Stick and Rock Rake

Well after pending $10.50, and about 8 hours of my life in fabrication, I ended up finishing my stick and rock rake enough to do a trial run. It works!

After doing a little logging on me, the loggers trekked across one of my fields and left a mess in a corner with limbs everywhere, far too many to move by hand, so I decided to make a stick rake to clean up the mess rather then move each stick by hand. Unlike most stick rakes, mine is hoisted up and down by the three point hitch, is only 8 feet wide, and has screens instead of solid wheels. This will allow any dirt to sift through the screens while retaining the sticks and rocks. This design should work really good on tilled ground for windrowing rocks as just the rocks will be rolled out of the way. Should I want to level soil, then I can just u-bolt in plywood discs over the screens.

I had all the parts kicking around, I just needed to buy a few cut off wheels for my 4-1/2 inch grinder so that was where the $10.50 was spent.

I do need to make a few improvements. I have to add grease fittings to the hubs of the wheels, and mount them better so they do not jamb. I might also add more outer teeth so the wheels spin faster. I also need to paint the implement. It is an easy and cheap do it yourself project however. Not a 100% true rock picker, but reduces the work load of rock picking a lot!

Love the concept and build you've done. What did the wheels etc; come off from? Got any other ideas along the field work line?

Michael Outlander wrote:Love the concept and build you've done. What did the wheels etc; come off from? Got any other ideas along the field work line?

Thanks...

I built the rock and stick rack from scrap, but the four hoops did come off a 1930'ish horse drawn McCormick-Deereing wheat binder I had kicking around.

As for other equipment, I have built a host of equipment, but tend to build them as my needs arise. I just finished up a homemade feller-buncher that I posted on here, along with a homemade upside down woodsplitter, a homemade bandsaw sawmill, a homemade grader, and a homemade seed spreader.

I build homemade eqipment because there is just not enough money in sheep farming to buy the equipment that is needed from a dealership. In some cases too, like this Rock and Root Rake, you cannot even buy them in the size you need. You can buy massive sized ones that span 60 feet, but I just need an 8 foot one that I can make a few passes with.