Box Blades and Rocks

[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