Quote Originally Posted by metric_taper View Post
I've been here in the Iowa "tropics" for 35 years now. I moved here from Grand Forks, North Dakota. When your born there, the winters are no bother, you know how to dress for them. When I left in 84, the February lows were -40F, with highs in the -30s, that lasted most of the month. I'm living about 50 miles south of what I call the perma snow line, where we get melt offs and freezing rain, but not enough long term snow to own a snowmobile. It mostly stays around +20F for highs of the day. But it does shut down my outdoor tasks. And this year it's a month early. Leaves are still on the trees.
So scrap steel is $25/ton, but the steel I bought to fix my skid steer bucket 3 weeks ago, was $60 for a 5 foot strip of 4 inch x 1/2 bevel edge. Seems the price of new steel has not come down, but the tariffs has destroyed the scrap market. Hold on to your scrap!
10-4 on save my scrap steel.
I did some work on a pipeline up in Montana one winter. A bunch of us showed up to test out one morning. the temp must have been in the -30 range we had spent the weekend in a Motel in Bute and everyone's machines were cold soaked almost to the point of having slush in the antifreeze at the job site the Foreman told me that I might as well head back to Texas as he was no going to have a Holbart machine on his pipeline let alone a dang diesel as he called it.
I said OK, but I thought that should get the chance to at least bust out on my test, so I lingered while all of the Gasoline Lincoln SA 200 Pipeliner machines were cranked over and not a single one of the things would start. The line boss said well let's see if that heap of your will at least start.
I flipped the switch and didn't push the start button I just poured me a cup of coffee while he was saying just as I thought that thing wont start until summer.
OH it'll start probably before you finish your cigarette, he took another puff and about then my machine cranked over on its own a couple of times then was sitting there idling away. He dropped his coffee and his cigarette and stood there open mouthed and bug eyed.
I un spooled part of my leads and said hook em up boys DR. Holbart is ready to defibrillate your Lincoln's hearts. I worked in a tent the whole time we were on the pipeline making transition manifolds and turn backs and never did test out but every morning a few of the Lincolns needed defibrillating.
I loved the auto start feature on my machine it wouldn't even turn over until the preheaters did their work.