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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:26 pm
by Stuarty
Our last mixer, some foreign thing, was about 8 years old when it packed in. It managed to set itself alight, how im not sure but it was very dead after that. We are using a belle mixer atm, just turned a year old and still starts first pull. Its well used too, not like its only brought out once in a while.
You manage 6 months out of ur barrows LLL! Mine last about 4 usually, mind you, they all seem to get pinched from me 
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:26 pm
by lutonlagerlout
thats tops stuarty
had some die after 2 weeks
try and be gentle with them now
in the 80's it was the punctures, now they dont last long enough to get punctured
LLL 
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 7:42 pm
by Stuarty
Ive found that only the green barrows last any legnth of time, summit like haemerlin or something like that. Boss bought some cheapy black things, they flexed when they were loaded, too narrow so i continually kicked the legs and then the body of the thing just snapped off from the frame, after the frame was twisted a fair bit. Ive got my own barrow here at home, but i wouldnt want to push it full, must hold like 150 litres lol tis huge.
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 8:39 pm
by Suggers
i knew we'd get round to f***in' punctures in the end - cheaper to buy 2 new barrows than replace 2 wheels that are knacked - and of course, design of fitting has changed - the actual barrow bodies are fine - more & more throwaway society and fill up the landfill with toot - thought I might get grinderette out and make some weird barrow sculpture pyramid type thingy? - will post photies.....
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:15 pm
by Stuarty
if i have mind next time im in the yard, ill take a pic of our barrow graveyard, the collection just seems to get bigger and bigger lol
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 2:28 am
by Suggers
Yeah Stuart - send some photies - will post photie of the remains of my tree, we can build it round.
ps - my welding's ropey.
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:10 pm
by lutonlagerlout
i used to keep all the diamond blades when they had died with an intention to make summat,got skipped in the end though
also i had this weird idea of getting an old cast manhole cober,shotblasting it,stove enameling it welding 4 legs on and using it as a coffee table==> with 2 built in ashtrays!!
spoke to my welder mate and he reckons i am cracked
LLL
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:28 pm
by Tony McC
I've an ancient barrow from the late 60s that was parked up at my dad's place when I was a lad, filled with rope-top edging tiles, and left alone for the best part of 40 years. I came across it again a few months back during a clean-up operation in my dad's yard.
The body is folded steel, around 3mm thick, and it weighs at least three times as much as a modern pressed steel barrow. The tyre was perished, but no shortage of spares from previous dead barrows, so it's now up and running again. I've brought it back to mine as a relic of a by-gone age.
My second favourite barrow story (I'll save the favourite for another time) relates to one of the lads that worked for me in the early 90s. There's always arguments about whose spade is this, and who has got who's barrow, so this lad took a tin of marker paint, and sprayed a series of forward-pointing chevrons on what he considered to be "his" barrow (in truth, they were ALL my bloody barrows! I paid for them!). From then on he was always known for his barrow with the Go Faster Stripes! 
Edited By Tony McC on 1182079769
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:46 pm
by Stuarty
Well i actually remembered to take a couple pics of the graveyard, it was cleared out about a year ago, so theres not many left. I counted another dozen lying all over the yard, it really needs a good "red up" as we say up here.
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:11 am
by Rich H
Glad I found this thread! I thought it was just me with the blooming barrows. It's the Chillington ones which last the least amount of time. The tin pops with the first load of hardcore and rubs against the wheel, they leak, and the struts collapse.
I get the Haemerlin ones when I can, although they are prone to blowing tyres with a heavy load.
I have noticed though that I can make tools last one hell of a lot longer than the buggers who work for me
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:12 am
by Tony McC
If that Damien Hirst block had piled up those barrows, it would be called an "installation" and worth at least quarter of a mill!
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:00 am
by matt h
dont anyone clear the yard?...Council came round to mine and told me i couldnt use it anymore because i hadnt applied for change of use...but it was a fabricaters yard before i bought the propery! They gave me 48hs to clear all my plant, mixers scaffold etc. I checked their ruling and found it would be ok if everything was out of sight, so i bought some big sheds and filled them up. Council man came back and nearly choked, because my end of garden yard is now two sheds.'thats not what i asked you to do 'says he 'no, but you'll find i'm right,i can have anything (within limits) i like in my garden sheds, and interestingly enough, i can have as many as i like says i. well he went away ruffled but hes never bin back since, so i guess that was sorted. I just wish folk would mind their own beeswax. The total area was only about15ft square, and it was my next door neighbour who had complained...he could see it from his third floor extension window if he stood on top of a ladder sort of thing. anyone else got neighbours from hell?
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:07 am
by matt h
i keep making my own pans, as the new barrows seemed to rot out too quick.. I can knock one up in about an hour now, perks of having an elecric welder in the workshop, which an old apprentice managed to get from some second hand car dealer who was selling up and doing a runner to oz.
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 1:11 pm
by Stuarty
The yard is an old farm, which is away up on the top of a hill with nobody around it. If we were to clear it, it would probably take all 8 of us 3 weeks lol.
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:58 am
by lutonlagerlout
big fences make good neighbours
LLL :;):