I've been struggling to get my burn pile to catch on fire and stay burning. I've started cutting the trees into shorter lengths and piling them on top of each other as tight as possible. This time, I guess it was ready to burn, as I lit it in one place and it just took off. It had rained two days earlier, so I wasn't worried about it getting too big. With the shorter logs and the tight packing of them with my backhoe, the fire never got very big. Most of the time it was just burning deep inside the pile.
While it burned, I loaded dirt into my dumptruck and hauled it to an area that I'm building up. I need allot of dirt in that area since I'll be putting a sewage line in there and have to have 4 feet of dirt above the pipe. It also has to have the proper slope, so where it crosses a sort of valley, I have to build it up quite a bit. This is also a two lane road that makes a fairly sharp turn. It's probably the biggest road project on my land, but with enough dirt, it will work out very nicely. I just need allot more dirt!!!
The food plot is taking shape. I have the bulk of the dirt piles gone and I'm starting to work on getting it graded to where I want it. That means another foot or two in some areas, while others are just right. In those areas that are just right, I took some soil samples and sent them off to by analysized. The results are on another thread that I started here.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/119891-soil-analysis-help-appreciated.html
I've sort of developed a new way of moving the dirt. At first, I relied on the dozer to build up the piles, then the FEL to load them into the dump truck and haul them off to where I wanted it. I think I wasted allot of time and fuel by using the dozer for this. While it does a good job of moving dirt, it takes me so long to remove it that it compacts and I have to dig it out with the backho in order to get a full bucket every time with the FEL.
Now I dig the dirt with the bakhoe in quantities that I can handle in a few hours. Then I dig more with the backhoe and haul that off until I get to where I want to be. I'm still running the backhow the same number of hours, but I've eliminated the need for the dozer. For short digs, smoothing, grading and finish work, the dozer is perfect. But when moving dirt any distance, it's not practical at all. This is sort of a revelation for me and I've been suprised by the results.
On a side note, this has also proven to be true in clearing the land. Using the dozer creates a huge mess that takes forever to clean up. If I'm not burning where I'm clearing land with the dozer, like in my lake project, it's faster, cheaper and easier to just take down a few trees at a time and haul them to the burn pile.
And the really big news and something I'm very excited about is a product called Hammerite. It's a special type of paint for the bed of my dumptruck. The problem that I've been dealing with is the clay will stick to the bed and after a few loads, Ihave to clean it out with a shovel. This really sucks and is something that's been driving me crazy. Not just the labor part, but the time it takes to deal with this. Sometimes I can get 5 loads without having to shovel the bed clean, other times I can go a few more loads. This time of the year, the clay is holding allot of moisture. It sticks to everything.
My dump truck is used. It's a 1983 Ford F-600 that I'm pretty sure has been a dump truck since the day it was first bought. I also think the bed is original since the bottom is not flat, but countoured to every rib in the frame under it. It is also rusted and rather rough. I don't have a clue what a new bed woudl cost, but I'm pretty sure it's more then I want to spend on a $3,000 dump truck. I read about Hammerite on the heavey equipment forums and from those who have used it, thought it was worth a try.
I searched for it on google and found it pretty cheap at one place for $45 a gallon. I ordered it and it never showed up. After a month, I canceled that order and bought it from Jamestown Distributing. They sell allot of stuff for boats and docks. Their price was $71.46 for a gallon and $15.63 for shipping. It's not cheap!!!!
There are two finisshes, one is called a hammer finish, and I guess that's for wrought iron type stuff. The other is a smooth finish, which is what I bought. It's designed to go right on top of the rust. I just washed and scrubed the bed clean with water, then let it dry. I applied the paint with a roller, which is how the guy on the other site recomened applying it. It's miserable stuff to work with, very sticky and messy. I just poured some of the bed and rolled it out. At one point, I wasn't sure if a gallon would be enough, but in the end, I used about 3/4 of the gallon.
In its brochure, they say that when it drys, a crystal forms to creat a super hard, smooth finish. After running 50 loads through it over the weekend, I can say that there is no sign of wear. In the corners of the bed, I started to get some build up of clay, but just in the side corners and that was only the last ten loads. The clay just slid out really nice and easy. It was just amazing!!!!!
I'm wondering if it will work in my backhoe and loader buckets. The backhoe bucket is 2 feet wide and builds up with clay fairly quickly. If it's wet, it's just that much worse. If I get the time this week, I'm going to wash out that bucket and paint on the rest of the can in there. It can't hurt and it might make it easier to keep the bucket clean.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm way behind schedule. Too many weather delays, other projects, work and vacation have all gotten in the way of my dirt moving goals. I'm also moving allot of dirt and want to get it right and done with before planting anything. Eventually, this field will be a key part of my property and if done right, a real asset. It's just time, so I'll just keep at it until it's right.
Thanks,
Eddie