My third post: Best way to clear brush

[Louisiana_John]

Just like Medowlarkponds said this is what a small dozer is great for. Use with out the rake for bigger stuff. Small stuff use the rake. Then sweep with the rake. Dress up with the dozer rake less. Do the last steep on your own with the tractor. If you don't have alot hire it done.
Here is a pic of my Brush Tool.
John
[image]

 

[Highbeam]

That just looks mean.

 

[FL4400]

This is what I have been using to clear brush and knock down the trees I need out of the way. It was built by Lynn's Welding out of Perry, FL.

 

[CT_Tree_Guy]

I do like the dozer with rake, and that's a nice-looking rake on FL's 4400. That's not going to break anytime soon!

I've been following this thread for quite a while, and notice that nobody has mentioned (I don't think) a brush grapple. While some of the other methods would be faster, like that monster shredder, or a dozer, or tree shears, they're obviously very pricey and would require big machines and/or lots of hydraulic flow.

For smaller-scale brush-handling and clearing, a brush grapple and hand-cutting (with a chain saw or clearing saw) isn't a bad way to go. There are a heck of a lot of good grapples out there that don't cost a fortune ($1500-$3000) and do a heck of a lot of work. Bradco, Anbo, WR Long, Pirhana and Addington make good grapples, to name a few. WR Long has one of the best hydraulic solenoid and loader control setups I've seen.

A search on the word "grapple" will give you more than you can read in a month; lots of good stuff on this site about them.

I have the Bradco with the WR Long controls and it sure makes life easy when dealing with brush.

John

 

[miltrade]

Just as an update, I have been working on this using a combination of chainsaw, pulling chains, forklift attachment, and front end loader. I venture in knock over what I can with the FEL, then jump off and cut down the larger stuff with the chainsaw, then go in to load up the forklift attachment and carry it out. It's slow work, but short of putting out several thousand dollars in new equipment, I have to make do like this. I can tell you that I am looking more closely at purchasing a PTO wood chipper as it would really be a lot easier to simply chip and grind all of the branches and smaller saplings etc. As it is, I am having to try to pick them up with the forklift and put them on burnpiles. I haven't burned anything but I have several piles. I am going to wait until April 15th, when we can once again burn all day instead of just after 4pm.

 

[Highbeam]

My more recent land clearing adventures in areas with dense underbrush was done by equipping the tractor with the brush hog and FEL/toothbar.

I first go in and push over smaller brush and saplings up to about 3 inches around the outer edge and then back in with the brush hog and chop/shred it all up. Then turn around and do it again. I work around larger trees, logs on the ground, and other non-choppable obstacles until I've done a good area of underbrush chopping. Then I drop the mower (if needed), cut down trees that must go, and drag out the big stuff into clean piles to be burnt someday maybe. The piles are much, much smaller if all of the choppable small stuff is left on the forest floor in shreds. The toothbar allows me to rake humps in the soil into driveable surface and the mower actually dips into the dirt to act as a land leveler and shallow tiller.

I have done about 2 acres this way leaving mature trees and the shreddings on the ground really makes a parklike environment. I also have grown fond of limbing the mature trees as high as I can with the chainsaw from the ground and shredding those up. The brush hog is a marvelous tool.