Mushroomed Pipe

I'm wondering if maybe it was flattened a bit before it was installed...

Or more likely..."How long is it?" If it's 4 or 5 feet long, it might have taken a smite or two to get where it's at.

> I wanted to post this hoping someone could hazard a guess as to why this pipe got so mushroomed.

[...]

> We're pretty much all sand and clay here in Houston so it's not likely it hit much on the way down. The pipe is a relatively thick schedule from what I could tell on inspection. I don't think I've ever seen a pipe top in this condition.

Well, here's a photo of an iron pipe that was set in 1938 in the stiff black clay soil of Hays County, Southeast of Austin. All of the pipes that the surveyor set on that job had tops that looked like flowers. I had to pull a couple of the pipes to plumb them and found that they were 36 inches long. The rod and cap is just to give the thing an exact station mark for future reference.

The surveyor who set that was usually in the habit of buying scrap pipe, so that pipe was probably made at least ten or twenty years before 1938. I'm going to say the deformation was a combination of driving force and inferior material.

Looks more like a shotgun barrel. 😀

> The surveyor who set that was usually in the habit of buying scrap pipe, so that pipe was probably made at least ten or twenty years before 1938. I'm going to say the deformation was a combination of driving force and inferior material.

Those iron pipes that the 1938 surveyor drove into the prairie were 1-1/4" i.d. BTW. The larger the pipe, the more likely they are to be buggered up when driven, I've observed.

Many of the pipe set in this area were salvaged water pipes from homes.

The father and cousin of two major surveyors from the 1930s thru 1970s was a plumber.

Plus a major pipe foundry was located nearby and cold steel pipe and rod were readily available.

😉

My thoughts as well, have seen salvaged well points do the same thing as far as a fairly uniform peeling. The first one looks like someone just beat the snot out of it.

We get a lot of those. Just a matter of a sledge and a pipe in hard ground. Now, if it was painted yellow I would know who set it.;-)

Oops...sorry, I misread the subject title 😉

Y'all have a great week! B-)

It was driven in very cold weather in frozen ground. I have seen that around there and the placement date generally coincides with winter.

ok I'll bite, where did you see a "set" date and when does it ever freeze that hard in Houston?

Driven to refusal.... and then some?

Me and a couple of others once were setting a pin that hit solid rock. The PC said we were suppose to get it near flush. It had about 10 more inches to go before getting anywhere near flush. After about another hour of taking turns with the big hammer we got it about 4" close to flush when we gave up. By then then pin was so mushroomed we couldn't get a cap on it.

Carry this at all times. Sits in the 4 wheeler; use it on almost every job.

A rebar will only go so far into solid rock-then it's time to start cutting.

If it's just a mushroom head then this comes in handy:

> Carry this at all times. Sits in the 4 wheeler; use it on almost every job.
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> A rebar will only go so far into solid rock-then it's time to start cutting.
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> If it's just a mushroom head then this comes in handy:
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That's all fine and good when the truck is nearby. It wasn't, and we didn't have 4-wheelers. Super rough terrain. Steep. We had 40 pins to set and it was bad enough to pack them in. I was the gunner and should have stuck my ground in that "the equipment [gun] belongs to me". That's when a democracy sucks. I lost. Someone else carried all the equipment. Someone else carried all our food and water for the day. I got stuck with all the pins, hammer, lath and such.

I use that type rasp on wood, but sure don't know about metal??

I've seen more than a few old pipes just like Kent's. I don't know how it was done, but I don't think it was an accident.

Driving pins flush?

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> That's all fine and good when the truck is nearby. It wasn't, and we didn't have 4-wheelers. Super rough terrain. Steep. We had 40 pins to set and it was bad enough to pack them in. I was the gunner and should have stuck my ground in that "the equipment [gun] belongs to me". That's when a democracy sucks. I lost. Someone else carried all the equipment. Someone else carried all our food and water for the day. I got stuck with all the pins, hammer, lath and such.

Same here. 4 wheelers can not usually make it very far into the woods around here before they become more of a hinderance.

Anyway, why would anyone set pins flush in the woods? We always leave them sticking up a foot or so. I would say that even the vast majority of frontage pins around here are not driven flush.

> I use that type rasp on wood, but sure don't know about metal??

Though not the best tool for removing hard metal, a good rasp will handle mild steel okay. Farriers use them to get the nails that hold the shoes on flush with the outside of the hoof.

The farrier rasp is what I use for my aluminum rods; which is what I set section corners with. I use a rough metal file for rebar (learned that back during my pipe fitting days) and if the rod gets too mushroomed I just cut it off with a saw.

I completely understand Big E's reason for leaving something behind. There is only so much u can take when on foot!

I throw the saw in my bag when it's too rough to drive; but u can't take everything.

I'm occasionally asked how I set corners in the frozen winter ground. My response is "I have a special tool for that.....It's called a sledge hammer". I've mushroomed many over the years, each one usually accompanied by a few choice words.