clearing the land

[thecfarm]

Reclaiming The Land Back (3) - YouTube
One of my projects.
Just about done now
This has been a nice piece to work on.  If I was digging like this at any other place,multiply the rocks by 100. There was a little knoll,I wanted to cut it down and make it not so sharp,easier to mow. I thought sure I would find rocks there. Very few was found.  
There's more video about this project and one more to come.

[Bruno of NH]

Nice work Ray

[Magicman]

Nice progress Ray.  Rocks?? 

[mike_belben]

 8)

[lxskllr]

Glad I watched til the end. I was gonna comment on the poor tree  :^D  That would be a nice jul tree, and in my living room come December. About all white pine's good for. Jul trees, and smelling nice after getting thrashed by storms  :^D

[thecfarm]

There was alot of humps,not rocks,but where the ferns grow. Some was more than a foot high and 3 feet across. I have a BIG pile of them and sod too. I have plans for that pile too.
Poor tree,I have 1000's of them poor trees. ;D Was not much growing in the woods. Than my Father and me logged some of the land. Just like kicking a hornet's nest. Those white pines are as thick as hair on a dog.
We call that The New Piece. We bought back 7 acres of The Farm. That helps to keep neighbors away. I don't make a good neighbor. I am up in the morning making noise and well after dark too. I cut off enough so we could see the field across the road and see the wildlife in it. I hauled off one so called stone wall from it. I sprayed that wall for 3 years with vegetation killer. No more poison ivy. Looks like rocks was dumped around the wall,but was never built. I finally got to digging rocks out of the so called field. We mowed around the rocks for 4-5 years. Than when I would go to dig out the rocks,many was about the size of my head and just sitting on the ground.  We spent many hours going around small rocks.

[Peter Drouin]

Did you get new gizmos to put up a video with?

[WDH]

Nice video, Ray.

[mike_belben]

I think a clamp on root rake would help you A LOT with combing out these rocks.  My rock bucket is almost always on for roughing, sorting and clearing.

[thecfarm]

Brenda has a you tube channel,MAINEiac Grammie's Homestead. I started to put a few videos on for her. Her subs don't really like my tractor-wood stuff.  :(  They like her cooking ones. One video has 50,000 views.     Mine only bring in under 100. Probably will start my own channel. 

mike,I saw that in another post. Looks like something I would tear apart. The bucket on the tractor is starting to show some wear marks now. 

[mike_belben]

Well, im not saying you couldnt.. But i will say it'd be entertaining to watch you try.    ;D



When the dirt stopped coming and it switched to pure demo loads, i figured this bucket was toast, but surprisingly it has held up. The corners get over used untangling the stuff with big rebar and ive bent two tines a little but thats it.  I'll straighten and reinforce them when i get torch filled. 



  Id say i have moved 100ton of big concrete with it this summer.  My tally is somewhere in the 145-150 triaxle loads,  bobcat sorted most every pile. It rides a lot smoother in 'Bell Mode" but the tires got trashed. 






 

[thecfarm]

I probably moved that much tonnage in rocks. ;D
I made something to carry small rocks that goes on the back of the tractor. Not much to look at,but saves me from handling the rocks 2-3 more times.
I still need a grapple skidder to haul the big ones into the bog.

[mike_belben]

Anything that reduces carpal tunnel and frayed tendons is worth it!

[Roxie]

So, I'm sitting here, minding my own business, watching thecfarm running his New Holland, and I feel a presence behind me, and there was Cowboy Bob with a misty look in his eye.  I swear he could hear a tractor running two counties over.  :D

Nice video, Ray.  I'm looking forward to following your progress. 

[gspren]

there was Cowboy Bob with a misty look in his eye.  I swear he could hear a tractor running two counties over.  :D

Roxie, did he hear me start my JD yesterday to scrape my driveway? I'm only a county and a half!

[thecfarm]

Poor Bob. :D   My step son calls it Tractor porn.  ;D 
This project is almost done!!!! I only wish all my land was this easy to work on.

[thecfarm]

Should of kept my big mouth shut. ;D I have hit rocks. And I do mean rocks. I feel better now. I was thinking that somehow I was working on someone else's land. : 
It's a coming. I am not saying it's almost done again.

[thecfarm]

It's done!!! ;D 
Well I suppose I don't want to say that too loud. Next year the frost will push up more rocks. There is a video coming of my mighty fine work.

[Roxie]

Waiting for the video.  8)

[Corley5]

I'm letting the forest take back most of my fields.  The sugar maples especially are seeding their way back in.  We're keeping some of it as open ground but any that shows northern hardwood regeneration is left for the trees to grow.

[JB Griffin]

Never seen anyone use a bucket like that before.  Curious to the reasoning behind that.
We always set the bucket flush to slightly below grade and drive foward.

[thecfarm]

I wanted to just get the so called,mounds of ferns and rocks. I did not want to run into the ground all that much.I tired forward a few times. Well more than a few. ;D But backwards works the best for me,in that area.I just felt I was able to skim the stuff that I did not want off the top backwards.

[mike_belben]

I use backdrag constantly.  Every bucket heel should have ripper teeth. 

[thecfarm]

Yes,done. That is a nice word.

YouTube

[Papa1stuff]

Happy Birthday my friend  8) 8) 8) 8) Have a great day!!

[thecfarm]

Why thank you.

one more video

Reclaiming The Land Back(2) - YouTube

[Magicman]

Thank you Ray for taking the time to show your work.  Of course it that was my property there would be Sweetgum trees and no rocks.  ;D

[Andries]

Ray, I'm enjoying your videos.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to do them.
Maine looks a lot like Central and Eastern Canada to my eye.
Going back to what Mike Belden said about "every bucket should have ripper teeth on the heel".
That's new to me. Have to Google that.

[mike_belben]

You may be looking for a while.  None of them do.  

[Magicman]

Something like this? Another tool for use around the woodlot - Kobelco ED150 BladeRunner in Forestry and Logging 

[Andries]

I use backdrag constantly.  Every bucket heel should have ripper teeth.

You may be looking for a while.  None of them do.  

Yep . . . now you've got me scratching my head.  :D

[JB Griffin]

We back drag around here alot too, always after the "heavy" work is done, to smooth up.

[mike_belben]

I want a smooth front edge bucket with ripper teeth on the back of it.  Drive backward with the bucket curled up and push down to loosen hardpan or compacted gravel.  Drive forward to scrape it up or backdrag with the front edge to smooth it.   Talking skidsteer.. I dont know if it'd be useful on a tractor but i dont like needing two buckets to do the job if both surfaces could be put on one.  

I hate the chatter of trying to cut hard material going forward on a worn out machine.  The cutting edge gives too much leverage against the curl cylinder and the machines are too frontend light anyway so they want to wheelie when you are pushing forward.  Weight is biased like 70% to the back tires when empty bucket.  Putting teeth on the heel moves the force really close to the pivot and gives the curl cylinder a ton of advantage to hold things still.  When i use the heel to spread nothing chatters. But its just a flat surface and cant do much.  It much prefer there was small teeth to rake up roots and cut sod. 

[thecfarm]

Good idea Mike. That soil you see in the video is soft. A spade would go into that easy. As I said in the video that whole place was different. I dug a few good size rocks out of there, but the soil looked different in the holes. Most places around here I remove the topsoil and I am into rocks. It starts out with small ones, golf ball size and gets bigger as I go down. And harder too.
I really need a excavator or a backhoe. This digging a 6 foot hole, and sometimes much bigger, the width of my bucket, to dig a rock out is a bother to say the least. I've had rocks the size of my head hold me up from getting a rock out. A backhoe with a narrow bucket, would really help me out.

[mike_belben]

I know whatcha mean, loaders are a pain for that type of work.

A stump bucket with a grapple would work a ton better for you.  Im building a stone retaining wall now and its the next best thing to an excavator.  So much dexterity, and all the power focused into a 12" wide tooth edge.  You can get at the exact spot you want without a rock thats 2 feet away sticking its nose into your cutting edges business.

[Crusarius]

I agree about the sharp teeth on the back side of the bucket. That would be great. my problem is there are a lot of times I don't want them in the way especially using the bucket for lifting logs.

I use my 3pt box blade for almost everything landscape related now. when dragging behind the tractor is smooths real nice but as you guys said when pushing with it it sure is hard on the tractor.

I wonder if its worth making a set of teeth and mounting them on the back edge of the bucket. Could actually put them on a hinge and just flip them up flat against the back of the bucket when I do not need them in the way.

[mike_belben]

I did make a sort of cutter comb that bolted onto the back of a "dozer blade" on my deere 140 for backdragging.  Say you wanted to put a trail through a spot with high ferns and brush without wrecking the ground, it was excellent at that.  One push forward to lay them down and one or two drags back to cut them off.  But it didnt take off the topsoil or duff mat.   just severed the greens and raked leaves.  

The teeth were just slugs from a knockout slot punch.  And obviously the sharpened angle irons.




These little grubber heels were later welded to the side plates to be removable.  Theyd pinch a sappling when you hooked it and reversed.  promptly wacking you in the face before uprooting most times.



Corner cutters worked incredible too.

[Crusarius]

those look angry. I like it

[mike_belben]

Yeah, great for grubbing your toe if you werent careful walking by.  People think a hitchball sneak attack is bad...


Sharp corners and sideplates are really handy for breaking up dirtpiles and hills that have over grown.  The severing action cuts the rooty junk that holds it all in place.  Just keep peeling dirt off with the corner and pushing it out.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Nice work Ray! Hardly any rocks compared to what you're used to seeing. I do think a stone bucket would help you out. I have one and it works great for that kind of reclamation work.

[thecfarm]

Yes a stone bucket would work much better. Need one for 6 inch rocks and up and than one for 5 inch and under.I need a grapple too. Bigger tractor too. ;D 
I am back on another reclaiming project. Been mowing it for years,just started to dig the rocks out and smooth it out so I can mow it with the tractor. There will be still alot of hand mowing. With the red oak trees and rocks that I can't get out,some places are not even 5 feet wide.

[mike_belben]

A slippery slope indeed.  I cant keep them all running at the same time.  If every machine is currently working, then im either out of fuel or oil.

[hturner12]

I dont have video but been working on ours off and on for 2 years. Other than the tractor the best investment was for the ratchet rake.
https://ratchetrake.com  

I noticed  trater is making  them now.