How should I dress my pond?

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi everyone!

Need some advice on how to take a couple feet of hard stuff off the high side of my pond. I want to bring the level of the earth down to about a foot above the water level.

The summer before last I had a guy come in with a bobcat, but he could only get down so far and had to stop. He called what was there shale, but I call it hard clay. It is not really rock. But it does take a pick and shovel if you are going to do any digging by hand there, except in spring when it is damp and a bit soft.

I have my Kubota B2910 now, with a toothbar on the loader and a backhoe. I think I will buy a boxblade for this project.

It seems to me that the best way to take this surface down would be to drag a box blade over it, then pick up the scrapings with the loader, and repeat, repeat, repeat…

Back up plan would be to dig the surface with the backhoe, and then grab it with the loader.

I doubt that the loader itself would be able to easily scrape thin layers off this surface, as it is so hard, and I saw the trouble that bobcat had when he got down to the harder stuff.

Here is a picture of what I am talking about. The flat surface left by the bobcat is about 10 feet wide I guesstimate. I need to go down about 2 feet I think.

Any other suggestions? Am I on the right track as far as buying a box blade for this kind of project?

OR should I just use the backhoe and loader?

I have absolutely no experience in this area. This will be a learning project.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Bill

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Here is a second shot, from a different angle…

 

[Anonymous Poster]

And here is a third, just showing the view from up at the house…just in case you like looking at posted photos as much as I do!

 

[Kodiak]

Thats a nice looking place you have there Bill.

That looks like clay to me. Shale is a dark gray soft rock that usually cleaves into small sharp shards.

If it is indeed clay, your on the right track. A box blade with the scarifiers lowered should break up the surface into a material that you can then pick up with the loader. Your backhoe should do the same thing, Maybe a bit slower as you have to reposition often. A third alternetive might be a tiller.

Anyway you are looking at moving quite a bit of material. Will you be building a retaining wall on the high side?

Well have fun, its great when you have the ability to reshape your own property.

 

[EdKing]

Hey Bill,
If you want to "try before you buy" I have a 6ft boxblade I could bring up on some weekend for you to try to see if it will cut the ground. If you are interested, email me and let me know.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the offer of the box blade use, ED. Nice talking to you as well.

Kodiak, I will put the dirt on the low side of the pond, or to the left of it, as there is some space that I would like to build up a bit.

I went down and did a little more checking, by digging a hole with the backhoe. Turns out that this stuff looks like sandstone. It is soft though. Breaks easy, and has a lot of little sparkles in it, when you hold a piece in the sun. I did not run the loader tooth bar along to see what would happen, I guess I may do that tomorrow.

I am pretty sure this stuff gets pretty soft when it is wet...but the sand stone didn't when I washed a couple pieces off in the pond. As dry as it was the backhoe dug in without any problem at all...

Regardless of how I approach it, I guess at the end
I will need a box blade to finish it off.

Bill

 

[rocky2]

To knock some off my ponds high side I scratched out the clay with the bh and then boxbladed the loose material out. That gave it a pretty gradual slope.

 

[cj7]

I can not resist..... I am pictureing you trying to put it in clothes... lol

 

[rocky2]

I resisted too. Was wondering if it's a formal or casual pond gathering. And then there's the issue of gender...tux or gown?

 

[gerard]

I did the same thing to my pond - used the box blade with rippers to loosen then loader to move. Very do able project you have but it will take some time - you have a lot of dirt to move and it takes up even more space after you loosen it up!!