glennmac
Veteran Member
Are boxblades generally useful in the soil conditions in your part of the country and for what kind of jobs?
These questions are floating around in some recent threads, so I thought I would centralize them into one. Posters are reporting that dealers in their part of the country advise against boxblades. This seems to be contrary to some other viewpoints here.
I did a substantial amount of research on this when I was buying. My first impression was the boxblades must be one of the most valuable implements to own. They are pictured {at least as counterweights} in brochures, Carver seems to push them (he now seems to be pushing pulverizers), and a lot of influential members here sing their praises and claim to use them a lot.
But then I became aware of another viewpoint. The two oldest continuously-owned dealerships in my area of Connecticut (60 and 51 years) don't stock them or recommend them. Just yesterday, I was talking to one of the owners and he repeated what he had told me earlier. For the most part, boxblades will just "bounce along" on our ground, and the only sales he makes are to farmers who are maneuvering manure piles around. He told me how he was at a dealer instructional in Memphis last year where boxblades were demonstrated in sandy soil and he said it worked great. But the conclusion was that it depends on your soil. The other dealer, who is my dealer, similarly said that boxblades are largely a "southern thing." Now, he didnt mean that someone in the north couldnt have amenable soil conditions for a boxblade, but he was talking generally.
From reading extensively here, it also seems to me that boxblades are often used as trendy counterweights. The actual function of boxblade seems quite limited; scraping a thin layer of soil, or moving a pile of fluffy soil from one place to another, or spreading fluffy soil that is being moved in an even layer. I, personally, do not have that kind of soil or applications.
Everyone also seems to report that boxblading is a "fine touch" technique that is difficult to master, and everyone who does a lot of boxblading seems either to have, or lusts after, a hydraulic top link.
Some boxblades have scarifiers, of course, and a lot of people seem to use them for "busting up" hardened or crusted soil. Again, we don't have that type of soil here (except during very dry spells), and it seems to me that you can bust up soil with lots of implements, including scarifiers by themselves or on other implements. I am underwhelmed, for example, by the current picture Harv has posted of himself cutting a drainage ditch with his boxblade. It just doesnt look as if the boxblade is the right implement to do that.
I'm not so interested in arguing about boxblades versus something else for a particular job. I'm more interested whether the GENERAL feeling among experienced people in your area of the country as to whether boxblades are generally useful in your area (other than as counterweights).
Glenn
These questions are floating around in some recent threads, so I thought I would centralize them into one. Posters are reporting that dealers in their part of the country advise against boxblades. This seems to be contrary to some other viewpoints here.
I did a substantial amount of research on this when I was buying. My first impression was the boxblades must be one of the most valuable implements to own. They are pictured {at least as counterweights} in brochures, Carver seems to push them (he now seems to be pushing pulverizers), and a lot of influential members here sing their praises and claim to use them a lot.
But then I became aware of another viewpoint. The two oldest continuously-owned dealerships in my area of Connecticut (60 and 51 years) don't stock them or recommend them. Just yesterday, I was talking to one of the owners and he repeated what he had told me earlier. For the most part, boxblades will just "bounce along" on our ground, and the only sales he makes are to farmers who are maneuvering manure piles around. He told me how he was at a dealer instructional in Memphis last year where boxblades were demonstrated in sandy soil and he said it worked great. But the conclusion was that it depends on your soil. The other dealer, who is my dealer, similarly said that boxblades are largely a "southern thing." Now, he didnt mean that someone in the north couldnt have amenable soil conditions for a boxblade, but he was talking generally.
From reading extensively here, it also seems to me that boxblades are often used as trendy counterweights. The actual function of boxblade seems quite limited; scraping a thin layer of soil, or moving a pile of fluffy soil from one place to another, or spreading fluffy soil that is being moved in an even layer. I, personally, do not have that kind of soil or applications.
Everyone also seems to report that boxblading is a "fine touch" technique that is difficult to master, and everyone who does a lot of boxblading seems either to have, or lusts after, a hydraulic top link.
Some boxblades have scarifiers, of course, and a lot of people seem to use them for "busting up" hardened or crusted soil. Again, we don't have that type of soil here (except during very dry spells), and it seems to me that you can bust up soil with lots of implements, including scarifiers by themselves or on other implements. I am underwhelmed, for example, by the current picture Harv has posted of himself cutting a drainage ditch with his boxblade. It just doesnt look as if the boxblade is the right implement to do that.
I'm not so interested in arguing about boxblades versus something else for a particular job. I'm more interested whether the GENERAL feeling among experienced people in your area of the country as to whether boxblades are generally useful in your area (other than as counterweights).
Glenn
