Turbosaw to clean up trees

[DocGP]

Looking at cleaning up the old home place and saw one of these online. Called the Turbosaw;

Wondering if anyone has any experience? Looks like I could clean up a bunch of the old sweetgum with this and a front end grapple. Supposed to cut right at the ground so no stump to clean up later.

Doc

 

[Daren Todd]

That's one mean looking saw first time I've seen one of those. We used to have an open station buck saw for small wood that hooked to the tph. It had a built in table so you set the limbs on the table, gave it a push and it would run through the saw. Our saw was dangerous as hell but made quick work of bucking up smaller logs up to 6" thick. I could have used something like that when I started cleaning the back portion of my property

 

[Diydave]

What's the price tag on that? 6 grand? I think I could do more with a chainsaw and some determination...

 

[peterc38]

What's the price tag on that? 6 grand? I think I could do more with a chainsaw and some determination...

MSRP is $4,600

http://www.turbosaw.com/tractor.php

 

[DocGP]

What's the price tag on that? 6 grand? I think I could do more with a chainsaw and some determination...

While I truly appreciate the thought, I don't have the time to do the "by hand" thing. Hoping this would be a force multiplier.

Doc

Oh yeah, edit to add; while every tractor implement can be extremely dangerous, this one truly looks like it could deal out some gruesome injuries if one does not stay completely on the ball while operating it........ a bit intimidating to say the least!!

 

[AZ.]

Now that's one interesting blade....4 cutting edges...I would think those bolts would be filled with junk after just one cutting?

I like it...just not the price

 

[D2Cat]

DocGP, I hear that model advertised on the radio a lot, but I'm not familiar with that brand.

A few years ago I had several acres I need cleaned. Mostly trees 25' tall or shorter. Lot of red cedar, osage orange, locust, walnut, pecan...just too much of everything. The was a field that was pasture. I was determined to hay it.

I hired a friend who had a skid steer and an attachment that looked like a hydraulic scissor. His rate was like $50, I think. We walked over the areas I wanted cleaned, about 12 acres. I told him I wanted to spend $1000, but when he got $750 spent I wanted to go over with him what was left to cut so I could decide exactly how to finish up. He said he could cut 300 red cedars an hour ( most were 20' or less in height).

He also had an attachment like a rake. He could switch from pinching to pushing in 10 minutes. He could push pile up faster then a 100HP tractor with a loader.

He could cut below the ground a couple of inches. He had a spray tank on the side of his machine. He sprayed every tree that would sprout back up with a Tordon mixture.

He ended up clearing way more then I thought he could get done, sprayed and put in piles.

The next year I hayed the ground and folks would stop by and comment on how the area had changed, and wanted to know how many section I busted on my mower. I had an old Hesston PT10, which is a sickle bar with a crimper. Replace 6 sections the first year. Two years latter I never broke any.

This just give you an idea of how clean it can get. Also, might be less trouble to have it hired out.

 

[Tallahassee Kubota Man]

Glad to see this thread pop up. I had been looking at that exact saw. Not sure if I'll ever get it, but looked very interesting. We've got around 20 acres of CHristmas trees that have grown way too big to harvest for that purpose. We're talking about 5-6000 trees total. I've got a grapple on the M5140 so was thinking I'd get the model with the push bar rather than the more expensive model with the grapple. My brother has a Bobcat, don't remember the model but has a 75 hp Kubota engine. If I can get him to buy a "pincer" it would probably be much faster. We shall see.

I would still be interested in hearing some first hand experiences with this turbo saw.

 

[Diydave]

Glad to see this thread pop up. I had been looking at that exact saw. Not sure if I'll ever get it, but looked very interesting. We've got around 20 acres of CHristmas trees that have grown way too big to harvest for that purpose. We're talking about 5-6000 trees total. I've got a grapple on the M5140 so was thinking I'd get the model with the push bar rather than the more expensive model with the grapple. My brother has a Bobcat, don't remember the model but has a 75 hp Kubota engine. If I can get him to buy a "pincer" it would probably be much faster. We shall see.

I would still be interested in hearing some first hand experiences with this turbo saw.

Cut those trees in December, and sell the tops out as Xmas trees, Somebody will buy them...

 

[Tallahassee Kubota Man]

Cut those trees in December, and sell the tops out as Xmas trees, Somebody will buy them...

Dave, it might take a crane to get to some of them. We had some college students come out to get a 25 footer several years ago. There were about a dozen of them. They brought a very small chain saw with a chain that was dull as a rock. The deal was they would cut it down and load it. I sat and watched with a grin as they tried to cut the 12" trunk. I finally told them I had a better tool for the job and went back to the house to fetch the Stihl. Came back and cut it down. Next job was loading it into the trailer they brought, They managed to get the trunk end on the trailer, but try as they might they couldn't get the rest of the 12 ft wide tree in. I finally had mercy on them and used the FEL (w/teeth) to lift and push it onto the trailer. Very amusing watching these young studs wrestle that mammoth tree. Would have given a nickel to watch 'em install the tree in the courtyard for their frat party

 

[Stubbyie]

DocGP:

My bet is you'd be better off hiring the tree clearing instead of investing that much money in a cutter that will require maintenance and the seat time you'd find necessary to operate it. Wouldn't you rather be doing something more productive on the place?

We had 20-ac of eastern red cedar. Hired a guy with good size BobKitty and a cutter hung on front that looked like a big stationary triangle wedge with 8-in long shark teeth cut into it. Thing was about 15-ft long out in front.

Watching that thing work was the damnedest thing we've seen: he'd take out smaller trees with one swipe down one side; on larger trees he'd cut down one side, back up, swipe down the other side. Here's part we were wide-eyed at: He could flip mature 30-ft trees over his 'shoulder' just about as fast as he could drive. We sat out there in the truck and could literally see trees in the air being piled up behind him.

When he got a bunch cut, he'd pick up forks and push 'em all to one pile.

Those cutter teeth were brazed with tungsten carbide chips (oilfield Kut-Rite) and the owner didn't mind hitting our sandstone rocks to get the stumps below grade. We've got a lot of rocks with slits in them now.

Our cedars were so thick in places you couldn't walk between them. He cleared the measured 20-ac "pasture" in a bit less than 2-days.

Please post back your experiences so we may all learn.

 

[ShaunRH]

I'd rather use one of these...

http://www.wolffmfg.com/id1.html
http://www.sidneyattachments.com/tbl1000treeshear.php
http://www.precisionmfg.com/

A saw implies a blade that spins and can be dulled with one 'oops' which is time consuming and can be expensive. Shears just chop. On 10" or less, shears are the way to go. Above 10", traditional forestry techniques are safest unless you have a large excavator and lots of dollars.

I like the PTO saw idea, but keeping a blade like that sharp might be a royal pain in the tuckus.

 

[Diydave]

I'd rather use one of these...

http://www.wolffmfg.com/id1.html
http://www.sidneyattachments.com/tbl1000treeshear.php
http://www.precisionmfg.com/

A saw implies a blade that spins and can be dulled with one 'oops' which is time consuming and can be expensive. Shears just chop. On 10" or less, shears are the way to go. Above 10", traditional forestry techniques are safest unless you have a large excavator and lots of dollars.

I like the PTO saw idea, but keeping a blade like that sharp might be a royal pain in the tuckus.

One of these is nice too: https://youtu.be/HppusG59dJM

 

[ShaunRH]

One of these is nice too: https://youtu.be/HppusG59dJM

Yeah, if you aren't a small tree! That thing was like a weed puller on steroids!