4998 320 Street Stanberry, Missouri 64489
The time of year has arrived ahead of itself I suppose might be
a reasonable way to accept wheat heading in April in this area.
Although I should be gussying up that WC Allis Chalmers #5276 or
the Wallis water pump shaft for the year 2000, I have binder
matters on my mind. By Dang! Last season that John Deere binder
missed too many ties. Everything was adjusted just right, twine was
good but the remedy wasn’t in sight. I well remember that if my
dad was present, there would be no mystery. He could ride behind
four horses or an old Fordson tractor and make the binder
behave.
Well, this old binder was built before zerks were put in use,
just an oil can to lubricate from end to end. It is actually in
pretty good shape. I hadn’t hit the right note. About mid-May I
pulled the binder out, tripped and tied a few perfect knots and
decided I was working on the wrong side. I went to the front, put a
jack under the dog shaft after I knocked out a pin and put a pipe
on the shaft for a bend. This made the trip stop out of line so it
had to come off for some heat and twisting. The spring pressure of
the bundle trip needed no different adjustment. I had no further
remedies until I could put it to actual use.
On June third, nearly three weeks before normally I would
untruck for cutting, I tried the machine out. Wheat was a bit too
green, but close to a hundred-fifty ties were made without a miss.
Being a bit green, I pulled the canvasses.
Last year the unpredictable misses were intolerable. As I
remembered the year before too many misses had me wishing I
hadn’t retired the McCormick Deering to a museum. Then too, a
new green part B810H with a probable update part number stamped on,
broke last year. The part has a hole cast to the side that
apparently was a weak part as the old part from the junk pile has
been brazed, too.
Like myself I suppose every grease monkey that gets dirt and
grease in their ears and between their toes has problems to figure
out. After a right smart amount of embarrassment, we finally admit
not recognizing that in the past the broken part and the replaced
part were in the trouble zone.
The FFA sponsors have asked for an exhibition of a working
binder. Yes, I am relieved that this old binder, that may equal my
age, is capable of showing how grain was bound.