Build a Scalper

[farmgineer]

New here but been reading for a long time. Lots of great ideas and looking to share some of my own projects. I was hoping someone had some idea of how to build a scalper. They are used to prepare sites for tree planting. It cuts the grass off the surface almost like a roll of sod. I haven't seen one myself, mostly read about them and no good pictures to copy something from. If anyone has a piece of equipment that does this I would greatly appreciate seeing a picture. Or if you have built something for yourself, I would like some ideas to build on. I have almost achieved the result with a single furrow plow but depth control is a problem and I would like to have about a 16" wide path of de-grassed soil. The grass should flip upside down to one side, or two equal pieces flipping to each side. I imagine a boomerang shapped blade with depth control and curved mould boards to flip the sod.

 

[DRL]

How about using your single furrow plow and build gage wheels for it. Look for other posts where several have added gage wheels to box blades for ideas.
DRL

 

[bobodu]

Gravely Tractors - Sod Cutter Attachment - StevenChalmers.com

There is a list of pictures just to the left of the image.

For depth,it could be as simple as a runner on each side of the blade.

 

[MikeD74T]

Don't have any pictures but remember my BIL's sod cutters. Picture a rear tine walkbehind rototiller. Instead of tines it pulls a knife like a woodworking drawshave / drawknife mounted with a 4" roller directly above & parallel to the knife. Adjustable space between the knife & roller controls sod thickness. To cut the roots cleanly without tearing sod the knife is moved forward & back at fairly high frequency by a driven cam & linkage, kind of a chopping action like dicing vegetables in the kitchen. On the commercial sod cutters the handles were held down with no tendancy to rise until the end of the cut.
For your purpose I'd try a snowplow cutting edge with a parallel pipe roller, either pulled by 3 pt hitch or FEL mount in place of a bucket. A larger roller i.e.8" would roll easier & being heavier help hold the cutter down. Cutting angle should probably be pitched down slightly.
Some sort of turning vane similar to a mouldboard could be attached to the cutter blade to flip the sod. Keep in mind if you cut thin enough the sod can be discarded with little soil loss. Good luck & send pics it you make something! MikeD74t

 

[POC]

I'm thinking of a barrel, 35 or 50 gal, cut in half vertically, to give you a smooth "C" shape. Then add a sharpened slightly thicker edge to the bottom edge of the C. Adding the gauge wheels on the sides, outside the barrel, or inside to "clamp" the sod between them and the blade. You could also put disc wheels even with the outside edges of the barrel, in front of the blade, to cut the width.
I'm thinking the C shape would make the sod tend to roll up. But it might just make it get in your way. If you could figure a way to help it start rolling, it could just roll up in the barrel! That was my intention anyway.

Sounds like a neat tool....but I have no use for it.....

Good luck!

 

[Rich_McD]

Wouldn't the roll of sod tend to fill up the half-barrel rather quickly? Something between 1/4 and 1/3 of the barrel circumference may induce the rolling action but not limit the maximum diameter too much - then you have the issue of getting the roll of sod out and starting a new cut. If you were willing to cut and remove as two separate operations and did not want to go through the trouble of making an ossolating blade a skewed blade set-up may work. Picture a 3pt attachment ~3-4' wide with one 3' leg and one 4' leg with an angled blade connecting the two end points. The depth of the cut could be controlled by gauge wheels.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

middle buster?
maybe bolt on some extensions to do a better job of flipping the cut turf out of the way?

 

[toivo1037]

I want to strip the sod out of an area that I am lowering and move it to a different area. I built a cutter kinda like the one in the linked picture, and I bolted it to the brush hog blade (used mostly for weight). I then used lawn mower wheels riding in the front to set the depth. I had the wheels on the inside of the cutter risers, and directly above. The sod bunched up and clogged the roller/cutter very easily. I then moved them forward some, and this improved performance, but I still had bunching problems. I then moved the wheels to the outside of the risers, and this seemed to work the best, but I bent some things up, and then the weather turned bad. I will get it out of storage and take some pics in the next couple of weeks when I get it going again.

 

[kvmapr]

middle buster?
maybe bolt on some extensions to do a better job of flipping the cut turf out of the way?

This would certainly be worth a try. I already do this same job with my middle buster.

In preparation for planting trees this month I stripped sod off in rows 12 feet apart over 4 acres last week. Used the middle buster for it all and was pretty pleased with the result. But I had to settle for 12" wide strips. To get the 16 inches you're looking for you'd have to widen the plowshare by a few inches. Maybe weld some ears onto the outer ends of the share?

I believe the 12" wide strip will serve my purposes, and a little spot trimming with the weed whacker should help keep the sod from competing too badly.

KVMAPR