Ok I’m getting old.

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paulrbarnard

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Not wanted to face it before but I took delivery of some Medite MRMDF 19mm boards today and now I know for sure. I’m no where near as fit as I used to be. Only five sheets to carry from the drive to the workshop, 66m, but that was a serious chore. On a positive I closed my exercise ring in my watch 😀

I see a wheeled board trolly in my future projects list. It will need to be cross country capable though.

The cupboard this is intended for will definitely be knock down.
 
About two years ago I had a load of Douglas fir beams (6x6" and up to 5m long) delivered and a whole lot of cladding. Delivery lorry couldn't get up my lane so he just dumped it and left. I carried all that up a similar distance to you, during a heatwave. The beams were so heavy I could only just lift them by myself and there were 12 of them! Conveniently none of my neighbours were around to help 😂


I spent the rest of the day lying on the sofa, absolutely knackered after that! And I was still technically in my 20s at the time 😬
 
It was lifting 25mm MDF boards that used to 'sort out the men from the boys':giggle:. Long gone are the days when I could lift these!

Because of some building work, I recently had to move a monster cupboard I'd made a few years back With the help of my son I thought I could easily lift off the top half, as I once did, but I just couldn't :unsure: The result of this was that we had to organise another set of hands to help with the lift and have them return, when things went back.

Note to self....." No more making of big things"
 
About two years ago I had a load of Douglas fir beams (6x6" and up to 5m long) delivered and a whole lot of cladding. Delivery lorry couldn't get up my lane so he just dumped it and left. I carried all that up a similar distance to you, during a heatwave. The beams were so heavy I could only just lift them by myself and there were 12 of them! Conveniently none of my neighbours were around to help 😂


I spent the rest of the day lying on the sofa, absolutely knackered after that! And I was still technically in my 20s at the time 😬
My delivery guy was actually very good. He did try, twice, to get up our drive but failed so had to unload at the end of the drive. He offered to help me carry it up to my workshop but he was a strong fit younger guy so I would most definitely have had trouble holding up my end of the board. I figured it better to do it myself that run a risk of overdoing it to keep up. The biggest surprise, and hence the post, was how close to my absolute limit this took me. I’ve managed similar tasks in the past without too many problems.
 
It was lifting 25mm MDF boards that used to 'sort out the men from the boys':giggle:. Long gone are the days when I could lift these!

Because of some building work, I recently had to move a monster cupboard I'd made a few years back With the help of my son I thought I could easily lift off the top half, as I once did, but I just couldn't :unsure: The result of this was that we had to organise another set of hands to help with the lift and have them return, when things went back.

Note to self....." No more making of big things"
Yep I think I’m there…
 
I find half the battle with sheets is the size of them, so much easier with a sheet carrying tool. At 35-40kg per sheet you're still doing well. Can I ask how many years experience you have, or which box on the age form do you tick? At 48 my fitness is definitely lacking (likely due to lack of exercise) but strength seems all there, managed to haul the old bandsaw out of the workshop when I sold it but had to stop several times for a rest on the way down the garden path.
 
My boards came in at 37.5kg and I’m in the top half of the 60-65 box.
I have to say though my strength has never been that good. I’m an endurance (read stubborn if you prefer) guy rather that strength.
I’m pretty sure I’ve gone down hill significantly in the last year. Change of job has resulted in a lot less exercise than I used to do.

Edit: in my younger years I used to load out houses for the plasterers and would often spend a day just back and forth across a building site carrying 12.5mm plaster board. They are a bit lighter than the MDF but I used to shift hundreds of sheets.
 
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I see a wheeled board trolly in my future projects list. It will need to be cross country capable though.
I have a couple of wheeled trollies with castors that I use to carry boards across grass, I put down a few offcuts of ply for them to run on: Clarke 6500149 Cpds1 Panel Dolly Set the cross country ones are a silly price.

These days at 75 I have problems carrying a 10Lt watering can. LOL
 
I have a couple of wheeled trollies with castors that I use to carry boards across grass, I put down a few offcuts of ply for them to run on: Clarke 6500149 Cpds1 Panel Dolly Set the cross country ones are a silly price.

These days at 75 I have problems carrying a 10Lt watering can. LOL
Those are a good price. Unfortunately my 65m was all gravel and grass plus three steps.
I’m thinking a two wheeled clamp on dolly using wheelbarrow wheels.
 
I see a wheeled board trolly in my future projects list. It will need to be cross country capable though.
The wife's BiL had exactly the same challenge in moving large sheets from delivery point to workshop across challenging terrain in rural Gloucestershire. He knocked up a couple of trolleys each from two 600 lengths of 4 x 2 sides with a 2 x 2 in between to form the base and then added one of these centrally on each side on 13mm studding. Works a treat I am informed.
 
The wife's BiL had exactly the same challenge in moving large sheets from delivery point to workshop across challenging terrain in rural Gloucestershire. He knocked up a couple of trolleys each from two 600 lengths of 4 x 2 sides with a 2 x 2 in between to form the base and then added one of these centrally on each side on 13mm studding. Works a treat I am informed.
They look just the job.
 
I made a dolly from two heavy duty foam filled wheels about 10" dia from the interweb, some steel electrical conduit as the bearing, threaded bar down the middle of the conduit to hold it all together. A couple of pieces of 2X6 top and bottom of the axel with sides of 18mm ply and some wooden washers to keep the wheels away from the sides. A bit heavy but strong enough to temporarily replace a wheel on my SIL's boat trailer when I needed to move it complete with boat. I have also used it to move the clad side of stables 12ftX 7 ft over a rough field but it did take two of us.

I had planned to use it to move some sheets of MDF I bought cheap that are about 10ftX 7ft X 22mm. They are too heavy for two of us to move and other priorities keep me away form using them.

I have found moving any small wheeled item over gravel to be difficult though, I have had to put boards down in the past.
 
I made a dolly from two heavy duty foam filled wheels about 10" dia from the interweb, some steel electrical conduit as the bearing, threaded bar down the middle of the conduit to hold it all together. A couple of pieces of 2X6 top and bottom of the axel with sides of 18mm ply and some wooden washers to keep the wheels away from the sides. A bit heavy but strong enough to temporarily replace a wheel on my SIL's boat trailer when I needed to move it complete with boat. I have also used it to move the clad side of stables 12ftX 7 ft over a rough field but it did take two of us.

I had planned to use it to move some sheets of MDF I bought cheap that are about 10ftX 7ft X 22mm. They are too heavy for two of us to move and other priorities keep me away form using them.

I have found moving any small wheeled item over gravel to be difficult though, I have had to put boards down in the past.
Gravel is a pain for wheels. Slate clippings work well though. Our gravel is very compacted so not so bad.
 
A few years back I was moving a full sheet of 25mm temporary flooring ply in a 1st floor extension, I managed to pry it away from the wall so that I could get behind it and lift it up with my back to the wall for support whilst standing on the joists and when I tried to lift it BANG! Immense pain in right arm/shoulder feeling like an electric shock and still tingling afterward...
I went downstairs and whilst brewing a cuppa googled it because whilst in the past I have dislocated my shoulders (due to a congenital defect) this was waay worse and not reaching a firm conclusion and still in pain I finished my fag and cuppa and set off in my manual car to drive to the local casualty. I turned into the triage center 1st since the queues in there are usually shorter and soon got called in to see a medic, gingerly clutching my bare arm -was wearing a t-shirt.
The medic took one look at me and said 'I know what you've done - go to the main casualty as you have torn your bicep from your forearm and it will need an X-ray....
Long story short they patched me up and gave me an orthopaedic appointment in a month or so and in the meantime I sought alternate advice at a sports clinic in London the following week. The received wisdom was - if you can get away without having the op to re-attach it do so since your body will adjust itself in a matter of months, which indeed it did :)
I soon recovered full strength and the only long term affect is that whichever muscle has taken over is only attached to one of my forearm bones, dunno if its the radius or the ulna so I get a bit of lateral instability when say from standing, lifting a mug off a table!
Take care!!
 
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Ouch! I remember meeting an old builder, in my youth, who used to say "Hard work don't kill you....... But it don't half make a mess of your body":)
 
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