Took the first step towards building my shop

[Frank S]

Everyone who knows me are probably familiar with my work shop or lack there of conditions.
For many years I have worked under my tent shop I've moved it around several times It is pretty good in the summer , great for providing shade and blocks much of the summer winds But it is horrible in cold wet dreary windy weather especially when the winds are out of the NE or east.

For the past several years life has always got in the way of my starting my shop so today I decided to at least take the first step.
So since life on a farm always has more things that need doing than can get done I finally decided that if I just get 1 column standing I will be able to say that I am starting on my shop. So today this happened
Of course first I had to pull some stumps that had been nagging me for a long time then remove a tree from a fence and remove the fence but those were not going to stop me from my goal. I removed a tire from an old 24.5" truck rim then welded it to the bottom of a 7" sch 80 pipe. the pipe was not long enough to suit me since it was only 12 ft long I welded a 10 ft section to it then dug the hole with my backhoe . I went down 6 feet deep before I struck hard pan. now my column is not long enough again I wanted 18 ft walls. I added another 4 ft to the pipe. then hefted it into the ground with my backhoe



I am not cementing these columns in the ground I prefer to have a large base on them then back fill with dirt & clay tossing in a bag of portland every few layers adding water and tamping
Tomorrow I will try to get my whacker packer running It should run just fine since it only has about 30 minutes of run time since brand new. but I've had it for several years I hope I drained the gas out.



Once I set up my scaffolding (I have enough to set up an 18 ft high run about 60 feet long so working from a ladder is never in my job description) I will fill each column with sand dirt gravel and used motor oil I have a concrete vibrator that I will strap to the columns to pack the dirt and oil inside of the columns.
There are a couple reasons for my doing this 1 is it makes them infinitely stiffer 2 it prevents them from ever rusting out from the inside and 3 it deadens any sound transmittal should I decide to add things to them like a thick plate for hammering on or mounting a bench grinder on. also by being stiffer if I weld a pull ring to them they won't have a tendency to bow, they wouldn't anyway since so much else will be welded to them in the form of building materials and bracing.