Love the Tyson quote. His other one I like is "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face".

The old-time windmill repair guys would come to repair a mill unit or damage to the tower. They had 2 horses, a pulley, and a section pipe arrangement. They would unbolt 2 adjoining tower legs up and install hinges. Then they would bolt the extendable pipe perpendicular to the hinge line and create a lever out the other side of the tower. Then they would hook the pulley to the ground with a good stake and thread a rope from the top of the tower, thru the pulley, and on out (more rope than the distance of the tower was high) and hook it to one of the horse's harnesses. Then he would hook another rope from the tower top to the other horse perpendicular to the hinge line. The trained horses were given commands, one to pull the tower over and the other horse on the pulley side to back up so the extendable pipe would act as the lever and lower the tower to the ground gently. Just the reverse to stand the tower back up. My grandfather told me about that. He worked servicing oil wells when they put a derrick pole up and a team of horses was trained to walk forward to pull the rods and pipes out of the well and back to put the pipe back into the well. Granddad went to work as a teamster at the age of 11. It was said he could cuss at a team of horsed as well as any grown man. He worked for the same company for 57 years.

I would do both... The side spot for the come along handle allows you to put the handle from both directions. This could certainly come in handy in certain situations..

Good stuff Tom! All the ideas I had for the come along fix have been mentioned already. ATB, Robin

Tom, it’s exciting to see you start to get back in the KZfaq groove! Thank you 🙏🏼

Ive been watching KZfaq all day. This is the first time Ive seen something actually useful. Thanks Tom.

I have several hockey sticks...all wrapped the same way...yay Minnesota

Tom, in a recent video, you were admiring the lace up of the wiring so that each terminal meets each screw exactly in place. Meanwhile, in this video you demonstrate the series of half hitches, one on top of the other as a means of improving a grip. Consider that series of half hitches is how machine controls wiring used to get laced up back in the olden days before there were plastic wire ties. It was beautiful to see when I had to work on an old machine.

Aerodynamic fact: circle sections produce a lot of drag, so much that on those old biplanes, the cross wires used to strengten the wings produced as much drag as the whole wing.

Oh man, you're making me want to dig into those calculations to see all the considerations that went into it! Great video, thanks as always for sharing.

Thanks for the meatloaf Tom.....The Tyson quote was spot on!

That kindling splitter would be sweet if the bucket could bei taken away, leaving the splitter in place. So the bucket or basket is used to carry the kindling to the fireplace. One less step.

Tom, an additional idea for your woodcutter; if you close the surface behind the cutting edges so it becomes a uniform shape with no chance of interlocking the wood pieces you can lift the bucket after chopping it full and wonder of to the stove in one go. Lazy people like to think these things trough so they don't have to move too much ;-) Best! Job

Love that Monday Meatloaf is back, always a learning experience. My pet peeve is incorrect usage of aluminum alloys and heat treat designations. Aluminum in the T6 condition has been Solution heat treat(as you stated, but then Artificially aged. Just solution heat treated aluminum would be T4.

random idea: split and hinge the catch bucket so that it can open up into a cradle for the split kindling sections making it easier to empty in neat bundles

Great ideas, thank you, stay well, regards Mike from Ckrnwall, UK

Option 2 no doubt. If you have space, a backer plate below the cross bar towards the spool. Sandwich the aluminum.

Who knew Mike Tyson is such a poet? And he knows a lot about punching people in the face.

Good tape job! The other thing I add, during the spiral phase I do several wraps at the end, maybe 1/2" long (maybe 5 wraps all touching) by 2-3 layers (maybe 1/2" thick) then do the final covering tape. This makes a knob at the end that hopefully prevents the stick from coming out of your hand if you try to poke the puck away one handed 👍

If you can prevent the pieces from going under the splitter, you could just pick up the full bucket and take it where you want, full of kindling.

It is so nice to have you back!

Erector set for adults very fun. Thanks for sharing.

That ole Kentucky windage can certainly knock you down for the count!

Option 2 with the addition of a extension of one sid to wrap to the side to help reinforce from the twisting load.

Prior to leaving Southern New England I had a small shop and no room. Now, being just east of reno, I have space to have a wind turbine. And having a tower is important. So thank you for your experiments as I thought I had to weld everything.

I think your best bet is to just do BOTH of your sketches and make it in once piece of steel. So that it has the side tube AND the stub shaft on the center line. Then you can just use the stub shaft as your handle when messing with smaller stuff, and you'll have both options with the big handle as needed. Plus your steel structure will be mounted both to the side and the top, which will give it much more strength. The best of all worlds.

We used to use fabric friction tape (old school electrical tape) on our baseball bat handles using the cord/wind just as you showed. I never played hockey or owned a hockey stick.

The rope technique you showed is one of the simpler forms of coxcombing. Specifically the French or Bannister coxcomb. If you alternate the direction of the half hitches you get a Simple coxcomb with a straight raised line. Using more strands can make a more comfortable coxcomb, but the technique gets a bit more complicated. Frayed Knot Arts has some good tutorials on different styles.

If you put a brush on the bottom of that bucket with the splitter, you could take the bucket off with the sticks falling out the bottom so you can dump out the whole bucket a once, 👍

👍 thanks for sharing

Kindling? Add a hair dryer to flame and a tightly rolled newspaper, that will start unsplit, undried logs. Some practice required (low speed and from a distance) to avoid blowing ash around, but it's extremely effective. Maybe use the smallest desk fan you can find, the smallest breeze quickly multiplies the heat output.

I think options #1and #2 would both overload the aluminum at the new-fixture bolt attachment positions. Option #3 would be to replace the original aluminum "horseshoe" with a fabricated one from steel. -Doug

Thanks for the video.

Nice splitter upgrade. Seeing that I would want to take the bottom out of that bucket completely, put another bucket under that to collect the wood. So the first bucket with no bottom is a chute to guide the wood into your bucket you can then take away and bring into the house or whatever. Then maybe you’ll want to make the splitter have no edges or shelfs that would hinder the wood from falling down into your bucket. Loving the meatloafs!

11:47 every come a long I've owned used a Y yoke handle. Id be inclined to continue that tradition on yours probably with industrial epoxy (like whats used to make car frames) to glue it onto the 3 sides of the existing mechanism instead of just 2 screws that will without a doubt crack the casting.

Just glad the shop heater was working

Watching you wrap the handle to nothing, right after handling your beloved handle to everything was gut wrenching. You could have literally wrapped both ends of the handle to everything while demonstrating and, at least in my eyes, improved an already rather solid and versatile handle while making your presentation and flexing on everybody that losses the handle to their floor jack immediately after the use case for which it was purchased. A missed opportunity for sure!

The goat !!! OxFather for life ❤ we love you

4:19 Ah, so that's what happened. Also, i didn't know the handles were an engineered failure point. Most of my come-alongs are auction stuff and not a single one came with the OG handle, those that have a handle are the integrated type with the awkward ratchet finger destroyers. That's good to know, i've never pushed mine, i'm kinda chicken like that, but now i have to find those handles, because it's a smart, smart idea. Certainly the handles i have now wouldn't snap. One of them's solid bar stock. :)) edit: option 2 seems the more sensible one especially because of the proper load. 15:55 basic sword wrap, but the "cord" is part of the wrap itself, not a separate piece of leather. I have that same thing on my bike handles. Super grippy. There's also the criss-cross variant where you have two pieces of tape, you start at the top with both, do the twist, then start the helix in opposite directions and every time they meet, you switch by twisting the "cord" together and go in the other direction. Once you're done, (for extra fancy points) you wrap the handle and "cord" by alternating or weaving, the two tapes. Looks really nice if you do it with two colors, well, if that's your style. I suppose that's for fancy hammers.

Good Meatloaf, keep them coming Tom...

For handles my go to is to make them out of some real choice wood with cool looking grain, make the handle all fancy and spend a ton of time and care to finish it up all pretty, go to use it and realize it's way too slick so I take it to the 24 grit belt and make it ugly as sin but grippy haha

Hi Tom, For come alongs check out Tirfor / Griphoist you will not go back to the style you have after using one. No drum, just a pass through cable. Overload is provided by an easily replaced shear pin. Designed for pulling and lifting

I always look for your video’s, I really appreciate them.

Tom, I got my stitches out 5 days ago and as soon as the finger is a little more healed I will build a rendition of your kindling splitter. The bucket mod is also a great idea. I have a couple of hatchets and axes that could use a robust wrap and those tips will be put to use as well. I neglected to mention in my last comment it's good to have you back dishing up a delicious batch of meatloaf.

Come-along option 2a - make the tube attached to the 'horseshoe' an OD tube - this is potentially better in bending due to larger OD. The 'fixed' tube could be square too to increase its bending stiffness, and still use your favourite bit of tube as a handle. Additionally, put a flange/small lip on the mounting face to transfer load via bearing rather than by the bolt shanks - or use dowels and bolts.

You're on a roll!

They engineer those failure points for a reason. You’ve already broken the handle twice. If you make it too strong, it might have a catastrophic failure at a very in opportune moment

As for Grips, I like the twisted tape concept. For Pole Spear grips I have used a roll of O-RING stock and put it in tension and hold ends in place with E-tape. Add a Shrink cover over top. The spiral spacing backed on hand fit. O-ring stock worked much better than cordage.

More pulleys in the system reduce load on the important stuff. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Option 2 Tom. Thanks for the video take care of yourself.

For your tower couplings, just drill two holes through the assembly and put 16 penny nails through and bend them over to prevent pull out. If you happen to have an old copy of ''The Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers", there's a large section on tower construction for transmission lines far too heavy for your needs but interesting to flip through. As far as the come a long goes, I would retire it and get a chain come a long I dislike those cable ones.

Tom, option 2 will suffer because the bending moment at the screw attachment point will be way too high. The screws will pull out or the underlying cross member will twist. Suggest you just clean up the broken existing receiver flush to make it look nice. Then make a 1/4 steel plate that attaches to the front cross member but extends out the left side past the existing receiver. Bore a 1" hole in the plate and bob's your uncle. The new plate will take the shear at the inboard end of the handle and the existing receiver will take the shear at the end. The detent will still work. There will be a gap between the plate and the existing receiver but this will not matter. If you want to get fancy you can make the plate thicker in this area to butt up against the cleaned up existing receiver.

Out of passing interest, 'knot heads' call that spiraling series of Half Hitches 'French whipping'. Cool videos, Thanks! :)

learning me stuff again! how dare you. glad meatloaf is back.cheers.

Go ahead and repair the old come-along which ever way you choose. Reverse - engineer the come-along, over build it, make 2 and load test one to failure. You will have one rebuilt come-along and one super heavy duty one that you can really gronk on. It could make a good video series. Just an idea. Have at it Tom.

Fixing our follies, an ancient tradition. An idea for the handle upgrade that seems less prone to a second failure that came to me just now. If the original handle encapsulation was milled off flat, it looks like there would be enough room on both the original handle side and the opposite side to rivet or bolt a couple pieces of milled stock that was in the shape of a kind of wider and flatter C channel. Then bring that channel together in a Y configuration where a tube could be welded for the handle to attach. Reason I would go this route is to remove as much load from the attaching points as possible, and instead, put that load directly on the sides where the lever action will be less stressful to the aluminum.

Enjoyed the mixed content. Tony

Engineer here. Option 2 is a very bad idea! The bolt holes are 1/2 way across plate which doubles stress on the flat plate (and the casting). Better is a "U" (squared off) shaped plate wrapping around the sides and bolted to the casting on the "sides". Bolts as far apart as practical. The "stud" for the cheater bar can remain. Use stout stock for the "U" plate. Better is to have "ears" from sides intersecting a tube receiver. Still have the plate against the squared off "U" welded to the side ears.

SILLY ? NOT AT ALL I LIKE IT LOTS TOM!!!!GREAT HAT!

Option 1 looks OK if you mill the side of the bail arm flat so that the new fixture gets the advantage of friction. Bolting it to a rough surface will make it want to shear the bolts off. Option 2 seems likely to stretch overload the bolts. I would estimate that anything less than 1/2" would be inadequate. Better if you can make the mounting plate grab the edges of the bail somehow. How about fabricating a C section which will slip over the bail?

When wearing the silly European hat, you should be using metric as the default measuring system!

Tom, everyone of my Allen wrench cheater pipes have that short tube on the end at a slight angle off from 90 degrees. really handy for tight spots. Also, die makers use them that way all the time for tight places. That's probably why you did it years ago, I bet you just forgot. Cheers, Cliff

Put metal sheets on either side of the underneath of the blade to keep the wood pieces out. When you are done you can just simply pull out the bucket, no snags.

Pop rivets are my jam.

Thanks for the meatloaf.

You could box in the lower part of the splitter so as to not catch any kindling then pull the bucket up and or off to empty it easier.

A suggestion for stabilizing your bucket bottom: just a round hunk of plywood and some e6000 aught to fill in the footring and make the whole thing stable. And you get a reinforced bottom to boot!

Episode 144, that's a full gross of meatloaf.

i think the bucket with the slot over the splitter is better because you can lift the bucket off with all the wood in it

WOOOOHOOO!!! More meatloaf!

For the come-a-long repair I would make a steel yoke that ran down both sides of the aluminum yoke after you machined flat the broken part. Two screws on each side as well as the 2 you drew in option two. I'd make a socket instead of a pin so you could weld around the outside for added rigidity to the cross piece 😉. I had an uncle Bob but he died...

Well, I think it’s a good idea to put it on the crossmember and distribute the load. I think I would put it directly over the gear which is slightly to the side towards where torch bar piece that broke off. I think you would end up being stronger because you’re trying to distribute the weight and then push right straight down on the gear.

Option2... small footprint / big leverage against this cast part. opt1 nice distance between those 2 cscrews... so smaller leverage on that cast part, but of course... twisty. Combine opt1 and 2.. make a fork of steel, so it "wraps" on the sides of the casting, so you can put screw on the far end of the fork, and reduce load on the cast part. And as other falks sugested.. then you can add side pocket, for situations when you need to put that bar from the oposite side.

I'd just JB weld a short section of that tubing inside the broken receiver and make a handle to the ID of the tubing. I bet it would outlast us both.

Come on up to northern NY for a few weeks. They definitely could use your skills in our shop, although I doubt their willing to pay enough for half of them. I will say you'll go back to CA, and wear a t-shirt in those temps.

Kindling splitter--just lift off the bucket and dump it into another container. Might have to pick up a piece or two, but you would avoid possible wrist/hand contact with the cutting edges.

How about a “spur” configuration, one leg each side meeting a tube in the center. Flat head bolts 2 per side from inside, and you could really whail (or Gronk in OX terms). Canukistan wood butcher does his with a twist- oops you are doing it as I type……great minds and all that. Sells mallets pre wrapped. On the ships I worked on all the hand rails were wrapped with net twine- lasted forever and you definitely didn’t slip. Ships engineer showed me the straight line method, he did all of his hammer handles like that- even oily grease laden paws don’t slip.

Wind + rain will suck heat from a metal building like nobody's business. One of the reasons that i strangled my wallet to have insulated panels. My brother's former grain silo turned shop is always cold when wind's beating it.

The method of wrapping the handrail with cord is the same used to truss up wiring harnesses in, e.g., military electronics except that the loops are spaced out more. It's also the method used by butchers and chefs to truss up a roast. :-)

Check out Rob Cosman, he has a channel here. He demonstrates how to wrap tool handles with hockey tape. He's from Canada and has a woodworking school. I wrap all my handles now like that as they've gotten old and painful these days from a hard life like many others here in this community.

You're a clever guy.

I think I would bend a Y shaped yoke around the come-a-long to put the fasteners under shear load rather than pull out strength. Thanks for the video

Mmmm yeah, nice hat

If you made a hinged upward sprung flap where the blade goes through the bucket, all you need to do is lift off the full bucket and take it to your fire or pile. The piece you cut would be fine if you put a stop on it to stop it folding through the hole it came from.

Option three? Wrap a steel strap around the top with 3 or 4 attachment points for a center pull handle.

I have the same come a long and have beat that thing like a rented mule for 30 years! I bought mine from a pawn shop and the handle never came with it. I use a piece of pipe. I know for sure I have stressed it beyond the recommended load. P.S. Incoming Howies order today here, that's what we use here for hockey related and general purpose taping stuff. The beaded wrap is old school stick end hand grip style I do to this day. The kids I coach don't seem to like to make a rope bead hand grip anymore. Definitely overthinking the kindling splitter me thinks!

Option 2...But!! Don't drill holes, use the steel receiver but champ it with a " U" bolt on both ends....

I think putting the handle on the end would create failure points at the fairly thin corners of the yolk. Fan of option 1 though.

If the plate inside the bucket was solid in the middle you can than pick the bucket up off the contraption and dump the split pieces out…right now they would get hung up

STILL MORE MEATLOAF! And we’re not full yet!!

I'd also go for option 2, but I doubt that the 2 screws would handle the torque applied by the handle. I would make a U shaped part that would hug the cast ALU ratchet assembly, with the 2 screws where you drew in the sketch and a screw on either side of the arm, near the pivot point.

Option 2 looks like it might be a bit weak. You have a cantilever bar with a small small base. I think you could break off the bar or the part of the winch that the bar is attached to with that arrangement. Option 1, even if bolted, seems much stronger and safer.

Option 2 with legs to make a U shape and pick up support from the side legs.

I have what looks like the same unit which I did similar damage to over 30 years ago trying to un wedge my chainsaw. I’ll maybe copy your repair. 39f. Is too cold. You gage blocks will be so small you won’t be able to find them 😂 How about a video on insulation, ventilation and other ways to protect tools from condensation and corrosion? I just added a small 8x10 outbuilding and have been overthinking it. Thanks for the lunchtime meatloaf Tom!

These loafs are getting spicier and spicier! That analysis of the tower strength looked like a design for a lunar lander. I can’t help but wonder why the come along people didn’t put the handle in the middle. Maybe it gets in the way of some workloads? And judging by the wind noise since you moved to The King Ranch, I’m thinking you could build 2 towers and compare solar to wind power.

I would make a bin out of sheet metal that is level with the top of the blade or at least no more than an inch higher. And about 4 inches added to the radius. Or maybe you can find a metal wash/feed tub and use that.

I'd prefer option one on the come along. While the offset handles tendency to pull to the side is annoying, once you have a decent amount of load applied, it pretty much goes away. The option two center mounted handle, will up your odds of being tool blocked due to the handle being in line with the load, and not allowing a full swing on the handle. JMO. How tall is that tower? A nice alternative ( if it's not too tall ) would be to befriend a utility worker, and score a power/telephone pole that's timed out, or broken, and set that? Not to discourage the Red Green approach with the conduit tower.😄

Don't mount to the thicker part. It won't resist twisting from the moment.

Hi Tom, here's my take on the kindling splitter. Instead of the two legs then a base, how about a ring directly under the cutters then a tripod arrangement welded to that. Make the legs tall enough to the slide the receiving pail under the cutter( even maybe tall enough so you don’t have to bend down to chop) This way means you don't have to struggle to get the cutter out of the pail with the kindling in it. Cheers for a very soggy New Zealand

A machinist is supposed to enjoy "machining" lol Could you machine a J in your attaching piece to slide over the "arch" of the comealong then put your bolts in? This way it would be pulling on the bottom side rather than just on your bolts. Just a thought. Keep smilin Tom