My mini-pond pics and stories

[WolfStock]

One slight issue I'm having is the contact with the wheel flanges and axle - all I did was file away the threads on some flanges and tried to smooth it out. It's a bit loose though, and a bit noisier than I'd like, despite applying some grease.

I've posed the question on another thread that involves a couple of folks with water wheels. I might have to do some more jury-rigging or install some real bearings; we'll see.

 

[WolfStock]

Wheel issue is gone - all it took was marine grease, which I've found is 100% better than white lithium grease.

Hurricane Irene came through this past weekend, though we just got the outer fringe. I managed to get in a couple of hours of mortar work in, and then had to rig a cover for it.

 

[WolfStock]

Almost... there...

Hoping to get the final upper falls going this weekend.

I can't believe how many rocks this has taken. Thankfully there's a construction site just down the street where I've been able to pick up a bunch. Just got a few more last night, which will definitely be more than enough.

 

[j.w]

That looks awesome Wolfstock. Love all that beautiful rock and you get it for free!

 

[WolfStock]

LOL - yeah it's been a funny thing. When I first started I looked into buying a pallet of rocks, but it was more $$ than I wanted to spend, plus I wanted something more natural-looking than most of what was at the rock places. As I've gathered, there's quite a variety of types of rocks; I've tried to "mix them up" so it doesn't look too odd. There are about six or eight different types of rocks mixed in there. Unfortunately they'll probably wear a bit unevenly - e.g. some already cracked and split this past winter, but I figure I can always replace what's needed. I do plan to apply a water resistant coating before we get significant freezing.

Eventually (probably next year) I'll go back and do a finish mortar on the whole thing. I've been using a charcoal mortar-coloring on the areas right under and next to the water run; something different than just plain light mortar color.

 

[addy1]

It is looking great, glad irene missed you too. It has used a ton of rocks, wish we had some free ones around here.

 

[sissy]

gosh it looks like one of those mountain scenes you see around the outside train sets

 

[WolfStock]

First attempts to post videos....

Here's the water wheel, back when I had the problem of it getting stuck (after a few hours wearing through the weakly white lithium grease)

Here it is working properly (in this case with a fresh application of white lithium grease, but now it works well full-time with marine grease).

 

[addy1]

Wow really nice, that thing is running very smoothly........... marine grease is great stuff.......

 

[WolfStock]

Cool thing is I changed out the valves, from a ball valve to gate valve, such that now I can actually fine-tune how the speed of the water wheel. Just open it a bit (more water under, less over) and the wheel slows down; close it and is speeds up, with about a 5-second lag. Thanks to james06sci for the tip on that.

(Yes I'm an engineer)

 

[Sunshine]

That is really fantastic. Love the rock work, you did a great job.

 

[j.w]

I do love that wheel and it's working just fine!
Big wheel keep on turning
Proud Mary keep on burning
And we're rolling, rolling
Rolling on the river............................lol!

 

[islandclumbers]

My husband is building a water wheel for our pond also. My only concern is what to seal the wood with, we are having such a hard time finding things that are fish (and turtle) safe. What did you use for yours?

Thanks,
Tracy

 

[WolfStock]

My husband is building a water wheel for our pond also. My only concern is what to seal the wood with, we are having such a hard time finding things that are fish (and turtle) safe. What did you use for yours?

Thanks,
Tracy

I used spar urethane. To be honest I didn't look to see if it's fish or turtle safe.

It's actually not wearing that well - lots of it is now turning black as the water works its way into the wood. I'll post more recent pictures soon. I don't think there's anything wrong with that - there's really no hope of trying to completely protect it since it's in the water 100% of the time. It's definitely got more of a weathered look now.

As a side note - it's still not really turning that well now. After I apply some grease it goes OK for a day or two, but as the water gets into the greased area it starts to get "stuck" again. It doesn't make the annoying sounds that it did, just stops and goes, stops and goes, etc. Eventually I might have to bite the bullet and put in some kind of true bearings. Something tells me it'll be expensive to get something that'll be weatherproof though, and I'd probably have to replace the axle again. Probably next year since I'll be turning it off for the winter in a couple of months. What is your husband doing for the axle his water wheel? How big is the wheel?

I'm hoping to finally finish the rock work this weekend. I finished the rock work around the upper basin the other day, and will be doing the epoxy and turning it on.

 

[WolfStock]

OK - all pretty much done now. I finished up the rock work, and cleaned up the landscaping, though haven't yet planted all the desired plants yet. I'm looking and thinking about what to do along those lines now - some I might plant now, though most next spring.

I struggled between two trees to put in the back - either a weeping blue atlas cedar, or a Japanese maple. The cedar is very unique and would have been very eye-catching, but I opted to go with the classic maple.