Benedict Bosco

Honestly, I don't think that will work very well. I have a somewhat larger tractor (70hp Deere), but the reach of the loader onto/over a trailer (or anything else) is quite limited. I've hauled wood chips on a flatbed trailer before, and I ended up parking the tractor at the end and shoveling the chips into the bucket. Not something I would care to do on a regular basis.

What you really want is a good barge box, ideally with a metal box. If you watch local auctions and Craigslist you might get lucky and get a deal on one. They can go really high though, at least around here. A flare box might work too, depending on what you're hauling, but they are much more limited in terms of the weight that they can carry (they're designed for grain, and the back end usually only has a small hatch for unloading).

I ended up getting an old dump trailer from a friend, needed new tires and the hoist had to be rebuilt. I ended up going Amish and putting steel wheels on, because the size of the wheels was such that rubber was major $$$, and I don't need it to go far or fast. Between the wheels, new lug bots and nuts, and the cylinder and adapters for the hoses, I think it ended up being just over $1k.

If the lid is good when it goes on, chances are it will be fine until you use it. You just have to be attentive when you're canning and toss them when they start looking iffy. Nothing is going to last "forever", though.

As far as a lid that fits any jar - I suspect your only real option is actual canning jars from Ball or Kerr or the like. The lids come in two sizes (regular and wide mouth) and they always fit. From all the random jars I've collected, maybe a couple have had interchangeable lids, and a few more that were close, but not good enough to be safe canning with. Each brand is at least a little different. If you (or someone you know) always buy the same brand of olives or sauce or other canned goods from the store, those lids/jars should be interchangeable, at least until somebody decides to shrinkflate it and then it's off by a couple millimeters. (Anyone try saving ice cream pails lately??) Speaking of shrinkage - there's also the issue of the jars not being a consistent/standard size. Depending on what you're canning it may or may not be an issue, but the inconsistency of size and having to keep the lids paired up through storage, cleaning, and canning, and estimating the number of jars required for a particular batch can be more of a hassle. There's definitely something to be said about all the jars and lids being matchy-matchy.

You could look into old ways of sealing jars with rubber and wax and whatnot, which would probably allow a greater variety of jars to be used, but I suspect the longevity of the canned product is not going to compare favorably.

Blake Lenoir wrote:Could jarred seeds be stored in very dark places such basements and cells? Looking for an appropriate place to keep my food and stuff cooler and secure to last forever.

Cool, dark, and dry will make them last as long as possible. I think places that are trying to really keep seeds for a long time (e.g. Seed Saver's Exchange, or the global seed vault in Greenland or Iceland or wherever it is) use walk in coolers for this purpose. The seeds will lose vitality over time, though, and germination rates will drop, so any long term preservation plan should include growing out some of them periodically and refreshing the seed stock.

I've also re-used regular glass jars for canning (mostly applesauce and tomato sauce). I check the lids for signs of deterioration - eventually the paint starts to peel and it starts to rust, sometimes the rim or the seal gets damaged - any of those get tossed into the commercial recycling bin. As long as the jar and lid are clean and in good repair, I just clean and sterilize same as I would with canning jars and carry on. Some jars are close to narrow-mouth size, but a little bit smaller, which is a pain for filling because the canning funnel doesn't fit, but if you get creative you can figure out how to fill anyway. (Or use for stuff like maple syrup that can run through a regular funnel.) I've found at least one brand that actually packs their tomato sauce in legit canning jars, with one piece narrow mouth lids, which is perfect for re-using.

I save any and all glass jars for future use (not just canning, they're also useful for dry goods and random stuff around the house - I have an old spice jar sitting on my desk right now full of laptop body screws) as long as they have a good lid. I also keep some plastic containers (e.g. peanut butter jars) for the shop for storing nuts and bolts and things, in addition to the tin cans. No glass out there, I don't need to be picking glass shards out of a pile of nails.

It was probably in recent use (hard to say for sure, given it came off the auction yard, but it is pretty clean). The warp is broken in a number of places, so it will take a bit of work to get it re-set. Assuming the thread itself is still good, I'm hoping I can just re-tie everything off near the breast beam and start over, see how far I get with what's on there for the fun of it...

I also think I should find some replacement cording for the lamms and get that re-threaded; there's already multiple tied off repairs and a partial replacement in there (I think the yellow nylon rope is visible somewhere in the pictures I sent), and the rest doesn't look like it will last too much much longer.

Along with that, I need to keep digging for some good books to get me started. I'm finding a decent amount of stuff online, but it's all piecemeal and mostly aimed at "here's a new technique to try on the loom that you're probably already using..." I'm very quickly realizing how very large, diverse, and potentially complicated this potential new hobby is...

Well, I found a name for the thing - it's a "Newcomb Studio Art Rug Loom"

Which leads me to a manual (or at least, part of the manual): https://jlheuer.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/newcomb-art-studio-loom-instructions.pdf

Looking back at my pictures, I realized that I managed to only ever show two shafts...sorry about that, trying to be as helpful as I can here. Adding a few more pictures...

It may or may not also be worth mentioning that it came with two extra shafts, in addition to the 4 currently installed, which have so far not been pictured.

This thing also came with it, which also has a comb/reed in it; it's the same width as the beater, but shorter height-wise, so I don't think it's an extra beater - it wouldn't fit over the finished fabric roll. I don't see any obvious place to attach it.

I don't have anything to compare it to, relatively speaking, but yes, it's pretty heavy.

Here's some better pictures