Submitted by Snailspaced t3_yaoru0 in BuyItForLife
Indispensable backyard garden cart. Original frame; wood replaced only once. Original hubset and axle. Every single winter outside in Eastern Canada. Multiple (illegal) tows behind the car. 100s of loads of compost and rocks and dirt and manure. Hose it down and have at it. Absolutely indestructible
I still have one of these. I believe mine dates from the ‘80s.
Yup mine too, used it to haul firewood in the winter from the woodpile to the garage.
Vermont quality right there.
Yup! I remember my father drove us to the Maine / New Brunswick border at Houlton to meet the guy who was delivering it up from Vermont! Different times for sure.
Holy snuts, we have that cart too! I had no idea it was that old. My grandfather uses it nearly every day to shift leaves, yard waste, and equipment. I think he may have put new tires in at some point but that's about it.
I've been using mine to pull firewood for the past twenty years or so.
The axle is the only original part left.
BIFL? Depends on the life lived.
Yup it’s only as durable as the wood for sure - when my dad replaced the bottom and the sides in the 90s he used a wider gauge plywood, and it’s put in 30 years. But for an original 200 dollar (cdn) investment…
For sure the thing gets used daily. Rebuilt in heavy sub-floor plywood with an extra layer around all the joints and edges. I throw loads of firewood into it.
But if I ever make another one I'll buy the axle and wheels only, and build the rest myself.
We also have a garden cart of Theseus, a neighbor was throwing it out because he didn’t want to do the second redecking in 30+ years. Definitely worth the investment on our part.
They're better after the rebuild, eh?
My parents bought one of those when I was shorter than it. I visited them recently and it's still going strong three decades later. The wheels have been replaced once or twice and it's had other bits repaired, but with pretty minimal care it keeps on trucking!
These are the absolute best. Light enough for a child to use, wheels big enough to get over basically any obstacle, strong enough we never managed to break ours. Regrettably left behind in a previous move.
My neighbor collects these. He has like 7 of them. No shit.
Your neighbor ok?
He's a little obsessed with his yard to be honest with you.
My grandma had this style of cart. When we were little kids, we’d help her with garden work and in return she’d pop us on top of the pile we collected and pull us around the yard. Good times!
This right here is a shared childhood memory. Not much chance though of my late 70s father giving his late 40s son a ride around on that wagon full of leaves now though!!
Hmm never seen a cart like that, such a nice design, easy carry, easy dump, easy to scrape flat sides, common cheap to replace wheels, easy to replace side boards.
Yup - dead simple design and astonishing load limit but so we’ll balanced you really don’t strain and struggle to move 100s of lbs of stuff at a time - my dad made it a competition to see who could pull the most manure!
Neither have I (midwesterner). Here most people have wheelbarrows which are useless IMHO.
Ya a wheel barrow is good for cement, dirt, gravel, basically just heavy earth, but sucks for anything lighter like sticks, leaves or even fire wood, this looks like it can haul 6-8 wheel barrow loads of leaves without leaving the trail the wheel barrow does.
my grandfather used to run me around the farm on one of those every time I visited when I was little. good memories.
Oh hell yes! My brother would haul my sister and I in this too - at age 10 it was pretty much as close to a Roman chariot as you were gonna get!
exactly! I was not a happy camper when they were actually using it for work, haha
Worked at a lake club. Had several. Used them to load up leaves / tools or coolers full of beer and pulled them through the woods to the camp sites. Great carts.
Wow, definitely had one of these growing up. Wish i still had one, we used it for everything
Ha, I had to make sure my brother wasn’t the one who posted this. My parents had one exactly like this my whole childhood, but it has been now been passed on to my brother who has a bigger piece of property with fruit trees and a sizable garden. I’m betting he even used it this weekend.
My grandma still has one
Why is this not in my life. I've been using a wheelbarrow.
And they come in multiple sizes for small or large gardens
In europe we put the axle in the middle so you won’t have to carry half the load…
They are still available. www.cartsvermont.com
Needs https
$500-600 . Eh, no thanks. I could build a motorized one for cheaper than that.
You can get them with solid core tires. The tires were a weak point when always overloading.
Yup - in this photo the tires are both flat - cheap bmx 20” replacements are likely before winter
Damn do you store it outside year round? All the ones I have seen usually have painted OSB panels that have rotted away from all the moisture over the years. Frames are tanks though and they just need some new wood and some grease on the bearings and they are good to go again.
My folks even use it in the wintertime to haul wood to the house - dad snow blows a trail to the woodpile then loads it up! Boards we’re replaced in early 90s with thicker plywood but that’s going on 30 years now and it doesn’t show significant signs of rot or decay
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Perfect for the Oregon Country Fair!
Is this a will barrow?
Nope it’s way way better - balanced front to back with the axle placement, side to side with 2 wheels, the back gate lifts out for long loads, it’ll hold 500 lbs ( or more ) at a go and a 10 year old can pull it with little difficulty. Best thing that ever came out of the 1970s Harrowsmith magazine advertising section
I've never used one, but this thing looks like it would bend/break if you looked at it too hard.
...so you replaced the wood once so far since the 80s..not really bifl
The all aluminum and carbon fibre model was 200k
(Wood rots. 30 bucks of plywood and a couple hours in in the late 90s and it was back in order
$200,000?! Odd how completely refurbishing something with i
Dunaliella t1_itc35sg wrote
These are great. I remember my parents having one of these.