Oh boy. Well, I’m in full panic mode now… That’s what I get for slacking and doing other projects. It’s almost September and I feel like I am waaaay behind. I did get a lot done this week-end though.

The first reaper relied on the posts that extended from his feet (and acted like stakes) for stability. I wanted the new reaper to have something a bit more. I decided on making a full on re-enforced concrete foundation that would lie below ground level.

I decided to repurpose the leg trusses from another project (Mary Annette) for the base structure. Since the whole design is a tapered, triangular column, the base is, of course, a triangle.














Using the same super heavy-duty steel pipe that will end up being the new legs, I cut off three 9” sections and welded them to the corners of the base.






…then gave the whole thing a coat of RustOleum. Since I am not the most patient person I typically do not use RustOleum (it takes longer to dry than Krylon), but in this case I really needed something that was gong to work well on top of surface oxidation and armor-coat the rebar while underground.





After about an hour of digging (and sweating and swearing) the hole was ready for the metal base. It took a while to get the base plumb in the hole, but with help from Connie we made it work.





600 pounds of concrete later the base was done.