Johnny The Wonder Dog
Ted Austin, equipment manager at the McCall (Idaho) Golf Club, likes to have fun recycling parts from golf maintenance equipment. “Johnny” is made from old parts from a John Deere 9009 rough mower. The main body is a lift arm that was bent, while the legs are roller arms. The eyes are bearings from the rollers. The tail is a piece of a lift chain from a Cushman Core Harvester. There was no cost for the parts, it took about 20 minutes to build, and Austin has done this type of fun recycling many times before by not overthinking it and letting the creative juices flow. Eric McCormick is the golf course director and David Druzisky is the renovation architect.
Rotary Mower Blade Sharpening Aid
This tree stump, measuring 33 inches high and 16 inches in diameter, has been turned into a holder for a John Deere 9009 rotary mower blade while it is being sharpened. The slit that the blade fits into is 3⁄8th-wide and 1-inch deep and was cut in with a chainsaw. A sledgehammer holds the blade in place while it is being sharpened. An angle grinder with a flap disc is used instead of a grinding stone because it leaves a smoother surface and it does not overheat the blade as easily. The sharpened blade center hole is then placed on a nail to check for a proper balance. It takes just a few minutes to sharpen each blade. Golf course director Eric McCormick and equipment manager Ted Austin at the McCall (Idaho) Golf Club have a lot of great low-cost ideas. David Druzisky is the club’s renovation architect.
Explore the November 2023 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
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