12-30-2003, 06:18 PM
Tube Dude,
You've hit the nail on the head again. I can't tell ya how ticked off I get when I see people testing the thickness of the ice by throwing rocks out onto it. Unless the rock weighs as much as a person, and can walk like a person, it doesn't tell you if the ice is thick enough to hold a person. And then the rock absorbs the heat from the sun and melts into the ice. When it gets covered with snow, it's a blade buster waiting for the next auger.
I know a guy who had a machine shop weld a lag bolt onto the center shaft of his auger. It is supposed to help him start the hole. One day he couldn't get his auger to start a hole, and commented that I must have worked very hard to get the 4 or 5 holes that I had cut. I said, "No, just sharp blades". He asked to borrow my auger, and I agreed. He walked a few yards away and banged the blades down onto the ice. I can't repeat what I said to him, but I jumped up off my bucket and had ahold of the auger before he could do it again. I told him that I knew why he thought he needed the lag bolt and taught him how to gently place the auger on the ice and begin turning the auger.
Those blades are now ten years old, and have never been sharpened. One trick that an old timer taught me is to spray the blades with WD40 after a day's use.
Fishrmn
You've hit the nail on the head again. I can't tell ya how ticked off I get when I see people testing the thickness of the ice by throwing rocks out onto it. Unless the rock weighs as much as a person, and can walk like a person, it doesn't tell you if the ice is thick enough to hold a person. And then the rock absorbs the heat from the sun and melts into the ice. When it gets covered with snow, it's a blade buster waiting for the next auger.
I know a guy who had a machine shop weld a lag bolt onto the center shaft of his auger. It is supposed to help him start the hole. One day he couldn't get his auger to start a hole, and commented that I must have worked very hard to get the 4 or 5 holes that I had cut. I said, "No, just sharp blades". He asked to borrow my auger, and I agreed. He walked a few yards away and banged the blades down onto the ice. I can't repeat what I said to him, but I jumped up off my bucket and had ahold of the auger before he could do it again. I told him that I knew why he thought he needed the lag bolt and taught him how to gently place the auger on the ice and begin turning the auger.
Those blades are now ten years old, and have never been sharpened. One trick that an old timer taught me is to spray the blades with WD40 after a day's use.
Fishrmn