Stone dust for traction on ice

[Hoss710]

coal ashes work great on ice.

 

[Hay Dude]

Sorry to say, the wrong chains then.
These will bit and go, the best of any chains I used in a great many years.
View attachment 780895
I can stop and backup on my 26% slope on ice.

Yes, to other questions salted sand does tend to hold more moisture.
But the salt helps minimize the freezing. At times I'll have 4-6 inches of frozen sand in my pile,
I can push in under it and break up most of it and the sand under is still thawed.
I keep it cover as best as a tarp will do, to reduce the snow and rain that gets to it.
I'll drive over the frozen chunks then they will go through my sander.

Like your home brew “winter front”.

 

[airbiscuit]

Crushed Oyster Shells or Chicken Grit

 

[rekees4300]

I got chains. On solid ice up the hill they are no help

My recomendation was based upon a 1000' gravel, hilly driveway for 22 years. My chains are similar to those ice-biters in the picture posted by LouNY.

 

[LouNY]

Like your home brew “winter front”.

She is a high dollar one

 

[Torvy]

It's no wonder y'all have so many rust problems. Salt is definitely effective and helping to melt ice, but it is not worth the corrosion to me. (Or the damage to plants near the application site). Lots of good examples without the corrosion of salt.

Of course, you could just move where ice is rare and temporary.

 

[LD1]

I dunno...I use woodstove ash on ice here and it works better than sand. It's about as fine as it gets. Downside is it tracks more than sand too. We remove our shoes before coming in the house so it's not as big a deal.

Same here. Absolute best traction of anything on ice and hard packed snow.

HAlf a 5-gal bucket is enough to do the hill at my shop drive which is ~20'x80' of area.

Just gotta get good at playing the wind with spreading it if you know what I mean

 

[Thomas]

I dunno...I use woodstove ash on ice here and it works better than sand. It's about as fine as it gets. Downside is it tracks more than sand too. We remove our shoes before coming in the house so it's not as big a deal.

Also use wood ashes here and there and your right "Downside is it tracks more than sand too"

 

[pmsmechanic]

I have a flat driveway with no hills. I like to pack down the first layers of snow so that later when I come with the snowblower I'm not blowing gravel off the driveway. Usually we get enough warm weather to melt the snow/ice and when it snows again I start over. This year not so!

I have a diamond tooth harrow (Just 2, 4' wide harrows that I welded together onto a 3ph frame) that use in summer to loosen up and level the driveway. In winter it does a really great job of shaving the ice while driving in reverse. The shavings freeze onto the ice and you end up with a surface that isn't slippery. The downside is that you need to redo this every few days as the ice tends to slowly melt away. The upside is that I don't need to spread sand/ashes that pack into the gravel over time and track into the house/shop.

 

[BrierPatch]

I have a flat driveway with no hills. I like to pack down the first layers of snow so that later when I come with the snowblower I'm not blowing gravel off the driveway. Usually we get enough warm weather to melt the snow/ice and when it snows again I start over. This year not so!

I have a diamond tooth harrow (Just 2, 4' wide harrows that I welded together onto a 3ph frame) that use in summer to loosen up and level the driveway. In winter it does a really great job of shaving the ice while driving in reverse. The shavings freeze onto the ice and you end up with a surface that isn't slippery. The downside is that you need to redo this every few days as the ice tends to slowly melt away. The upside is that I don't need to spread sand/ashes that pack into the gravel over time and track into the house/shop.

Similar here, except my drive is all uphill. I made what I call an ice ripper. simple C channel with spikes welded and 3pt frame. The tips are starting to round off, but have been using it for over ten years, but only need it occasionally when the conditions are just right to make drive ice.