Land clearing part 3

dmccarty · Feb 5, 2001

s1120,

That aint a mess! That looks real nice. I'll have to scan some of what I'm having to clean up.....

Pay attention to what Del said. My neighbors had a bull dozer in to make their driveway and house site. They paid them extra to clear out some down trees which they did not really do and drove all through the future septic site. This is a big no no for us since the soil is BAD real BAD. Any compaction will kill their ability to get the septic field.....

The timbering put scars on alot of my trees that were not sold. Primary in heavily trafficed or confined areas on the property. I'm not sure if the some of the trees will live or not. Time will tell. I have seen some trees heavily damaged by beaver managing to survive.

After dealing with contractors, and still having a house to build, I want to limit people from working on my land. They just make a mess of things..... 8-(

How many acres do you have to clear? How big are the trees/saplings. My property had a road built 30 years ago and it was not maintained. I cleared the road with a chainsaw and a Stihl edger with a saw blade. I cleared 1600 foot of road that was about 12-15 feet wide. It took me a long time!

BUT I was able to leave some trees I liked and not damage the road. The timber guys finished a few hundred feet that I could not get to. I'm sure it took them all of 30 minutes to clear out the remaining couple hundred feet. It was not a disaster what they did but I would not have done it that way either....

With the tractor/FEL/4n1 bucket I cleared out a 60 foot section of pine saplings up to 4-5 inches in diameter that I had left on the road. It took about an hour to push 'em down, pull up the stump with the 4n1, and stack 'em. It would have taken about an hour to just cut them with the Stihl. I never would have gotten the stumps up and it would have taken another hour or so to stack the trees. I would have worked my tail off to do it as well.

I did not break a sweat using the tractor.

I''ll be burning the trees I have cleared. I have done one burn already and finished stacking a second pile this weekend. I REALLY wish I could have worked the property today since we got alot of rain last night, there is not a cloud in the sky, and no wind. Perfect to burn. I'll have one more burn after this second one to finally be rid of the saplings.

I looked at getting a chipper but a good one is around 4,000 dollars and I just can't justify spending the money when a match is so cheap.....

Another problem with a chipper is that *** I *** have to feed the machine. With the 4n1 I just pick a bunch of trees up and pile them in a burn pile. Not a big deal and I don't work up a sweat. That would not be the same feeding the chipper....

From what I see in your pictures, **** I **** would push the small saplings over with the FEL and use the 4n1 to pick them up. Some will break off and leave the root in the ground. Depending on ground conditions and the species the 4n1 would get most of the 4-5 inch or less stumps out of the ground. Bigger trees I would take down with a chainsaw and dig up the stumps if I had to.

I have a JD 4700, 460 FEL, 4n1 bucket and JD48 backhoe. It really depends on the tools you have and how much time you want to put it. If you had a small tractor like a BX2200 that would limit what you can do or how you can do.

Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty

Anonymous Poster · Feb 5, 2001

dmmcarty

hey, thanks, I forgot all about utilities. If you haven't been through this before folks, have your phone, power etc located (it's free) and put some metal stakes in the ground and keep them painted or take pictures or something so you know where everything is. Same with septic if your county keeps plans on file. Utilities, power especially is supposed to be 3-4 foot down, sometimes they aren't, and it is spendy to patch. In the old days the phone company came out and did it for a cup of coffee. Check now what it costs.

And figure where your septic will be and don't touch the ground if possible before the system is in, the county and declare the area unuseable if the site is disturbed sometimes. Forget about the fact that you and I know it will still work, they want it to work for 200 years with 10 times your water use. I saw a website once but lost it a year or so ago was something like "Mistakes I Made Building My House" just an individual's misadventures, was very humorous and sad. Good for people like me that are only a couple steps above the ignorant!

Speaking of utilities, when we first moved in we had a 6 pair phone line but in, they used a plow behind a little tractor. Didn't know any better, later our septic would work for a year and then have to be pumped then work another year etc. Decided to investigate, by that time I had a backhoe, carefully exposed the out-pipe, went a foot away, the plow had gone right through the pipe and the phone line was in where the pipe was. My "septic" field consisted of dumping out and going a foot. Good Ground!

I had a licensed septic guy do the repair, had gravel delivered, I did all th excavation etc, septic guy said that would be another $150 I sent the phone company a bill for $100, they paid and pestered me for about 3 years for my "contractor's license number" (ha ha). Finally they gave up.

Bird · Feb 5, 2001

Aaah yes, have the utility companies mark their lines. I wish some one had told that to the contractor the state's hired to patch bad place in a farm to market road in our area. He's using an auger on the front of a bobcat to drill holes to set signs "Road Work Ahead" and he's drilled into our water main twice in the last week, including this afternoon./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif So, we barely have a trickle of water right now and have already been told we'll have no water tomorrow. The only good news is that my wife has enough water drawn for the coffee tomorrow./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

s1120 · Feb 5, 2001

Dan.
Well, I do not have a FEL. But that was what I was thinking. I have an old case/Ingersol 444, it is about the same size as a BX, but 2 wheel drive. Way too much for that work for it. I do have an old Dodge powerwagon plow truck.. I may try to use that. Chain up 4 or 5 trees, and yank! I figure if I can pull a 5000 LB car with no air in the front tires, up a 40-50 deg hill, in the snow. It can pull down some trees.

fishman · Feb 14, 2001

Gosh, if my little acreage only looked so good./w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

If you get a bulldozer in to do this stuff and they can't get around your big trees, there is a really nice tool available that can. dmccarty used something similar but this tool is really nice. And yes I have one (no tractor though). /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

A handheld brushcutter. I own a Stihl FS85 with a straight solid shaft. One can install proprietary metal saw blades on it, and cut down trees up to 4" in diameter. It weighs about 10 lbs and runs forever on a pint of fuel. To date I have done all of the clearing around my place with it and am very impressed. The long shaft allows you to cut off small trees flush with the ground, and you can stand up straight. As such, it is a tremendous improvement over a chainsaw. All for $319 with a lifetime clutch and shaft warranty, two years on the motor. If I sound like a Stihl fan, I am. Add a Stihl 029 and your wife will start asking why you need a tractor. "Hon, I can't very well grade the driveway with it". /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

In your case, you could cut the small trees away from the larger ones you want to keep, and the bulldozer operator would have no reason to get near them.

Maybe my signature should include a brushcutter slung over my shoulder. Well, back to the drawing board. . .

dmccarty · Feb 14, 2001

fishman,

I'm still laughing at your signature line!

I think I have a Stihl 80. If I knew what it would end up doing I would have bought a bigger model. I have cut 4-5 inch trees along my road and it really saved my back. Using a chainsaw for this kinda work is REAL hard on the back. I have a Stihl 046 which is one heavy HEAVY %^&*() chainsaw. It goes through 20+ inches of oak without a problem but lordy it will whip you %^&*()! Especially when you are trying to cut trees off at ground level! I ended up getting some knee pads to help out my back. Kneeling on a 1-2 inch sapling you just cut with the FS 80 does NOT make one a happy camper!

Pine is REAL easy to cut through with the circular saw blades. I could easily get a 5 inch pine tree. Hardwoods on the other hand are tough on the FS 80. But that tool sure is impressive. So is the chainsaw.

I went through quite a few saw blades. I endedup staying away from the circular saw blades that had the little teeth. They looked liked what you would use on a Radial or Table Saw. There is another blade that only had a small number of wide teeth, maybe 8-12 on the blade. This was the saw I kept getting. I would wear out the small teeth blades. The cost to sharpen them was as much as a new blade so using them started to get expensive fast. The blade with the small number of wide teeth I could sharpen with a file. The teeth are about .5-1 inch wide and a regular metal file sharpened them up real quick.

Hope this helps! Maybe save you some money to put in the tractor fund and get rid of the wheel barrow!

Dan McCarty

s1120 · Feb 14, 2001

. Add a Stihl 029 and your wife will start asking why you need a tractor.

Now why would I want to do that/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

shade2u2 · Feb 15, 2001

Boy these posts are on the money & sound very familiar. I had a dozer guy give me a deal to "thin out" the front acre of my woods and I ended up with a handfull of trees left standing & a burn pile bigger than my future house. I did not watch all the dozer work as I should & let this "expert" persuade me & override my common sense opinion-> lesson learned. One summer later, that wood pile was finally cut up or burned. I still have the stumps to get rid of = don't forget the stumps! I still haven't found anyone wanting to buy them-lol. I've burned them some & hopefully more dirt has crumbled off this winter so I can burn them some more. I've considered digging a hole with my box blade for stump burial. Am I crazy to consider or try this? The dozer can do the work quick & easy (& more $) but only with your guidance if you expect to end up with what you want. I'm working on thinly clearing the rest with my TC33 with loader, box blade & rake. I want to get some forks on the loader to help handle trees & brush - can't justify the 4 in 1 cost. Does anyone recommend a fabrication design for forks to fit on my bucket? I push over the small trees (alot of locust=not much of a root system), pile them & drag them by chain to the cut or burn pile. I place the brush & trees on my 25' heavy duty chain, wrap it up & drag. Good strong chains are indespensible... The larger trees that I want out I may cut off a few feet high & then have the dozer (yeechs) come in to push over & out... Unless someone gives me a better plan. Another nasty item that I have to contend with is "multiple rose" which is a mean thorn covered, indestructible, grows & regrows everywhere, useless plant. Well I suppose God has a use for it - deer wont go through it & skunks nest in it. I to have a Stihl FS85 with a cutting blade that I use to make a 1000" path prior to the Boomer. Yes 1000 ft! The blade that I found & recomend looks like a circular chain saw blade & worked much better than the saw blades with little sharpening. My Stihl dealer suggested it but I can't remember the manufacturer - not Stihl. It does save on the back bending with the Stihl chain saw & will cut up to 4-5" trees as well as small brush. From now on, most areas will be cleared with the Boomer. I guess this ends my advice, display of mistakes, & questions...

Bird · Feb 15, 2001

Does anyone recommend a fabrication design for forks to fit on my bucket?

I have some home made forks that I rigged up using regular 4' forks from a forklift, but I think the best arrangement I've seen is probably what Harv has, and I think maybe Carver sells them; clamp on forks.

blade that I found & recomend looks like a circular chain saw blade 

I had a Stihl string trimmer and one of the blades that looked like my circle saw blade, but I sold it to my brother when I bought a DR trimmer/mower which has a 12 inch "Beaver Blade" that I guess is what you have; a chain saw chain around a metal disk. It sure cuts fast.

Bird

fishman · Feb 15, 2001

dmccarty,

8-12 teeth on the blade? Even I could sharpen that many. You are right on the money about the little teeth though. Stihl gives you two options, a "scratcher" blade that looks like a table saw blade, and another on which the teeth are shaped like a miniature chain saw tooth and have to be sharpened with a circular file. I have the second one, and although the local saw guy sharpens them for $4, he is still refining his technique to my satisfaction. I really would like to know the source of your large-tooth blades, if you remember.

An 046 is a huge chainsaw! My dad still has the 041 he bought in 1979 and it still performs like a champ. A couple of months ago I realized that whenever he loaned it to me it always needed a tuneup, a clutch assembly, sharpening, whatever./w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif So I went out and bought an 029. The housing is mostly plastic, unlike the old 041, but it sure cuts fine.

And for all you Kubota lovers out there, Stihl products are orange !