Homemade Tools

Another busy week on the farm. The weather finally cooled off. You know it's been hot when 81 feels cool. 
The pickers are almost ready. We have two weeks until harvest, so we have some wiggle room. Next week we have to clean and service the tractors and the module builders.

Homemade Tools

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright October 2012

                My favorite Clint Eastwood movie is Heartbreak Ridge. As Gunnery Sgt. Tom Highway Clint teaches his Recon unit to “Adapt, Innovate and Overcome.”

            That’s a great slogan for farming too-“Adapt, Innovate and Overcome.”

            One place we adapt and innovate is in the shop. The other day I made a tool for Ruben to use on the cotton picker. It wasn't anything big. We needed a wrench with a little more reach.  So I welded an extension for him.

            I have custom also made some other tools. I made a bearing extractor for our cultivator. That beat beating old bearings out with a sledge hammer. I also made a gig to trim shear bolts for the ripper.

            Sheryl asked why I didn't manufacture tools like this for other farmers. I told her there wouldn't be a market. These are things any farmer could make in his own shop. We Adapt, We Innovate and We Overcome.

            Farmers can be short of money, or time, or water, but we are never short of challenges. We can adapt and innovate in many ways. This is just one example. The goal is the same; We adapt and innovate so we can survive, so we can overcome.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P