New Years resolutions...... No BS!

[SASKFARMER]

830 Deere will be done very soon.

1928 D motor is done and it runs perfect. Paint and stickers and done.

The new project is 430 Crawler. Then a JD A.

Projects are so much fun.

[foragefarmer]

Our farm shop has always got works in progress. Semis, bob cats, cars, trucks, anything really that needs work. The heated shop floor and infra red tube heat was the best investment ever. What do you have in your shop? Our shopaholics have plasma table, mig and tig, powder furnace, 42 lathe, milling machine and that place is humming every day. 3-D printer miraculous. In the good ol days our farm shop used to have a pool table, a black jack table, a wood stove and a kubassa smoker, it was the district “meeting place”. Lots of rum and all-night stook games used to keep us busy in the old days but not today’s shopaholics. 👍

Great post Sum, our shop has a wood stove, mig, and stick welder and a plasma, nothing high tech.

How's the 96 year old mother doing?

[sumdumguy]

Forage, mother is hale and hardy, thanx for asking. The Covid ghost is just kinda passing on by, or so it seems just with zinc lozenges. I get several daily reports of how amazed the staff is. She has fought off breast cancer twice, then severe, severe stroke, heart problems, bouts of sepsis and after all that went to live 6 years independently. She has total, total recall and amazes me with information and questions that require deep thought and test my mental resources. She jokes about adversity and makes fun of obstacles. She has defied all odds. Her moto, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”. 🐣

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Good luck on the 44 we have one that we got running last year and might get stripped and redone this year. It's fun I do things like that with my two sons. 1/3 1/3 1/3. They both work.

Do you think it will look good painted green and yellow with JD decals? Wouldn't want it to clash with the rest of your collection.

[Guest]

Our farm shop has always got works in progress. Semis, bob cats, cars, trucks, anything really that needs work. The heated shop floor and infra red tube heat was the best investment ever. What do you have in your shop? Our shopaholics have plasma table, mig and tig, powder furnace, 42 lathe, milling machine and that place is humming every day. 3-D printer miraculous. In the good ol days our farm shop used to have a pool table, a black jack table, a wood stove and a kubassa smoker, it was the district “meeting place”. Lots of rum and all-night stook games used to keep us busy in the old days but not today’s shopaholics. 👍

Yours is pretty hi tech compared to ours !
Sure glad we have one right now tho
Here’s a really handy item I built , just roll it right up to whatever you’re fixin , metric one side , sae other

[sumdumguy]

There’s lots of opportunity out there. With the internet, imagination and access to technology, we can take a stab at any hair brain idea SF. The sky is the limit!

[Sheepwheat]

My resolution is to, before my life ends, have a shop I can work on stuff in. It would change my farm. I envy y’all with shops! 🤩

[AlbertaFarmer5]

My resolution is to, before my life ends, have a shop I can work on stuff in. It would change my farm. I envy y’all with shops! 🤩

Having the shop and the toys(otherwise known as tools) inside is only half the battle.
We have the shop, and because of a career in my previous life, I have most of the tools and knowledge
But livestock keeping me busy year round means I don't have the spare time to keep it all organized, work on fun projects, or even accomplish the major repairs that always need to be done(on time).
Then my equipment outgrew the shop, so now most work is still in the great outdoors year around, and even if it does fit, chore tractors and plow tractor get priority for shop space all winter.

I envy farmers without livestock, and with enough spare time to create such convenient shop set ups.

It has been my observation that Those in most need of a shop in most capable of making it pay, Are the ones going without. And those at the point in their career when they can afford to shop in the tools and the time, Have the least need for it.

[jazz]

My resolution is to, before my life ends, have a shop I can work on stuff in. It would change my farm. I envy y’all with shops! 🤩

I dont know but after 6 months of farming the shop is the last place I want to be in the winter. My head needs a break from it.

I think I would rather have a nice vacation every winter than a nice shop.

Ours is summer use only. barely finished inside, no heat, nothing fun in it, just work. My antiques are used in the field.

[Sheepwheat]

Yeah I know a lot of guys with shops that still take their machinery to the mechanic. Immaculate, amazing buildings. Not a whole lot of mechanical ability.

And I can see how, once I have a shop, it might be either the last thing I want to do, or that the animal tie down factor would play in. I have so many hobbies and stuff though that I think I would appreciate a decent shop. All I want is something to fit my feeding tractor in. Just a little, humble shop. I know, I know, don’t build it too small. But I have a non typical mindset, you gotta remember that. With the climate change, in future we won’t need them anyway, so...

But I can daydream I guess. Lol

[Taiga]

I don’t need a huge heated space, just enough room to park a truck or tractor. Thinking 30x40 this spring, maybe 40x40. Crawling under the truck laying in the snow, or in the dark on the dirt floor cold storage sheds tracing air line leaks gets old.

[LEP]

I agree with the comment about shops being overbuilt these days.

My shop is 42 x 66. I could easily fill one twice the size. But it is much better than nothing. Sometimes it gets tied up while we wait for parts but such is life.

I don't think I would recommend building one much smaller. When you think about it your heat, water and power cost the same to service it no matter the size of building. The cost to heat is minimal. A building smaller than that is actually not much cheaper so all you really save is cement.

I think now a 50 or 60 by 80 would be great. We try to do most things ourselves. But we do know our limitations. It is huge to have most of the major servicing done come spring. Oils changed in March/April, etc.

So I would say if you winter labour is a small crew or you work by yourself. Build big enough for chore equipment, while leaving one additional bay to work on a piece of equipment. You won't have wasted space and you can be productive at the same time.

If you have more people and hence more equipment then bigger makes sense.