Bucking Spikes

Goodness - another chainsaw post.  Can you handle it?

Dad's monster McCulloch chainsaw didn't have the bucking spikes on the front.  I'm not sure why.  Perhaps it was an option when it was new 53 years ago.  Perhaps they broke off (notice a tab is broken off for the 3rd mounting hole).  This is what it looked like without:

And what it looks like with the newly fabricated spike attached:

I did some research on the web, and found pictures of spikes of similar models in the same vintage.  I found the following side-profile picture in particular that looked pretty close, and copied it into powerpoint.

From there, I did some photo resizing to make the holes in the proper location, and printed out a life sized pattern.  I transferred the paper pattern to my 1/8" stainless steel chunk, and used the old band saw to cut out the bulk of it.  After some liberal filing, I was pretty pleased.

Here's the scary artistic view: 

Another Chainsaw Video

Last week, I took the big monster McCulloch saw over to a friend's house to chop up his logs.  However, it let me down and wouldn't start.  Gas flowed out of the tank, through the carb, and filled up the carburetor compartment.  Something was wrong.

I tore the carburetor apart and cleaned it all out, and it started right up.  I gave it a little test the other night.  I had my camera in my pocket, so decided to make a little video.

Here I am sawing through my backyard neighbor's big maple log.  Things ran well, and I had just sharpened the chain so the chips were really flying.  It was a good time.

Click below for the link to the video:

Awesome Chainsaw Video

The Tractor Drive

Number 2 Kiddo decorated a cake this afternoon - he decorated it with a green tractor and a red gas cap.

To reward him for his efforts, we went on a tractor ride.

I loaded all the kids (and the blue hamster) into the old wood wagon and hitched them up to the old tractor.  

I'm not sure why one chose to wear his helmet.  Top speed is 6 mph.

Click below for a little video....

A Short Drive Down a Long Lane

The Beach

Last week, we went to Warren Dunes on Lake Michigan.  It was only a 2 hour trip up, so we made it just a day trip.

Here we are all ready to go.  We left at 9am.

Ah.  The beach, finally!  Water was pretty cool, but we all managed to go swimming by the end of the day.  Waves were fun. 

Digging in the sand was a big hit for everybody.

More digging.

A friend loaned us his beach umbrella, and it worked great.

Beach Bunny!

Where'd all that sand come from?

A picture before climbing the 200+ foot dune in the background

On their way up.

Hot sand and scratchy grass is not a good combination.

My tall girl.

Number 3 Kiddo smashing sand castles.

It was a great trip, and we got home around 10pm.  Temperature was perfect.  A nice light breeze kept us cool.  And kids were mostly well behaved.  We hope to go back soon.

How the Night Progresses

When I go to bed, I check on the kids beforehand.  One night I found this type of unexplained (but not out of the ordinary) situation:

A little later on:

By morning time, the Boy had knocked The Girl out, and was near falling out of bed himself:

These 2 always keep us guessing as to what we'll find in their room.