Farm Mechanics Part 3

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 56.--(1) Hardy. The anvil hardy is used more than any other anvil tool except the blacksmith's hammer and tongs. (2) A Cold-Shut Link that may be welded, riveted or simply pounded shut.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 57.--Calipers: (1) A pair of tight-joint inside calipers. (2) Its mate for taking outside dimensions. (3) A pair of spring-jointed, screw-adjustment inside calipers for machinists' use.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 58.--Blacksmith Tongs. Straight tongs made to hold 3/8" iron is the handiest size. Two or three pairs for larger sizes of iron and one pair smaller come in handy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 59.--(1) Wire Splicer. The oval openings in the tool are of different sizes. They are made to hold two wires, close together, with ends projecting in opposite directions. Each end is wound around the other wire. The ends are then notched with a three-cornered file and broken off short and filed smooth. The splicing tool should be thin, about 1/8" or 3/16", to bring the two twists close together. This is especially necessary in making hoops for wooden pails. (2) Blacksmith Shoeing Pincers, used to pull horseshoes. They should close together to catch a nail by the head.]

For heavier work pipe-wrenches are absolutely necessary. The reason for having so many wrenches is to save time when in the field. It often happens that men and horses stand idle waiting for what should be a quick repair job.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 60.--(1) Cotter Pin Tool. Handy for inserting or removing all sorts of cotter keys. (2) Nest of S Wrenches of different sizes. Farmers have never appreciated the value of light, handy wrenches to fit all sorts of nuts and bolt heads closely.]

For bench work a riveting hammer and a ball peen machinist's hammer are needed. A nest of S wrenches, two rivet sets, cold chisels, round punches and several files also are required.

The same twist drills up to three-eighths-inch will do for iron as well as wood. However, if much drilling is done, then round shank twist drills to fit the drill chuck will work better. Farmers seldom drill holes in iron larger than one-half inch. For particular work, to get the exact size, reamers are used to finish the holes after drilling. Screw holes in iron are countersunk in the drill-press.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 61.--Hack Saw. One handle and a dozen blades. The frame should be stiff enough either to push or pull the saw without binding. The teeth may point either way to suit the work in hand.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 62.--Powerful Bolt Cutter. It is intended for factory use.]

For small work, twist drills with square shanks for brace use should range in sizes from one thirty-second of an inch up to one-quarter inch, then every one-sixteenth inch up to one-half inch.

For boring screw holes in wood the quickest work is done with pod bits.

Not many sizes are needed, but they are cheap, so that a half dozen, ranging from one-sixteenth to one-quarter inch or thereabouts, will be found very useful. Pod bits belong to the wood department, but on account of being used princ.i.p.ally for screw sinking, they are just as useful in the iron working department as in the carpenter shop.

Sheet metal snips for cutting sheet metal properly belong with the iron working tools. Snips are from ten to fourteen inches in length. A medium size is best for miscellaneous work. If kept in good working order twelve-inch snips will cut 18-gauge galvanized or black iron. But a man would not care to do a great deal of such heavy cutting.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 63.--Cutting Nippers. For cutting the points from horseshoe nails after they are driven through the hoof to hold the shoe in place. These nippers are hard tempered and should not be used for any other purpose.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 64.--Two Shapes of Steel Crowbars.]

_Pipe-Fitting Tools._--Recent farm improvements require a few tools that rightfully belong to plumbers. Every farm has some kind of water supply for domestic use and for live-stock. A great many farm machines require pipe tools for repair work. Every year more plumbing reaches the farm.

Plumbing work is no more difficult than other mechanical work, if the tools are at hand to meet the different requirements. One job of plumbing that used to stand out as an impossibility was the soldering together of lead pipes, technically termed "wiping a joint." This operation has been discontinued. Every possible connection required in farm plumbing is now provided for in standardized fittings. Every pipe-fitting or connection that conducts supply water or waste water nowadays screws together. Sizes are all made to certain standards and the couplings are almost perfect, so that work formerly shrouded in mystery or hidden under trade secrets is now open to every schoolboy who has learned to read.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 65.--(1) Pipe Vise. Hinged to open for long pipes.

(2) Machinist's Vise. Made with a turntable to take any horizontal angle. The pipe jaws are removable.]

The necessary outfit to handle all the piping and plumbing on the farm is not very expensive, probably $25.00 will include every tool and all other appliances necessary to put in all the piping needed to carry water to the watering troughs and to supply hot and cold water to the kitchen and the bathroom, together with the waste pipes, ventilators and the sewer to the septic tank. The same outfit of tools will answer for repair work for a lifetime.

Farm water pipes usually are small. There may be a two-inch suction pipe to the force pump, and the discharge may be one and a half inch. But these pipes are not likely to make trouble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 66.--Pipe Cutter. The most satisfactory pipe cutter has three knife-edge roller cutters which follow each other around the pipe. Some of these cutters have two flat face rollers and one cutter roller to prevent raising a burr on the end of the pipe. The flat face rollers iron out the burr and leave the freshly cut pipe the same size clear to the end.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 67.--Pipe-Wrench. This type of wrench is valuable for working with the heavier farm implements. It is intended more for holding than for turning. It is rather rough on nuts. Damaged nuts show signs of careless work.]

There should be a good pipe vise that will hold any size pipe up to three inches. At least two pipe wrenches are needed and they should be adjustable from one-quarter-inch up to two-inch pipe.

We must remember that water pipe sizes mean inside measurements.

One-inch pipe is about one and one-quarter inches outside diameter.

Three-quarter-inch pipe is about one inch outside. Two-inch pipe will carry four times as much water as one-inch pipe, under the rule "doubling the diameter increases the capacity four times."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 68.--A smaller sized wrench with wooden handle.]

The three-wheel pipe cutter works quickly and is satisfactory for most jobs. Sometimes two of the knife wheels are removed and rollers subst.i.tuted to prevent raising a burr on the end of the pipe.

Threading dies are made in standard sizes. A good farm set consists of stock and dies to thread all the different sizes of pipe from one-quarter inch to one inch, inclusive. Not many pipes larger than inch are threaded on the farm. They are cut to the proper lengths in the farm shop and the threads are cut in town.

CHAPTER II

FARM SHOP WORK

PROFITABLE HOME REPAIR WORK

Each farmer must be the judge in regard to the kind of mechanical repair work that should be done at home and the kind and amount of repair work that should go to the shop in town. A great deal depends on the mechanical ability of the farmer or his helpers. However, the poorest farm mechanic can do "first aid" service to farm implements and machinery in the nick of time, if he is so disposed. A great many farmers are helpless in this respect because they want to be helpless.

It is so much easier to let it go than to go right at it with a determination to fix it, and fix it right.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 69.--Logging Chain. One of the cleverest farm inventions of any age is the logging chain. It is universally used in all lumber camps and on every farm. It usually is from 16 to 20 feet in length, with a round hook on one end for the slip hitch and a grab hook on the other end that makes fast between any two links.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 70.--Neckyoke and Whiffletree Irons. Farmers can make better neckyokes and whiffletrees than they can buy ready-made. The irons may be bought separately and the wood selected piece by piece.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 71.--Measuring a Worn Skein for a New Boxing. The pasteboard calipers are cut to fit the old skein sideways because it is probably flattened on the bottom from wear.]

On general principles, however, farm repair work should not occupy a farmer's time to the detriment of growing crops or the proper care of live-stock. Farming is the business; mechanical work is a side issue. At the same time, a farmer so inclined can find time during the year to look over every farm machine, every implement and every hand tool on the farm. The stupidest farm helper can clean the rust off of a spade and rub the surface with an oily cloth, in which some fine emery has been dusted. The emery will remove the rust and the oil will prevent it from further rusting. Every laborer knows better than to use a spade or shovel after a rivet head has given way so the handle is not properly supported by the plate extensions. There really is no excuse for using tools or machinery that are out of repair, but the extent to which a farmer can profitably do his own repairing depends on many contingencies. In every case he must decide according to circ.u.mstances, always, however, with a desire and determination to run his farm on business principles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 72.--Wooden Wagon Axles. Axle timber may be bought in the rough or partly fitted to the skeins.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 73.--Showing how to fit the irons on the forward end of a wagon reach.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 74.--Wire Splice. With a little practice wire may be wound close enough to prevent slipping.]

_Home-made Bolts._--The easiest way to make a bolt is to cut a rod of round iron the proper length and run a thread on each end. On one end the thread may be just long enough to rivet the head, while the thread on the other end is made longer to accommodate the nut and to take up slack. A farmer needs round iron in sizes from one-fourth inch to five-eighths inch. He will use more three-eighths and one-half inch than any other sizes. Blank nuts are made in standard sizes to fit any size of round iron. Have an a.s.sortment, in different sizes, of both the square and the hexagon nuts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 75.--Emergency Bolts. A bolt may be made quickly without a forge fire by cutting a short thread on one end for the head and a longer thread on the other end for the nut.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 76.--Rivets. A stock of soft iron rivets of different sizes and lengths should be always kept on hand ready for immediate use.]

To make a bolt in the ordinary way requires welding, but for repair work in a hurry it is better to select the proper iron and cut it to the required length either with a cold chisel in the vise, or with a hardy and a handled cold chisel over an anvil. The quickest way of cutting that mashes the rod the least is to be preferred. The size of the rod will determine the manner of cutting in most instances.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 77.--Rivets.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 78.--Rivet Set. This style of set is used for small rivets. The size should be selected to fit the rivets closely.

Larger rivets are made to hug the work by means of a flat piece of steel with a hole through it.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 79.--Rivet Set.]