Forgotten combine tuned up for harvest again

The saying, “they don’t build things like they used to,” was on the mind of rural Saskatchewan resident Borden Ylioja as he set about restoring a 1947 Cockshutt combine left to rust for decades in a field, covered in trees and which had become a home for porcupines.

Ylioja said he stumbled across the combine while riding his all-terrain vehicle and after taking a closer look, he realized it was probably fixable.

“There’s nothing seized on it. Everything still turns and I thought that would be a good fixable project,” he said.

Ylioja isn’t a farmer and has no experience with fixing combines, but he does auto body repairs on cars and thought it would be a good challenge to get the vehicle running. He said it has likely been idle for the last six decades.