Granary almost done

Granary repair

Steve HardinLeave a comment

I was given an old granary this year. It was from a very old combine and had been converted to hold grain for chickens. It had not been used in a very long time and the entire bottom had rusted out. It still had the old pto motor for an auger on the front. It was trashed but it was still there. I have finally gotten around to repairing it. The problem is I have never really attempted a metal project this big before. My one quarter at BMCC with the welding class to learn stick welding did not cover this. Especially since the Gingerman changed the welder to a wire feed system. I have been trying to teach myself to wire weld. It is not quite the same as stick welding.

I have spent a couple weekends cutting out the bottom with a disc cutting wheel on my DeWalt 60v grinder. I have accepted that to work with metal I do actually need to wear some protective gear. I am wearing long pants, long sleeve shirt, leather gloves and eye goggles when I grind or cut anything. I switch out the goggles with a welding helmet and welding gloves when I use the welder. I get popped on the arm or face every once in a while but the important stuff is protected. I needed to buy some sheet metal and when I went to Packy’s the only type they carry is 14 g. I do not have a sheet metal brake. I needed to bend an angle into the sheet metal, both sides. I cut the piece then tried to bend it with a hammer and some clamps. No go. So I then tried to bend it over a piece of angle iron with one piece under and over the bend and beat on it with a heavy hammer. No go. So then I ground. Groove on the bend line and tried again. No go. I then proceeded to cut two inch grooves along the crease line about every six inches, so I cut out about 25% of the material along the bend. I then put it in place, welded one side down and then started to beat on it with a hammer, jump on it and used the forks on the tractor to bend it to my will!! I still ended up with 1/4” air gap in a few places that was painful to fill in with the wire welder. It would have gone faster if I had used the stick welder. But who wants to do the conversion again and then convert it back? I am too lazy for that much swapping around.

I was able to get the first half welded on and welded the gate holder in place. I marked the drill holes for the gate but I think they are wrong. One side looks good but the other looks like I let it slip while I was marking holes. I will just drill one hole. Put the gate on, mark and drill a second hole, insert bolt then I can get the other four in the correct spot. It will most likely be the very last thing I attach and I am going to bolt it on instead of weld it on. I bought a grain gate just for this purpose.

A full sheet of 14 g sheet metal cost roughly $110. So I think I can make it all with this one full sheet, if I piece the other side together. It will be close. I want a second granary, five feet on each side and five feet high. I have been looking to see if there is one out there available. The reason I want that size is I can fill it with the bucket of my tractor. If I get a real tall one I will have to use a grain auger. At this point I may have all the structural material in scrap and would only need maybe 2 pieces of angle iron for the lid and all of the sheet metal. Each side could be done with a full sheet of sheet metal, I would need one for the bottom and one for the top, six full sheets plus the grain door and it would cost $700 in materials, plus $100 in welding wire. I am thinking that this is the way to go to get a second one. An old water tank would be the bomb! I may keep looking, if I mounted the tank on a downhill angle I could just put the gate on the low side, a fill lid on the high side and I would be set!

My welds are improving as the project progresses. I have had to lower the voltage to minimize burn through and I have had to increase the speed of the wire. I had turned it down but had to adjust it faster on three separate occasions. I will need to move over a couple of railroad ties to set it on. Slow and steady progress. Eventually, I would like to have enough storage to be able to go get our wheat truck filled with 3-4 types of grain/peas and then store it on the farm. One wheat truck full would get us through the winter for the sheep and the year for the chickens.

Granary almost gone.

Steve HardinLeave a comment
Yes it was Easter Sunday today but I still had some chores that needed to be done so I stayed home. 
I went out in the morning and started spraying weeds again.  I used the wand yesterday when spraying the Roundup for better control of placement.  Today, I attached the 12 foot boom to the mule so I could spray 2-4-D.  I found my concentration from last year 8 cups of spray and 150 ml of foam in the blog!  It worked so well last year I am using it again this year.  I had about 13 gallons of 2-4-D left over from last year that was stored in the root cellar to prevent it from freezing.  I managed to spray almost 50 gallons of spray.  I have about 80% of the barn lot and 70% of the front/machine shop area sprayed.  I have at least four more days of spraying still.  I was turning around down near the creek and got sucked into a muddy area.  The mule is only two wheel drive and I got stuck.  I had to go get the tractor and chain onto the mule and pull it out.  I got the tractor and mule pinned down by the fence.  I had to unchain and reattach the tractor with a longer chain so I could pull the mule out of the creek instead of down the creek.  Once this was out I recommenced spraying weeds. 
 
I had to stop when Annmarie got home.  Jason came to finish tearing up the Granary.  He has it almost done.  The only odd part is there is this big chunk of concrete 2×4 feet where it looks like they had a wood stove inside the granary.  I will need to pull this out before we can fill the foundation with gravel.  I thought there would be a couple of feet of space under the floor.  Nope, the dirt layer was only about 6-8 inches in places and less in some.  I may dig out about 6-8 inches of dirt then get some gravel and fill in the entire foundation.  Eventually, I would like to put up another building to house the equipment in and put doors on each end so you can just drive through.  A gravel floor would be just fine.  I will have to put up a small fence to keep the horses and cows off of the foundation.  The horses were already climbing around in it tonight.  I saw some broad leaf plants starting to wilt already tonight!  I love the way 2-4-D is so visible.  I never made it to the upper prime squared field to see if my ditch worked.  I will try and make it up there this week.  My lower field clean out of the ditch is working very nice and water is now going all the way down to the school house and back into the back creek.  It has not been able to make it to the back creek in years.  This will be good for the entire lower pasture.  Hopefully, it will run all summer long. 
 
The water in the upper prime squared pasture could be a great thing for the animals.  The back creek is runoff and dries up during the summer.  If the new/old/running springs stay year round then I can safely lock the cows in any upper pasture and they will still have water!  Not having to fill water troughs or pump water is a very amazing thing.  We really do realize how lucky we are. 

Creek where mule got stuck.

Granary almost gone.

Mysterious concrete block.