Keeping character, or restoring a pond

[txdon]

Hi Harvey,

Where is the thread on the awesome steel fence you are building, I will read this one when I get the chance. Not enough time to read through 67 pages of texas bullshit. take care my friend.

P.S. If anyone ever gets the chance to work with Harvey-- do it. You will not regret it, and I have not been the same since.

Lowntown, The NEW fence project starts on this thread, page 62, post 619. Welcome to TBN. A lot of us here have worked with Harvey and know how you feel!

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Don do you have a link to the story on your gate? Mitch teaches a shop class and he would like that thread.

For those that don't know him Mitch is a teacher in WI and our common passion is the welders in Haiti. Mitch teaches them to weld and we both take welding lens of arc helmets to Haiti when we go to give to the street welders. We teach them to make and use cardboard hoods so they can really weld because otherwise they use sun glasses.

 

[txdon]

Don do you have a link to the story on your gate? Mitch teaches a shop class and he would like that thread.

After an intense search I found it.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/111160-other-39.html
starting at post 382

Harvey, you really need to start a new thread for each major part of each project with a name that is easy to search.

Oh, by the way the gate is used several times each day and is still working just fine, it makes me smile every time it opens especially in cold rainy weather. I did replace the battery last year.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

That gate makes me smile when I think about it too. It's the only gate that I've ever made where I had a partner help me do the work and two supervisors who managed to manage and be manageable at the same time. It was a ton of fun to bend a piece of steel and then hold it in place for approval, never done that before.

There are three phases of a project that are just about equal in the fun department. Conception is a kick because it is about finding the edge of the box and then running like crazy when you find it, "free at last!" Building it is all about challenges and overcoming them. The pleasure one gets when whupping butt on a challenge is about as good as it gets. Then there's the appreciation from others when it's done. The last one is great but I have to admit that the first two are better with one caveat. They are harder too share when you work like I do most of the time, by myself.

So when I look at the projects that gave me the most pleasure the ATV bridge and the snake/wagon wheel gate are near the top just because I wasn't alone in the first two phases.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...102939d1211162783-other-dons-entrance-038.jpg For those who are grin impaired and searching for a remedy.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Yesterday at 7:00 a.m. I got the call no one ever wants to get. "Harvey the galvanizing is coming apart in the oven, it's a mess."

We are talking about a major issue with 12,000 lbs of steel that I have a ton of money invested in not doing what it should be doing in the powder coating process. Needless to say I was across town at the powder coaters as soon as possible.

What happened was the workers had grabbed three pieces to be coated as a sample out of a rack I hadn't inspected close. Some of the pieces in that rack are really crappy, they will have to have sections ground down and then the whole piece re-dipped. The workers luckily grabbed three of the worst pieces.

Prior to applying the wood grain they noticed bubbles on the pieces. They picked at the bubbles with a knife and the bubble chipped off, galvanizing left on the original piece and the powder coat too. So it is the galvanizing that is failing.

However, this appears to be just a small sample of the material. The rest of the stuff looks great.

Next week we will cull the bad stuff out and the galvanizer will take it back to make it right. This is one of those "WE have a problem" that isn't as hard on the system "I have a problem".

 

[wroughtn_harv]

The powder coater had a post ready to wood grain but didn't put it in the oven because, this is the stuff I love, they were processing some thin material and it takes a shorter length of time and lower heat than the thicker post would require. So the last thing they did was coat the post and then send me these photos.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Wow that is beautiful. Hard to believe it is steel.

 

[txdon]

Wood peckers and termites are in for a big surprise. Looks good, no maintenance, will outlast all of us, Wow.
I'm anxiously awaiting the construction phase and to see the first section!

 

[forgeblast]

Wood peckers and termites are in for a big surprise...lol no kidding.