Newest attachment for the tractor, a land plane (also sometimes called a land leveler/grader.) It has two horizontal, parallel, and slightly skewed blades and rides on skids. The blades pick up dirt, lightly cutting into the surface, knocking off the high spots and filling in the low.

land-plane.jpg

I bought it mostly to maintain the gravel driveway and roads on my place (it's amazing!) but it's great for general surfacing and smoothing. It does have scarifiers that can loosen hard dirt if needed. We are leveling an oval-shaped arena area for horse training and exercise, about 64'x120'. Actually, it's sloped slightly for drainage - laser level again comes to the rescue! I'll put down 3-4" of sand/fine gravel mixed with a bit of clay for good footing.

These things come with two hardened blades for cutting while pulling forward but I bought extra blades so I can cut/smooth in reverse as needed. The entire attachment can be tilted and/or the blade height adjusted for a more aggressive cut. The dirt/gravel builds up in front and between the blades then flows over the top of the rear blade to leave a smooth surface. It's quicker and does a better job than the yard box after a downpour cuts some minor gullies in the gravel. (My gravel and dirt roads are sloped but not steep.)

Good fun!