Refurbished and/or repurposed tool

@Bear's great work inspired me to make this post. Hopefully everyone will share.

I'll start. First, no where near Bear's level.

We have this old kitchen knife that was sitting in the drawer for many many years. Got no love because it was as dull as a butter knife. And it was made with more than one bevel and was hard to sharpen, so it just sat there all lonely.

A couple of years ago, I decided to try and give her a new life when I found my littlest monkey liked using it because the size suited her. But dull is not safe. So much elbow grease on coarse and medium stones. Then sharpening and polishing with water stones. She is paper shaving sharp and part of our kitchen knife rotation for several years now.

 

Was given an opportunity to to get a broken hospital bed.. I get these every once in a while and break them down for shop steel.. They usually come as the old hand crank type, however this is a high/low bed with electric motors. This one will lower to about twelve inch's from the floor. Some one seen junk, I see a shop lifting table if one or two of the three motors are functional.

 

Nice find, @Dont.

 

I got my weight training work out loading it in and out of the truck..

 

Got picks, HK? What kind of wood?

 

Pics later, tree is a type of ash I planted a while back and now, you see their seed have been spread by wind and animals. The Original set of trees I planted have only one tree from that group left and I expect the wind to take it down some day. In fact I need to cut it down because it is growing on the dry side of the levee and if the tree comes down by wind during a heavy storm then the root ball might make a hole in the levee!

 

That would not be good! Sounds like a solid hard wood.

 

Grows pretty straight and I originally planted them for fire wood. Problem was I planted them during a drouth and never noticed their spread around the place till a few years ago. Very few trees around here grow straight and free of side branches so I needed a cow stick one day and found my work had paid off.

 

Nice stick and blades.

When I saw cow stick, I thought cattle prod. The wood must be quite dense to have that weight.

 

Most of my conversions are basic and utilitarian tools. I figure some do not see a Cow Stick as a conversion or a re-purposed tool, maybe not even a tool. Then again using the Cow Stick as a psychological tool against a Charging Bull, or as a gentle prod to direct a Cow and her Calf gently through a gate is a good conversion of a wood source for me. I do, time permitting, smooth and then preserve the sticks with BLO. If this is not done then the bugs will lay eggs in the wood and soon destroy your tool. This minor project will take about 3 months to complete due to the curing and dry time of the wood. The main thing is to remove the bark in about 3 days and then allow the wood to cure in an shady rain free open protected area.

To the city dweller this might seem just a Countrified Walking stick, for me it is the most basic tool I own, one to three stand inside the door ready to kill a snake, direct a cow are just to have to walk to the mail box, never leave home without one.

OTOH, when the water drops I'll show a conversion of a post hole digging boom into a crane attachment for a tractor that I had to do to raise the walls of my Shop. Just a bit of handy galvanized angle iron, some welding and a whole week saved when the big truck and gin poles would not work due to mud.

These things are part of Ranch Living that need to be passed on to the next generation.

 

Love old tools, have a manual drill press, manual grinder, and several old brass roofing tin tool heaters. They work great for thawing out pipes/etc.

 

Great stuff, @HK_User.

They DID come out really nice, @Brokor.

 

Will show my ignorance--was raised on a two cow-two mule farm but do not know what a "cow stick" is. Please enlighten my "uninformedness"

 

Thanks for the lesson--did not know herd complexities. Could have used that big stick on one of our mules when a kid.

 

Yup that part fibrous bark detail is to come with a complete description of each picture. But since you ask, yes the Indians made great use of this species of ash tree. All bark components are about 1/4 inch thick and as many as five layers of the inner fibrous bark can be used as cordage or fire starting material.

If I ever find the spare time I figure a small tree and the inner bark from a larger tree will make a nice Bow Set. Combine with a young Ash of Arrow length and you have a pretty good survival source, pull and shoot, put the animal in a pot, start with a @Bear? spark set and the dried inner bark and enjoy a good meal.

My Granpa had Missouri Mules, backs so broad that a kid had trouble just staying on.

 

Very meticulous. Great tutorial, @HK_User. I like your blond stick. Now that it is seasoned and used, what is the weight of your old one? I suspect you could lay it across something and it would hold your weight.

Really informative. Don't know much about cows except how to cook and eat steak. Watched a movie once with my wife about Temple Grandin. That was interesting too.

Walk softly and carry a big stick...

 

Old one is 4.5 lbs, well seasoned.

 

We used whips from horse back the same way. I'm not big on roping if you don't have too.