The Background
With plans to build a peaceful cabin, Jason Horning purchased an undeveloped plot of land in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. No stranger to hard work and heavy equipment, he set out to handle the land clearing himself.
Customer
Jason Horning | Pennsylvania
Equipment
The Basics
Jason Horning is making serious progress on his 12-acre mountain property. By hooking up a Loftness® Battle Ax to his Kubota excavator, he’s mulching through unwanted vegetation at a rapid rate to carve out space for his dream cabin!
The Challenge: Tackling a Heavily Wooded Property
Jason Horning purchased a heavily wooded 12-acre property in need of some major land clearing. In addition to an abundance of hemlock trees interspersed with hardwoods, downed trees litter the ground, making removal a priority. “There are a lot of felled, half-rotten logs all over the place,” said Horning.
Now, Jason’s no stranger to hard work or heavy equipment, so he figured he’d take on the tree removal and land preparation himself. He already had a tractor and an excavator, but he quickly realized he was missing one crucial piece: an attachment that could actually mulch all that stubborn vegetation.
The Solution: Discovering the Loftness Battle Ax Mulcher
While doing some research, Horning came across an advertisement for a Loftness excavator mulching head. “I hadn’t heard of the Battle Ax before, so I asked my salesman at Messick’s about it. He told me they’ve had really good luck with the Loftness brand.”
After a more detailed conversation with his dealer, Horning was sold. He purchased a 31-inch-wide 20 Series Battle Ax (31BX20) designed for compact excavators like his Kubota KX040.
So, what makes this Battle Ax ideal for forest clearing? It features a unique rotor design with depth gauges that optimize the amount of material being fed into the drum. It also has a two-stage cutting chamber with two separate shear bars, helping the attachment process material thoroughly in one pass.
The Results: Cabin Dreams Becoming Reality
Jason wasted no time putting his new attachment to work. “I’ve been having a blast with the Loftness mulcher,” he said. “I’m driving around chipping up whatever catches my eye.”
With about 40 hours put into the Battle Ax, he continues to get the hang of the equipment and how it works in different types of material. “Harder wood like ash takes more time to work through, but it will eat through hemlock like nothing,” he said. “If there’s a dead hemlock tree that’s still standing, I can reach the excavator arm up as high as it will go, and I can just grind down the whole trunk of the tree.” That’s what we call powerful site preparation for a cabin!
Thanks to the reliability and performance of his Battle Ax, Jason’s vision of a peaceful mountain retreat is rapidly turning into reality. He’s making short work of the land clearing for his cabin and getting ready for the next big phase of his project. As he puts it. “It really does a great job.”
