Box Blades and Rocks

[GaryE]

Spring will be here soon and as soon as mud season is over I will be tackling one of my fields(attached). It is about 2 acres over all. When I bought the place about 9 years ago the field had been plowed and left that way for years before I got here. It was a series of 3' deep toughs running the length of the field. The ground had settled and was as hard as rock. My first year here, I asked one of the local farmers if he could clean it up with his disks, he said it was so dug up and and full of rocks about the only thing he could do was to roto till it or come in with a bull dozer. Not wanting to compact it any more than it was I told him to go at it with his roto tiller.

He did a pretty good job and now the field looks decent. But I would like to get it to the point I could use a finish mower on it. Every winter this field seems to grow more rocks, this is Maine after all! So every spring I harvest the new crop. Which leads me to my question.

Given this field is full of some large (100 lbs) rocks, would a Box Blade even work? Or should I use my FEL and BH? I rarely see a Box Blade up here, but I see rozett uses one. But from where I am, he is in the DEEP South! If I do try a Box Blade, should I go with a 6' ? I will be dragging it with a L3710, if it ever gets here!

Thanks in advance for any input.

Gary

 

[BB_TX]

A regular roto tiller in a field with 100 lb rocks! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I don't see how it survived. We used to till about 1 1/2 acre food plot in the Texas hill country filled with rocks softball size and a little larger. The tiller would bounce and jump and bang and clang over the larger rocks. It took about 5 years of yearly tilling and rock collecting before we got it reasonably clean.
A box blade is really not intended for leveling that large an area, although you could if you are not in a hurry. If the tiller survived, the box blade would.
If he was able to till it, I don't see why you could not run a disc on it (after you remove the 100 pounders). The tiller would try to dig up the rocks where the disc would tend to ride over the top of the large ones. Running a disc several times front to back and side to side, followed by dragging or raking and rock collecting should give you a smooth field.

 

[slowzuki]

I was just in Winterport on the weekend, my first time in Maine.

I'm from New Brunswick and have never seen a box blade up here either. I suspect our rocks keep them away.

The farmers who rock pick here use tine buckets to scoop up the rocks or pull behind pickers.

Ken

 

[GaryE]

Bill,

He worked on it for two days. I was out of town when he did it. He still comes by every year to till my gardens and still shakes his head at the field. I look at the tiller he used and also am amazed it survived!!!!!

Right now the field is about 80% there. I was just wondering if a Box Blade could take down the high spots, but the more I am thinking about it I think the safest thing to do is use the FEL to cut down the high spots and fill the holes. If I can do it just before the end of mud season, it might be easier. Then come back after it dries out and pick the rest of the rocks out.


Thanks,

Gary

 

[GaryE]

Ken,

What would bring you to Winterport?

Maybe I was just dreaming to think a Box Blade would work? I think I just need to get out there and move rocks!


Gary

 

[BB_TX]

If you are just wanting to knock down random high spots and fill in random low spots, the box blade would work fine. And they come in handy for many other dirt type chores. If the ground is not too hard and/or if you have a tooth bar, the FEL will do a good job of knocking down the high spots. Then you can carry the excess dirt to the low spot, dump it, and smooth it by lowering the FEL and back dragging it.

 

[GaryE]

<font color="blue"> If the ground is not too hard and/or if you have a tooth bar, the FEL will do a good job of knocking down the high spots. Then you can carry the excess dirt to the low spot, dump it, and smooth it by lowering the FEL and back dragging it. </font>

That was the original plan. I see so many here talking about their Box Blades I was thinking it might be a useful tool. But I think this area might just be to rocky for it to be of much use. But thanks for the input, I was wondering if there was something I had missed.


Gary

 

[cleatus]

What's the question? The hole for my septic was dug with box blade and 8n. I have nothing but rocks and a little soil with some of the rocks we removed as big as large bucket on wheel barrel.

 

[GaryE]

Cleatus,

The question was:

Given this field is full of some large (100 lbs) rocks, would a Box Blade even work? Or should I use my FEL and BH?

Is there ANY advantage in using a Box Blade? No one up here seems to use them. They seem cheap enough, but I would hate to buy one just to beat it up!


Gary

 

[JimMorrissey]

Gary,

I would say to use some kind of tine bucket that you rent or buy to get the large rocks out first. You could use the bucket annually for all the rocks you speak of, then you rent a Harley Rake and go nuts. The Harley Rake will do a superb job removing rocks bigger than a softball all the way down to near quater size. The power rake can be angled and you'll windrow the rocks, then scoop up the rows with your FEL. A Harley Rake will also smooth and level the land while preparing a perfect seed bed. There is no finer implement for exactly what you describe, providing you pluck the big stuff with a tine bucket or by hand. A heavy duty landscape rake will be good to take the peaks off the field, pull the medium size rocks and expose the bigger stuff for individual removal. If you really want to get all the bigger rocks, then have somebody follow the tractor at a safe distance with a can of spray paint and mark the spots where the rake scapes the surface of a large rock. Use the bright orange road marking paint that sprays upside down. Then go back and pick them off one by one.

Harley Rake is what you're looking for to finish the job after you extract the big stuff however you see fit.

http://www.glenmac.com/proseries.htm

 

[GaryE]

Jim,

Thank for the suggestion. Looks like the way to go. I am sure someone up here rents the Harley Rake. I guess I have about 3 months to find one!


Gary

 

[BB_TX]

I would not give up entirely on the box blade. They are quite a versatile implement for a relatively low price. If you need to spread and smooth a load of dirt or sand, level an area to build a storage building, cut a new drive, etc. they work great.

 

[GaryE]

Bill,

Come spring I will probably look into one. Though I find it interesting, no one up this way seems to use them. I have even been watching one of our local "buy, sell, trade" papers, Uncle Henry's and never see them for sale.

Gary

 

[cleatus]

Gary the reason I responded the way I did was to show that the box blade was not harmed by the large rocks. I also belive the harley rake would work great for what you need to do.

 

[GaryE]

Cleatus,

I understand!!!! I just wonder why you don't see Box Blades up here?

It is amazing the old stone walls on my property, some built back in the late 1700's as far as I can tell. Some of the stones are >400 lbs. Most in the 100 lb range. All the rocks came from the fields that have been cleared. Yet they still keep growing!

I would love to try a Box Blade, and probably will, but I find it hard to believe it can handle this type of soil. But then again, I never would have believed the Red Sox could have won the World Series!!!!!

Thanks for the input,

Gary

 

[Roto]

I just got to reply on this heheh i had 12 acres of woods cleared into fields. they took all the trees and stumps and left all the holes and rocks and it was a mess with huge dips and lots of rocks. im talking hundreds of television sized rocks and thousands of smaller ones like basket ball and tens and thousands of softball ones. i cleared the fields of rocks and leveled it with nothing more then 7 foot box scraper and my bucket. well i did haul a drag around some after but the bulk if it was done with blade and bucket. The box blade was way better at digging out partially burried rocks and grabbing the corners and lifting and pushing and pulling back in forth. juts not as easy with bucket. hard to see and having that weight and power at back end just seem to be much easier. you can push and pull all the rocks you want with thoses things. i was puching 2 or 3 television size rocks at a time backwards to make a rock wall. I have had it for 5 years now and it stays on my tractor year round. Its great for helping with plowing too and awsome for leveling gravel and dirt and that sort of thing. its my most used implement hands down. I have a 7 foot box scraper with 50 horse tractor. im not sure how a smaller light weight tractor would be with one.

I wouldnt hesitate! I think mine was $450 at the time.

mike

 

[GaryE]

Mike,

This is what I was looking for! Would you say it was easier than using a BH and FEL? Were you able to drag the rocks any distance or did you have to use your FEL to move them?

As far as snow goes, I am spoiled, I get in my heated F-250 and plow!

Where 'bouts in mid Maine are you?

Thanks for the input,

Gary

 

[JimMorrissey]

I totally agree on the box scraper. Get one.....Get a heavy one. I've got a heavy 72" Woods (nice). I think the reason you don't see them for sale is the fact that nobody wants to get rid of theirs. Why sell a perfectly good box scraper. It's also a regional thing. They just haven't caught on in some places and may never. They're not a huge seller in Vermont either.

The Harley Rake (rent Sat, return Monday) will make for a PERFECT seed bed and reduce your rock clearing efforts ten fold. It will also smooth the surface PERFECTLY. A God-send for a project like you are talking about. It will not deal with TV sized rocks. You're on your own there. I don't own one, but I've watched one in action for hours and believe me they are amazing implements (but $$$). A Harley Rake is hands-down the finest attacment available for general finish dirt work.

 

[Roto]

Hey Gary, Im in Dover Foxcroft area not too far away. I didnt realize you had a backhoe. that would be easier getting those bigger ones out of the ground for sure. Once there on the surface, then you can bucket them away. i used my loader a-lot to haul the rocks off. i would pretty much drag front on the ground and push if there were heavy ones so it wouldnt be to hard on front end. thats another good thing about box scraper you can push huge rocks backwards with no problem. way easier then front with bucket. You cant haul rocks frontwards with boxscraper very good at all they get caught up in the rigging. you can football size rocks though you can get a few in there and pull them to a pile or something. One problem with using bucket is you tend to get dirt along with rocks and its hard to see what your getting in bucket. I would say mostly boxscraper getting rocks out and in piles and then bucket them away. Another key thing here is once you get a rock out of a hole you can push it with box scraper out of way fill the hole with boxscraper then finish taking care of rock(s). way easier to fill holes with boxscraper then bucket. the fine tuning of the field will require a drag or even a disc harrow or something to get it good enough to seed. Tiltons in east Corinth has them for sale. they have King kutter i think and usually advertise in uncle henries in spring and summer. I think they ran up a bit in price to maybe $500 or so. What size tractor you got anyway?

Mike

 

[GaryE]

<font color="blue"> What size tractor you got anyway?
</font>

Mike,

I will be using a Kubota L3710 GST if it ever gets here. It is in Texas right now, just had a L4560 BH installed..... Long story!!!! It is a 38 hp tractor.

I have driven by Tiltons many times, it is on my list this spring. The projects this spring include cleaning up the back field and moving a lot of rock for the addition to the house. That is why I am looking into the Box Blade. You are one of the very few up here that seems to be using one.

If you are ever in the Bangor area... let me know. I often go for Sunday drives, so if you see a car with an ugly Boxer in the back seat, that would be me!

Gary