And you thought modern attachments were unsafe?

[Tom_H]

At least you sit up on the tractor to operate that thing.

Here's a 30 inch buzz saw that you stand right up to and it throws the chips in your face. No thanks.

Buzz saw

Ouch!

 

[mjncad]

The producers of the "SAW" slasher horror films would love those two gadgets.

Better yet, let's send those two implements to China.

 

[JoeinTX]

Is this a dangerous SOB? Yes, especially if you have onlookers and an unprotected station on the tractor. Thus, the key is using this tool without a crowd and with some obstruction between you and it. One should probably fashion some sort of shield, not unlike the common wee-eater has, to guard themselves.

Otherwise, it seems a practical and useable tool if one needs to seriously saw down growth via the 3-pt and ag tractor.

 

[hill]

My uncle had a saw like that but it was set up to be driven by one axle of his Jeep. He'd bought the Jeep after the war and rigged it up with a half dozen implements that he used to clear his property, cut the felled trees into cordwood, plow an acre or so of vegetables to eat. I remember a big grinding wheel that he could set up on the same arbor as the saw blade too, but probably never knew about ALL of the ways he figured out to put that Jeep to work. Likely every one of them would be condemned as unsafe today, but they never hurt him.

Most of the times I remember visiting him as a kid we'd find him somewhere out back of the house doing something with that old Jeep jacked up and running.

 

[have_blue]

Is this a dangerous SOB? Thus, the key is using this tool without a crowd and with some obstruction between you and it.

Agreed. Since nobody follows my tractor into the brush, I think the blade part would be pretty safe for me. YMMV!

But I wonder about a couple of other things. I wonder about cutting 4-5" trees that are 20-30' tall, and where they would fall. Maybe it should have a horizontal bar up high that fells the trees and brush away from you. I also wonder if granny gear would be slow enough, or you would have to ride the clutch to prevent feeding the blade too fast.

I see that instead of naming it "Mangler" or something, they named it "Sunflower", so is wouldn't sound so dangerous.

 

[JRobyn]

I've got a Gravely saw attachment looks just about like that but without all the 3 pt attachment framework so I can be closer to the action!! It has a gaurd for the rear half of the blade, but the clamp that holds it to the saw housing is missing.

- Jay

 

[radman1]

Take a look at a Bobcat brush saw. Same idea, with smaller, carbide tipped blade about 20" in diameter. You can buy a new one anytime for about $5500-6000. No gaurds and extends about 6-7' out in front. Cant have guards because sometimes you need to use both sides of the blade. I used one once and the blade rotates about 500 rpms. Works great for brush, but won't cut a tree over 4-5". Friction of the wood on the blade stops the saw. Bought a tree shear instead. The trees and brush also seemed to fall sideways with the brush cat. I couldn't figure out why but rarely did they fall toward the operator.

 

[JoeinTX]

"Look at that escapee from a drive in horror movie!!!.."

Hehehe.....


I saw this thing on eBay last week and had pretty similar thoughts.

#1-Inching this thing back into a tree, hooked onto the 3 pt, gives me the heeby-geebies. The shock, jolt, and noise seem pretty disconcerting.

#2-No freakin' protection for anyone in the immediate vicinity including the operator. I can see shards, bark, chunks, and even pieces of the saw-blade itself flying all around as you slowly try to inch your tractor back into a nice oak or maple or pine.

#3-I would have to believe that this is a one-off or special build tool....I've never seen anything else quite like it. Any problems or breaks and you're probably out of luck unless your a good welder and engineer on your own right.

#4-What will this thing do any easier or quicker than you can with a chainsaw?



It looks like someone took a post-hole digger and modified it for a circular blade.............

 

[weiser]

My thought was:

I wonder if anyone makes one of these for the FEL?

 

[JerryK]

My thought was:

I wonder if anyone makes one of these for the FEL?

Here you go, even comes with it's own articulated loader/tractor, for a mere 66K. [looks well used and abused].

eBay: 2000 Hydro-Ax 611EX Brush Cutter A/C EROPS Cummins Dies (item 230144693672 end time Jul-19-07 10:01:47 PDT)

Seriously, last time I saw a big operation where they were clearing land for a new developement, they had several big tracked vehicles take the trees down. They would drive up, extend a boom out to and grab hold of the tree, 'snip' the tree off with a big hydralic cutter, pick the tree up, swivel around, then pile the trees in a big pile. Later, they had a big tracked chipper come in which had its own grabber, and it would pick the trees off the pile and chip the whole shebang all at once. The chips were hauled off in semi's. They were handling the trees like toothpicks. Later, they used earthmovers to dig a huge trench, then dozed up the stumps and pushed them into the trench. Not much to it if you have the brawn and big bucks...