- Related Articles
- Charged by the Wind
- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- Pumped About Pumps
"These days, you can put a quart or two of oil in your windmill, and almost forget about it for a year or two," Randy says.
Most salvaged windmills will need at least some work to get them back in running order, he adds.
"99.9 percent of the mills need to have something done to them," he says. "They've been up in the air for 25 to 60 years; they're going to be worn. But with our parts inventory, we can generally get them going again."
"We're making a couple of wind wheels for obsolete mills," he says. "People will call, and they'll have a motor and a gear box, and assume that they have 90 percent of the value of a mill. But a good wheel is worth as much as the motor itself. Those gear boxes are made of cast iron, and they survive. The tin oftentimes hasn't."
Randy's company fills a tightly defined nitch.
"We don't do any well work," he says. "And we don't do service work. We do some installation, but usually we'll recommend an installer. We specialize in the obsolete windmill."
That specialty allows him to concentrate on a simple machine with 19th century technology, on a key to a nation's past, on vintage pieces that are sometimes hand-fabricated.
"I'm always amazed at what the local blacksmith, farmer or rancher made," he says. "I'm very passionate about windmills. Even on my days off, I'm working on windmills."
For more information: Randy Stubbs, Big Country Windmills, Rt. 1, Box 43, Maxwell, Neb. 69151; (308) 582-4451. (The bulk of Big Country's inventory is at the Maxwell location, but a second office is maintained in Hesperia, Cal.) On the internet: http://windmills.swnebr.net FC