Welcome to Westwood Metalworks, What is he building in there?

[LenVW]

You ‘RURAL’ guys have all the space and freedom to do what you like.
I miss living out on a farm. In town, we have to arrange part-time workshop space close-by.

The garage is for vehicles and the basement creates its own limitations for transporting materials and tooling in and out.

Dan - Your welds are smooth and with good penetration. Bravo !!

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Thanks Len. When we first moved in here I asked the wife if she ever wanted to park a car in the garage (single car attached) and she said "no, that's what driveways are for". I laid claim to it right then and there. 😀. I do wish for a bigger space all the time though. Not much room for actually working on larger projects inside.

 

[jcdammeyer]

The garage is for vehicles and the basement creates its own limitations for transporting materials and tooling in and out.

Blasphemy! Garages are not for vehicles. Where in the world did you get that idea? Cars are perfectly capable of driving in rain and snow. A milling machine isn't.
The exception might be the MGB @DavidR8 is working with. It's British and designed to start rusting before it even leaves the production line.
But cars in a garage??? I think I'm going to be sick.

Dan - Your welds are smooth and with good penetration. Bravo !!

Very true.

 

[historicalarms]

Likewise, that weld is perfect...and you could really get our admiration here...did you weld that one pass up-hand or were you able to re-position so both pass's were flat welds?

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Thanks, I welded it all in situ. Vertical up, overhead and flat all around the angles. I'm starting to figure this little welder out a bit, as it's pretty "sticky" to get going sometimes. I only burned through the thin tube once 😀. The verts on the upper brackets aren't that great,but they're on the bottom 😀

It's so much handier using this one for little stuff like this, than to drag the big cables out. Dollar for dollar one of the handier tools I've bought in a long time, and a coin toss between this and my plasma cutter.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Speaking of Rural shennanigans.....This is partly what's been keeping me busy and out of the shop this summer. Sometime back around 7-8 years ago when my old tractor quit is when I stopped being able to maintain our trails to the same level as they needed. Nature doesn't take long to take them back and close them back in......some of them have become impassable. But my new tractor is making quick work of opening them back up again. In some spots it was difficult to even tell there was once a passage. My Son and I have been going after it pretty good spending at least one day on it the last couple of weekends, and now almost have the entire perimeter trails opened up. Some even moreso than they were before. I think one more good weekends worth of work should do it. Pictures are tough to tell, but after almost a full day out there yesterday we've got a 1.5km loop fully connected and I had my chauffer drive me around after while I snapped some pics of our work.

They say money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a tractor, and that's pretty damn close 😀. I was worried when buying this that it might be too big for my needs lol. No such thing 😀





This is one we did last weekend and I ran the mower down it afterwards. This was impassable and overgrown just like the sides shown, mostly with birch saplings and hawthorn bushes. Still need to widen this section up more, but it's a good start. There is a branch section there to the right that goes to the maples I tap. Can't even tell.....The last time I was down this trail to cut it was around 2020. We've not done syrup since 2021. I want to get back to it this year.



Traffic got pretty bad in one spot.....They weren't very interested in moving.... Just after this we also saw a porcupine in an apple tree too. Then two does behind the barn when we got back.


So far we've done around 1.5km of trail, and have about 1-1.5 more to go. But the rest of it is much easier as we did the hard ones first. Should only take another day or so to have all the main perimeter trails fully open again. Then I can get going on all the interior ones I started before the kids were born. Having the right equipment finally helps tremendously.

As for shop stuff, I've got the belt grinder stripped down to the last nuts and bolts and have been cleaning it up and paint prepping. Hopefully this week I'll find time to start dusting it with primer.

 

[jorogi]

Dan, you just need to replace those pecker poles with some real trees, they bush out at the top, not the bottom 😛
We have 1.5 k of trail and there is only a couple hundred feet of shalal that bushes out, but there is still a lot of work keeping the trail up. Ours is person wide so no cheating with the tractor I don't have anyway.
Nice to see you enjoying your property.

 

[Susquatch]

My trails are mostly wider. This is yesterday.

If you look closely you can see the deer up ahead.



A young great horned owl. I hate how they screech all night. They sound like death warmed over till the mature and start hooting.



And here is a young Canadian Bald Eagle looking for bass in my pond.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Lots of deer, turkey, and a few barred owls over the years. Two Hens and their Poults were hanging around the backyard earlier this morning. Never seen a bald eagle here, but I did see one near the golf course though. This was back in the flip phone days so no picture but nobody believed me that it was a bald eagle in the east gta.... We did get to watch some while fishing up north a few years ago. We were trolling a long narrow section of the lake and they were fishing on the other side. Cool birds. They outfished us.

My favourite owl story. I walked out to my treestand in the dark one morning. Pitch black, no moon. Climbed up into the seat, and as soon as I got settled down, there was this big "whoosh whoosh" in front of me. Couldn't see anything, but I just assumed I spooked a turkey and it was changing roosts or something. About 10 minutes goes by and then I could finally see it. Big Barred owl about 6-8' on a branch in front of me just checking me out.... It sat there for another 5 minutes or so before taking off again, but it was both kinda spooky and very cool at the same time. I thought it was a turkey getting down, not an Owl coming in....

I love the chance encounters with animals out there. There is a Doe that's grown up around the backyard for the past 5 years that's very approachable and comfortable with us. sometimes letting me get within about 30-40 yards of her. She's stayed browsing the treeline while I've been out cutting the grass numerous times. This year another Doe has showed up with a fawn, and the three of them have been seen hanging out occasionally too.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Here they are just now out by the burnpile. Taken from the bathroom window.

 

[1018Machine]

My favourite owl story. I walked out to my treestand in the dark one morning. Pitch black, no moon. Climbed up into the seat, and as soon as I got settled down, there was this big "whoosh whoosh" in front of me. Couldn't see anything, but I just assumed I spooked a turkey and it was changing roosts or something. About 10 minutes goes by and then I could finally see it. Big Barred owl about 6-8' on a branch in front of me just checking me out.... It sat there for another 5 minutes or so before taking off again, but it was both kinda spooky and very cool at the same time.

That's cool! I've had quite a few encounters with owls over the years while predator hunting. While calling coyotes one evening the sun had set and it was almost dark so I stood up to glass the distance before packing up. Suddenly I felt something hit my head, with quite the commotion not sure what was going on so I dropped to the ground. It turned out to be an owl trying to land on me. I must have looked like a tree stump I guess standing still on the fence line in camo head to toe. It was an incredible experience, knocked my hat off and scared the hell out of me...

 

[Susquatch]

My favorite owl story is short but moving.

My mother has had a lifelong interest in owls. She paints them, and collected owl curios.

She was in her mid-90s with severe dementia and passed suddenly in long term care on Christmas eve a few years ago.

Because we were not expecting it, we were in bed after getting the house ready for all the grandkids Christmas day when I got the phone call. We drove straight there to pay our last respects. We were there till about 2 am that Christmas night.

When we got home, it was a still cold night, and there were 3 owls loudly calling from different areas of the forest around the house. A great horned, a screech owl, and a barred owl. We stood and listened to them for what felt like a half hour or more.

It was just like mom and her owls were saying goodbye. It was so beautiful and so moving.

 

[jorogi]

Ours is person wide so no cheating with the tractor I don't have anyway.

Ha ! Came home and found this by the driveway.
Skinny little bugger that will fit nicely on the trails and a light foot print compared to the excavator.
Maybe I should change my handle to BotaBota.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I love those little Kubotas, someday I'd like to get one too.

 

[YotaBota]

Welcome to the club.

Looks like the 4x4 version, that comes in handy all the time. Trust me, I know 🙂

 

[jorogi]

Welcome to the club.

Looks like the 4x4 version, that comes in handy all the time. Trust me, I know 🙂

Yup, 4x4. The front axle has a high drive so lots of ground clearance.

 

[Bandit]

Keep an eye on the oil levels in the front high drive boxes, this is a little older then some I worked on. Lots of grease to those pivot points too.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

You know what's fun?


Not this. Finally got around to dealing with the truck. Figured out that the vent line popped off sometime, and the vent nipple rusted shut. Causing pressure to build up and blow out the bottom of the cover gasket. All other seals are dry. I feared the worst when I first looked at it, but decided to just open it up and have a look. Despite being a complete rust bucket I got all the bolts out no prob with my makita impact (love this thing), and managed to re open the vent nipple and clear the hose. The biggest problem was getting the spare tire that hasn't moved since 2010 down...

Inside, everything looked as good as can be, considering this fluid has not been changed for probably 150-200k.....(yeah, i know...). It wasn't completely empty like id thought either, maybe a quart came out.....gear teeth still wet too.

New cover, new synth fluid, new bolts, and all ok now. All i really need is maybe another 2 years and about 10-15k km from this truck while I source its replacement. Hopefully no more major repairs for a while. Basically only use it for material, marketplace pickups, and the last days of shutdowns to bring home my loot (scrap).

Fun afternoon....wish i had a lift....

 

[Chicken lights]

You know what's fun?
View attachment 86405

Not this. Finally got around to dealing with the truck. Figured out that the vent line popped off sometime, and the vent nipple rusted shut. Causing pressure to build up and blow out the bottom of the cover gasket. All other seals are dry. I feared the worst when I first looked at it, but decided to just open it up and have a look. Despite being a complete rust bucket I got all the bolts out no prob with my makita impact (love this thing), and managed to re open the vent nipple and clear the hose. The biggest problem was getting the spare tire that hasn't moved since 2010 down...

Inside, everything looked as good as can be, considering this fluid has not been changed for probably 150-200k.....(yeah, i know...). It wasn't completely empty like id thought either, maybe a quart came out.....gear teeth still wet too.

New cover, new synth fluid, new bolts, and all ok now. All i really need is maybe another 2 years and about 10-15k km from this truck while I source its replacement. Hopefully no more major repairs for a while. Basically only use it for material, marketplace pickups, and the last days of shutdowns to bring home my loot (scrap).

Fun afternoon....wish i had a lift....

I bought my truck west of Edmonton. Me being the genius that I am flew out Thanksgiving weekend and left Monday morning. Getting fuel in Acheson the whole back end is covered in diff oil. Vent was seized and blew out the filter. Seller grabbed a used filter from another truck and slapped it on to get me home

Diff cover bolts "usually" come out. I don't know why, I've worked on plenty from the 60's-90's and "usually" they zip out. Better steel in the bolts? The heat/cool cycles? Cast iron doesn't react to steel bolts? It's the same with cast iron blocks, "usually" every bolt comes out.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I looked at those bolts a couple weeks ago and thought absolutely no way they were coming out. I had to pound a socket on all the heads. But they zipped right out. Very surprised. I bought new ones anyway, but could have reused them. I was pretty sure I was into cutting them off, fighting and swearing the whole time.

I'm glad I was able to open the vent up again (small drill held in a chuck, spun by hand), as I didn't even want to attempt to try and get it out. I hate working on vehicles....

Time to renew my CAA 😀.