Another barn build

[hayden]

Awesome project and thanks for sharing!

Would another option be to allow yourself to raise the grade of the new building by 12-18" to get the excavation done sooner? shouldn't be that awful to have a gentle ramp up into the building for your equipment storage, no?

It's definitely an option, in fact it's the first thing on the list of things to change, if needed. I'm just not quite ready to give up yet.

Today I pulled out about 8-10 yds more material. I removed two dump trailer loads, plus 4-5 large rocks. I'm definitely making progress, but it's slow.

The dump trailer is probably worth a few words... It's a 14' Iron Bull with a GVW of 14,000 lbs. Struck capacity is 7 yds, but I'm only filling it to about 1/2 capacity. So two loads is 6-7 yds. The trailer could hold a bit more, but it's a serious overload for my tractor. My tongue weight limit is 1600 lbs. and I'm definitely over that. So much so that I've bent the draw bar a couple of times, and periodically turn it over to bend it back. This is one of the smaller examples of why I bought a much bigger tractor. I really don't want to break the kubota, but worry about it every time I move around such a heavy load.

 

[hayden]

Just make sure the chisel is well clamped down before you try it.

For sure, but I'm still struggling with how/why a carbide saw blade will cut the material where a mill that presumably also has a carbide blade can not. Is there something different between the two? I don't want to just trash a $150-$200 saw blade.

 

[dodge man]

Just use a file to repoint it, a coarse one of course, it might take a few minutes.

 

[pmsmechanic]

For sure, but I'm still struggling with how/why a carbide saw blade will cut the material where a mill that presumably also has a carbide blade can not. Is there something different between the two? I don't want to just trash a $150-$200 saw blade.

Well I'm not saying it will for sure cut the bit but I think it's worth a try.

A machinist will look at it from the point of view of making money on the job. By the time he builds something to hold the chisel securely he can't charge you enough to make it pay for his business. Especially if it's only a one time job. You on the other hand are looking to stretch out your $700.

What I would do is take the chisel that you showed us a picture of and try to slice a little bit off the tip with an old blade. Then you'll have an idea if it's worth your while to proceed further.

Now I don't know where you are buying your blades. I pay roughly $35 to $55 in USD ($50-$80 CAD) at Princess Auto if I catch a sale. I believe $80 is their regular price but I haven't bought one for a few month's. I usually keep 1 or 2 blades in stock depending on how old/worn my current blade is. This is a 14" blade.

If I'm careful with the blades I can usually get the same amount of cuts as if I was using the equivalent $ worth of 12" abrasive blades. And carbide tipped blades just cut so much nicer.

I mostly use my abrasive saw for hand held work. Stuff that I can't hold in a vice and I use the carbide tip for everything else. If I get a rare good setup I can cut right down the edge of a piece of steel with the carbide and just skim the paint.

 

[hayden]

I hauled out another 3 trailer loads, so about 10-12 yds. Plus one giant rock that the excavator could just unweight enough to skid across the ground. That's about 6000 lbs, so another 2+ yds. At this point there are only 2-3 areas left that are too high. I'm almost there.

I also talked to a neighbor who is going to loan me a boom lift in exchange for digging the muck out of his pond with my excavator. He's also going to do the roof sheathing and standing seam on this building. That's one more part of the puzzle coming together...

 

[hayden]

Now I don't know where you are buying your blades. I pay roughly $35 to $55 in USD ($50-$80 CAD) at Princess Auto if I catch a sale. I believe $80 is their regular price but I haven't bought one for a few month's. I usually keep 1 or 2 blades in stock depending on how old/worn my current blade is. This is a 14" blade.

I'll have to check around, but the 14" carbide blades for cutting metal that I have seen are in the $150 +/- range. $50 would be great.

 

[EddieWalker]

Where are you putting all that material?

 

[ning]

Looks like pretty decent dirt if you get rid of the rocks... kinda jealous, our red clay around here is pretty miserable and has its share of rocks as well :/

 

[hayden]

Where are you putting all that material?

There is a steep drop off of about 10' along one side of by barn yard. Along that side, my barn yard is now 15-20' wider than it used to be. So I'm very fortunate that I don't have to move the material more than 100-150', and that I'm gaining useful space from it.