+1 Nice work.

I can handle F150 tires with aluminum wheels. 8 lug F250 steel wheels I need a 3' stool to give mid lift help. I have to have it at eye level but can't lift them from the ground in one swoop.

I do stuff cause I'm too cheap to pay someone else to do it. :)

Your body is a machine and if you don't exercise it, it stops working.

I laid around because of the complications of my second heart surgery. Do it for too long and your body doesn't thank you when you try to do anything. I get tired easy but I have too much to do to get stuff done. :)

As they say "Use it or loose it!" :)

Not manual labor, but 13 hours in the restaurant and I know it. I'm only 50 and figure I will be at this for another 20 years.

Thanks for this thread.
76 here, Worked in earth moving starting in 1962. And with my own business for latter years before retirement.
I still drive 50 or 60 hours a month for a local company on a heavy tipper and trailer. Hey..It gets me out of the house.
Manual work is not so easy these days. I can still do most chores on the property. I find using light cordless electric tools, including chainsaw makes life a lot easier, but still have to work at my own pace which is SLOW:D
The biggest change I have noticed is lack of balance. I am no longer happy on a ladder and the roof has become a no-go zone.

From the music that you post on "What are you listening to" I never would have taken you for a fella in his 8th decade. You have remarkably good taste. SmileWavy

I turned 59 in February. Circumstances dictated a complete change of life and philosophy in March of 2017. I went from a desk jockey clicking the photoshop buttons all day, to the low man in a fabrication shop building high-end tools for professional bicycle mechanics. The work is hard, I do mostly all of the grunt work, some of the parts are very awkward and heavy, and I'm on my feet all day. (Oh, and my eyesight sucks, so I have to be super careful reading the dial indicators, it's easy to be a tenthou or hundredthou off!.) . It's satisfying because I'm making things with my hands, learning how to fab and weld and work the lathe and the mill, and it's only 4 miles from my house so I can cycle to work each day, but boy, howdy, at the end of the week I am beat. I'm glad I'm able to do it, but I'm glad I only have to work 4 days a week, too! (The insurance is decent, the pay is decent, and it's honest work.)

All in all, I feel lucky.

56 and 35 years in construction in NYC. Working on the biggest construction site in the world.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526608494.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526608494.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526608494.jpg

75 & been retired for 13 years. I could work all day at physical work until I got to be 70. I notice I've slowed down a bunch in the past couple of years, but I still keep up with the work on my property. I find I feel like I need to rest more after doing a full day's work. I'm thankful my strength & balance is good and allows me to do pretty much anything - sometimes at a slower pace though.

Hey Herr, that's interesting job, what is it that you build and for what kind of bicycle?

My hat is off to you guys doing manual labor........None for employment for me since college in the early '70's.....Plenty on my own time.......

As a kid on a farm, manual labor for me was putting up hay with a pitchfork (no bales).....After the dump rake, put in piles. Later load in a pickup with a wooden rack to extend over the sides. Park behind the barn and unload by pitching in the 2nd story door when standing on the pile you are trying to unload. In the heat.....

That was after getting up at 3:30 am for the 12 mile bicycle ride paper route. And milking cows, and big lawn, garden...And mowing lawns for .50/hr all over town......

Promised myself at an early age to go to college and give up this manual labor thing....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526618166.jpg

Check it out!
http://www.efficientvelo.com/
http://www.instagram.com/efficientvelo/

I mostly work on building the EZ-Lift and the Right Arm. (The base plate for the lift weighs 112 pounds, it needs to have the edges radiused with a hand grinder with a flap wheel before we stack a few in the radial drill press to drill, tap and chamfer 12 holes, and then off to powder coat. Hard work for a fossil like me!)

Fortunately, that's not all I do; today I kept busy doing some turret lathe work on little brass shoes (.750 in diameter) that hold the lift to the upright. Precise, repeatable. I like that a lot!

THat's looks like a small mfg company. Love to have that derailleur hanger tool. It looks so much nicer then my Park. I no longer build wheels, but as a tool junkie at one time, that dishing tool looks so heavy duty compare to what I had

The trigger dishing tool is so nice in the hand. It's made of columbus tubing, and the trigger feels like butt'a! The pads are dead-nuts flat.
The Park hanger gauge doesn't even compare... :-)

63 and retired 2 years ago. My job was not physical but maintaining my 1 acre of over gardened property keeps me busy at least 3 hours a day, digging holes, moving dirt, installing steps and paths, building fencing and gates. I call it the green jail, or the green gym.



Two weeks ago I got lazy when digging out earth to remove an invasive plant which spreads by its roots. So I hauled out one reasonably filled wheel barrow of wet dirt and dumped it in the forest. Returned and repeated but way overfilled my deep wheelbarrow to only have one more trip rather than two regular loads. It took almost all my muscle to get the dirt moved 150 yards to my dump site. Two days later I am in the ER with such excruciating pain in my back and hip and leg that morphine and OxyContin don’t even touch it. Had X-rays or my back and hip and a CT scan of my spine and here I have sat for 2.5 weeks unable to walk anywhere other to the bathroom because the pain is so bad. Trying to get approval from my cheap@$$ insurance company for a MRI to find out what got squished or bulged or f’d up. Told the approval will take 10 to 14 business days, which could mean a month of sitting on my butt before anything is fixed while my gardens fill with weeds, am unable to hike or mountain bike. Two weeks ago I hiked 10 miles climbing 2300 feet and now I can’t make it up the stairs. Getting old sucks. Lesson learned about overloading wheel barrows.

When we bought the place the hill you are looking at was covered with ivy and that was it.
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I will be 69 next month, and I am only semi retired with a cover making business. I still mark out and cut one cover a day. Yard work is becoming harder, my new long reach hedge cutter I find a bit much to use, it weighs 12 pounds, and after 15 minutes I have to rest.

The Scottish in me can't bear the thought of paying someone money, yes MONEY, to do something that I can do myself. So I do everything on a number of residential rentals. I'm 59 but have been doing hard labor since I was a little boy on a farm - no dad.

I do pace myself more than I used to. Start at ten and finish at four, but it's a serious amount of work done in between :)

At age 68 I still do a fair amount of lifting, carrying, and hauling things around. I start at 8 and I’m done for the day by 3. Arthritis in my feet, hips, and hands limit what I can do, but I’m in there trying. I am retired, so I’m always working for myself.

At 52, some days hurt more than others.
Growing old ain’t for pussies...

I have some health issues that would keep most people inside watching TV, but still get out there and run the log splitter....it's like therapy where you can readily see the results. One cool afternoon, and I can split a couple truckloads, using my frontend loader to pick up the heavy 100# + peices, and roll them out of the bucket onto the splitter. It's not about working hard, and breaking a sweat (the older you get), it's more about working smart, and efficient.

There is no shame in taking a 15 minute break while sitting in a lawn chair, sipping a cool drink, letting the sun soak in after a long Winter.

We are picking up a 1968 John Deere 300B industrial backhoe today to be able to do more of the heavy lifting around the farm, i've been wanting one for a long time. My John Deere 955 just isn't big enough to handle some of the chores, but just marvel every day at the work ethic/abilities of our forefathers who didn't have mechanized machines like these....they knew what hard work was.

My son is half way through Diesel Tech college, so not much help anymore. We are putting up a BendPac, 2 post lift in our small barn, and I will be closing in the walls of a heated shop in the future. Upon retirement in about 10 years, I plan on doing small repair/restore projects, so no plan on taking it easy, any time soon.

72 here but the above is my experience also.

However, it was 96 yesterday afternoon with heat index of 103. Does walking to the mailbox to check the mail count as physical work in those conditions ? Any outside work I do is done in the morning this time of year. I do not envy those doing hard physical labor in this weather and heat/humidity won't let up until Oct...

Turning 72 in August, retired at 68. Still working on Porsche, and two Volvo’s. Wife is retired as well. We own 10 acres, mostly wooded, big barn and outbuilding. I still do repairs on the house, and barn. Always something going on around here. Work part time at a local museum doing engineering support. Can’t work hours on end like I used to, my body says “that’s enough old timer”. I take a couple Bayer back and body, and good to go the next day. If you don’t stay active, either mentally or physically, you’re toast. I applaud all of you past 50 who are still working hard and enjoying what you do.

Just turned 66. I was going to retire but I got busy and decided I'd ride one last wave. I do all kinds of flooring. Been doing it for over 40 years. Not as energetic as I once was but I can still out work the young bucks that work for me. I ran crews up until the Great Recession/ depression. Back on the floor I went. Thank god for Ibprofin. Oh....invested my hard earned $$ in real estate. Housing values in California will give me a comfortable retirement.

Turned 71 last week. Still mow my lawn, wash cars, & ride bicycle 20 miles three times a week. Sobering revelation at my 50th high school reunion a few years ago. Kidney cancer & removal last year slowed me down a couple weeks last year. The di Vinci robot helped a lot, but you have to force yourself to get back at it.

I didn't realize all of you guys were so old!! It's heartening to hear how you're all still hanging in there & kickin' it. I really hate becoming old, because I can't go mountain climbing & similar things anymore. I guess if you accept this aging thing, it's not so bad but for me I have to admit it sucks.

Just turned 62 and still work in a highly active service trade. I have a crew but you will find me turning wrenches, plumbing, or doing electrical work nearly every day. There is some heavy lifting involved but I am wise enough to get help when the load could do damage. I have also delegated all digging, busting or pouring concrete. My back says no. I tend to avoid hammers and impact drills. Those tools make my hands swell up for several days after so I leave that to the younger guys.

Staying active seems like the fountain of youth. I am more fit than most guys my age and wear the same clothes size I did when I got married in 82.

At 54 I wish I just don't have the time to do manual labor everyday. Way too busy with work, getting 3 kids through college and building retirement. However when I do get the chance to get out in the woods behind the house is almost like a time of refreshment. Either I'm fixing a fence, trimming fence rows, firewood, or working on the buildings or simply cutting grass with the push mower its all very good for me. I also like doing work where you can see immediate results. Great satisfaction... Very rarely does that happen in my work world.

71 and slamin' nails or some such every day. Just finished last week's project on Friday. Yeah, I was beat on Saturday. The funny part is that drilling for the anchors and setting bases and posts was harder than cutting and putting up the fence.

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The pretty side faces inward to the pool and yard. To you code police, yes it's too high but the rich folks do whatever the hell they please and I get paid.

Oh, and in reference to the cost of lumber thread, you are looking at just under $1500 not to mention the hardware. I'll rinse it down with vinegar to accelerate the weathering process but the wood has to catch some UV rays first to open up the grain a bit. New wood, even the dry type, needs some sun before any staining or other treatment like sealing. They want it to look older but sooner.

I can do that.

This week is the installation of 6 replacement windows and some cabinetry. Phone never stops ringing. I was idle so many days during the Great Recession that I'm happy for the work even it it pains me — which, like many of you, it does.

Milt....I'm glad your still kicking butt...and share your work wiith us on occasion ;)