Luckily the pictures for the blog are all taken by me - otherwise they would all show me waddling around with my many layers, cussing at the snow while digging through it for the one nut that disappeared and sunk all the way to the ground.  Some of this trouble came to a halt when Allyssia and I bought our house.  Since Allyssia was getting the huge barn for her horses, (I still think that there is room for tractors and engines to fit in with them) I completely claimed the garage.  Having a garage keeps me out of the wind and snow and is an amazing improvement.  This winter (so I can work in a few less layers) I am installing a furnace.

Some of you may recognize this as a trailer furnace.  I got this from work in good condition and decided to work smarter this winter.  I have it set up to just be plugged into an extension cord and away we go.  I still have to pick up the smoke pipe and tie that in, but the hardest part is done and next time I work outside I will be warm.  Having a warm shop may even temp Allyssia to come work with me a little but we will see about that!
 Until next time - stay warm.

The Farm Turns White

As with every year the white blanket of snow has arrived at the farm.  It is not my favorite sight but after a little staring in disbelief or is it denial? I started the truck, hooked onto the plow and headed out to push the snow in circles so that I look like I might know what I am doing.  Allyssia on the other hand bundles up so that she looks like the abominable snow man and grumbles along in the cold.  I personally think that her three winters in Florida might have spoiled her but that's just my opinion.  With the snow comes a whole new task of keeping cars and tractors cleaned off as well as roofs and walkways.  With all that said I can say that I would not want it any other way and even with my grumbling and incoherent muttering about all of the snow and cold you wouldn't find me anywhere else

Backtracking?

Somehow I seem to be back to square one with what I am referring to as the never ending Oliver.  With the first motor we started out with the head off and found a  couple of cracked pistons.  With this engine I was trying to fire it but was having some trouble with it not firing and backfiring.  Upon removal of the valve cover I found the exhaust valve for number one cylinder was stuck in the open position. 

No matter how I tried I could not get this picture to come out well but if you look carefully in the circled area you can see that the lifter is all the way down and the valve is still up.  I proceeded to carefully remove the head but not without creasing the head gasket in two places.

With the anti-freeze drained down I also decided to change the water pump that has been dripping ever so slightly.  The water pump that was on this engine has been sitting for probably fifteen years with nothing in it so the seals are probably all dried out.  Luckily the engine I pulled had a good non leaking water pump that I could just switch over. 

As of now I am waiting on parts but that doesn't stop me from making small adjustments like adding a better drain port for the anti-freeze.  The original drain points straight onto the frame and when trying to catch and reuse your anti-freeze it makes it difficult and not to mention messy.  The simplest way to remedy this is about six dollars in black iron fittings and approximately ten minutes. 

 It is nothing super amazing but to save on mess and save some money by saving anti-freeze it was an awesome investment. 

And for today's final bit I would like to say that I ordered my parts for the Oliver from a place that Grampa has ordered many parts from.  Zimmerman Oliver parts is out of Pennsylvania and the gentleman that runs it is extremely helpful and knowledgeable.  With that said I have a new head gasket and a carburetor kit coming in the mail this week. Someday this project will end with a nice running machine but until then stay tuned and check back next time!

Like a Flash

This time of year it almost seems like all I do is work and to an extent that would be true.  Whether it is working at my day job, helping Allyssia in the barn, or working on getting ready for winter I am always busy.  Since my last blog post I have worked late almost every night and some on the weekends.  Sometimes at work though I come across things that spark my interest and in some cases go home with them. 

Anyone that doesn't know I absolutely love old records, especially old country western swing.  This particular customer had happened to be at the dump at the same time that a radio station was cleaning out their old records and he took them all.  While I was working I noticed the shelves full of albums and inquired.  I was handed a box and told to help myself!

In just a few minutes I had a box full with some awesome records such as these!  I was invited back when I am free to look through and save some more old records!  Stay tuned and if you stop by the record player will probably be turning because I have a lot of vinyl to listen to. 

Now entering Heating Season

Since last weekend where I was on call for work I have worked quite a few extra hours.  As a plumbing and heating technician the fall season coming into winter is our busiest season.  With the cold and holidays fast approaching everyone wants their work done quick.  For me that means that in the coming weeks I will do any thing from furnace cleanings to new installs and everything in between.  Even with working 10-12 hour days I still managed to get a little bit done this week.  I have slowly continued the momentum on getting the Oliver running. 

The fuel tank is installed with new lines and an inline filter.  The drive line is all set with the universals all greased and new cotter pins.  I even have the new radiator hoses in and the whole block and radiator full with no leaks.  This has been an extremely slow process but we are coming to a close with the last thing being the carburetor.  Hopefully next post will be me driving around the driveway with the Oliver. 

And here we are back on the idea that winter is coming.  I did my final sickle mowing this weekend in the high winds and decided to put Old Smokey under cover for the winter.  I left the sickle mower attached but removed the pitman arm for the winter.  On our last list of winterizing projects for the winter we tried to incorporate all of our chickens together.

We have six that are older and only lay a few eggs here and there.  We were afraid that they would freeze by themselves in the outside coop on wheels so we moved them into the big coop. They don't seem to be fighting but you can see that they are all in one box except for the one that decided the lamp was the best perch.  Over all myself and Allyssia have been super busy, so don't forget to check back often.  If you are on Facebook check us out there as I sometimes post little bits on my page when I don't have the time or a laptop to do a full blog post. 

The Oliver in Reverse

As everything else around here, the Oliver is moving in the same slow succession as all of my other projects.  It has started it's move back to being a whole crawler again.  With the help of the finest assistant possible I have finally lowered the engine back in the engine bay. 

Allyssia just happens to be the best jack, and engine hoist operator.  It is so much easier to work with her running the hoist and with me under the tractor getting the bolts lined up and in.  It is always great having Allyssia help as she adds a great commentary to the work at hand, and shes pretty handy handing tools to me too.

I also have Cricket to come help and sit in the light. 
.

I currently have the engine in and full of antifreeze but I had a few leaks so tomorrow I will get some new radiator hose and clamps to fix it up.  There also was a slight leak on the oil pan that I JB welded and as of now it is holding oil.  I hope to have the carburetor cleaned and ready to install very soon.  Stay tuned for more fun and soon to be a running crawler. 
Also, more home improvements are coming with the porch and the new boiler!

The Bulldog that isn't a Dog

In almost 100 blog posts I don't think that I have really mentioned how much I love the old Hit and miss engines until the last few where my blog has been inundated with pictures of hit and miss engines.  Well if you were expecting today to be any different you would be wrong, because not only did I get another hit and miss engine but I got one attached to a big old saw!

So this is a 4 hp Bulldog attached to a cord wood saw.  On top of my many other projects I now want to build a shed for this to go in as well as a few other hit and miss powered tools.  Judging by the size of this saw set up the shed is going to have to be pretty darn big.  Thursday I went and picked this rig up and ended up just unloading it in the driveway due to my brother needing the trailer.  I was not going to do much to it right off but with it sitting there I just had to play around with it.  The engine had been sitting for 3 years or so but needed very little.  I hooked a battery on, cleaned the contacts on the buzz coil, primed it and she fired right up.  Here is a video of me starting and running it with the saw after it warmed up a little bit.
                                                               Bulldog and Saw Rig
At the moment I have only been cutting up some junk 2x4's but it used to get used cutting up slabs from a sawmill.  The engine needs a little cleaning up and I plan on pressure washing it when I have the pressure washer going next. Stay tuned and check back often for more fun!

The Reliance Line

In my last post I showed off a little snippet of my Reliance air cooled hit and miss engine.  Today I decided was a perfect day for a nice walk around video.  The start up in the video was the first start of the day and as always it started up flawlessly. 
                                                          Reliance Hit and Miss
Hope you all enjoy the video and stay tuned for more.  If anyone has requests on a tractor or engine that they want to see a walk around leave me a comment and let me know!

Pumpkins and Engines and Saws oh my.

Long post coming at you today so bear with me and just keep reading.  After my last Blog post I fell into a bit of a rut not wanting to sit behind my computer because that would have required me cleaning my desk and I did not want to clean it.  I did finally clean my desk off and am home from my vacation..  Between the last post and this one some fun stuff has happened.  First off I was the lone exhibitor of antique engines at the local Apple Pumpkin Festival! 

As usual the Quadractor appears at almost all shows with me as well at the model headless Witte, but there is a new old face here too.  On the front of the trailer is probably my favorite engine I own and it came from none other than Grampa.  This engine is a 5 horse power air cooled hit and miss engine.  It is probably one of the best running, easiest starting hit and miss engines I have had the pleasure of starting.  Now after the show it came to it's new home because it had been stored at Grampa's but he wants the room in his garage for other things.

Grampa also sent me with this cart to roll it around my garage, making it easier to move.  I will have a good video of the air cooled starting and running in another post but for now pictures are all you get. After an awesome day at the show Saturday and a relaxed day cleaning the yard up on Sunday Allyssia and I headed out on vacation!!!! We went away for our two year anniversary, which has been two years of Allyssia asking "but don't you already have a tractor like that?" and me explaining why I need another one!  For our anniversary we went to the Freyburg fair and North Conway.

We went for Woodsman's day on Monday and got rained on for part of the day but it was not overly bad.  Day two was wet and cold all day but the plus side was that there weren't many people there and when watching the pulling the grandstands had plenty of seating.  Wednesday Luckily was a beautiful day for us to wander North Conway and see all of the little shops.  We don't usually buy much at the shops but this time we found all kinds of things that we both loved!

Allyssia's and my stuff can easily be told apart because most everything I got was tea or tea related.  I am very into tea, especially loose leaf tea that I can steep myself.  So at all the shops I picked up three different kinds of tea, a new tea mug, and a new steeping pot! After wandering around long enough we headed for home.  After being gone for just three days it is so nice to be home and see Cricket, Emily, Parker, and the horses again. 

So on my farm Facebook page I posted a picture that was going to lead into tonight's blog but I can not get my video to upload so that part of the blog will become its own post, besides I have rambled on long enough for one night.  Be sure to join in next time and leave a comment because I love hearing from you all. 

A Half a World Away

After a month being home on leave and having fun goofing off - the best man in my wedding, my co-worker, and best friend is leaving for Japan tomorrow.  Not all of you know Connor because he was at boot camp when I started this blog so he has been gone in the Marines for practically the last year.  If I had started this blog sooner Connor would probably have been brought up as much as Allyssia!!  Connor and I started hanging out more when I started working for A. Maurais and Son, which is his father's company.  The two of us have done countless jobs together as the Maurais-Timberlake team. We also hung out outside of work doing just about anything from Connor helping me get tractors, to hiking.

All through high school Connor and I hung out at work and out of work and we even let Allyssia come with us once and a while.  Naturally when Allyssia and I got married Connor was the best man. 

Then Connor joined the United States Marine Corps.  The Marines is something he has been passionate about for years. After 3 months of basic training, a few more months at MCT, and his favorite schooling at Pensacola and Aglin military bases - Connor came home on leave for thirty days. 

Now in thirty days one can only do so much but Connor and I got to hang out quite a bit.  Tomorrow Connor heads back to Florida and then from there heads to his duty station for the next two years in Japan.  We are definitely going to miss Connor being around here for the next two years.  The good news is that even with the time change he can stay caught up to date with what we are doing here as he is one of my most loyal readers!  So stay tuned and check beck often.  And Connor I told you that you would get your own blog post.