Homesteading with manual tools

[Twobottom]

Lately I have been getting so fed up tinkering with equipment. Earlier this spring my tiller went on me and I replaced it with a heavy hoe. So far I am maintaining about a half acre veggie garden with it and actually enjoying my work for the first time in years. I go out in the morning and hoe for a couple of hours each day.

Its quiet. I notice things in my garden. I actually look forward to doing it and have dropped 5 lbs. When I consider the cost of tiller, the gas, the maintenance and the frustration I am beginning to wonder if there really is any net gain in time or production. It's certainly EASIER physically to use the tiller, but you pay for that ease in gas, depreciation, and maintenance.

This has me thinking about some other things I might trade in. My chainsaws ( both of them ) broke this year. The shady dealer refused to honor his warranty and the repair cost me $65 on a year old saw. My older saw has a busted plastic gromet that I cannot repair and it will cost me money again to have it fixed. On top of these repairs there is down time, time spent going back and forth, waiting for parts, and etc

At the end of the day, what do I really gain in having a chainsaw over a good crosscut saw? Maintenance on a crosscut is easier IMO, the units are less expensive, will last decades longer, and require no gas expense. When I add up the down time, the maintenance, the gas, and etc I wonder how much further ahead I really am with these machines.

Now I am fiddling with my sicklebar mower. I bought the wrong replacement cutter bar. So now I am sitting on my hands waiting for the dealer to call me back. It might be a week before I get the new bar, then ( assuming everything else is in working order ) I can begin to cut hay. I hate this. I hate waiting, and tinkering and being dependent on these machines. I've read that in 4 - 5 hours it is reasonable to expect a guy to be able to cut about 1/2 acre of hay with a scythe.

I cut about 7 acres total. I do not think it is unreasonable to say that I could get that cut in one season or close to it. And again there is the savings on gas, maintenance, waiting for parts, depreciation on expensive equipment.

I'm beginning to think that for a small farmer such as myself, it is actually more efficient and profitable to use manual equipment. At the very least I could spend more time actually farming/homesteading, and less time tinkering.

[Dixie Bee Acres]

To an extent, I agree. I am slowly adding more manual equipment to my place, next on the list is a pair of wheel hoe cultivators.
I have a bow saw, many hand tools, etc. But, as long as I have the chainsaw and gas powered log splitter, I am going to use them. Sure i have handsaws and a couple splitting mauls, but using them only, I can't do a cord or more of firewood per day.

[FarmboyBill]

I had to get a V belt for my wal;k behind sickle cutter. I brought home 3, and took back the wrong ones. No down time. I had to get a oil filter for my new tractor, new to me. I forgot to check to see if it was a self contained fliter, on one that went inside a canister, Brought both home and took back the wrong one. No down time.

Don't know where your located, but, when you get time, if you ever have any time, Id like to see pics of you on both ends of a cross cut 2 man saw lol. Yeah, using a saw on a downed tree, and limbing it with an ax works OK when your young, BUT that cutting them down, is a pain with hand equipment.

[FarmboyBill]

I have a 1 steel wheel garden tractor called the Colemans Iron Mule.
I have a Wards Simplicity 2 wheel garden walk behind garden tractor
I have a Standard Twin walk behind garden tractor. Only the Coleman can I get into my garden gate with.

Like you, I find it just as easy to run my Xs granddads push plow through the rows, or a hoe, than trying to fight them around the permeter fence with the motorized equipment.
You might try taking a light how, and bending the neck at the bow more than intended when sold, putting a sharp edge on the blade, and just shaveing the ground, if/when you get behind. Dosent wear you out, and if you've had a lot of rain, that can get you by until the ground drys out for significant weeding.

[Twobottom]

Originally Posted by Dixie Bee Acres

To an extent, I agree. I am slowly adding more manual equipment to my place, next on the list is a pair of wheel hoe cultivators.
I have a bow saw, many hand tools, etc. But, as long as I have the chainsaw and gas powered log splitter, I am going to use them. Sure i have handsaws and a couple splitting mauls, but using them only, I can't do a cord or more of firewood per day.

Yeah dont get me wrong I'm not giving up my tractor, but for some things...certain equipment, I do think it is easier just to roll up the sleeves and get to it rather than all the fussing with equipment.

I never have used a splitter, I use a maul and split about 1/4 cord or less per day during the season. But I chip away at it and usually get about 6 cords cut by fall and that heats my house through the winter. I never got used to a splitter so why start now?

Not sure about the crosscut saw, but I might buy a scythe just to see what I'm missing. If I could phase out the sickle bar it'll be one less headache. I'd still rake and bale with the tractor though.

[Dixie Bee Acres]

Now a scythe I would like to have. Had an old one once, it mysteriously disappeared from my shop porch one night. I would like a sickle bar too, but the scythe is more affordable right now.
Only want it because a local farmer owns ground across the street from me, on that ground is roughly a 1.5 acre barnlot that get bush hogged twice a year, right now the grass is about 3 feet tall.
If I had a good way of cutting it, I would cut a couple wheel barrel loads per day to feed to my pigs.
Or I might get ambitious and build one of those small wooden balers and cut a lot more at once.

[Twobottom]

UPDATE; My push mower just died in its second use. I bought it two weeks ago, on my way back to tractor supply to return it....a 400 dollar self propelled cub cadet. It mowed my 1/2 acre lawn exactly one and a half times.

I'm telling you guys I'm on to something here. These machines are more trouble than they are worth.

[TripleD]

Originally Posted by Twobottom

UPDATE; My push mower just died in its second use. I bought it two weeks ago, on my way back to tractor supply to return it....a 400 dollar self propelled cub cadet. It mowed my 1/2 acre lawn exactly one and a half times.

I'm telling you guys I'm on to something here. These machines are more trouble than they are worth.

Dad got the same one and it quit pulling after an hour. They sent it off for 2 weeks for repairs........

[jwal10]

I am working on ways to keep this place going without modern equipment. It gives me exercise and peace and quiet. It is satisfying to know I can. I can mow my front lawn in a minute each day, pushing an old reel mower Grandpa used with a catcher to gather rabbit and chicken feed. I don't have a "back" lawn....James

[big rockpile]

Hardest part is cutting a Winters supply of wood. I would cut it all in Pole and Block stuff work it up at the House.

Most stuff is a matter of keeping it sharp.

If at all possible use the animals to Harvest their own Grain and feed. Like we would put Cattle and Hogs in Corn, we would also Hand pick some. We would plant Sorghum Cane, cut and Shaulk it up feed it to Cows.

Horses seem to lay down and die at the wrong times.

big rockpile

[Muleman]

My old G model John Deere has got manual steering, does that count???
I actually do have a couple of crosscuts. If a crosscut is sharpened correctly, which includes swaging the teeth when needed. They can cut extremely fast with 2 good people. We use them for clean up in parts of the Buffalo national Park where you cannot use power equipment. I also just got rid of the better part of a $1000.00 bill last year on a new Stihl chainsaw, my last one lasted about 12 years. If a little rusted piece of the muffler had not got sucked up into the cylinder, no telling how much longer it would have lasted. I have used mules skidding logs. In the right kind of timber it is better than a wheeled skidder.

[plowhand]

Y'all got to remember that man is born to trouble....easpecially if trouble has got its' own moving parts.........whatevers it is........it'll tear up!

[Dixie Bee Acres]

So far today I have moved and spread right at a ton of mulch. Wheel barrel and shovel, does that count?

[FarmerRob]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

I had to get a V belt for my wal;k behind sickle cutter. I brought home 3, and took back the wrong ones. No down time. I had to get a oil filter for my new tractor, new to me. I forgot to check to see if it was a self contained fliter, on one that went inside a canister, Brought both home and took back the wrong one. No down time.

Don't know where your located, but, when you get time, if you ever have any time, Id like to see pics of you on both ends of a cross cut 2 man saw lol. Yeah, using a saw on a downed tree, and limbing it with an ax works OK when your young, BUT that cutting them down, is a pain with hand equipment.

Go to Lehman's dot com and you can see a very high quality one man cross cut saw that will get the job done without the need for a helper.

[Twobottom]

My dad bought a john deere push mower when I was 4 years old. He mowed the grass with it till I took over. Never had it serviced, never even changed the blade. Just put gas and oil in. When I was 17 I used it to mow our lawn and a few of the neighbors for extra cash.

When we sold the house years later we left it for the new owners. As far as I can recall the mower was 20 years old and still operational with no issues ever.

Now here I am in present day, and I feel lucky if a piece of equipment lasts 4-5 years. Everything they make is junk, most people don't know the difference and forgot how to get by without it.

[katlupe]

We have used many different manual tools around our homestead. My husband has a one man crosscut saw, which he used it to cut trees down. Only needed one man to use it. We have both though, chainsaws and the crosscut.

He has the scythe too. One year he used it to mow our yard. He doesn't really like it for that as he likes a shorter lawn. That was the year we got a lot of fleas and I think it was because the grass wasn't as short. Now we use an electric mower, so the grass can be given to our horses. He still uses it to cut the grass around the fence line though.

One other manual tool we use is a wheel hoe, some call it a cultivator. We have never used a rototiller on our land. So no gasoline fumes. It works great. He changed the wheel on it to a bicycle wheel and that made it even easier to use. No gas, no noise. Works great on raised bed. It is harder if you are plowing up a piece of garden for the first time. But it can still be used, just takes more energy.

[Patchouli]

We are as machine free as possible. We seem to have some sort of a curse when it comes to machinery. I greatly prefer my scythe to a weed eater or lawnmower. We keep permanent beds in the garden and use a broadfork to loosen it up as needed. We do use a chainsaw but we split all the wood by hand. I am with you on the peace and quiet. I don't mind the time it takes either.

[Twobottom]

Originally Posted by FarmerRob

Go to Lehman's dot com and you can see a very high quality one man cross cut saw that will get the job done without the need for a helper.

Here's a US company that specializes in crosscut saws, one man and two man models;

http://www.crosscutsaw.com

[Twobottom]

BTW just by way of another example our dishwasher is 6 years old. We have to manually turn the dial because the cycle gets stuck. Last year it sprung a leak, and now there is standing water in the washer after the cycle is complete. Total junk.

My mom had a 1971 GE for 20+ years, I think it might have needed service once. When this one finally kicks off I'm going to build a cabinet there and wash by hand. With the low quality of stuff they make now its just not worth buying.

[FarmboyBill]

Lehmans sells 2 and 1 man saws.