small rainy afternoon project

This wheelbarrow was my dads,it is old ,but the metal is so much better than the new ones,it is still good,One of the handles rotted and broke. I had an old wheelbarrow someone gave me,that was shot but had good handles,I put a handle on the wheelbarrow,it didnt take long. It did however take me some time to find bolts,I had boxes of jars and cans full of stuff from flea markets and auctions and garage sales. So ,,,that led me to take all the jars out of the boxes,and sort of sort them out,screws in one area,bolts and nuts in another ,etc, It took me awhile to do a rough sorting,now I Can find stuff a little faster?I will fine tune it another rainy day,I can only do so much organizing before I go buggy Icleaned up the shop while I was at it,till the rain stopped.

Well, Larry,you are doing better than I. When the dealership where I worked moved to a new facility, I got about two dozen metal drawers with moveable dividers,that were no longer needed. The idea was to organize a lot of nutz-n-bolts. That was over ten years ago, and still waiting.

They Dont organize them selves LOL
Ypop

Years ago the local metal recycling scrapyard had defective tool box drawers from a factory closeby. I glommed onto a bunch of them knowing they HAD to be handy for something. One of the things was repurposing a few into dustpans. When I need a bolt from a not-too-well organized container I dump the container into one of these to find it, then pour them back. I got a whole bunch of shallow drawers I made into free standing shelves, and a couple huge drawers, one of which is a carryall box on the back on my atv.

I've reconditioned wheelbarrows. I have found
that the carriage bolts which hold the bed to
the handles often get loose and enlarge the
square hole which no longer will be held tight
in the bed so that the nuts can be tightened and
often can't be loosened when wanting to replace
the handles. I just put in machine bolts with a
flat washer under them and live with anything
that catches on the bolt head.

I have made handles from 2 x 4 oak, cutting out
the spacer on top of the handle so that I have
handles with the proper angle but no loose
spacer.

KEH

I bought some of those heavy plastic bins that go on the strip screwed to the wall. When I keep them stocked, they are fantastic. I built shelves for boxes of nails and screws. Being able to find what you need is a huge time saver and time is money as they say.

Construction/paver guy I used to work for had old printers cabinets, or so he said they were. Musta been hundreds of drawers about 2"Dx4"Wx12"L. Every nut, washer and bolt had it's place and was labled. I saw him pick up hardware off the road or in a parking lot a million times. It all got sorted and went in the drawers. He was a real bear to work for but that always stuck with me. Smart man.


As for the WB, I have one with a nice, heavy running gear and handles, but the ancient pan is shot. I'm going to remove it and turn it into a "bricklayers wheelbarrow", the kind with the wood slat bed and dashboard. Always wanted one, look handy as all get out.

Larry, I thought you may enjoy a few photos, relevant to your post and of similar things you seem to enjoy !

Here is a completely original Jackson M-11 wheelbarrow with a folded tray, even the old cracked tire is a "Jackmanco". You can barely read the logo on the right side in this photo, it says "Jackmanco" Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. Apparently, another great product of the period from PA.

I got it off CL, for $30, from a man who was moving, and it was his dads, whom used it when he built his homes and similar work, boy you can tell by the bottom of the tray. I have another one of these identical, same era or age, same price, neither seemed to have spent a night outside, but you can tell the one in the photo has seen a lot of work. The other one, was another mans fathers, he said he recalls riding in it as a kid in the 50's. The rear legs on both are made of small bent C-channel, not stamped, though I think the modern version is fine regardless, as the tray and handles are what count. These products certainly reflect an era of quality and durability.

I have seen new wood parts available for these, as well as the folded or stamped trays. It seems a new Jackson with a folded tray is available, comparable to the old ones like these and are reasonable.

I do not see these old ones listed often, I may have seen one other, besides the 2 I bought, must be the years go by, and many not kept inside, as I cannot see otherwise how any of these would not make it 50+ years, even when worked hard daily.

I really like this style for firewood, I put stakes along the wood and can stack double the height of the sides and fit it through a narrow path, (that is if I can lift the darned thing LOL!)

I know its really exciting stuff, these old wheelbarrows, with all their history, so I'll throw in some twilight tillage and shots of the black gold I make from the used bedding of my little garage mascots, they do have a purpose and the photo is the pay off, 10 loads of black gold, just about broken down, should be nice soil this spring.

When I was a kid my uncle broke one of the handles on my parent's wheel barrow. Replaced it with a tree limb and it stayed that way for many years.

The thills(that's the correct name for the handles on a wheelbarrow) on mine lost a battle with the back tire on a JD B, but I repaired them with some oak and glue--good as new. A buddy of mine gave me an old IBM punch card file unit. That thing is built like a Sherman tank. I spent three weeks off and on one summer just sorting bolts and nut and filing them. Sure is handy, but the trick is to keep yourself disciplined enough to maintain it.

Yeah, after all this time, I'm beginning to realize that. LOL