The COVID-19 Puzzle

Throughout this whole weird situation that we’ve been stuck with, having things to keep one occupied has been important. My wife and I have spent a lot of time outside. I believe that I explained the importance of breathing in fresh air to our well-being. We never felt that being stuck inside for prolonged periods of time was a winning option.

I discovered some antique equipment that had been part of my grandfather’s farm and some of it was okay as is; as is being an old metal hay rake that had functioning wheels and it became part of the ‘yard art.’

In June I remembered an old pair of spike harrows that were horse drawn but badly weathered with rotting wood that could not be saved, but could be utilized as a pattern to rebuild with 2X4s that I had laying around from old projects, or saved from other demos of out buildings that were in rough shape and just needed to be torn down.

The two harrows had three rows of 2X4s with about 12 or 13 six-inch nails in each one. I saved or found all but 11 of the nails which I needed to find. I also needed a 12 foot 2X4 to use as a hitch. I got lucky there as well.

Any time a person works with old wood and bolts, rot and rust are the enemy. The spikes were easy to remove and save. Some needed to be straightened, which was easy to do with my trusty hammer and vise. As far as the bolts were concerned it seems that WD-40 had trouble penetrating the rust and the electric grinder became a close friend.

Since the harrows were going to spend more time outside, I watersealed every board and hopefully these harrows will last for many years to come. It took about a week or so to rebuild these harrows and it was fun to see how this farm equipment looks today.

So I got a good taste of the old equipment and how it was brought back to life. Since I was at the beginning of summer I thought maybe I should see if there is anything else that I can fix. I remembered seeing some old wheat wagons in the coulee, where old equipment goes to die, when we were kids. I took my trusty wheel tractor and brought home pieces of a wagon; the two most important pieces were the front and rear axles with wheels. To say it was rough would be an understatement.

I tried to visualize exactly what it looked like, and I found a wagon at the depot that I could use as a pattern for some of the parts that were missing or just rotted and no longer useful for even making a pattern. Again, the bolts were rusted and much of the wood needed to be replaced. Fortunately I had some of that old barn wood that worked very well. I did have to make some brackets out of flat iron. It certainly wasn’t easy but I’m happy how things ended up.

Once I finished the axles and connected the front to the back axle it was time to make the bed. Once again I used old barn wood that I had saved and stored. It took me several hours to cut and install these boards. I didn’t use nails like the original wagon had, but I figured that in order to make it sturdy and last I decided to use screws.

I was trying to figure out how I would build the sides when I remembered some old cattle racks that were also stored in the barn. The racks weren’t over 100 years old like most of the barn wood was, but it was probably about 80 years old since it was made for a couple of trucks from around 1940.

These boards needed to be dismantled. Thankfully almost all of the bolts came off without a problem, and then it was time to figure out how to attach it to the wagon. Once I came up with a game plan, the sides and front and back came together.

Once I got it together it didn’t look as good as I had hoped because of differing colors and bare spots that weren’t painted because of how hay racks are put together. So I got some red paint and covered the entire wagon. I call it Grandpa’s Red Wagon.

My grandpa died about 15 years before I was born, but I can tell you I have a ton of respect for what he had to work with. I know my tools were far better than what he had to work with. I’m proud of my C-19 puzzle project and glad I never had to work back in that time.