Wooden drag harrow

[Carykong]

I want to finish up the surface of our rugby field after discing with a cheap homemade wooden rake harrow. I am thinking a wooden drag about 5' x 5' with timber nails driven thru the wood and prodruding to rake and level the dirt behind the disc. In fact would like to disc and drag at the same time. Then place the grass seed down.

I recall a tractor forum thread on homemade wooden attachments but could not find it with a search.

Any suggestions or experience in this area would be appreciated mightly

 

[jenkinsph]

Might work for awhile if you used two railroad ties about 10 ft in length. Cut them in half and bolt together in a square with the front to rear pieces stacked on top of the cross pieces. I would consider driving some spikes into the bottom sides leaving the heads exposed and a few inches of spike.

Not going to be as good as a real harrow but should help level some anyway.


Here is a picture of a 3 pt harrow I built last year for about $250. Used oilfield 5/8" sucker rod for teeth and various pieces of left over box tubing and angle iron I had on hand. This one is 8' wide.

 

[inveresk]

You might want to think about other materials. I made mine using a section of chain link fencing with a log secured at the back end. A length of angle iron at the front is fed thro the chain links and wire tied then hung from the draw bar with chains.

When not being used it rolls up for easy storage.

 

[rus_geek]

I've had good luck using wood pallets to drag/smooth/level. You can tie some block on top for weight if they bounce around too much.

-rus-

 

[clemsonfor]

"wood implements"? What year is this, are you pulling them with your mule? The only wood i would use would be for weight ontop of an implement or metal harrow. What is a "wood" disk even look like? How does you tractor not tear it up? Bolting RR cross ties into a square and driving spikes into it and then grinding the heads off will work but i think it would be cheaper to get some scrap and weld up some with cet pieces of rebar or find a used one. My point is if you have not priced spikes lately there prolly going for around $1/piece or $5-8lb? and it would not take many 10" spikes to make a pound.

 

[Carykong]

Good day Forum,Most thankful and amused by your counsel on my quest for a wooden drag harrow. My metal working skills and welding skills are nil,therefore,oak is a natural choice for me. I own a logmill,and I have a plentiful supply of oak and a bucket of timber nails languishing in my shed. I am thinking I wll adapt the key elements of Jenkinsph's homemade metal drag in the previous post and photo. Really like the way Jenkinsph angled the spikes to avoid too many hangups while dragging. I will share photos on my finished attachment when completed. Many apologies for dragging (no pun intended-ha-ha) our forum back to the wood and mule era.

 

[maybar]

I want to finish up the surface of our rugby field after discing with a cheap homemade wooden rake harrow. I am thinking a wooden drag about 5' x 5' with timber nails driven thru the wood and prodruding to rake and level the dirt behind the disc. In fact would like to disc and drag at the same time. Then place the grass seed down.

I recall a tractor forum thread on homemade wooden attachments but could not find it with a search.

Any suggestions or experience in this area would be appreciated mightly

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Actually with loose dirt you may not need the timber nails. Try it first without and they can always be added.

What you need is called a split log drag. It works to level humps because of being built and pulled on the bias like a road maintainer blade.

If built like one pictured, a dumped pile of dirt can be leveled by adjusting the angle of draft and either point A or point B hooked into the edge of the pile. It's actually pretty fast as there is very little lost motion as can be the case with other equipment.

 

[Carykong]

Maybar,The split log drag has some intriguing value. I may incorporate elements of this type drag with the rake. Appreciate the pictures. Do you have any personal experience using this type of drag?

 

[maybar]

Maybar,The split log drag has some intriguing value. I may incorporate elements of this type drag with the rake. Appreciate the pictures. Do you have any personal experience using this type of drag?

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No, I don't have any experience using either of the drags pictured. The one picture where horses were used to pull was in the early 1900s and from an old book I have. That was just a few years before my time.

The other pic with the "A" and "B" is my concept of how I would build one if I needed a good one for leveling. The shear cutting action will to a great extent eliminate the roller coaster effect.

Until I need a better one I'll use this 3 ft. square one with a channel iron frame pulled straight for harrowing (2x4 with spike nails at an angle) and flipped over and pulled on an angle for leveling. Don't know what it is for sure but have had 3 of them here at the ranch for 30 years.

 

[flusher]

I want to finish up the surface of our rugby field after discing with a cheap homemade wooden rake harrow. I am thinking a wooden drag about 5' x 5' with timber nails driven thru the wood and prodruding to rake and level the dirt behind the disc. In fact would like to disc and drag at the same time. Then place the grass seed down.

I recall a tractor forum thread on homemade wooden attachments but could not find it with a search.

Any suggestions or experience in this area would be appreciated mightly

Here's what I use to bust up the clods after discing my 6 acre hayfield--a piece of chain link fence, two pieces of fence post, a couple of beat up pallets and a bunch of pavers (20 lb each)

 

[s78wingrider]

On my grandfather's farm I grew up on we had a homemade drag made out of (guessing) 10"x10" oak set edge ways and notched on top for cross pieces, and bolted together. It was pulled behind disk and worked very good. Aaron

 

[TractorRob]

Good day Forum,Most thankful and amused by your counsel on my quest for a wooden drag harrow. My metal working skills and welding skills are nil,therefore,oak is a natural choice for me. I own a logmill,and I have a plentiful supply of oak and a bucket of timber nails languishing in my shed. I am thinking I wll adapt the key elements of Jenkinsph's homemade metal drag in the previous post and photo. Really like the way Jenkinsph angled the spikes to avoid too many hangups while dragging. I will share photos on my finished attachment when completed. Many apologies for dragging (no pun intended-ha-ha) our forum back to the wood and mule era.

Hey, I'm with you on the metal working skills. Definitly show us pictures, I might need to make one myself. By the way, here's the thread you were looking for: wood (No weld) tractor mods

 

[LBrown59]

Here is my wooden DRAG.

 

[jimmyj]

I have also dragged all sorts of crazy stuff before I got harrows. Pallets, iron beams, tires, heavy timbers, fencing, even a big "grill" made of rebar welded together like a giant checkerboard. Try it without the nails, I doubt you need them and I wonder if they'd just bend over.

Let us know what you do though please.

 

[Carykong]

Built my wooden drag and tested it in my field for about twenty minutes yesterday. Did not have a disced field to drag so my real test will be in early Sept when I disc our club rugby field and drag with my homemade harrow. As you can see from the pictures,the drag looks like a big pallet. 5x5 Oak timbers held together by 6/4 oak boards. Sealed the wood with a preservative. The timber nails did bend some,so I am not confident the nails will hold up after long use but I expect to use this drag only a couple of times a year. If the nails completly bend up against the timbers, I think I will replace with rebar. Any opinions on that?

 

[Baby Grand]

If the nails completly bend up against the timbers, I think I will replace with rebar. Any opinions on that?

Unless you can find some 3/4" rebar I'd try something more like a railroad spike. I think the smaller diameter rebar will just bend up on you same as the timber nails did. 3/4" OD gas pipe cut 45 degrees on the end might work nicely, too - the only metal working skills you would need are using a hacksaw. You could secure them to your drag by drilling blind holes into your timbers.

I like the idea of making the drag out of wood as much as possible. It's the material you have in abundance, you clearly know how to work with it, and it recycles clean in the stove when it's wore out. A quick browse through either of Eric Sloan's books A Reverence for Wood or A Museum of Early American Tools will show what is possible. Just this past weekend I drove over a covered bridge in Vermont that is probably over 100 years old, almost completely made of wood and still solid as a rock.

-Jim

 

[Ford850]

The longer the spikes, the easier they will bend. If you go with rebar I think you'll have to use spikes that extend about half that length.

 

[Grand_Pooba]

I drag a wooden "float" behind my disk for finish work. It's made from 2x10s or 2x8s. I usually end up throwing some big rocks on it near the back. It works great and leaves it real flat. No protuding spike needed. I couple eye bolts bolted thru the front can be used for attaching it with chains.

 

[Carykong]

Thank you fellas for the comments.Time and some experience will finish this story. I do like G.Pooba's drag with the lapped boards. One could set the drag on its side for storage and it would shed water quite nicely. I will follow up on this thread after I drag the rugby pitch in sept.

 

[MESSMAKER]

Look into some rebar spikes. They are about 12" long, 1/2" around and pointed with holes drilled in them every so often. They are used to hold wire at the correct height when you pour concrete. They are about $2 each.