Pics of interesting soil prep equipment

Redbug · Nov 21, 2006

As much as we all like tractors and stuff, I thought I would share a few pics of the type of equipment used out at my hunt club down in South Carolina. Just some fascinating stuff you may like, also.

After an area is logged, (usually clearcut), nothing is done for a year to let the debris "soften up" and begin to rot. In preparation for a new planting of pines, they bring in the "Big Boys". One dozer has a rake type blade, for piling up debris in rows and pulls huge disk and single rower behind it. The other dozer has a long steep angle blade with serrations along the bottom. It cuts the stumps off at ground level. Behind it, another huge disk and rower. That thing will shear off oak stumps 3 feet in diameter! I have sat in the cab with the operator...and what a rush! The company that makes the blades and other neat stuff is...
Savannah Equipment Pty Ltd - h11473

Pretty interesting watching the pair work together. Several hundred acres at a time. The soil is rowed up and pine trees planted in the winter. Pines grow in the winter, and summer is too hot and dry down here to get a good start. Maybe later pics of some of the monster logging equipment, (using duals, or tracks), for oak in the swamps or helo spraying.

EddieWalker · Nov 21, 2006

Thanks for the pics and information. I'd love to have seen some action pics of those blades going through the ground and those stumps!!!

As for why they plant pines in winter, I thought it was because they were not growing and in fact, dormant.

Thanks,
Eddie

Redbug · Nov 22, 2006

Hi there Eddie,

Nice meeting you. When you're exposed to stuff...you get an interest in it. That's the way it is with the forestry industry and me. Yes, pines do grow in the winter, though at a slower rate. And winter has more rain...moisture.

The dozer, (D8?) with the V shaped Savannah blade sometimes has to back up and make another swipe or two at a particularly big or hard stump. The crew after a couple days shearing with the blade, will take out their 7" angle grinders and sharpen up the dulled serrated edges to cut better again. I can just imagine a horror movie with one of those things instead of the guy with a chainsaw...

Highbeam · Nov 22, 2006

I could swear they called those rome plows, the dozer blade made to shear off stumps. They used them in the jungles to eliminate the jungle and therefor the cover of the enemy. Green cats.

What is with the big roller behind the disc? Is that to create a sort of crude raised bed?

Redbug · Nov 22, 2006

Highbeam...That's exactly what it does. That is what makes the long raised beds, (rows), on top of which the little pines are inserted, (planted).
I've never heard of the term, "rome plow", but it's not surprising they were used in Viet Nam since they are so efficient. I'll ask around about the term. Always something new to learn.

GaryM · Nov 27, 2006

Redbug said:
I can just imagine a horror movie with one of those things instead of the guy with a chainsaw...

Old movie named "Killdozer". Makes me not want to slepp anywhere near a tracked vehicle!

BTDT · Nov 28, 2006

Looks like he hit a waterline in the first pic with the standing water, must not have called DIG-TESS before starting work.

Highbeam · Nov 28, 2006

Oh, it turns out the rome plow was a major vietnam jungle buster during the war. The thing was very good at clearing out cover so that the bad guys couldn't hide. Lots of vietnam sites come up when searching for a good pic.

Redbug · Nov 30, 2006

Highbeam,
I had never heard of the term "rome plow" until your post. But, I did a google on it and learned a lot. I also asked one of my friends', (a Viet Nam vet), he had seen them working in action. He told me as much land was cleared using the rome plow as agents orange, or blue. The chemicals left a lot of standing dead vegetation which still provided cover. But not with the blade. Interesting stuff!