Not sure where to post. Need expert advice. I have about 40 acres of timber I want to clear. Will sell big stuff. What is best way to clear remainder? Roller Chopper then burn? What about stumps? Excavate out or stump grinder or shear? Is a track loader good for land clearing? Better than an excavator? Dumb questions, I know, but I have no idea. Thanks for all the great info.
Dig a few big holes, dig out the stumps, and throw the remainder and the stumps into the holes and burn 'em. At least thats the way that we've always done it. Nobody wants to buy wood chips around here. All they want are the big timbers so we just dig a huge hole and push it all in and burn it.
Are you doing it yourself or hiring someone to do it for you? I like to use an excavator and a crawler loader, have no real use for a blade dozer, my excavator has a thumb on it and we chainsaw off the stumps and pile the whole deal up and burn the entire works and shuffle the unburned stuff from pile to pile until its all gone, scatter the ashes and its over. If you can hire someone who can go in and fall the trees and then pile them up and burn them and grind out the stumps, I think thats a better way to go myself because it causes less soil disturbance but it depends on what your doing with the land later as well. If your doing it yourself it depends on how much you want to hire out and what equipment you've got already and what you need to buy. It also depends on can you burn or is it in a burning banned area and what permits you need to have and also how long it takes to get the permits. Basically we need some more info before giving much of an answer.
If it was me I would use and excavator with a thumb. Be CAREFUll when clearing with a excavator with limbs. I know a man that owned several hoe's that was in the clearing business. He was out on his property by himself doing some clearing and didn't come home that evening and they went to check on him and he had limb from a tree that had entered the cab and had went into his stomach and he was dead. I done a lot of clearing with loaders and excavators. The excavator allow you to cut the roots, shove the tree down and then you can cut the stump and timber. With a hoe you can did big holes and bury the stump and swap dirt for stumps, just put enough cover on it to allow for it to settle then walk it down. After you through with the clearing, rent or trade for a loader to go back over it and grade it like you want it. JUST BE CAREFUL IF YOU PLAN ON DOING THIS YOURSELF AND IF YOUR ARE NOT THAT EXPERIENCED. REFLEX PLAY A BIG PART WITH A BEING AN OPERATOR VS A WEEKEND WARRIOR............
Hi bull.Sounds like you have nice clearing project .How dose the land lay? Flat,Hillside,Swamp,ect.The track loader /Highlift dozer is a good all around choice,Not as good as a dozer with a K/G blade but they do pretty good.In swampy soft ground the excavator works good for removing the bigger stumps.
I prefer an excavator for making the ground tillable. If you just want to clear for pasture a large track loader will do the job. Both machines working together can get a job done pretty quick. I pick the equipment depending on the size and density of the timber and have the most appropriate machine delivered. For 40 acres I would most likely plan on using both machines together. And like D&G said above burn what you can; trying to find someone who wants the small stuff is hard with a time frame and seldom works out.
Frogfarmer you wouldn't wear a frog hat sometimes?
Never underestimate the utility of a section of I or H beam pinched with the thumb. Works fantastic for leveling and collecting all the leftover trash. It is simple and cheap and really handy.
dig a BIG hole. put the stumps on the bottom stack the rest on top and get a air certin. this is the only way you can burn any big piles around here. also if you can keep the machine for a while you can also bury 3/4of the pile with dirt and let it burn. this will smolder for a long time and make a lot of smoke but will burn almost everything down to nothing. stumps are a pain:Banghead don't think there is any perfect way to completly burn them down to ash.
I have tried using track loaders , excavators but the dozer works best. Bigger the better. Push the trees over , cut off the stumps, dig a pit and burn. I cut the trees into 32' and 16 ft logs.
I am good at digging up old threads but I search before I ask questions. So I am trying to decide which machine would be the best for me, a excavator or a dozer? I have roughly 100 acres of timber to clear on hilly/rocky land and I will probably build a pond at some point later after clearing. The property has been logged off within the last 5 years so most of the big trees are gone, but there are several stumps. I feel like I could clear the land more efficiently with the excavator but would have to rent or trade for a dozer to grade it with. I am a fairly new to equipment, but I assume the dozer would be the only/better choice for building a pond?
I would use a dozer with a rake and push into piles, not rows. Burn them and then push them around to get the dirt out and burn again. Repeat as needed. I never like the pushing into long rows when clearing. It seems the topsoil lays there forever in the pile. The piles make good hunting blinds also. A lot depends on your timeline to get to the finished product and what your final use will be. Pasture with a pond would be useable after the first clearing. A tillable field will take a lot more work.
When working with an excavator always have the drive motors to the back. That way if something comes through the front (and hits the controls) the machine will back away from the hazard. Work with the idlers to the back and if something comes through the front the machine will move forward into the hazard.
New to equipment and hilly land is a concern esp. with excavators. Might want to rent some equipment and see what works best for you in your situation before committing to a purchase.
Thank you for that. Just got my first mini and will be spending some time in the woods.
I was referring to wilkos tip about orientation.
Thank you. I have been worrying about the hilly land I will be working on. Everyone around here uses dozers so maybe there is a reason for that? Some of the land will be very steep. But I will still have several stumps to dig out and a excavator would be the better choice for that.....Maybe I should clear the land with a dozer and then rent a ex to dig out the stumps.
A good sized hoe with a thumb and a dozer with a brush rake would be perfect. Dig the trees out and shake the dirt out of the root ball/stump best you can. Stack the trees in nice tall piles with the stumps on the ends. You can keep 99% of the dirt out of the piles stacking with a hoe and have the dozer push trees and brush to you after you have them laying on the ground. The piles will burn to nothing but stumps after you stoke/re-stack them. Bury or haul away your stumps. Run the rake over everything to get most of the roots/sticks then take of the rake and grade it up smooth
That's a good idea, something I hadn't thought about...
You could also Dozer chain - 2 dozers dragging a cargo ship anchor chain. I've seen that clear land effectively.
You mean like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfToF3dAKA