I went to my parent’s house this past weekend and helped my dad with a few chores. One was to help make some Gambrels/deer hanger for our hunting lease. First, my dad made a jig on a welding table and we heated and bent about a dozen 3/8” round bar. After they were all bent, we cut two cross pieces (21 ½” and 4”) to make it stiffer. I got in some good practice with the welder and torch and had a great time with my dad building all of them! Oh and I quickly found out that a grinder, wire brush, and paint are a welders best friend.

As you can see in the pictures, one side is bent almost in a full loop. Many of y’all may have had this same problem, but whenever we’re about done quartering our deer, one of the hindquarters always wants to slip off when you remove the opposite side! If you remove the hindquarter that is on the straight side first, it will allow the hindquarter on the looped side to drop, but not fall off!

Me welding on the cross pieces


All the ones that we made--came out to about $1.50 a piece!!


Finished product


And of course, the blueprints for the entire design! My dad always has everything perfectly measured out before we start any project. It makes it really nice once you get to work. You don’t have to do too much thinking once you get all the tools out….

My dad just told me that we made one of the sides a little too long, that’s why it kinda looks lopsided in the picture. O well, it will still work just fine!

Is that an R.L. Turner shirt I see?

haha sure is! When I came home I realized that I didn’t have any old shirts to work in and found that one in my room. It’s from our Powder Puff game in 2003...I think. I graduated in 2004. Did you go to RLT?

I went back a few months ago and couldn't believe what I saw...or lack of! It seemed as if there were only 10-20 white kids left at that school. Pretty sad. Heck, all of Carrollton and Farmers Branch is like that now!

Those look nice. You might want to make a mini version for small pigs if you shoot them. They don't work with the big gambrels very well. Also, there's an easier version if you have 1" steel bar (1/8"+ thick) and some rebar or steel rod. Here's a rough sketch:

Good idea. The good tasting smaller hogs wouldn't work to well on the bigger gambrel.

Nice. I like the construction notes added to the bottom of the photos.

Also, i think i may have the missing shorts that match that shirt, at least they are in my possession. My brother had them for years, now i have them, cant wear them however.

nicely done

Those are well done; looks like a cool project to do with the old man.

NM

[This message has been edited by Neches21 (edited 3/27/2009 8:50a).]

Give your dad a handshake for me. As a dad, I appreciate any father who takes time to work with his son and pass on his experience.