Show of hands, how many old guys still doing manual labor here ?

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by pete3799

Working on 65 (64 1/2) still working full time. Dismounted and mounted two truck tires this morning, dug out a couple of culverts, cut three trees along the roadside. Just dropped them. The backhoe shoved them off the road.
Don't get around as well as i used to but i'm far from useless.

+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.

[GWN7]

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!"

[peppy]

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.

[KiwiJohn]

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
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.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

70. Still fixing 911s all week.

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.

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.

[86 ssinit]

56 and 35 years in construction in NYC. Working on the biggest construction site in the world.

[Evans, Marv]

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.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

From the music that you post on "What are you listening to" I never would have taken you for a fella in his 7th decade. You have remarkably good taste.

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 tenth or hundredth 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.

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

[LakeCleElum]

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....

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by look 171

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

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!

[look 171]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

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

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by look 171

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... :-)

[RSBob]

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.

[petrolhead611]

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.

[Bill Douglas]

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

[wdfifteen]

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.

[BoxsterSteve]

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

[ckelly78z]

Originally Posted by KC911

I've learned to take it easy with an axe, sledge hammers, etc. Though I don't mind the physical aspect....I feel it in my hands and wrists later...plus...it's inefficient as hell .

Gimme 2 hours with a good hydraulic wood splitter, and I'll split a months worth of axe/maul/sledge/wedge labor....easy .

Last summer...had a large red oak (4') uprooted....rather than haul my splitter to the tree, I split the logs into qtrs for transport to my splitter...enjoyed it...hard work!
Paid for it for several days though . And that's the way my dad & I did it for years....no mas.

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.

[ckelly78z]

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.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

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.

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...