Very disappointed with my landscape rake

[oosik]

Here comes the grapple comment. Out on the property I've tried "gathering" by back dragging with the top jaw on the grapple - no joy. Too unflexable - rather than gathering it levels. It was just a though anyhow - Mother Nature will dispose of these.

On my lawns - I chop them into bits by mowing them with the riding mower. Just a part of the normal mowing of my lawns.

 

[Richard]

To counter the loader comments.... (I have an industrial backhoe with 8' wide bucket)

The bucket is better than carrying, no doubt about it. However, when you pick up a branch, unless you trim it to become a stick, the side branches of it will drape over the edges of the bucket and prevent other branches from going in.

If you pack them in there, as you drive them to your destination, you will bounce a bit and one or some will spring out of your bucket and you have to go back to get them.

Side comment....I guess in part, it depends on how large your branches are.

Just last weekend, I walked around the field in front of my house with a pole saw so I could "square off" all the branches that intrude enough to rip at my exhaust stack or my body as I drive by. Cut them last week, yesterday, I drove backhoe around same field to pick them up and take to burn pile.

I think I did something like 10 loads before I got enough to make me tired... I'll get the rest later.

While doing this, I realized that if I instead, had a trailer I could probably fit more in there. Then of course, you have to get them out so now we're looking at a dump trailer which I'm not going to buy and, can't fit behind my backhoe.

So I just let them spring out, pick them back up and am thankful that it's easier than dragging them by hand.

As much as I love it, I don't know that a loader bucket is always the best answer either.

Said with no intent to irritate anyone.

 

[atsah]

I use my ratchet rake and get them into a decent pile then, I throw them all in the chipper..

 

[boroxc]

I have over an acre of lawn with two dozen large trees. Still walk around picking up branches every spring and after storms. Wish there was an easier way but have not found it.

This is the correct tool for picking up sticks!!!

 

[Industrial Toys]

I assign my Lady friend the FOD detail, after a wind storm. Keeps her occupied with a sense of purpose for a while.

 

[AchingBack]

I think a pine straw rake would work better for leaves.

I didn't expect to see those palm trees in NW Wisconsin.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That seems to be the right tool for a job like that. Never seen one! The only thing I would have trouble with is that it does not make much allowance for uneven ground.

 

[AlbertC]

No offense meant here, but what you are doing isn't what a landscape rake is for. They are mostly for new lawn work to gather small stones and wind row them. I have an EA landscape rake that I use to keep my paths clean of limbs and debris and guess what, at the end of a few trips I have to stop and remove the limbs that get stuck. I recently bought the wheels to help with the gouging myself, but have yet to try them out. Maybe try a grapple to collect the limbs, my EA grapple works great for that. Here's both on my MX.

View attachment 597179

Before I bought the rake I went online and looked at some YouTube videos and there was one on there with some guy in coveralls who talked about how great the landscape rake was for raking limbs. I guess I should have asked here first.

One thing I have thought about where I would at least get some use out of the rake is to pick up the limbs and put them in numerous piles around the property. Then I could turn the rake around for pushing piles into about 3-4 larger piles for burning. This would save me from having to put them in the trailer, take them to central burn pile and then take them off the trailer and place in the burn pile. I have found that it is almost as much trouble to remove the limbs from the trailer as putting them on the trailer because they get inter twined and are difficult to remove.

Having multiple burn piles and not having to load and unload the trailer should save some time and effort.

 

[Professor Marvel]

Before I bought the rake I went online and looked at some YouTube videos and there was one on there with some guy in coveralls who talked about how great the landscape rake was for raking limbs. I guess I should have asked here first.

One thing I have thought about where I would at least get some use out of the rake is to pick up the limbs and put them in numerous piles around the property. Then I could turn the rake around for pushing piles into about 3-4 larger piles for burning. This would save me from having to put them in the trailer, take them to central burn pile and then take them off the trailer and place in the burn pile. I have found that it is almost as much trouble to remove the limbs from the trailer as putting them on the trailer because they get inter twined and are difficult to remove.

Having multiple burn piles and not having to load and unload the trailer should save some time and effort.

Yeah cleaning up yard limbs is not easy no matter which way you choose i don't think. Maybe if you keep trying your rake you will develop a technique that works better. You already have it it can't hurt to try different ways with it. You might find something that works for you

 

[Trails End]

I concur with others that have said that the landscape rake won't work too well with limbs with smaller branches attached.
A grapple is much better suited for that task, if you ever get a loader on your tractor. For smaller debris, the landscape rake
is great.

In early 2017 I had about an acre clear cut and any usable timber
sent to t he lumber mill. I then had the stumps removed and trucked
off to a local wood recycling center. What was left was a mess of
broken roots, limbs, rocks and other debris, along with deep ruts from
the large trucks used to haul off the stumps, shown in this photo.

I then proceeded to clean it up using my tractor with an EA landscape
rake, shown in the next photo. There's still quite a bit of debris in the
background, with a growing debris pile.

The last photo shows what that area looks like now, just using the
landscape rake to gather up the debris, and the grapple to pile it up.

Yes, there was times when I had to dismount to untangle an errant
root or other piece of wood from the tines, but that landsscape rake
definitely beat doing it by hand. It was certainly the right tool for
the job.

 

[Jcoe]

View attachment 597209

I built this for my Steiner specifically for cleaning up debris if dropping a tree on a turf area.

What makes it different is that each tine is on a bushing, on a rod so it follows the contour and doesn't dig in. It works great. The tines can also be arrested to work like a normal rake and it can really dig in.

As far as picking up small piles of branches. Really, there is no way except by hand, but at least they are in a pile.

This looks great! Any chance you’d share your plans? I’d love to make one of these! Thanks!

 

[RoyJackson]

Actually I'm wondering if this implement might work good for me to rake leaves? My second spring season on my new property and we rake a lot of leaves around the house using hand rakes and tarps to bring the leaves to the burn barrel.

Get gage wheels if you buy a landscape rake...make the job easier and minimize the tines digging in.
I thought about buying one, but I think a leaf vacuum might be a better choice

 

[JohnnyMX]

I have used my EA rake to get limbs and tree clippings with the gauge wheels. I set it to be a bit higher than the grass ~.5-1" and removed every other tine, but left the two outermost tines doubled to keep things from windowing out a bit. I thought I was going to turf the heck out of my grass, but it worked pretty well. I love it when I don't need to worry about the grass underneath. I use it more for doing dirt work and trying to help remove some of the rocks out of my food plots before rototilling.

If you are talking tiny branches you could try hitting them with a rotary cutter or flail if you had one. Better that then your finish mower.