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Cool Tools, lesser known tools that can improve your life

 
Devin Lavign
pollinator
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OH something else to post, a friend made a suggestion of a piece of equipment to me last night.

He called it a Redneck quad. Or a poor mans quad.

It is just a riding lawnmower with the mowing deck dropped and some better tires put on. With maybe a few other mods to boost it up a little.

Here is an example I found online, it happens to be from an AR15 forum thus the gun in the pic



Here is a short video of one with better tires



As soon as my friend explained it, it was a forehead smacking moment. Of course, this would be an awesome inexpensive way to get a small vehicle to attach a trailer to and put around the homestead doing tasks. You can find these sorts of lawnmower tractors all over for cheap used, then fix them up to be a bit better as an off road type vehicle.

Here is a video explaining how to mod one into something useful

"Where will you drive your own picket stake? Where will you choose to make your stand? Give me a threshold, a specific point at which you will finally stop running, at which you will finally fight back." (Derrick Jensen)

 
Nicole Alderman
steward
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LOL on the redneck quad! We totally used ours as one yesterday! (Though, we didn't modify the lawn mower at all. It's still our lawnmower!)

Our neighbors became too busy for their chickens, and so we adopted them and took their coop/run to our place. Of course, none of us had a truck. It was me, my husband, my teenager neighbor and her mom. We pushed the coop onto their trailer and tied it to our John Deer riding lawnmower with a chain. My husband drove and the three of us ladies pulled and pushed to keep the coop on the trailer and relatively balanced down about 1/2 a block of gravel road. We all wished we had a camera, because it was so redneck. But, we did it!

Editing to add a picture of the coop/run, nos that I have a picture!


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Devin Lavign
pollinator
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Rural homesteading life tends to have lots of these "redneck" moments. Due to just having to make due with what you got to get the job done. To go to town or shop for the right thing, just isn't always a viable option.

"Where will you drive your own picket stake? Where will you choose to make your stand? Give me a threshold, a specific point at which you will finally stop running, at which you will finally fight back." (Derrick Jensen)

 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
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I have a neighbor who uses his mower pretty much as a power wheelchair. It's amazing what he can do from it. He has a trailer for it, that I have seen tools, furniture, and store bags in, as well as normal yard stuff.  He's taken it through the driveup window at Hardees, and parked it at walmart or the grocery store, moved to their carts, and then went back home on it. On days he's in bad shape, he goes to the gas station and gets someone to put the gas in for him. Redneck Vietnam Vet creativity! Says he doesn't want to be in a wheelchair. Makes sense to me, his "chair" cuts his grass, and several other people's grass too!

Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
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What I am looking for is looking for me too!

 
paul salvaterra
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BULLY BULLY

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bully-Tools-54-5-in-Fiberglass-Handle-Steel-Tine-Broadfork-92627/207001600

Bully Tools
54.5 in. Fiberglass Handle Steel Tine Broadfork
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not sure how to get a pic here but i bought one of these on the recommendation of a farmer at the local market, he goes after new ground with it, bully tools is a great company, i busted a handle and they sent me two new ones no chargee

nice lady who answered  the phone was great.

best value out there

not for all applications but  is a great tool for my  moeclay like soil

paul
 
Joel Bercardin
pollinator
Posts: 675
Location: Western Canadian mtn valley, zone 6b, 750mm (30") precip
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Nicole Alderman wrote:Our neighbors became too busy for their chickens, and so we adopted them and took their coop/run to our place. Of course, none of us had a truck. It was me, my husband, my teenager neighbor and her mom. We pushed the coop onto their trailer and tied it to our John Deer riding lawnmower with a chain. My husband drove and the three of us ladies pulled and pushed to keep the coop on the trailer and relatively balanced down about 1/2 a block of gravel road. We all wished we had a camera, because it was so redneck. But, we did it!


I like that story... sounds like a 'mini-workbee'!!  By the way, if anyone wants to post memories from a full-tilt workbee / barn-rasing / work party, here's aplce to do it: https://permies.com/t/39844/Share-barn-raising-type-stories

My online educational sites:
https://www.pinterest.ca/joelbc/homestead-methods-tools-equipment/
https://www.pinterest.ca/joelbc/mixed-shops/

 
Devin Lavign
pollinator
Posts: 1133
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paul salvaterra wrote:not sure how to get a pic here



Here is a thread about how to post pics. https://permies.com/t/25828/post-pictures-permies hope it helps you as you continue to post here on permies.

Thanks for adding to the thread, as well as welcome to permies, hope you enjoy it here and find yourself at home.

"Where will you drive your own picket stake? Where will you choose to make your stand? Give me a threshold, a specific point at which you will finally stop running, at which you will finally fight back." (Derrick Jensen)

 
S Tonin
pollinator
Posts: 221
Location: zone 6a, ish
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Last year I bought a Korean homi and it's better than any other hand tool I've tried in my conditions.  Hori Hori and normal trowels won't work for me because my soil is too dense and rocky.  I have a nejiri kama, but it's not substantial enough for my needs.  I have a few different hoes that are probably as old as my parents, but I can never seem to find the right body mechanics to use them comfortably (and, well, rocks the size of shoeboxes don't help much either).  
This is what mine looks like (bought it on Amazon for like $15 I think):
 
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