Sorting out the drainage in the lower field and other gubbins. An apprentice digger driver writes.

[diggerjones]

View attachment 34063
They are often laid on light brash/twigs/straw too.

I've dug hundreds up resently. There normally shallow and earlier. Then Victorian system installed around 1850s onwards. There's a big estate round here that drained most of there land in late 1800s. My mate has got copys of the maps.

 

[LKSF]

My mate has got copies of the maps.

That's what I could do with, but not sure what map it would be. I'm wondering about buying some Tithe maps and seeing if they are on there,

 

[diggerjones]

In Cheshire you can look at tithe maps on line. Also there's aerial pictures you can look at going back decades. All this info gives you clues as to where the problem is. Where its wet is not always where the problem is

 

[LKSF]

Getting tooled up for forthcoming battles; small plant.

The plant collection is growing, mechanical plant that is. I've been busy at the local auctions and as you can see a Stihl brush cutter, Belle compactor and forks have been procured.

The Stihl seems ok, just needing a mild service with air filter, new harness, ear muff/helmet/visor combo and new 3 pointed cutting blade (it already has a nylon string thing with it).

The compactor was a different story, it was not in good condition. It looked like it had either fallen off the back of a lorry or taken a heavy clout from something big. The handles were bent, drive belt missing, On/OFF switch hanging off, starter cover battered in, starter locked and rubber anti-vibe mounts bent too.
I set about it methodically enough in the barn whilst getting rained and snowed on. Starter cord cover came off and was pummelled back into shaped with a metalworking hammer and sand bag. Back on and in place I gave it a tug and the Honda engine burst into life easily enough. After a new belt was fitted revving it up saw no whacking or vibrating going on and I noted the clutch wasn't gripping.
The handles came off and went under the hydraulic press, 10 mins, a bit of 'rack at eye' (Yorkshire term) and they were lovely and straight. Fastened back on and I noted the engine was sat at a weird angle. The cure was easy enough, I just slackened off the bent rubber mounts, spun them round 180' and locked them up again.
Still no drive though so I went in for dinner and hit Google before drinking some cider and cursing at people on the internet.
Bad news; clutches are NLA and used ones are fetching £100.
Drank more cider, swore some more and woke refreshed in the morning.
The ON/OFF switch is witchcraft. It has just one wire going to it and doesn't turn off (is permanently on) unless put into it's hole. Then it does. Well Araldite soon sorted that and it now works.

The clutch looked serious so to Plan B. Plan B is get off your arse and repair it, so I got me glasses on and had a good look at it. Well this is funny says I, turning it round in my hands, it should work? If you've ever looked into a car or trailer brake drum then that's what it looks a bit like, except the whole lot turns round and the centrifugal forces throw the 'brake linings' outwards so they lock the unit together.
It seems that the whole thing is driven by some very vague and mild splines between the shaft and the clutch housing , nay mere scratches between it and the end of the crankshaft it sits on. But it doesn't, it just slips around. I note this thing will go on both ways so offer it up the other way that it came off and Bingo! It grips, works and we now have a fully whacking whacker plate, ready for action.
The forks? Well we'll get onto those later.

 

[TiltyShaun]

Getting tooled up for forthcoming battles; small plant.

The plant collection is growing, mechanical plant that is. I've been busy at the local auctions and as you can see a Stihl brush cutter, Belle compactor and forks have been procured.

View attachment 34087

The Stihl seems ok perhaps, just needing a mild service with air filter, new harness, ear muff/helmet/visor combo and new 3 pointed cutting blade (it already has a nylon string thing with it). It might have a hot cutting out and not starting problem, but I've only used it a couple of times so far.

The compactor was a different story, it was not in good condition. It looked like it had either fallen off the back of a lorry or taken a heavy clout from something big. The handles were bent, drive belt missing, On/OFF switch hanging off, starter cover battered in, starter locked and rubber anti-vibe mounts bent too.
I set about it methodically enough in the barn whilst getting rained and snowed on. Starter cord cover came off and was pummelled back into shaped with a metalworking hammer and sand bag. Back on and in place I gave it a tug and the Honda engine burst into life easily enough. After a new belt was fitted revving it up saw no whacking or vibrating going on and I noted the clutch wasn't gripping.
The handles came off and went under the hydraulic press, 10 mins, a bit of 'rack at eye' (Yorkshire term) and they were lovely and straight. Fastened back on and I noted the engine was sat at a weird angle. The cure was easy enough, I just slackened off the bent rubber mounts, spun them round 180' and locked them up again.
Still no drive though so I went in for dinner and hit Google before drinking some cider and cursing at people on the internet.
Bad news; clutches are NLA and used ones are fetching £100.
Drank more cider, swore some more and woke refreshed in the morning.
The ON/OFF switch is witchcraft. It has just one wire going to it and doesn't turn off (is permanently on) unless put into it's hole. Then it does. Well Araldite soon sorted that and it now works.

The clutch looked serious so to Plan B. Plan B is get off your arse and repair it, so I got me glasses on and had a good look at it. Well this is funny says I, turning it round in my hands, it should work? If you've ever looked into a car or trailer brake drum then that's what it looks a bit like, except the whole lot turns round and the centrifugal forces throw the 'brake linings' outwards so they lock the unit together.
It seems that the whole thing is driven by some very vague and mild splines between the shaft and the clutch housing , nay mere scratches between it and the end of the crankshaft it sits on. But it doesn't, it just slips around. I note this thing will go on both ways so offer it up the other way that it came off and Bingo! It grips, works and we now have a fully whacking wacker plate, ready for action.
The forks? Well we'll get onto those later.

The on/off switch is just a dead earth hence only one wire that only works when in contact with the metal. Great thread.

 

[Grahams]

A lot of land drains were put in by POW's across the country as after war there were big changes in ag production and making use of the land. Made use of cheap labour. Mind i think a lot go back to POW's from wars further back than you might be thinking as well

I think you are right, one place I work was built by Napolionic prisoners of war.

 

[modelman093]

Hi LKSF
If you don't already know, L&S Engineers are a useful supplier for Stihl and other small plant stuff. Also Garden Hire Spares (GHS) are quite good for pattern stuff.
just saying!!

 

[LKSF]

Does anyone else call him Tittyshaun?
I'm a bad man

 

[Lancs Lad]

Hi LKSF
If you don't already know, L&S Engineers are a useful supplier for Stihl and other small plant stuff. Also Garden Hire Spares (GHS) are quite good for pattern stuff.
just saying!!

Anyone dabbling in Stihl has a well worn groove in their lane from couriers from L&S bloody good outfit imo

 

[V8Druid]

Anyone dabbling in Stihl has a well worn groove in their lane from couriers from L&S bloody good outfit imo

yes ... I've used them several times for hard to locate stuff, especially

 

[TiltyShaun]

Does anyone else call him Tittyshaun?
I'm a bad man

Don’t worry……been called much worse!!

 

[LKSF]

You'll always be Tittyshaun to me, a new avatar for you

---

Sadly we have footpaths running over our land, this means walkers and ramblers They're generally ok and it's good to see a human now and again for a chat. Some are ****s though. We had someone walk across our field, not even on the footpath, then complain to the Council that they'd injured themselves by putting their foot down a hole that was so deep they didn't reach the bottom
This wasn't a field i've been digging in either!
We took the place on in a mess and it's up to us to keep up to the footpaths though so out with the Sthil to cut a swathe through the reeds which are taking over. This will give an indication as to where the path is for a start:

One for my sponsors Stihl:

Haha, yes I wish

Bit of a path cut through to the right here, it was rushes right up to the wall:

There is a load of water running through that wall too to deal with.

You'll remember I said all of this was forest many hundreds of years ago now, then we cut it all down, now we're being encouraged to plant trees there again by means of a grant. If you look at some of the pics you'll see many young trees in the background (Paid out at circa £10k per Hectare incase you're wondering). But i'm looking at how much we've dicked around with nature over the years by changing it's habitat. We should be looking after it, not cutting it down and changing it. Different animals need different environments so one day we're telling them all to piss off, then later on we're trying to get them back. I came across a load of frogspawn the other day laid on the grass as it had nowhere better to go. We've got moorland birds trying to nest and we're turning the fields back into forest ffs.
I could do with a few £K in my back pocket believe me, but i'm not here for the money. Forget your Government grants and whims.
I plan on turning this land into a sanctuary for all comers. We'll have a bit of everything for all: A bit of a lake, some evergreens for the owls and others to roost or nest in and some moorland for the Lapwings, Curlews, Oystercatchers and for the owls to hunt on. Meadow flowers too.
Then i'll get a covenant put on it so when we're gone it'll be protected for the future.

 

[V8Druid]

You'll always be Tittyshaun to me, a new avatar for you View attachment 34124

---

Sadly we have footpaths running over our land, this means walkers and ramblers They're generally ok and it's good to see a human now and again for a chat. Some are c***s though. We had someone walk across our field, not even on the footpath, then complain to the Council that they'd injured themselves by putting their foot down a hole that was so deep they didn't reach the bottom
This wasn't a field i've been digging in either!
We took the place on in a mess and it's up to us to keep up to the footpaths though so out with the Sthil to cut a swathe through the reeds which are taking over:

View attachment 34131

One for my sponsors Stihl:
View attachment 34130

Haha, yes I wish

Bit of a path cut through to the right here, it was rushes right up to the wall:

View attachment 34132

There is a load of water running through that wall too to deal with.

You'll remember I said all of this was forest many hundreds of years ago now, then we cut it all down, now we're being encouraged to plant trees there again by means of a grant. If you look at some of the pics you'll see many young trees in the background (Paid out at circa £10k per Hectare incase you're wondering). But i'm looking at how much we've f****d around with nature over the years by changing it's habitat. We should be looking after it, not cutting it down and changing it. Different animals need different environments so one day we're telling them all to piss off, then later on we're trying to get them back. I came across a load of frogspawn the other day laid on the grass as it had nowhere better to go. We've got moorland birds trying to nest and we're turning the fields back into forest ffs.
I could do with a few £K in my back pocket believe me, but i'm not here for the money. Forget your Government grants and whims.
I plan on turning this land into a sanctuary for all comers. We'll have a bit of everything for all: A bit of a lake, some evergreens for the owls and others to roost or nest in and some moorland for the Lapwings, Curlews, Oystercatchers and for the owls to hunt on. Meadow flowers too.
Then i'll get a covenant put on it so when we're gone it'll be protected for the future.

you on this carbon credits scheme they're trying to cover Wales in?
Big Co.s buying up farms all over to cover in trees to offset their carbon outputs!!

 

[LKSF]

you on this carbon credits scheme they're trying to cover Wales in?
Big Co.s buying up farms all over to cover in trees to offset their carbon outputs!!

Yes we can apply for it, but i'm not interested. I've got a potential forest now next to me and below me so that's enough, we don't need anymore.. there has to be something for everything here as far as i'm concerned. Once it's got trees on it the farm animals are kicked off, eventually the moorland animals won't live here either, but other ones will come back.
I live with nature here, I don't have some distant overview of it, I see it first hand. These schemes always have money and greed at the heart of them. They do have their uses if they are putting some poor land to good use, but we have to be careful. You should see how close they plant them, no trees will grow properly 1 to 2m apart.
The land is good for it though, trees like clay and it stops flooding further downstream which we (mankind) caused.
Pros and cons for everything.

 

[JD450A]

You'll always be Tittyshaun to me, a new avatar for you View attachment 34124

Sadly I can confirm tittyshaun looks nothing like that.

 

[Giles]

I’ve a drone an particularly a few years ago when we had that real hot spell we photographed all our fields and the pitches at the rugby club could see the drains clear as day.

nothing like but of a drought to show them up, good thread fixed abd followed many a suff drain. Waiting hours for drain dye to show through

 

[LKSF]

A question for you experienced and professional excavator operators if you don't mind.
I can swing around (slew) with the whole cab or just the Kingpost, I can only think of one situation where I would slew with the kingpost only;
I was digging a ditch tight against a wall so couldn't slew the whole thing round to empty the bucket otherwise I would have clouted the wall so used the kingpost slew instead.
Are there any other advantages to it?

 

[diggerjones]

A question for you experienced and professional excavator operators if you don't mind.
I can swing around (slew) with the whole cab or just the Kingpost, I can only think of one situation where I would slew with the kingpost only;
I was digging a ditch tight against a wall so couldn't slew the whole thing round to empty the bucket otherwise I would have clouted the wall so used the kingpost slew instead.
Are there any other advantages to it?

Lots and lots. Digging footings instead of moving machine to get on dig line, you just move the kingpost. Digging a ditch you can see into the ditch on full off set. Cleaning up against the blade, you'll struggle unless on full off set.

 

[LKSF]

Lots and lots. Digging footings instead of moving machine to get on dig line, you just move the kingpost. Digging a ditch you can see into the ditch on full off set. Cleaning up against the blade, you'll struggle unless on full off set.

I have no idea what this means. My Kingpost swings or pivots btw, it doesn't track parallel like some do (I think) if you see what I mean.

 

[LKSF]

That aside, after i'd hacked down some moorland reeds I went down with Benford to pick up the dried remains. If there was a Readers Wives section of Plant Machinery Monthly then Benford would be there posing with meat spread on full display in a field. Something like this:

Phwooaarr, get in there Benford:

Given the years, probably more correct:

I'm bezzing up the field flat out at 20 and can hardly see over the load, a bit of dust might of got in my eye as I realise I'm having the time of my life here.
Bob the Builder meets Farmer Giles