Big Wheel Turning

This old sugar mill gear was displayed on four hand built stone columns and when the giant rubber tree fell it broke the iron gear and smashed the columns. One of my projects was to disguise the area where the rubber tree stump and root system left it's hideous remains next to the gazebo. Once the landscape design for the stump area was nearing completion it became more obvious that the original plan to rebuild and reset the gear on the columns would not work. The area would be to congested and visually not appealing. Moving the gear and removing the columns was our best choice, not necessarily the easy way out but definitely the right thing to do.

Removal of the stone columns was accomplished with a jackhammer much to my delight (it is super groovy to use power equipment here), the gear was moved with man power and was repaired by a welder who is an outside contractor. All went well, we may still do a little fine tuning since standing the gear upright requires extra support but it is in the general vicinity of it's new home and no one was hurt in the making of this video.

Actually I feel the gear in the upright position makes more of a statement than when it was mounted horizontally on the stone columns. The boss is really fond of the gear and it has been placed near the guest unit where he generally stays. A lot of man hours went into the move and most comments have been positive. I am sure it will end up being a spot where guests will enjoy photographing and will frequently catch hummingbirds in the background of their pictures.