"Keyman bought a forklift..."

[keyman512us]

Well today was an expensive day...

Saturday is usually a "breathe a sigh of relief day" and one to catch up on things that have been neglected during the week.

"By Chance"...Running around this morning I managed to get a lot accomplished. Met with "a represenative of the new owner next door (investment property- the 11 family)" and I think I did good...got to address some concerns and ultimately I think I scored some (electrical) work for the time I spent...either way I saved a lot of time and leg work I was intending to do anyway.

Neighbor on the other side... is moving to California and having an "everything must go sale"...Gonna be sad to see her move...gonna be a "crap shoot" again with a new neighbor (keeping fingers crossed though).

So then Mom has a request "could I run and get some donuts"... So off to Dunkins' I go... Thats when I see the "Garage Sale" sign...At Travers Welding (Local metal shop and longtime fixture of the community).

Garage sale is an understatement... The newest warehouse is where this sale was being held for the items which didn't go at auction. Talking with the guy... I at least found out that even though some of the equipment is leaving the borders of the good ole' US of A they are going to still be in business... although signifigantly downsized though.

I bought some "welding gear" (couldn't pass the dirt cheap price) and was trying to buy some machinists oil cans and 3 grease guns... all for a buck a piece. Lady walks up as I'm putting everything together..."Ohh Sir..I just bought those...BTW"

I counted to ten and bit my tongue although I wanted to say "Yeah you walked over and looked what I was putting together and then ran over and paid for it to steal it...this isn't an auction lady..just a friendly 'garage sale'.." Had I known the vultures were around I would have "raised and called for the mark"... I let it go...probably just a reseller at Rietta... but I'll find out tommorow...wasn't worth making a scene... there will be other deals...But a grease gun (x3) for a buck a piece...I was seeing red...GRRRRR!

Anyway...the forklift.... It's an old stand up/ride on. 106" mast, 30" profile, LP, ONAN powered... That did it for me. After sizing up this little gem... couldn't let it go... not for $400.00

Been wanting/needing (and saving) for a small sized brute for the homestead for awhile. As an added bonus... the 30" profile (will 'walk' through a standard 36" door) is an 'Ace in the Hole' for commercial work when I need to move heavy objects on the job (motors, transformers etc.) and I'll soon be "putting the word around the campfire" with other contractors.

When your in the "services end of business" it's all about the Logistics...both concept and physical...

Starts, runs, moves... basic three elements covered... Down the line??? Organ donor for fancy wood splitter... trade for other tools equipment... the hydraulics alone are worth the 4 bills...Who knows? But (at any rate)still a physical asset "money in the bank" for currency in the players market of "What you got you can trade".

The most beautifull part of all though is I'm less likely to blow out my back moving firewood around the homestead.

Now as long as "the little woman" doesn't give me "the evil eye" i'm all set...lol

 

[nshif]

Kman
Its a great thing to have around. Ive got an OLD Toyota 4000# job that I picked up for about twice what you paid and its paid for itself 5 times over just in the building of the house. Another trick around the house is if you have log length wood pick it up about a foot off of the ground and start cutting rounds. you have to move from one end to the other every few cuts to keep it balanced but easier then rolling a 20' log to finish the cut or risk grounding your saw. When you get to the forks make your final top cuts and tilt the mast and usually the log rolls off and you finish the final cuts. I also use it with a 4'x4' box to load my deck ( 8'high ) with a weeks worth of splits that are stored under the deck. Good deal!

 

[keyman512us]

Thanks Nshif...

Glad to hear someone else's $.02 on it.

A 4k lb capacity sounds sweet (the one I bought) is only rated for 1600 lbs... but hey, for a stand up model... and given what I really need it for it's "just perfect". All in all it was always part of the "long range plan" to get one.

I hear what you are saying (about it saving you 5x over in the long run).. can't count how many times I could have used it before... life just got a little easier.

It would be sweet for cutting/bucking (using the forks etc) but the homestead has its' limitations and to "keep peace with the neighbors" I do most of the processing work elsewhere (has it's good and bad points)...

A fellow co-worker and I used to joke about how "eccentric" we would be if we hit the lottery. One of the things we joked about was taking the trash to the curb with a forklift...lol

I'll be doing that once or twice just so the neighbors continue to think "that crazy guy next door..." lol

 

[kellog]

Keyman,

sounds like a steal even if you have to put $400 into it in fix up costs. I spend more than that on my back at the doctors yearly!!

Do they have another? lol