Box Scraper Brush Hog then Box Blade?

[Rail Dawg]

Got a bunch of fallen branches and tall weeds in the woods.

Do I first Brush Hog it and then go by again with a box blade?

Rookie question but I am indeed a rookie.

 

[clemsonfor]

Why are you bushhogging your woods? Or are these just trees that you keep manicured around the house? If small branches say under 2" i would just bushhog over them and the weeds at once after removing any bigger ones out of the way. But what is the box blade for? I cant figure that one out in my head. Now if you wan to move big branchs by using the boxblade as a dozer blade in reverse or back up to a big one and hoook it and pull foward you can do that but i would do it before i bushhogged.

 

[SLHawkins]

I am with clemsonfor. What is your endstate? Are you trying to do any grading, or just want to clean up the trash/debris when you are finished cutting. If they are just small branches and weeds, just bushhog and let it shred the branches and weeds, and then let it lay to mulch. If the branches are large enough to require pushing out of the way, you will need to do that before you bushhog. Do you have a front end loader? If so, I would use that to pile up the brush - before or after doesn't make a difference.

Hawk

 

[Ford tractor]

You always want to manually clear the area you will be cutting so you don't hit hidden objects that can damage the mower, tractor, you or others.

 

[Rail Dawg]

OK this is a big help. I do appreciate it.

They logged our woods here in Texas but they still left a lot of trees. They "topped" and took off a lot of branches in the logging and left them on the ground. Then the Yaupons took over along with the weeds.

We want to clear all this out and get it down to the dirt.

Today we had the box blade and was pulling it through the heavy stuff. It did clear it out but the branches did get stuck in front of the box blade.

Help me out here... should I be using the loader first?

Yeah I'm a rookie but I know this is the place to learn.

Thanks!

 

[Rail Dawg]

You always want to manually clear the area you will be cutting so you don't hit hidden objects that can damage the mower, tractor, you or others.

We will do this from now on.

Thanks.

 

[whynot162]

Flip the rippers in you box the other way, and go backwards, so when it gets full it is not stuck between the tractor and the box.
The rippers work good for this king of large rake.

 

[clemsonfor]

Yea go in reverse and use it like a dozer blade. It may be better worth your time and wear on your tractor to rent a skid steer?

As a forester, loggers leave and scatter the branches to help with erosion control. Its a technique suggested by state agencies as well as Best management practices.

 

[rasimmo]

You may want to look into getting a grapple for the loader. It will cost a little, but I think it would really help.
You should have had the crew that select cut my grandpa's place. They chipped and hauled off all the tops and limbs. I am sure they were sold to add to the logger's profits. It really looked nice when they were done.

There are several threads on here about grapples if you search.

 

[clemsonfor]

You may want to look into getting a grapple for the loader. It will cost a little, but I think it would really help.
You should have had the crew that select cut my grandpa's place. They chipped and hauled off all the tops and limbs. I am sure they were sold to add to the logger's profits. It really looked nice when they were done.

There are several threads on here about grapples if you search.

That is a good thing. hope you or your forester or granddad watched them to make sure you did not lose any merchantable wood into the chipper. They like to chip up the topwood that should go for pulpwood.

The margin on chips is not that good they barely are breaking even now with chippers, but they do it as it saves time for the loader man in merchandising time, and it allows them to keep the chipper flowing allowing the production that they need. This is good for them and dont matter but to you (if your selling unit price sales) you are loosing money. The difference is that you are left with a clean forest floor when done. Looks good but honestly is bad for the site as you are removing all of the site nutrients(nothing to be recycled by rotting), in my opininon. The other option is to have them bring all debris to the deck adn leave it there and pile it and not have them tote debris back and scatter it into the skid trails. You can then burn the pile next year and be left with next to nothing in debris.