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Has any of you ever built a manual pine straw baler? I am thinking of building one. Having one would serve two puproses for me. First it would get me work from people that need to get it out of their yards. Secondly it would give me straw to put into beds that I bid to have the straw replaced.

I never built one. But I bet you could go to a farm that bales there own hay and maybe get one of there old ones cheap.
I just rake it up on a tarp drag it on to the trailer and sell it to the next yard

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Carscw said:

I never built one. But I bet you could go to a farm that bales there own hay and maybe get one of there old ones cheap.
I just rake it up on a tarp drag it on to the trailer and sell it to the next yard

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Actually I want to build a "box baler". You can find plans for one in the internet but they are not very clear. It is all done by hand. The baler is built out of wood. I saw some where that it said that one person could bale 100+ bales a day with one. I don't care about going into "production" of baling straw but it might be a good thing especially if you mulch beds and also clean yards. That way you get paid to pick it up and you get paid to lay it back out.

jekjr said:

Actually I want to build a "box baler". You can find plans for one in the internet but they are not very clear. It is all done by hand. The baler is built out of wood. I saw some where that it said that one person could bale 100+ bales a day with one. I don't care about going into "production" of baling straw but it might be a good thing especially if you mulch beds and also clean yards. That way you get paid to pick it up and you get paid to lay it back out.

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Gotter built today. Will load a picture if I can figure out how.

jekjr said:

Gotter built today. Will load a picture if I can figure out how.

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Look here to learn how to create a photo album: http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/site-discussion/31-how-create-photo-galleries-upload-photos.html.

Or you can just go to the little paper clip button in the toolbar, click "Choose File", find yours, and click "Upload". Then once it has loaded all the way, go back up to the paper clip and click on the uploaded file in the drop-down menu. That will insert it into the post.

I can't wait to see the pics! :smile:

Thanks for the pictures, jekjr....that looks nice! Let us know how it works when you get to use it!

(Here is a link to his pictures: http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/members/jekjr-albums-straw-baler.html)

lawn mower fanatic said:

Thanks for the pictures, jekjr....that looks nice! Let us know how it works when you get to use it! View attachment 11140

(Here is a link to his pictures: http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/members/jekjr-albums-straw-baler.html)

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I baled one bale with it of straw that was not very good at all and it did a very good job.
I need to get some good string before I start baling good stuff. I am talking to somebody now about going to bid a job what supposedly has a good bit of straw that needs to be moved. Hopefully I can get that job.

OK please inform me. What exactly does a pine straw baler do? I think I get the general gist of it, but I am not from the south and we use mulch, not pine straw.
:anyone:

lawn mower fanatic said:

OK please inform me. What exactly does a pine straw baler do? I think I get the general gist of it, but I am not from the south and we use mulch, not pine straw.
:anyone:

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Here lots of times we use pine straw for mulch in beds. Also there are some yards that have large pine trees in them and the straw builds up and if it is not raked up and removed it will kill the grass.

People who have pine straw in their yards that want it removed will pay somebody to rake it up and haul it off.

My goal is to get paid to rake the yards. Then bale the straw and use it to put in beds on other jobs....

jekjr said:

Here lots of times we use pine straw for mulch in beds. Also there are some yards that have large pine trees in them and the straw builds up and if it is not raked up and removed it will kill the grass.

People who have pine straw in their yards that want it removed will pay somebody to rake it up and haul it off.

My goal is to get paid to rake the yards. Then bale the straw and use it to put in beds on other jobs....

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Pine straw is $3.50 a bale. If you are not busy doing anything else you can take the baler and find some straw and rake it and bale it...... I am not sure how many bales I can get up in a day but I have in years past seen straw piles that people would give you to move. With the baler I could bale 50 to 100 in a day. It ain't get rich but it will make a payday.

This is a new venture for me right now. I have been looking at doing it for a while. it is a learning experience. All I got invested in the baler is scrap lumber and time except for the hinges, bolts, and the the two latches on the door......

jekjr said:

All I got invested in the baler is scrap lumber and time except for the hinges, bolts, and the the two latches on the door......

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OK thanks for the info! It sure didn't cost you much to make! :thumbsup:

Why do you make the bales so small? Or is the baler bigger in real life instead of a photo?

possum said:

Why do you make the bales so small? Or is the baler bigger in real life instead of a photo?

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Actually it makes a bale about the size of a machine bale. inside it is 12" X 14" and the length is about 30" I think I remember. I made one this afternoon that was a little more than that. I did some adjustments though and shortened it up a little......:thumbsup:

Went to see a neighbor this afternoon and he gave me two tires off of the front end of a Craftsman Rider. I am going to put them on the baler so I can move it easy. :thumbsup:

jekjr said:

Went to see a neighbor this afternoon and he gave me two tires off of the front end of a Craftsman Rider. I am going to put them on the baler so I can move it easy. :thumbsup:

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Oh yeah, that's a good idea! Post some pics when you have them on!

My wife has an electric baler in the utility room. Seems like the true name is Trash Compactor or something like that. I sure hope she doesn't catch me.

Hi All

To bale pine cones you could look at vintage farm baler they used in the olden days , they are built kinda like that one you build might give you some idea top inprove the one you built they were wooden . You know they make a baler for loose straw and loose hay that is pulled behind a tractor, maybe you could find a older baler and improve and it not so big. These were built in the 60 and 70s. Just some ideas to think about good luck :licking:

noma said:

Hi All

To bale pine cones you could look at vintage farm baler they used in the olden days , they are built kinda like that one you build might give you some idea top inprove the one you built they were wooden . You know they make a baler for loose straw and loose hay that is pulled behind a tractor, maybe you could find a older baler and improve and it not so big. These were built in the 60 and 70s. Just some ideas to think about good luck :licking:

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I don't know of anybody that bales pine cones. is there a use for them for resale?

The handbaler that I posted pics of will do a great job baling straw. I have seen people that made a living baling straw and selling it.

noma said:

Hi All

To bale pine cones you could look at vintage farm baler they used in the olden days , they are built kinda like that one you build might give you some idea top inprove the one you built they were wooden . You know they make a baler for loose straw and loose hay that is pulled behind a tractor, maybe you could find a older baler and improve and it not so big. These were built in the 60 and 70s. Just some ideas to think about good luck :licking:

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To use a vintage farm baler you have to have some sort of power source to pull it. When I was a teenager we used to custom cut hay for people. In the afternoons some times we would actually bale straw with our baler for a guy that collected it to use on nature trails. This was back in the early 1970's.
It would take hundreds of dollars to get one of those and then it takes a tractor to pull it plus then there is the aggravation of moving it.

I have never used a hand baler much but according to some people that have done it one person can bale over 100 bales a day with one.

I baled one the other afternoon with my hand baler and it was wet messy straw that I had in the yard. It did not take me but just a couple of minutes to do it.

Here are some new pictures of my baler. All it needs is some straw.

jekjr said:

Here are some new pictures of my baler. All it needs is some straw.

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Looks good! Very nice! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

lawn mower fanatic said:

Looks good! Very nice! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

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All I need to do now is put a coat of paint on it. I will probably wait till this Summer when it gets hot to do that.

I will use it some and make sure that I get the bugs worked out of it. I can't wait now till it gets dry so that I can go bale some straw. I have a guy that I know that said that he would give me some straw to rake and a friend that runs a feed and seed store that said he would sell it for me on consignment. I might be going into a new business for the winter time....

jekjr said:

All I need to do now is put a coat of paint on it. I will probably wait till this Summer when it gets hot to do that.

I will use it some and make sure that I get the bugs worked out of it. I can't wait now till it gets dry so that I can go bale some straw. I have a guy that I know that said that he would give me some straw to rake and a friend that runs a feed and seed store that said he would sell it for me on consignment. I might be going into a new business for the winter time....

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Got a pile of straw yesterday afternoon and baled two more bales. Hopefully next week we can get after it baling straw all day one day.