[GSBN] re tying half bales

[Bill Christensen]

At 6:32 AM -0400 10/29/09, Carolatkn at aol.com wrote:
>Hi
>I'd really appreciate your thoughts on re tying bales. I did a straw 
>bale workshop 3 weeks ago and my left arm is still throbbing from 
>making half bales. It is very painful. I've noticed this for a few 
>days before, but it is definatley much worse this time. It could 
>have been exacerbated by the fact that they only had the really 
>thick baler twine which is very difficult to pull through.
>We call our knot the "truckers hitch" although I don't think that is 
>strictly correct - a loop on the end, a loop a hand width away, 
>threaded through and pulled in as tightly as possible and tied off. 
>So my questions are
>
>Is this just me or has anyone else experienced something similar? I 
>don't want to be demonstrating this technique if I could be injuring 
>some one.
>Is there a better way to do it or a tool perhaps that could take the 
>strain? I've seen someone use a pallet strapper but the best tension 
>is achieved with a metal buckle - could those buckles be a 
>condensation point in the wall? I've also heard of farmers making 
>half size bales but inevitably some adjustment will be needed so 
>customising will always be needed.
>

A technique which used to be fairly common was to use a jack from an 
old pickup truck -  There's a picture of one about ten or twelve 
images in at <http://www.paksbab.org/gallery>, which in that shot is 
being used to create bales from loose straw (the box is probably 
overkill for your needs), or at 
<http://image.fourwheeler.com/f/12663994+w750+st0/129_0810_05_z+4x4_truck_emergency_must_have_items_save_yourself+hi_lift_jack_lift_mate.jpg>. 
The jack can be rigged to put compression on the bale so that you 
don't have to pull really hard to get it tight.  Then simply release 
the jack and the straw expands to fill the string.

Someone's probably got a picture of such a rig somewhere out 
there.... I just couldn't find one quickly today.

Doing it this way is slower than just yanking hard on the string but 
if it'll save you from injuring yourself it's probably worth it to 
slow down a little.


-- 
Bill Christensen
billc at greenbuilder.com

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