Pictures of Work Weekends (2007)

[M Kerkvliet]

I thought I would start a thread of what goes on around the show grounds on work weekends during the summer! I will add more pictures as time allows. If you have any, please post them here!

There are some that end up in other, more appropriate forums... i.e. the new Rumely canopy is in the Earl's Sawmill forum as that is where is is being built. The ones I post here are miscellaneous jobs that are every bit as important as the next job...

Photos by Katy Kerkvliet

First picture... These folks painted all of the pumps near the gazebo! In the picture are Katie Moen, Irene Suhr, Kenneth Suhr, Carol Suhr, Laura Suhr, and Jonnelle Suhr! I can pick Katie and Kenneth out... but I am not sure of the rest! Very nice job folks!
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/PaintingPumps.jpg

Across the pond, Mark Kirschenman is caught putting the finishing touches on the Baker Fan exhibit he has been working on all summer! Another nice job!
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/bakerfan.jpg

I got a group of guys together this past Saturday in the heat to pick up a pile of wood that Jerry Christiansen had split the weekend before. We filled the slab truck 3 times, and the bucket of the Cadillac a few times too!

Helping with the project were Grant Johnson "grantjd" from this forum on the left, Brandon in the sun glasses, Jeff Lee "Lee" from the forum bent over, and myself... looking off into space! Not in the picture, but they were helping were Tim, Polly, and Ashley Kerkvliet, and Jim Hanson.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/Woodpile.jpg

Elsewhereon the grounds, Dr. Gerry Parker had a crew working on his Minneapolis Separator, that was damaged when the building fell on it in a tornado a few years back... and this separator. Not sure what the problem with this one was, or who owns it. Is this one Jeff's? I am not sure who all was involved in the projects, but I know Dr. Jeff Knutson was there, as well as Jeff and Colt Edin. All are members of this forum, and perhaps will enlighten us all as to the progress that was made, and fill in the names of those I may have missed!
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/seperator.jpg

[Jerry Christiansen]

Hi Mark and all,

Thanks for the update and the pictures. I can't take credit for splitting the wood. I ran a chain saw and cut the pile of logs to length. The picture below shows the splitting crew.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/jtchrist/rollag/woodsplit001.jpg

Notice that both heads are down and they are watching their work. These guys worked like a well oiled machine.

When I interrupted them, they looked up.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/jtchrist/rollag/woodsplit002.jpg
I need to learn how to write so I can record names and not trust my memory. Can someone help out with names?

Jane and I were checking flowers late Sunday afternoon and we saw that another log has been hauled up by the splitter. Next Saturday I would like to move the splitter and the log up by the wood pile so we can get the area the splitter sits in now cleaned up for the show.

Later,
Jerry

[edin]

Hey all,

The complete separator crew included Dr. Knutson, Dr. Parker, Rayme Wangler, Ray Wangler, Andrew Wangler (3 generations!), Mike Wahl, Jeff Edin, and myself. We started on Friday morning (early!) and finished up around noon on Sunday and everybody had a great time working together on these projects.

On Friday, my dad and I stayed with Andrew Wangler at Rollag and worked on what is now my 36" x 62" wooden Minneapolis separator. This is the machine that really got bonked during the tornado. The Wangler family did a lot of work on it over the past couple of years (the collapsed building knocked the feeder off, crunched the wind stacker tube, knocked off the grain elevator/weigher/&c.) and this weekend we pretty much put the final touches on the machine, including major realignment of the grain weigher/elevator mechanism, shortening and splicing of loose belts, and a bit of time belted up and spinning over. The rest of the crew was outside of Fargo, working on Dr. Jeff Knutson's wooden Minneapolis Junior (22" x 36"). They did a LOT of work to that machine, including cutting, splicing, and fitting a good deal of new belting. The picture shows Dr. Knutson working on the governor and Mike Wahl in the foreground. Perhaps one of them, Dr. Parker, or Ray could say more about the Junior?

My family brought our 22" x 38" Allis Chalmers machine over from Askov, MN (just south of Duluth) for the 14 threshing machine event. Two days before delivering it to the show, we installed a brand new straw rack (built of ash and basswood) to replace one that dramatically went through the blower a couple of years ago... the old farmer who last used it made a repair with a quarter inch bolt in a 3/8" hole... it did not last long in operation! All is good now, thought. During the weekend, my dad put in some sheet metal in the bottom of the blower compartment to put a solid surface over some porous metal. We also removed four brackets and shafts for the straw lifting fingers from deep inside the machine; Dr. Parker will be doing the machine work on those.

The crew also worked on the 28" x 46" Minneapolis (steel, not wood this time) separator that was restored and once owned by Norman Bjorndahl. The building really crushed the wind stacker tube on this machine; the Wanglers removed it and did a great job of returing it to round. The wind stacker swivel mechanism is cracked and broken; the Wanglers are working on it and it will probably be fixed before the show. I returned the governor (determines the cylinder RPM at which the bundle carrier starts operating) to service and we belted the machine up for the first time in a long time... the racoon droppings (!) really hit the fan when it was first turned over but it is cleaned out pretty good.

I am looking forward to seeing all of these machines in operation during the show!

Have a good one,

Colt

[M Kerkvliet]

Thanks for filling in all of the blanks Colt! I knew Ray and Andrew were there... I saw them working on that tube in the service buiding! Forgot to mention them in the above post. :bonk: Always a danger when one starts mentioning names!

Did you say you now own the big wooden Minneaplois seperator? Congrats! That is really a nice machine. If you have any more pictures of the restoration of any machines, please lets see them!

[edin]

Mark,

Thank you for the congrats! It will be great to have this separator (the 36" wooden Minneapolis) running at the show knowing that so many people have had a hand in its resurrection!

As far as pictures of the separator work weekend, I don't think that many (any?) were taken by us.

Have a good one,

Colt