And in pursuit of that goal, this morning I took a reader’s advice and knocked together an a-frame to take the weight of the jackhammer.
And that helped a lot: I got quite a bit done before I ran out of steam. I’ll take another shot at it this afternoon when the shadow’s in my favor.
The hammer pretty clearly isn’t designed for working horizontally: You really have to lean into it to get the hammer to beat on the chisel. And even then the blade usually slides off what you’re trying to cut, and…
It’s still frustrating, but the a-frame helps a great deal. Still not sure what I’m going to find when I get past the concrete – and whether I’m going to be able to do anything about it. The well company that re-worked the plumbing last summer apparently neglected to provide a main shut-off valve, so when I find the leak it’s gonna come a gusher and I still don’t know if there’ll be room to work on it. Can’t dig it up, it must be ten feet down in loose sand. Last year I had to dig less than 2 feet to run some conduit up from the powershed, and that was memorably too much like work.
Joel: you’re starting to make an open well with a bucket on a rope sound more appealing.
Assuming PVC pipe, you could cut the line from the tank and quickly insert a valve without first draining the tank. The secret is to use compression fittings. That way there is no need for glue, so it’s okay to work wet.
Ben: that sounds like it could be an adventure!
The longer the string
The easier the swing
😀 Yeah, a very wet adventure. But the thought has already crossed my mind.
Last year caught me with a shortage of 2X4s. I have to do with what scraps I have, and that picture illustrates the two longest 2X4s I own. Doing the best I can here.
Well – at least you didn’t fall for my bungee suggestion. I just threw that in to spice it up a bit!