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

[widmn]

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

 

[Mark4510]

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]

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

 

[Moon]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[Maine_Polack]

I have used “Conservation Mix” from Agway. Other have it also. It does have clover. Also Annual Rye grass, and I don’t remember the others. The annual rye germinates quickly and shades the slow seeds, (keeping them from drying out as fast), as well as checking erosion some.

I have notice that there is enough variety of seeds to take care of different soil types. After a few years I had one corse grass that took over 100% in the wet spots. I have different ones growing in shady spots, and yet different grasses in the sunny spots.

The key to having success, in my experience, is to lightly rake, and then roll the seed. I have done 1000s of feet of road that a PU can traverse, (when dry enough), with just a small hand pushed roller that gets filled with water. The effort put forth builds character!

In my experience, rolling is the key. It puts the seed in good contact with the soil for the moisture needed to germinate. I have even had success in dry spells. I was surprised by how much came up.

The soils around here are quite acid. Lime would have certainly helped, but I never did lime, and it worked out fine, even though a lot of sub-soil ended on top. Ole Mom Nature, really does wonders.

 

[Slippy]

I have used a box blade and FEL w/ toothbar to put in a lot of trials. If you got time and it is not too thick it works fine. My land is very hilly and last time I worked on them I bent my box blade by catching it on a stump. My suggestion is to spend the time you would in a day working on trials on marking where you want them, then the next day hire a dozer w/ good operator. By the end of the day you will have a lot more trials and a lot nicer. Then use your tractor to do some finial grading, etc.

 

[Zork]

Hi, I forged a trail through virgin woods and knocked the trees down with the loader and those that would not come out...the box caught. Once I went COMPLETELY OVER THEM TO AVOID BRANCHES AND LIMBS FROM DAMAGING PLASTIC PARTS UNDERNEATH, I backed up and the box reversed the trunk and popped it out very easily. After I was done, I went in reverse and it cleaned the whole trail up very nicely. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif