Scrap Material Makes Work Easier

Scrap Material Makes Work Easier FARM SHOP Miscellaneous As he approaches 80 FARM SHOW reader Gary Thomsen has learned he needs to adapt his equipment and maintenance/repair strategies to make them safer and more efficient Recently he built a hoist for his lawnmower to improve the repair process “I bought a deer hoist from Sportsman’s Guide and used it several times to lift my riding mower but I quickly realized it was starting to bend ” says Thomsen “I found some scrap metal at our personal ‘supply depot ’ which others know as the local dump ” Thomsen explains The metal serves as a support for the tractor hoist and fits into a receiver hitch he found attached to a tractor With these updates Thomsen can now position his riding mower completely vertically with minimum hassle This makes it significantly safer and more accessible than before to clean the deck and change out its blades The dump has served as a source of inspiration for other projects for Thomsen His latest invention is a cart for pulling his backyard sprayer “My shoulders and back won’t take lugging a sprayer around anymore so I took an old golf bag cart I found attached a length of 10-in dia duct with four small bolts and problem solved Pulling this is much easier on my 79-year-old body than carrying the weed sprayer around ” Going forward Thomsen anticipates working on many more projects inspired by reclaimed materials “I keep a lot of what people call junk but I have discovered there is junk and there is ‘good junk’ ” says Thomsen “My wife and I have a book of items we have repurposed already As we get older we need to be more inventive ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gary F Thomsen 2742 Kenwood Rd Arion Iowa 51520

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