Manual Tree Spade

[John Foster]

A few years ago I saw at an auction a manual tree spade. It was mounted on a two wheeled cart, the blades were driven in manually, and a hand winch pulled the root ball up out of the ground. It was fairly small, would probably have pulled up a 50-75 pound root ball. I regret to this day not staying to see it sold, and possibly bidding on it. My questions are: Has anyone ever used one of these? What are the manufacturers? Has anyone ever made one ( I have the equipment, and semi-tolerable welding and machining skills)? I think it would be a handy tool for jobs too big for a shovel, and not big enough to hire in a large spade. Thank you John Foster.

 

[PB]

A few years ago I saw at an auction a manual tree spade. It was mounted on a two wheeled cart, the blades were driven in manually, and a hand winch pulled the root ball up out of the ground. It was fairly small, would probably have pulled up a 50-75 pound root ball. I regret to this day not staying to see it sold, and possibly bidding on it. My questions are: Has anyone ever used one of these? What are the manufacturers? Has anyone ever made one ( I have the equipment, and semi-tolerable welding and machining skills)? I think it would be a handy tool for jobs too big for a shovel, and not big enough to hire in a large spade. Thank you John Foster.

Hi John, I have used one that was manufactured by Tree Toad (I think). It was pretty handy with smaller trees, but if you have a lot to move, it gets pretty tiresome, and they are expensive, last I checked they were close to $900 US so probably $50 CDN. LOL. If you can weld and don't need it right away, they don't look to complicated.

http://www.treetoad.com/