Yep - I errased the whole thing.

Let's see .... Get coffee.

Over the weekend, my Son helped me unload the remainder of my large trailer of shop goods.

This included the very awkward and heavy power hammer frame.

We also moved quite a few items from the center shop to the lower shop. Items had to be stored, once offloaded; until the lower shop was built. Now it's been quite a job to move items to the proper building. The third shop (upper shop) will contain the casting/sizing/storage for projectiles. It will have the fill station/compressors/tanks/hardware. It will also be the testing station, and the shooting bench. A full plate for the smallest of the shops.

Lower shop will house the woodworking shop, welding/forging shop, bluing shop, anodizing shop, and finishing shop (with spray booth).

Now I begin the partitioning, build benches, shelving, storage units ... and sorting the hundred piles of tools into the three buildings.

We were finally able to get out FINAL INSPECTION on the lower shop this morning. It's been a matter of working our way thry the system. It fell into place today. Yeah!!! Nothing to it .. these things practically organize themselves ....

I've worked more on the errosion control project behind the lower shop. More to do there.

In addition: I've managed to crack the code on the "Great Chipper Caper". You may not realize that you know more then you care to know about my efforts to keep from being choked to death with the rainforest. In Maryland, years ago; I purchased what I thought was a Mongo Chipper/Shredder. The purpose was to beat the bamboo into submission. yeah ... right. Well, I thought it might be useful down here. Thought I was well equiped to battle the weeds here. Well .... that's before I met .... YAUPON. Say the word in a hushed voice - lest it hear you ....

Yaupon is Florida's verion of my Md. bamboo curse. The Net says: "Yaupon holly, sometimes called just yaupon, is a fast-growing native of the southeastern United States. It sprouts readily from roots and is widely dispersed by birds that consume its berries. It grows in a wide variety of habitats including scrub, upland forests, and coastal areas." It does not mention that the stuff is possessed. It was the inspiration for velcro - since all it's branches cling to it's other branches - and neighboring Yaupon. You can cut off a Yaupon limb, and it just stays there. Held in place by the rest of the "collective" of yaupon. You can cut off the trunk, and it just stands there. You can tug and pull. Throw yourself at it in fits of starts. You can grab it, lift yourself off the ground and shake it like a gorilla in a cage. Nothing. Once exhausted, you lay gasping like a fish on a beach, under the suspended Yaupon. You rotate one bloodshot eye from severed trunk to severed limbs. It mocks you. You stagger to your feet ... and then notice one banjo string vine stretching off into infinity. You stagger along in the direction it leads. Half a mile or so, through the woods; you find it wrapped around ..... another Yaupon!!!!



You finally own a chunk of Yaupon. You can hardly tell what it up or down or side. The limbs grow at 90 degrees from the trunk - and the twigs at 90 degrees from the branches. It's all hard, thorny, and interlocked. Your chipper/shredder takes one look and .... whimpers .... mommmmmy.....

Well, I bit the bullet - and I upgraded to a Northern Tools chipper. MONGO in bold capitals. You recall the efforts to get it shipped. Then the circus of getting it offloaded by the funeral home across the street in New Windsor. The loading it into my trailer and the attachment to the illfated John Deere tractor back down here. The Yaupon was like feeding it bridge cable. It choked and refused to feed any more. Wonderful.

So; that sat in the way, here and there; until a couple of days ago. On one of our many trips here and there .... we stopped at the dealership where I'd purchased my Kubota. We talked to the owner - great fella. Been in business for a long time. He told me I was one of a very, very, small few of people with whom he'd done business without meeting them. He was very satisified with our conversation when I'd call to order my Kubota. He'd delivered it without ever meeting me or having a cent change hands. There's a sense of honor down here that works for you, if they feel you are good for your word.

Well; we are talking and walking - talking about a mower option for the tractor .... and Kelly says, "Look at THAT!!" I look - and there sits a smaller version of a road crew chipper! Tall rotating exhaust shoot arching away like a Jurrasic .... ah ... chipper shoot. We start to hear the story. ..... I'll post this before I hit something and errase it .....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2012 02:36AM by barnespneumatic.

OK .... this thing is a really fine unit. Very powerful. Self propelled - on it's own trailer. Weighs about 1,150 lbs. V-Twin Honda motor - 24 horsepower.

The dealer had sold it new - to a good customer. Guy had cleared everything he wanted to clear on his 4-6 acres, as I recall. Guy loved it - but said he was really done with it. It had been sitting - so he either had traded it or had it on consignment. The price was a good bit more then I wished to pay. I started looking at other things he had.

Well. Kelly kept coming back to this thing. We talked more. Dealer seemed to think this had so much more spunk then another tractor mounted unit he had used. Now ... before you think it's just a matter of power .... both of THESE units had FLAIL units with them. The others had knives on the side of heavy disc flywheels. My Northern Tools one ... only had ONE knife on a 80 pound flywheel. It was billed to chip 5" trees. And, it would - slowly. And - it was useless with brush ... especially Yauon. Now - these two units had those flywheel/knife cutters - but ALSO have a cage of swinging serrated flail knives which whip at the brush. They look like river boat paddle wheels with these swinng knife cutters along the paddles. There's a huge heavy flywheel, and integral fan shaped plate steel fins to eject the stuff.

Well, to make a long story medium length ... the dealer went back and checked his numbers to see what he could sell this for. He came back with a number almost a thousand dollars less. With his knowledge of the thing, his previous customer's testimonial of the unit, Kelly's gut feeling, and my miserible experience with the others ... I accepted the deal, which now struck me as quite good - and I found to be just a bit over 1/4 the price it was new!



OK .. enough story. They delivered it the next day. It simply EATS TREES!!! WHAT a piece of machinery!!!! AS we drove around the rest of the day I bought it, I had Kelly read every word of the spec. sheet to me. And - it finally sunk in .... four knives on the 3/4" flywheel ... BEAR CAT???? Wait .... bear cat? .... BEAR CAT!!!!! That's the brand of other worldly chipper Kent has!!!! Well - I'll BE!!! hahahahahahaha.

So; the other two of mine are on consignment at the dealership. And I finally have a tool to beat back the yaupon from the workshop doors!

Thanks for listening. Appreciate the interest.

Doing Ok here.

God Bless,
Gary

So...can my next rifle be all-stainless steel,,, with a Yaupon stock?


Cover me guys, I'm-a-headin for the hills!

Did you find out if ya have to BURN the Pile of chips that you new chipper leaves, so it doesn't spread further!

Maybe use it for Shot Shell fill for the Yukon 87!

Hi Rick,

Oh yeah - it does say that BIRDS spread the berry seeds. And we know how. I'm certain the chipper shooting a stream of the berries into the woods isn't the end. But - a quick dash over the plants when they are still pencil sized or less should help. We'll learn. I'm certain it's a no win situation ... but - I refuse to live in a tangle of thorns. Makes the woods dark and depressing. So; I'll fight it now and then. I'll also look into some other means of keeping it down some. These kinds of plagues usually LOVE fire. Grasses and seeds and nuts crack open with the heat. Some things need fire to reproduce. And, I don't care to start the place ablaze. hahah.

This is, or course, a side obsession. The previous guy had areas cleared and then left it get a grip again. There are many places around here with nice groves of pines and grasses among them. I see large tacts where it's been commercially cleared down to dirt - then grasses and Palmetto palm grow back under the pines. Left alone, the Yaupon would literally overtake and choke out every inch. It's like barbed wire on rebar stalks. Takes some serious iron to damage it. That's why I've explored how to do so with the least physical labor - other then check book landscaping.

I'm really hoping that we can make/keep a good sense of well being just in the surroundings. I've been in a cramped, dark, nearly windowless environment with neighbors shoved up my buttstock for too many decades. This type of heavy metal gardening has been sort satisfying.

Thanks for your comments Rick!

Gary

That's great that you've found the antidote to the Yaupon. Now a BearCat sounds like something that deserves to be in the woods. My lowly Wallenstein sounds kind of nerdy and myopic, not something that you should be taking into the dark forest. But then my son explains that Wallenstein is "Stone Wall" in German and suddenly my Germanic Rebel chest swells with pride. Yea, it may not have a Motor, but it's got a 180 lbs Rotor.



Kyle and I broke it out for a pecan limb trimming session. Boy, it takes a lot of trimming to get enough mulch around even a few blueberry bushes. BTW, the larger branches were spared for the smoker.

You may find it rather useful to have the chipper and tractor separate. That will let you use the tractor to bring more "stock" to the chipping site.

Kent

Ah ... My mistake Mein Herr! Du bist richtig!!!

This one has the side shoot to eat the trunks. When you get up into the broomstick size branch tops, you toss it in the top. Nudge it just a bit with the push stick potato masher safety thingie (that's the disconnect between operator and chipper). When the flail cage serrated knives catch it a bit .... the whole wad just disappears in a blink, with a heck of a racket and shower of chips out the chute. Big smiles. Bye bye Yaupon!!! . It's a GOOD THING!

Gary

Gosh,

All this chipper talk and not even one picture of a pile of chips.

I figured you would have chips in all the gardens, around the house and buildings, paths, and a pile by the side of the road with a "Mulch For Sale" sign.

Kent, yours looks like a spare set of bearings and a grinder to sharpen the blades will keep it going for a hundred years. Looks easy to maintain.

Lon

Well, "worky, worky" ... Gloves, ear protection, noise - didn't stop and mug for the camera. Fortunately, there's more brush to whack. Eventually there's bound to be pics! (;?))

Yeah, they are tough!

Gary