We used to have three wheelbarrows

[flowerbug]

but this morning Mom went to pump up the tire in one and the tire was crumbling and bulging.

since i had spent $50 last year to fix the tire on one of the others and this crumbling tire was on the worst of the other two i suggested that we retire it.

so she wheeled it out to the side of the road, put a "FREE" sign on it and touched it up with a little spray paint (i don't know why as it was only worth the price of the metal as far as i was concerned).

the first person who drove by picked it up. it was out there less than five minutes. perhaps someone wanted it for a flower planter or something...

based upon condition and markings from the old family business we think it was at least 60 years old, but was probably older.

 

[ducks4you]

I kept my MIL's old wheelbarrow. I have to fix a hole in it, even though I spray painted it years ago bc of rust, BUT it has a single SOLID wheel that never needs to be pumped up. It is convenient for me to move extension cords and my reciprocating saw from one place to another. I have a mechanic friend who now fixes my lawnmowers. He has a pressurized gas something-or-other and fixed my tiller's tire with it recently. You CAN buy wheelbarrow tires, ya know!
Still, when they are done for it, best to move them OFF of the property!

 

[flowerbug]

I kept my MIL's old wheelbarrow. I have to fix a hole in it, even though I spray painted it years ago bc of rust, BUT it has a single SOLID wheel that never needs to be pumped up. It is convenient for me to move extension cords and my reciprocating saw from one place to another. I have a mechanic friend who now fixes my lawnmowers. He has a pressurized gas something-or-other and fixed my tiller's tire with it recently. You CAN buy wheelbarrow tires, ya know!
Still, when they are done for it, best to move them OFF of the property!

this had many more issues wrong with it that the wheel was least of the worries. the handles were dry rotting and ready to break, some of the wood reinforcement had already broken off and it would have been needed to be replaced before using it for anything serious. the rotten tire was just the last thing to go and was enough to get it out of the line-up.

we do have two others, one i replaced the tire last year, the other i don't know how long it will last, but there's a good chance that if the tire goes i'll replace it since it is a much heavier duty wheelbarrow than the other one. the thing is, if the wimpier wheelbarrow ever gets to the point where i want to replace it all of the hardware for holding the tire on is brand new stainless steel so i hope i can at least reuse that for the other wheelbarrow... if i have to... i guess...

last year or the year before we'd taken two other wheelbarrows to the metal recycler just to get rid of them. they'd had flowers planted in them for years and they were long past useful life too. kinda crazy, but we did get all but one of them for free. i'm sure over the years that Mom has spent at least a wheelbarrow's price on spray paint...

i suppose that i should have titled this thread "We used to have five wheelbarrows"...