Grading Does a box blade make a good trail?????

widmn · Feb 11, 2005

Through the woods? Positive and negative?
Any better way to do it?
I was thinking of this then seed it with grass.

Mark4510 · Feb 11, 2005

I have done it and with good success.

If I have some brush I might use my bucket first to get rid of the smaller stuff and/or take my first pass going backwards with the box scraper.

After that its a breeze. And a ton of fun......

deereman63 · Feb 11, 2005

but how does it handle roots . doesnt it get stuck? do you use weights on the tires?

Moon · Feb 11, 2005

The majority of my trails were made by a dozer I hired in. One day of work usually made a mile or so of trails. I did this once a year; four times so far. The terrain was really rough and a dozer was the only way. Plenty of work left for me after the dozer left. I only had him make a trail through, not finish off the road real nice. He was able to get farther this way.

I did make a few of my own trails, but I did it with the FEL and bush hog. To many small stumps and roots for me to box blade it.

Moon of Ohio

woodchuckie · Feb 11, 2005

My box blade does a good job with the final shaping of my trails. There are lots of roots and holes left from pushing trees out of the way. The teeth on the box blade pull the roots out and when it fills up you can back up with the blade down to clean it out and push them to the side with your fel. The box blade also makes good water bars where needed. If the trees are small enough the cutter does a good job but the stobs could be a problem. I've got some pictures of trails I've made recently, some were pushed with fel and cleaned with box blade and others were made with cutter.
Here's the link to the pics Link

johan3400 · Feb 11, 2005

I have been working with my 6 foot box blade making trails through my wooded ground. It works well and as the others have said you just back up with the bb down and remove the roots. I have bent a set of 3pt pins, but they are cheap. My quetion would be, What seed will you put down to grow in the woods?

widmn · Feb 14, 2005

I don't know what seed. I was thinking maybe some of that Biologic stuff that attracts deer and turkey and looks kind of like grass for walking on. I think some of it is clover. what do you guys think?

deereman63 · Feb 14, 2005

I had thought of making a couple of runs using a potato plow to initially breakup the soil and "hunt" out any roots. I wouldn't take it any deeper than a couple of inches, but a plow is a lot stronger than the blade box.
I have also read that to keep ticks at bay one should create a wood chip barrier between the trail and the woods. But would this be akin to King Canute trying to keep the tide back?

creeper · Feb 14, 2005

As for the biologic.... Iwas not impressed with it.In my area the deer seemed to like the stuff that other farmers were groing localy, alfalpha grass or soybeans, or german clover.It could be great in your area tho.Plant some durable grass that will do well in multi seasons. Enjoy your trails. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mark4510 · Feb 14, 2005

Woodchuckie's reply is about what I was going to say. I put it into 4WD and let it go. If I get stuck on a root I find I can usually get it high enough so I can chop it in half if needed.

We dont get the same density of trees that other parts of the country get but when red clay dries out its like brick.

When I was making trails the first time I found out that I tend to make them wind around too much.

Mark