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

[maz]

any good?? ... see them about quite often and wondered

Great for doing wheel barrow loads for gardening but wouldn't want to be putting tons through it

 

[Rob65]

I've been pondering how to screen the stones out of the soil, one method is to buy an old concrete mixer (the type which the drum spins right over) and blast holes in it with the plasma. Pick the soil up with the digger, drop it into the mixer with a few bricks or similar in there and set it off going.
That or cut large holes out of the drum and weld mesh in them.

I’ve got a big old mixer that fits this description perfectly and would be happy to see the back of it.

Located in Sheffield but I travel all over the country for work so delivery could be sorted.

Let me know if you might be interested and I take some photos etc.

 

[V8Druid]

Going back a bit to last year here, we were just moving in and had loads of stuff to shift. Previous to this move K had moved in with me and put her whole house and worldly goods in a 40ft container we bought. The plan was to fill it some more and bring it with us when we moved. Instant storage and for future use too.
Problem was when we found this place there was no way a truck with a 40ft container was going to get down the track so we sold that container (at profit as prices had gone silly), another container too and shifted the contents of both over here.
Plus a yard full of stuff and the contents of a large workshop too, machines, stock, cars, everything.
What we had here was a double garage and a small barn and it soon became apparent it was not all going to fit in.
I knew the weather out here would be a bit rough so we could make use of a PT in the future, they have multiple uses from growing, firewood prep, drying and storage, workshop etc and for now, just storage and a few plants.

NorthernPolytunnels had a good rep, a very useful website and weren't far away so I contacted them with a decent spec, did a deal and went to pick up.
I have to say they were very good to deal with. They have a great post anchoring system whereby you screw the bases into the ground like a corkscrew.
It wasn't going to work here, it's more stone than soil. How many people dig the garden with a road drill powered by an old Magirus, not many yet there I was.

View attachment 36301


Disiski mixes up the compo:
View attachment 36302

All done and ready for the hoops:

View attachment 36303

Basic framework going up:

View attachment 36304

I knew i'd hung onto those Festoon site lights for a good reason. Just didn't know what that reason was until now:
View attachment 36305

All metalwork completed, polythene tensioned up and locked in place:
View attachment 36306

what size is your PT in these pix please ... looks very tidy ... daren't show this to Pam

 

[LKSF]

what size is your PT in these pix please ... looks very tidy ... daren't show this to Pam

It's a 16 x 50ft, if you need any help with spec just let me know

 

[LKSF]

I’ve got a big old mixer that fits this description perfectly and would be happy to see the back of it.

Located in Sheffield but I travel all over the country for work so delivery could be sorted.

Let me know if you might be interested and I take some photos etc.

Yes please, that sounds great Please PM me with pics, spec, price etc.

 

[LKSF]

This will do the job, been up 11 weeks, might be able to get a hefty discount on it I just got a 2nd hand Scheppach (much smaller) for the missus and her PT.

Cut some blue barrels in half length ways or old oil drums and make a chute to feed it with the JCB bucket and away you go!

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View attachment 36321

Yes I like that I'm not sure how well buying it would go down here though I can see lots of uses for it over the next few years, but have to be careful to keep the house restoration a priority too

 

[6feetdown]

This will do the job, been up 11 weeks, might be able to get a hefty discount on it I just got a 2nd hand Scheppach (much smaller) for the missus and her PT.

Cut some blue barrels in half length ways or old oil drums and make a chute to feed it with the JCB bucket and away you go!

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View attachment 36321

Gold Rush!

 

[LKSF]

Gold Rush!

Coincidentally a parcel driver stopped by recently for a chat about a similar thing. It's often the case that when people do find us here it triggers a conversation about something to do with the place. Which as we can go for days or weeks without seeing a single soul is a well needed break.
He'd recently got into panning for gold and said there was a growing interest in this country for it, there is actually gold in them there hills
I'll have to get the old wok out and have a play in the clough at the bottom there

 

[6feetdown]

Coincidentally a parcel driver stopped by recently for a chat about a similar thing. It's often the case that when people do find us here it triggers a conversation about something to do with the place. Which as we can go for days or weeks without seeing a single soul is a well needed break.
He'd recently got into panning for gold and said there was a growing interest in this country for it, there is actually gold in them there hills
I'll have to get the old wok out and have a play in the clough at the bottom there

Well they've opened clogeau mine back up and invested a lot into it

 

[LKSF]

We have quite a lot of dry stone walls around here, most of them falling down due to various reasons. My birthday present was a 2 day dry stone walling course for two

Here is the basic design and principles of a DSW:

Maybe like me you'll be surprised to see the 'batter'. Not fish or fanny batter, but the way they taper inwards towards to top.

This is a beauty I found not a million miles away from here, it's of coursed stone, not random:

That's a wall to be proud of.

So there we were in the middle of nowhere knocking down and building up a DSW. You take all the components and lay them out on the ground in groups so you can see what you got, then start to build it up again. Halfway here:

Then the next day all finished:

All perpendicular joints are crossed like any other wall, none in a line.
A normal modern brick cavity wall has the bricks laid in length (stretcher bond), but in a DS wall they go the other way so the length of the stone points inwards for strength.

The top course of copes is also very tightly packed. If you shove the wall sideways and it moves it's no good, if it's solid then it's a good job well done. Every piece of stone on the floor will have a place in a wall somewhere (eventually if you carry on long enough!), it doesn't matter what size or shape it is.

I think it's like a lot of things, you can learn to do it, but you'll never be as quick as someone who does it for a job.

It's physical back breaking work, but ultimately very rewarding too. Done properly it should stand for 100 - 150 years.

 

[Lancs Lad]

We have quite a lot of dry stone walls around here, most of them falling down due to various reasons. My birthday present was a 2 day dry stone walling course for two

Here is the basic design and principles of a DSW:
View attachment 36612

Maybe like me you'll be surprised to see the 'batter'. Not fish or fanny batter, but the way they taper inwards towards to top.

This is a beauty I found not a million miles away from here, it's of coursed stone, not random:

View attachment 36614
That's a wall to be proud of.

So there we were in the middle of nowhere knocking down and building up a DSW. You take all the components and lay them out on the ground in groups so you can see what you got, then start to build it up again. Halfway here:

View attachment 36615

Then the next day all finished:

View attachment 36616

All perpendicular joints are crossed like any other wall, none in a line.
A normal modern brick cavity wall has the bricks laid in length (stretcher bond), but in a DS wall they go the other way so the length of the stone points inwards for strength.

The top course of copes is also very tightly packed. If you shove the wall sideways and it moves it's no good, if it's solid then it's a good job well done. Every piece of stone on the floor will have a place in a wall somewhere (eventually if you carry on long enough!), it doesn't matter what size or shape it is.

I think it's like a lot of things, you can learn to do it, but you'll never be as quick as someone who does it for a job.

It's physical back breaking work, but ultimately very rewarding too. Done properly it should stand for 100 - 150 years.

I'd say it's one of the first thing visitors up here comment or take pictures of if they've never been before. You get used to them but when you stop and take in just how much work went in to some of the hill farm walls on the tops it's staggering.

 

[Giles]

That wall in the dip is beautiful

I gave some farmers who throw it up so fast you wouldn’t believe there like machines, then at other end


My mrs cousin is master craftsmen drystone Waller in Huddersfield way he’s mint at it, love a good dry stone wall. He’s even been out to Japan to do stone work for like zen gardens and such for big pharmaceutical company.

Also worked with these lads who do great walls they did the house on grand designs said they filmed hours of them working interviews etc none made it into show haha stonework’s best bit about the house.

Brilliant skill to have, I’ve tried a bit but never have the time to give it full attention

 

[DaveDCB]

Can also Vouch for Tom/Joe wallers(above) , went to school with them, good lads but Heck knows what they said in the interviews, would love to see the outtakes

 

[LKSF]

From a place near Colne in Lancs down to about Hebden Bridge in Yorks is an area where they used the stone a different way. I'm guessing it's found locally in big slabs which are easily split and put into the ground upright like teeth, or gravestones:

These are called 'Vaccary walls'.

 

[V8Druid]

We have quite a lot of dry stone walls around here, most of them falling down due to various reasons. My birthday present was a 2 day dry stone walling course for two

Here is the basic design and principles of a DSW:
View attachment 36612

Maybe like me you'll be surprised to see the 'batter'. Not fish or fanny batter, but the way they taper inwards towards to top.

This is a beauty I found not a million miles away from here, it's of coursed stone, not random:

View attachment 36614
That's a wall to be proud of.

So there we were in the middle of nowhere knocking down and building up a DSW. You take all the components and lay them out on the ground in groups so you can see what you got, then start to build it up again. Halfway here:

View attachment 36615

Then the next day all finished:

View attachment 36616

All perpendicular joints are crossed like any other wall, none in a line.
A normal modern brick cavity wall has the bricks laid in length (stretcher bond), but in a DS wall they go the other way so the length of the stone points inwards for strength.

The top course of copes is also very tightly packed. If you shove the wall sideways and it moves it's no good, if it's solid then it's a good job well done. Every piece of stone on the floor will have a place in a wall somewhere (eventually if you carry on long enough!), it doesn't matter what size or shape it is.

I think it's like a lot of things, you can learn to do it, but you'll never be as quick as someone who does it for a job.

It's physical back breaking work, but ultimately very rewarding too. Done properly it should stand for 100 - 150 years.

see like 99% of dismantle/reassemble jobs, there's always a few bits left over

 

[LKSF]

see like 99% of dismantle/reassemble jobs, there's always a few bits left over

I like that, i'll put it in the book
My Dad used to tell me a tale about his Dad, he said he took a clock or a watch apart to fix it and had a part left over when he put it all back together again.
Bloody thing kept perfect time for years

 

[V8Druid]

I like that, i'll put it in the book
My Dad used to tell me a tale about his Dad, he said he took a clock or a watch apart to fix it and had a part left over when he put it all back together again.
Bloody thing kept perfect time for years

I've stripped and built loads of V8 engines (and lots of others/bikes/all sorts o' things) ... and it annoys the hell out of me if I have a bolt/nut/washer left over, that's not been replaced with new parts

 

[LKSF]

Part of my Professional digger training included knocking a wall down whilst digging out a huge stone from the yard.

If you've never done this then you're not a proper digger operator.
To be fair it wasn't a great piece of work to begin with, you could see straight through it in many areas.
It wasn't the easiest of walls to tackle for the first job on our own, to the left used to be a gateway, but had been filled in 'bricklayer style' using mortar and had gone a bit too high, beyond that was a piece of decent wall. The wall to the right resembled a pile of stone just dumped off the back of a truck and it was all perched on an elevated bank of soil and crumbling rock, both pointing in different directions and different widths too. So basically we were joining shite to crap, the other thing is we're thinking of taking the whole lot down eventually as the house is behind me and it'll create a better view. I'm not sure it's sheltering the yard and house from much (apart from sheep at the moment).
I decided to make it level, sorry I never took any 'during' pics, but finally (after 3 days) it looked like this:

Maybe needs a bit more work to step it up at the left to join the other wall, but it'll do for now.
Tired and aching we sat in the evening sun and enjoyed some home made cider admiring our work. After a pint or two of that at 9% it looked even better

 

[maz]

Part of my Professional digger training included knocking a wall down whilst digging out a huge stone from the yard.

View attachment 36662

If you've never done this then you're not a proper digger operator.
To be fair it wasn't a great piece of work to begin with, you could see straight through it in many areas.
It wasn't the easiest of walls to tackle for the first job on our own, to the left used to be a gateway, but had been filled in 'bricklayer style' using mortar and had gone a bit too high, beyond that was a piece of decent wall. The wall to the right resembled a pile of stone just dumped off the back of a truck and it was all perched on an elevated bank of soil and crumbling rock, both pointing in different directions and different widths too. So basically we were joining shite to crap, the other thing is we're thinking of taking the whole lot down eventually as the house is behind me and it'll create a better view. I'm not sure it's sheltering the yard and house from much (apart from sheep at the moment).
I decided to make it level, sorry I never took any 'during' pics, but finally (after 3 days) it looked like this:

View attachment 36670

Maybe needs a bit more work to step it up at the left to join the other wall, but it'll do for now.
Tired and aching we sat in the evening sun and enjoyed some home made cider admiring our work. After a pint or two of that at 9% it looked even better

Now I'm more intrigued about the homemade cider than the wall

 

[LKSF]

Now I'm more intrigued about the homemade cider than the wall

If you like cider and want to make some then it's cheap and easy and i'll explain more. If so what kind would you like to make?
Strength,
sweet, medium, sour/dry/battery acid,
flat or fizzy,
flavoured with honey, raspberry, rhubarb etc or just plain.
?