Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[tinydigger]

been up close and personal with a herc and a chinook back in the day and yeah they have some power even pushed me around by the air draft they give off. used to get jags in a lot of the time as we where a alternative to coltishall when it was open. had a full armed Apache in once freaky as hell when the main guns swivels to you as it follows the pilots lone of sight also had a fully crewed and fully armed blackhawk come in that was a sight with door gunners hanging out of it

 

[Smiffy]

A farm I used to work on near Basingstoke was under the flightpath
When working in the fields if you flashed all the worklights at them they would come in right down low and wave
Always put a smile on my face

 

[V8Druid]

they're always coming over here fairly low but last night's was nap o' the earth s**t ... only seen one lower than that, couple of years ago and I'd swear he was coming in for a landing ... but our lawn ain't big enough, even though he was heading that way

 

[V8Druid]

been up close and personal with a herc and a chinook back in the day and yeah they have some power even pushed me around by the air draft they give off. used to get jags in a lot of the time as we where a alternative to coltishall when it was open. had a full armed Apache in once freaky as hell when the main guns swivels to you as it follows the pilots lone of sight also had a fully crewed and fully armed blackhawk come in that was a sight with door gunners hanging out of it

picked up a 'uniform' one night, thumbing ... always used to ... got chatting and he was ground crew for Herc.s ... very interesting chat .... reckoned the pilots need to be the bollocks .. too much gun on take off and they're so powerful they can tear the wings off .... take off from just about anywhere ... need so little runway - when they have to and are capable of staying aloft on one engine .... amazing tools apparently

 

[Routy56]

they're always coming over here fairly low but last night's was nap o' the earth s**t ... only seen one lower than that, couple of years ago and I'd swear he was coming in for a landing ... but our lawn ain't big enough, even though he was heading that way

Hey Graham - an easy solution for you would be to level yer lawn up and and make them a nice LZ
With all your 'boys toys' this would be an easy and worthwhile project
Back in the day the Police Heli used to call in here for a cuppa and take me for flights.....
...trouble is they started doing it unannounced when in the area.
My missus sometimes got the shock of guys walking down the garden in flight overalls for a cuppa and homemade cake

 

[V8Druid]

so ...... ten years ago today I took possession of the keys to Chez Druid ... do not know WTF the time has gone

's changed a bit
when I bought it, we didn't tell ANYONE .. had to wait 8 weeks for the sellers to get the **** out / find somewhere to go to (in retrospect - should've told 'em to go rent) ... my solicitor had it sorted in 6 days .. was a long 8 weeks, on tenterhooks, waiting for summat to go pear shaped ... whilst they gt it sorted
didn't tell Pam's kids even .... they were summoned home for the weekend ... bundled 'em all into the Disco and said we were off out for a meal as we had summat to tell 'em ...
Had to make a detour 'en route' , for a minute to see someone ..... we'd already installed our patio furniture here in the day time and some other stuff, plus 'a meal' ...... they were stunned when I pulled up outside here and Josh noticed a set of furniture that was exactly like ours ..... and the rest is history

 

[diggerjones]

Where did you live before. Me and my mrs moved from our parents houses. We bought end terrace (row of 3) at auction. Then over the years bought the other 2 house's. Originally 3 sisters, 1 in each cottage.

 

[V8Druid]

Where did you live before. Me and my mrs moved from our parents houses. We bought end terrace (row of 3) at auction. Then over the years bought the other 2 house's. Originally 3 sisters, 1 in each cottage. View attachment 15490

Pam had a house down in the village Dyl .... and I had an ex WW valve keepers cottage on the main Talybont to Newport water main line in about 1/3rd of an acre .... an odd little place, but very well built .. had a valve station in the garden - land-locked, but with access rights .... WW used to come and paint my fence every few years .. even though it was mine

spent a lot of time on sorting, but never really had enough hours in the days ... Milsteel always got 99% of my time

we'd been looking for 'this place' for 6-7 years .. and looked at a lorracrap in the search for our 'forever' place

 

[Mogman]

where did the name ‘milsteel’ come from a play on words? Steel Mill

 

[JD450A]

where did the name ‘milsteel’ come from a play on words? Steel Mill

Millionaire Steel fabrication doesn't sound as friendly

 

[V8Druid]

where did the name ‘milsteel’ come from a play on words? Steel Mill

my original premises were in Mill St. and Mill Street Steel Fabrications would've been such a mouthful so it got shortened to Milsteel Fabrications .... rolled off the tongue a lot easier and the Fab.s bit rarely got used other than on paperwork

 

[V8Druid]

well the B20 adapter got shined up ......

and ready for some action

hauled the 3ft / 0.8 M3 B20 out of hiding ......
started giving it a coat and weighed it again to check the figure I had on it, as it looked high

came in at 550kgs
adapter got slung and reweighed, whilst I had the dyno. out -- 100kgs ... thought it felt heavy, wrestling it about on the bench

then dropped into spot for some use

my version of the wedge lock to keep it put ...

simple and works a treat ... has never let go and it had some grief boulder digging and rock ripping ... 's a great bucket for doing damage to hard stuff

picked it over to the edge of me patch to clean the insides out ... that'll get some more planings to bring the levels up eventually .. when I can get some, so'll get covered up ...

originally off a 20t Akerman duck .. it's no heavier (well plus 50kgs) than the 'Drema's own 4 footer/0.85 cube toothed bucket and's a hell of a weapon .. a real ebay bargain ..... had this and a 6 footer, again B20, for 70 quid each .. Uncle Rob @Hydremaduck picked 'em up for me in Sheffield, when he was up there .. and even sorted a transit ride home for them, with a couple of guys who live not far from me, for suitable remuneration/beer money and a 'thank you' for Rob too
don't see B20s often, but they'm for peanuts when you do - usually - and a very low build height for a hitch .. no different to fixed cheeks
Got a 2 ft I'm considering B20-ing as it'd be less effort than re-cheeking it - possibly - need a measure up?

anyway ... it too got a coat of not so shiny tish ....... those four Bofors teeth cost me more than the bucket, after I'd eventually tracked some down, with Tim's help on the CEF

and got parked up with the rest of the stuff, 'getting the treatment' .....

then 'twas on to the next .....

this is the 'Drema's own 4 ft/0.85 cube toother, which I had with her ....

looks a lot better all one colour .... been hiding in the shade of me boxes all afternoon ... has been some bit hot here today

pins out and cleaned - bosses too ....

and put aside ..

7 footer on the cards tomorrow .... got a pin stuck in that one, so may take a bit of shifting .... might have to weld a drift to the end of the pin ... can't see Pam holding a drift for me while I give it seven bells with a LARGE sledge ...... 's keeping me out of mischief and tidying everything up, quietly ... in between grass massacring and odd requests from the 'management'

 

[V8Druid]

one to make you smile ... shopping arrived yesterday ... and a treat for us in the way of a bit of time with Clara ... appropriately social distanced
she wanted to have a play with her little 'rock hammer', on me patch ...

.... and whilst there spotted one of me towers on a pallet .. "what's that Grand dad? "
"A tower scaffold babe " ... blank look ... "like a climbing frame for me " ... eyes lit up and ... "show me grand dad, show me" so we ended up with these

and one very grubby little girl ... she had a whale of a time .. and now wants to take them home ....... I've got some smaller stuff ... 2" tube is a bit big for little hands to grip ... so she might get a few frame sections, as it's only sat about ATM ... I'm sure 'mummy' will manage to put a few together for her.

When I commented about how I'd be in trouble when 'mummy' saw how grubby she'd gotten ... she said
" It's ok .. Mummy'll just put it in the washing machine " she's pretty switched on for four, fair play

 

[diggerjones]

Ha. When i was at primary school we had a "bar" the girls used to swing on it, hang upside down, showing there knickers
I made 1 for my daughter. It didn't get used

 

[V8Druid]

been a mega day here ... cloudless, azure sky, most of the day, until later .. and some bit hot ... bit of tree slaughtering for the boss first thing ... bloody scrubby blackthorn invading us from the field next door, so they got a serious talking to with the 4ft loppers .... trimmed the lawn later .. amazed to get 2/3rds of a collector off it ..

and when it'd cooled down a bit - but not a lot and I'd had a shower, after the head got a no. 3 and the beard a no. 2 ... had an hour giving the bag lifter a coat ..

and that's been about it for the day ... been melting for most of it ...... see we have a serious shower forecast for Wed.s

 

[V8Druid]

not had the greatest of afternoons ... Hamster juice time this morning and turned my attention to me 7ft bucket after lunch

slung it out to the edge of me patch for a clean out

'fore setting about a tight pin, that I've not been able to get out since i had it ...

cleaned the end of the pin off carefully with a good file and was sure it was circular and devoid of burrs, from what were obviously previous attempts (mostly other's I hasten to add) and set about it with a sledge ... got it moving back and fore 1/2", but no further .... so .... dragged out me 10t press, stood said bucket on end and set up the press ..

was getting deflection between the cheeks so added a spacer

and a couple of wedges for extra umph ... still no go, further than this ..

'bout eleven mil ...

so reversed the set up .... to try and get yon pin back to where I started ...and added several lots of Ice to the top of the pin to try and chill it a bit

no movement back

so with the pin still pretty cool went back to trying to get the damned thing out .

with a few wedges for extra umph .. again

and that's where it's sat tonight ... pumped up full bollox ...

just been out and given the pump a few more pumps ... 'til it relieved ... it's moved about a mil., since tea time

well pissed off with this .... have spent hours and gotten virtually no-where ..... heat treatment tomorrow .. not that I really want to, but the only other alternative is to slit the boss(es) with a thin disc, but they'll take some sorting after

only upside of the day was a great sunset ...

t'other pin came out sweet as !!

 

[TiltyShaun]

Morning Gra, why are you taking the pin out as I thought you had a quick hitch?

 

[V8Druid]

Morning Gra, why are you taking the pin out as I thought you had a quick hitch?

I have Shaun, but like everything 'right' .. it's a removable and the only one I have that won't/hasn't been out, cleaned, bosses cleaned, greased, etc.
TBH, for the moment it looks to have beaten me ... hasn't budged over night... as Rory said last night, when we were talking ... 7 tonner with a pecker ... would be the next tactic ... but i don't have one .. got a pack and jack, but can't get enough pressure behind that .... looks like it's gonna have to stay put for now .. CBA to build a jacking frame for a 50t Tangye just for that

 

[Mogman]

Why don’t you want to use a bit of heat

 

[GazCro]

Why don’t you want to use a bit of heat

Or leave it