Yesterday (doesn’t really matter what day!) brought a common occurence on the farm – something not going according to plan. This isn’t particularly compelling story, but typical. Had some weed-trimming to do, so in the more relative cool of the evening (if 85 degrees and 75 degree dew point can be called cool) I set out. I had previously outrigged the weed whip with a head that was a chain, so it really cut tough weeds and nascent mulberries, and lasted a long time – over a year by now. It finally needed to be replaced and so I tried to turn the screw that kept it in place and it wouldn’t budge, even with penetrating oil and some time (as it is getting dark and no work is getting done).
Finally, the head breaks off the screw, so more extreme measures are needed.
Between a bench vice and a vice-grips, I was able to get the shaft of the screw out and replace the head. The replacement head had a better design, which didn’t rely on a single screw to come out, but used the whole cutter head assembly to tighten onto the shaft. I guess the good news was I had a replacement head on time, but it was still not until after dark that the repair was made. But at least it is ready to go for another day.