Raking stone dust question

[RoyJackson]

Men,
As some of you know, I recently had a well drilled.
I've removed most of the spoils (there was a lot of it!) with the loader. However, there is still some on the ground that can't be removed using the loader without really tearing the grass up.
I thought about renting a landscape rake, but the tines are too coarse...landscape rakes aren't real good on a lawn.
So, what would you use? I'm not expecting pristine and I do expect the final "finishing" work will be done by hand.
BTW, I'll likely be renting which ever implement I use to do the job.

 

[Tomtint]

I have a rubber paddle that goes on the end of my Echo split shaft power head. It is fast, easy, and thorough. You can just pull your loader up to the area and fill it up with the paddle.

 

[Depmandog]

Roy,

Having no visual reference, I immediately thought of a shop vac. I suspect you would have to empty several times, but you could dump into your FEL bucket. Would that work??

Not the macho attachment perhaps, but cheap!!

 

[XSKIER]

While the hand held power broom is an effective tool, it is a "gateway drug". I started out last spring with a Shindaiwa. It was great for moving debris across the grass with out de-rooting the turf. If I had a FEL at the time it would've been better. Last summer I sold it and replaced it with this...

 

[F250DSLPWR]

My house originally had a gravel roof. I used my shop vac to vacuum up all the gravel and dump it off the roof into a wheel barrow. Had enough to re gravel my drive way! I would think that you could vacuum up the loose stuff to remove it. You may also try tying a piece of folded up carpet or a board across the tines on your land scape rake to make it more like a blade?

 

[RoyJackson]

I have a rubber paddle that goes on the end of my Echo split shaft power head. It is fast, easy, and thorough. You can just pull your loader up to the area and fill it up with the paddle.

I can't picture that..got a picture?

Guys, thanks for all the answers so far!
I think this stuff may be too mucky for a shop vacuum. But shoveling as much as possible into the bucket is, in fact, an option.
The power broom may work too, if I can find one for rent.

 

[Tomtint]

I would love to post a pic but I use a iPad and a Mac, they don't play nice with photo bucket

 

[RoyJackson]

I would love to post a pic but I use a iPad and a Mac, they don't play nice with photo bucket

That's OK...
I did look at the Echo site which gave me the idea of using a blower. I think shoveling as much as I can (the loader would dig in to the lawn at this point), then using a leaf blower might do what I need to do.

 

[XSKIER]

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi53R2vPnOo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[SPYDERLK]

Men,
As some of you know, I recently had a well drilled.
I've removed most of the spoils (there was a lot of it!) with the loader. However, there is still some on the ground that can't be removed using the loader without really tearing the grass up.
I thought about renting a landscape rake, but the tines are too coarse...landscape rakes aren't real good on a lawn.
So, what would you use? I'm not expecting pristine and I do expect the final "finishing" work will be done by hand.
BTW, I'll likely be renting which ever implement I use to do the job.

A 3pt mounted rotary brush would do a great job I think. I use one to maintain my gravel driveway.
...Like your new tag line.
larry

 

[RoyJackson]

A 3pt mounted rotary brush would do a great job I think. I use one to maintain my gravel driveway.
...Like your new tag line.
larry

I think a broom might work too....does your's tear up the grass?
Haven't seen one around here for rent, but I'll check a bit more...

 

[jenkinsph]

I think in a clean up situation such as yours that one of the most important things is to keep the footprint from getting bigger. I would use the fel bucket as dustpan and try raking with leaf rake, flat shovel and a stiff bristle push broom. Then follow up with a backpack blower.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I think a broom might work too....does your's tear up the grass?
Haven't seen one around here for rent, but I'll check a bit more...

I have poly bristle with wire mixed in. It leaves establised grass there ... just scrubs it a bit. I sweep the gravel back onto the drive from the grass shoulders. It moves loose stuf with a light touch. Heavy pressure and slow travel will dig surface imbedded gravel out of the ground, but still has a hard time uprooting grass. When looking be sure it insist on one that you can angle. Its probably more than you need for your job, but youll probably figure out something else to do with it while you have it.
larry

 

[RoyJackson]

It leaves establised grass there ... just scrubs it a bit. It moves loose stuf with a light touch. Heavy pressure and slow travel will dig surface imbedded gravel out of the ground. When looking be sure it insist on one that you can angle. Its probably more than you need for your job, but youll probably figure out something else to do with it while you have it.
larry

I saw one on the local CL a year or two back...probably a bit more since I didn't have enough PTO HP (on my old 790) at the time. I do now with the 4400.
Other tasks I've use one for would be drive maintenance (like your's, my drive is gravel), light snow removal and leaf removal (not sure how well that would work though). I'd also use a broom for the road in front of our property (20-30 yards either side of the driveway entrance).

I know PTO brooms aren't cheap, and I don't want to buy a new one...

 

[Jay4200]

I saw one on the local CL a year or two back...probably a bit more since I didn't have enough PTO HP (on my old 790) at the time. I do now with the 4400.
Other tasks I've use one for would be drive maintenance (like your's, my drive is gravel), light snow removal and leaf removal (not sure how well that would work though). I'd also use a broom for the road in front of our property (20-30 yards either side of the driveway entrance).

I know PTO brooms aren't cheap, and I don't want to buy a new one...

You need one of those big PTO blowers. I need one too...

As for your stone dust piles... I'm afraid your best bet is to do it by hand. Use your FEL for the big stuff, then use a shovel to scrape down to the grass. Then, use a metal-tine leaf rake to rake up the rest into piles, then shovel/rake the piles into your FEL. The metal-tine leaf rake pulls everything out, but is very kind to the grass. The thatching job you'll end up with is a freebee.

I had to do the same thing this past fall. My driveway is nitpack gravel, which is stone dust mixed with 3/4" stone - mostly stone dust. After the freak Halloween storm we had this year, thanks to my not-yet-frozen driveway and 2 1/2 feet of snow on top, I did a fair amount of accidental plunging into the gooshy drive when running my snowblower, especially on my parking area next to the house. Unfortunately, the driveway debris was ejected across my yard. All of the snow melted a week later, leaving a bunch of 3' wide, 6" deep, 50' long stripes of nitpack across my lawn.

It looked like it would take all day to clean up, but it only took an hour or so.

JayC

 

[tuoysRme]

Roy
I would think most rental centers would have a power broom to rent. It doesn't hurt the lawn. I use my to remove winter road sand from the shoulders of the road. It's also great for removing gravel pushed on to the lawn, from plowing the driveway. I believe they rent around here for about $70 for the day. The only problem, you might want to have one for yourself, after you use it. I have two and rake most of my lawn with them. Between gravel acorns sticks etc they work great and just use the bucket on your loader like a dust pan. Good luck

 

[RoyJackson]

All good posts so far!
Thank you!!

As an aside...I dumped quite a bit of the spoils at the end of my drive and smoothed it out using the bucket.
Boy!! What a mistake that was...with all this rain (almost an inch in the last 12 hours), it's turned back into a miserable mucky mess!!!

 

[ManAtArms]

Get the photo bucket app for the iPad/iPHone. Take the picture using your iPad or IPhone and Upload via the app. Then you can log on to photo bucket using your Mac, find the pic, copy and paste the img. code for the pic into your post and wham-o....Works like a charm.

HTH,

mark

I would love to post a pic but I use a iPad and a Mac, they don't play nice with photo bucket

 

[Rustywreck]

my hand held leaf blower will blow gravel off my driveway if I hold in too close when leaf blowing.
i've used the the rented paddle thing for spring to clean up snow plow sand. It is a wanted rental item around here in the spring.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Roy
I would think most rental centers would have a power broom to rent. It doesn't hurt the lawn. I use my to remove winter road sand from the shoulders of the road. It's also great for removing gravel pushed on to the lawn, from plowing the driveway. I believe they rent around here for about $70 for the day. The only problem, you might want to have one for yourself, after you use it. I have two and rake most of my lawn with them. Between gravel acorns sticks etc they work great and just use the bucket on your loader like a dust pan. Good luck

They are expensive, but extremely useful for moving non rooted stuf in a finesse fashion. The more you use it the more you find to do with it. I just found out how to use it to smooth a loose berm that has been made by brushing at an angle. -- Turn the broom off and drag it heavy over/along the berm while still set at angle. The brush will drag/spin from ground contact and move material subtly. A better job in a couple passes than hand raking all day! Requires a PTO that will freewheel tho.:confused3:
larry