Creating a Lake

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Sickle bar time. Best ever implement for trimming a pond. Get a 9' footer, or don't bother. They can be cantankerous, but when the work, they work great.

 

[EddieWalker]

Yep! ...and you have plenty of time to kick yourself in the behind while you walk back to the house to get the backhoe. :laughing:

SO TRUE!!!!!

I knew that I was too close and just kept pushing it. The water is about 18 inches low and the area that I got stuck in would be under 6 inches of water when the pond is full, so there really wasn't any good reason to even be mowing there.

It was my first stuck of the year, and not that bad either. Just the stupid factor and having to waste time walking back to get the backhoe, driving it down to the lake and pulling it free.

Maybe I'll learn, but I'm having my doubts.

Eddie

 

[dcyrilc]

SO TRUE!!!!!

I knew that I was too close and just kept pushing it. The water is about 18 inches low and the area that I got stuck in would be under 6 inches of water when the pond is full, so there really wasn't any good reason to even be mowing there.

It was my first stuck of the year, and not that bad either. Just the stupid factor and having to waste time walking back to get the backhoe, driving it down to the lake and pulling it free.

Maybe I'll learn, but I'm having my doubts.

Eddie

It's that infamous "just one more pass" that we're all addicted to.:laughing:

 

[jinman]

Sickle bar time. Best ever implement for trimming a pond. Get a 9' footer, or don't bother. They can be cantankerous, but when the work, they work great.

Kyle, do you think Eddie's Century compact can handle a 9' sicklebar? Why is a 9' necessary over a 6' or 7' bar. I'm really interested because I'd love to have one to cut around my ponds.

 

[EddieWalker]

I looked into sicklebar's, but decided that it wasn't worth the money to buy one when my rear finish mower can do the job most of the time. I like the look I get from my riding mower the best, so it's just a matter of using better judgement, or knowing that I get to take the walk of shame every time I get too close to the water.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Back to the picnic table frames. I'm now leaning towards the one in Wisconsin over the one in Texas. I'm attaching pics of both of them.

The one with the extra support at the seat looks like it has more steel, but it weighs ten pounds less then the other one at 55 pounds. This has me thinking that it's much thinner steel, and so weak that it needs the extra support.

The heavier one, at 65 pounds, has a much cleaner design. The one it Texas will charge sales tax, and the one in Wisconsin does not. We're only talking $13, but if I buy a bunch of them, that will add up pretty quickly, and that's still money that I don't have to spend if I buy the lighter one in Texas.

They both seem to have the same galvanizing. Dipped and on both the inside and the outside according to the sellers.

What am I missing? Is my logic sound?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[gwjd]

these steel and wood ones can be moved buy one guy

best way forks on tractor

second best balance on bucket

third best you can stand them up on end then slowly easy them table side up into a pickup bed

one night i moved 20+ buy my self the river was rising and they were not chained down on top of all that had to drag them to the road with a chain cause it was way to wet to drive to each table it was a night i hope to never have to redo

 

[weldingisfun]

If the choice was mine, Eddie, it would be the one with the plates sitting on it. I kinda like the added support under the bench seat.
Is that the one you are leaning toward?

 

[radioman]

I'm trying hard to stay out of the picnic tables saga, but after seeing the pics, The green one looks cheesy. The second one is a little better, but I am not convinced if it gonna last. How often and what type of people are you going to have come over ? I was under the impression you really want something to last more then 5 years? On the other hand, I am not familar with texas weather year around so it might last longer then I think. Around here in northeast, I would have to cover them up and put away every fall if I want it to last more then 10 years.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm just buying the frames and will get the lumber on my own. I don't know if I will paint it, stain it, or just leave it natural. I'm kind of wishy washy on that part of it too.

The one with the two pipes under the seat is the lighter one by ten pounds. More steel, but a lot less weight. That is the one from Texas, and the one that I was first thinking of getting. I like the extra pipe and how it would be an easy place to bump up to the table to slide it over with my mower, but now I'm thinking that I want the other one that weighs more. Heavier pipe will last longer.

Eddie

 

[tony Cecil]

Eddie---I personally like the green one better, but would have concerns with the seat ---would it break---Might just get one and test it out, then decide.....I`m also of the opinion that maybe all the same would look a little `industrial` Tony

 

[Ranger Rick]

Back to the picnic table frames. I'm now leaning towards the one in Wisconsin over the one in Texas. I'm attaching pics of both of them.


The heavier one, at 65 pounds, has a much cleaner design. The one it Texas will charge sales tax, and the one in Wisconsin does not. We're only talking $13, but if I buy a bunch of them, that will add up pretty quickly, and that's still money that I don't have to spend if I buy the lighter one in Texas.

They both seem to have the same galvanizing. Dipped and on both the inside and the outside according to the sellers.

What am I missing? Is my logic sound?

Thanks,
Eddie

Eddie
I would go with the heavier one also. Figure that you are going to be pushing them around with your mower the heaver one should hold up better. We had picnic tables of the same design in the parks that I worked in. The galvanized tables frames should last 20 years. Of course we had to replace the boards but the frames have always lasted well.
Rick

 

[redleicester]

Fascinating stuff, I'm sorry that I have only had time to quickly skim the last few pages (and a few picked at random) - 184 pages is an awful lot to digest. Perhaps a summary blog / thread for those of us desparately swimming to keep up might be good?

As an aside, we bought our new house 18 months or so ago, which came with a 7.5-8acre lake and dam. By the looks of the documents, the lake was originally just a pond in a depression, but was slowly but surely dammed up in the 1700s, with the eventual height it has now reached completed in the late 1800s. It's now around 65,000m3 at "normal" levels. It used to be part of an estate and served as the fishing lake, so has been stocked for over a hundred years - I don't fish, but just watching from the shoreline there are some big things in there! The final stock list we have (from some time in the 1980s/90s there are:

Carp
Roach
Perch
Rudd
Bream
Tench
Pike
Eels

(All UK names I guess, so may or may not mean anything to you chaps...)

Anyway, keep it up, your place looks fantastic, well done!

 

[redleicester]

Blimey.... page 49 and I'm still going... what a monumental exercise!

 

[beppington]

Blimey.... page 49 and I'm still going... what a monumental exercise!

This entire thread shows up as only 46 pages for me.

You can go to "My Home", then "Edit Options" on the left, then scroll down to "Number of Posts to Show Per Page" & change it to 40.

Still the same number of posts, but at least you do a lot less clicking "Next page".

 

[redleicester]

Aha! That could be handy, though finding my current place could be a bit tricky!

Cheers.

 

[dcyrilc]

Aha! That could be handy, though finding my current place could be a bit tricky!

Cheers.

I always try to stop at the end of a page. Makes it easy to figure out where to start back up.:thumbsup:

 

[beppington]

Aha! That could be handy, though finding my current place could be a bit tricky!

Cheers.

Make a note of the thread number you read last :thumbsup:

Each thread is consecutively numbered, shown at its upper-right corner ... Those numbers don't change just because you change the number of posts per page to be displayed.

 

[Kyle241]

As an aside, we bought our new house 18 months or so ago, which came with a 7.5-8acre lake and dam. By the looks of the documents, the lake was originally just a pond in a depression, but was slowly but surely dammed up in the 1700s, with the eventual height it has now reached completed in the late 1800s. It's now around 65,000m3 at "normal" levels. It used to be part of an estate and served as the fishing lake, so has been stocked for over a hundred years - I don't fish, but just watching from the shoreline there are some big things in there! The final stock list we have (from some time in the 1980s/90s there are:

Carp
Roach
Perch
Rudd
Bream
Tench
Pike
Eels

(All UK names I guess, so may or may not mean anything to you chaps...)

Anyway, keep it up, your place looks fantastic, well done!

7.5-8 acre lake??? Good lord that's a big one, especially in the UK. Can only imagine what the property set you back over there. Small homes going for over 500,000 quid prevented me from moving to the UK! My guess is the big ones are likely carp and they are fun on the fly.

Sorry, back to discussing picnic tables!

 

[redleicester]

7.5-8 acre lake??? Good lord that's a big one, especially in the UK. Can only imagine what the property set you back over there. Small homes going for over 500,000 quid prevented me from moving to the UK! My guess is the big ones are likely carp and they are fun on the fly.

Sorry, back to discussing picnic tables!

It's not small it has to be said.

We're in the west where prices are rather more sensible, a similar property down in the southeast would be several million I suspect :confused2:

Let's see if these pics work:

That last one is taken standing on our dam by the way - see, it's vaguely on topic!


Right, back to picnic tables!