"Claw" Handles Thorny Trees

"Claw" Handles Thorny Trees WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 27-3-34 "My dad and I had to remove a quarter mile of hedge trees from a fence line. The trees have big, sharp thorns so dragging them around by hand isn't much fun,," says Carl Walter, Spring Valley, Ill., who made a loader-mounted device to move the trees around. The "Claw", as they call it, extends about 7 ft. in front of the loader bucket. They started by welding two lengths of 6-in. channel iron together to form a rectangular tube that bolts to the bottom of the bucket. The claw, which is about 1 1/2 ft. long, bolts onto the end of this tube. They used 4-in. channel iron to make two stationary fingers and a single, movable finger that's connected to a hydraulic cylinder. The movable finger rotates on a 1 1/4-in. dia. bolt and is controlled by a lever in the tractor cab. A length of channel iron bolts on between the tube and one side of the bucket to to provide side support. A chain between the claw and the top edge of the bucket provides vertical support. "It saves a lot of work - we don't even have to touch the trees anymore," says Carl. "We use it with our Case-IH 5240 tractor. My dad drives the tractor and clamps the claw around the tree, then I use a chain saw to cut the tree off. He then lifts the tree up and hauls it to a wood pile. He doesn't have a good view of the claw so I guide him in and tell him when to stop and when to put pressure on the tree. The claw can grab trees up to 14 in. in diameter, but most of our trees are only 4 to 6 in. in diameter." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Carl Walter, 16458 3100 E. St., Spring Valley, Ill. 61362 (ph 815 894-2813 ).

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