TODAYS SEAT TIME

[3Lfarms]

I was going at a moderate walking speed. I figure about 3 MPH. I was in 7 th gear (16x16 power shuttle). It wasn’t too bad, but i wouldn’t want to go any faster.

 

[daugen]

I went slow because of the bumps and my five inches of titanium in my neck, sure doesn't like a lot of jostling, and I was gently jibed by my neighbor the fireman that real farmers went a lot faster. Really, well, they do actually. Now pulling a tiller you can't go fast so you are just going over an endless supply of speed bumps on the first pass

 

[LouNY]

My little job today was prepping the driveway for some rain, I put diagonal water cuts in to divert rain from the driveway.
It's too steep to try and keep a crown in that would be enough to shedd the water.
I can put the little ditches in while in neutral and riding the brakes.
View attachment IMG_20171008_132439218.jpgView attachment IMG_20171008_135516166.jpgView attachment IMG_20171008_134328496.jpg
this was a couple of days ago
View attachment IMG_20170922_164715949_HDR.jpg

 

[DieselBound]

I wish I had boulders like that! I sure wouldn't bury them. This is coming from someone that has as much rock as dirt but none bigger than cantaloupes.

Wait until you go to put in a fence and those cantaloupes will change your mind!:laughing:

I recently finished fencing around the homestead. Rented a skid steer with auger. Drilled about 120 holes. Of course, one for my front driveway gate hit some of those cantaloupes and caused me to end up with a huge hole. I hand tamped all the posts in, so extra big holes brought no joy!

Listen to Luke!

 

[CanuckPT]

Started trenching for my electrical conduit for my barn project! Got to use the new lights & canopy I got from Thunderbird! They worked great! Plowing will be excellent this winter with the front facing ones!

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Finished mowing my road ditches, then took the mower off for the year. We're supposed to get our first hard freeze tonight, so that should be the last mow job of the season. Box blade is back on, and ready for snow season.

 

[daugen]

Lou, can you explain whatever attachment is on the front of your tractor please. Did you make that?

Canuck, that looks both exciting and rewarding to get to this point. Keep going, snow's coming!

 

[Gary Fowler]

ok, let me understand this better please...you mean the very end of the blade you want to remain at 90 degrees and not smoothed over from sharpening?
Like a tooth on a chain saw...
Funny, I always pay extra attention to the end to make sure it's super sharp, figuring it's the first thing that hits.
maybe I should be spending more time trueing the end.
I know the blades are sharp when they make a sound like slicing crisp lettuce.

I also sharpen the reverse side of the edge lightly, like a knife.
All of this is a terrible idea if you mind sharpening blades. I don't...frankly find it very satisfying.

I find I am able to run my mowers and tractors at lower rpm and still maintain a nice cut with sharper blades.
My landscaper who helps me mow just runs his JD zturn flat out, letting tip speed beat it off. He has been mowing lawns for twenty years and has
never sharpened a blade. Many folks don't; replacement blades today aren't that expensive if you don't buy oem.
So neither way is right, I just grew up on the farm sharpening mower blades on a stand up grinder and I guess I've never stopped.

I keep my mower blades sharp and I don't square the ends up. The tips wear off fairly quickly to a round profile and if I squared them up each time, pretty soon the blade would be too short to overlap the cut. I don't find a rounded end to be any less of a cut than a square end as long as it is sharp. I have lots of rocks, sticks and crawfish and ant beds to mow over so I have to sharpen about every 3rd mowing (about 18 acres total) to keep the tips(first 3") sharp.
A sharp blade not only cuts cleaner, it requires less HP to turn thus less fuel to mow the same acreage with. I keep 2 sets of blades for my mower so I always have a sharp set to swap out. I use my tractor to lift the mower up, impact off the bolt and replace the dull blade with a sharp one. It takes me less than 5 minutes to change out the three blades and be back on the ground with the mower. I installed a 3/8" chain loop on the front of my mower so I have something to hook my chain hook into rather than looping around an axle or something. It is much more convenient and safer that way. I don't worry about the FEL falling but I would worry about a chain slipping if not using the hooks on both ends.
As for folks doing lawn maintenance and never sharpening the blades, well, I can imagine how the grass ends look on the lawn when they are frayed off rather than cut. That to me is the mark of a lazy person. It is costing him money in fuel to avoid a 5 or 10 minute job once or twice a week, not to mention all the extra wear on his mower.

 

[Gary Fowler]

3L, looks good, can't imagine doing that in an open tractor. Must have been a bumpy ride that first pass.
When I did the same thing harrowing my neighbor farmer's field, helping him out when his tractor broke, he suggested I go "with the grain" the first pass and the opposite direction
or 45 degrees off the next. I hit a couple of "waves" out there that I thought would break something on the front axle but the tractor is much tougher than I am.
Is there a better way doing this? For those of you who do this for a living...

I would have went in the same direction of the hills on the first pass. The back lid on the tiller would have helped drag down the hump. If needing a second pass, a diagonal cut would have been the way to go. Alternately two diagonal pass in an X shape would have worked I think but maybe not as well as following the rows the first time.

 

[daugen]

The guy who owned the land I was discing said he just loved to watch me work the land. Said I was doing fine, but maybe go in different directions on the second pass. Wasn't more specific than that. Most guys plant in one direction though maybe they shouldn't; often has something to do with drainage, at least here it does. The farmer was going to hump it all up with his furrower anyway; I figured it didn't make too much difference in which "direction" I left the field for him. I'm utterly new at this and just trying to use common sense, not experience for sure.

My houseguests this past week asked for a photo of my friend on the Massey with the disc so he could show his 4 year old grandson, who is infatuated with tractors.
So we got the tractor out and they took my pic. And thankfully helped me pick the last of the jammed in weeds out of the harrow bearing areas. 8 foot high weeds will do that...