The Plowrake

The Plowrake

  • Landscaping Tools in North Haven & Hamden, CT

Landscaping Tools

Everything that has ever been invented was created to fill a need. Imagine a large tool that has some of the function of a human hand. The PLOWRAKE™ landscaping tool is such a tool. Imagine working in the garden, and you thrust your open hand palm up into the soil and push up a small pile of dirt. Now imagine curling your fingers over that pile until your fingernails are in the front of the dirt pile, then clawing the ground and pulling back the captured dirt and raking back the dirt with your fingers, releasing the dirt as you fill in holes and level the grade. The PLOWRAKE is a tool with similar functions of the human hand. The plow is the palm and the fingers are the tines.

Revolutionizing Landscaping

Those of us who've worked to develop the PLOWRAKE know this "Tool of the Future" will revolutionize the landscaping and snow removal industry. After three years of field testing, we know the PLOWRAKE performs well in a variety of conditions and does not break, even under unexpected uses. This tool is simple, easily maintained, and very affordable. We challenge you to put the PLOWRAKE to the test and evaluate its unparalleled abilities for yourself. Once you've discovered what the PLOWRAKE can do, how well it functions in a multitude of conditions and tasks, you will want to be involved with this amazing product's manufacturing and deployment into the marketplace.

  • Plowrake Service in North Haven & Hamden, CT

All About the PLOWRAKE

Woodward Harding has been granted two patents for a landscaping tool that combines a plow blade and hydraulically-controlled horizontal pivoting rake tines allowing for quick, efficient, cost-effective plowing and raking of materials such as soil, gravel, wood chips and snow. The PLOWRAKE has a robust overall design that is meant for heavy use and features a patented self-cleaning hinge mechanism which expels rather than binds foreign materials within the hinge. This patent hinge design assures continuous and unhindered use regardless of what material is being worked.


The PLOWRAKE can be attached to pickup trucks, tractors and, skip loaders enabling landscapers, road construction personnel, farmers, and others who work with aggregate materials to complete tasks with forward-backward motions producing high-quality grading results with less time and effort than with conventional plows. This significant time savings (40% or more) equates to increased profit generation in commercial applications and substantial labor savings in private use. The PLOWRAKE eliminates the need for awkward, inefficient, and time-consuming back-blading.


Mr. Harding has enlisted the Kessler Corporation of Freemont, Ohio in assisting with the marketing of the PLOWRAKE™ to manufacturing firms interested in licensing, production, and sales agreements worldwide. The market for plows and rake devices will exceed 40,000 units in 2006. Even a very modest penetration of the PLOWRAKE™ could result in a large number of units being sold. In addition, there is an equally large or larger market opportunity to retrofit existing tractors, bulldozers, and truck plows with a PLOWRAKE.

Advanced Landscaping Equipment

At Stumpbuster LLC, we like to make a real difference, and we've done so with our PLOWRAKE™. This patented piece of landscaping equipment makes short work of jobs of any size. Below you'll find answers to many of your questions. If you have questions we don't answer here, just contact us. We'd be happy to help you.

  • What makes the PLOWRAKE revolutionary?

    The forward and backward manipulation of landscaping substances such as dirt, gravel, sand, and snow in a quick, efficient, and time-saving manner has not been accomplished by any single device meant for a pick-up truck or tractor on the market today, hence the PLOWRAKE™ is unique and "revolutionary." Regular plows are designed to push substances forward. Prior to the invention of the PLOWRAKE, when a plow operator wanted to pull a substance backward, they could only use the plow blade in an awkward "back-blading" motion to pull a landscaping substance backward, i.e. manipulating substances in the opposite direction that the plow was designed to push it.


    Often this offers poor results and takes time. In order to move the substance in the other direction, a plow driver would have to turn the truck or tractor around, reposition the vehicle and prepare for another attempt with the plow in the other direction, which takes even more time. On a farm or landscaping job, time is money.


    Here is an example that may be helpful to visualize the situation. If you were to spread peanut butter on a piece of bread you might load a butter knife with peanut butter, spread it across the bread and find that you have a little peanut butter on the left side and a lot on the right. You would simply take the knife and spread the peanut butter backwards. A truck or tractor is not that easy to work with and the plow, as mentioned earlier, is designed to push substances forward, not bring them backward. the PLOWRAKE eliminates the awkward, convoluted, and time-consuming repositioning of the truck and tractor and inefficient "back-blading."


    The PLOWRAKE's design allows the vehicle operator to hydraulically lower tines of the raking portion, called clam shelling, put the vehicle in reverse, and rake the material with control and ease, quickly and conveniently. You could rake in reverse a few feet and then move forward again and plow the substance, or rake 50 feet depending on the job situation. You may need to repeat this operation a number of times to attain the results you require.


    The major time savings is in the ease of the changing of direction process; as quick as changing gears from the driver's seat. Not only does the PLOWRAKE save a lot of time with this new option, the raking process is by far a more effective, efficient way of grading landscaping substances. The PLOWRAKE tines, like a large comb with curved steel teeth, can be positioned to let a little substance or a lot of substance to be deposited while the truck or tractor is traveling in a reverse direction. The tines can extend a few inches below the raised plow blade or many inches below the raised plow blade, and it's all controlled from the truck cab. As for getting close to a foundation, fence, etc., traditional plows are not designed to pull substances backwards, only to push them forward. While you might try to bring soil, gravel, and snow back with a plow blade, you will do it with it with a good amount of difficulty and the blade does not permit you to safely get close to foundations or fences without possibly damaging the foundation, fence, or other structure.

  • Does the PLOWRAKE fit onto a truck, anything else? What mounting system or hydraulic controls does it use?

    Yes, the PLOWRAKE can fit on a truck or tractor. As for the mounting system and hydraulic controls, the PLOWRAKE fits on a truck just as one would mount any normal plow. The prototypes have used a standard plow mount on a truck and used the existing hydraulic unit to operate it. While the PLOWRAKE is a unique tool, it is designed to take advantage of existing truck mounting and hydraulic systems. the prototype needs no special attachments. This device could be mounted on a tractor or skid steer. The PLOWRAKE would be manufactured to mount in a way that is common in the marketplace.

  • How do the hydraulic controls work and how many hydraulic lines are there?

    The "in-truck-cab" hand controls of the hydraulic system work as follows: There is one lever that controls up and down as well as right to left angle. The up and down lever raises the PLOWRAKE up and down just as in a regular plow. What was the left and right plow angle controls now raise and lower the clamshell action of the PLOWRAKE's tines. The hydraulic lines that cause a normal plow to angle left or right now are attached to the pistons of the PLOWRAKE for the clamshell motion control. Typically there is no need to angle the PLOWRAKE so this does not create a problem or deficit in its effectiveness. When a PLOWRAKE is ready for market, once it is manufactured for public purchase, it will be made for the convenience of the truck and tractor owner so it can be attached just as a regular plow will be attached.

  • Could you detail the hydraulic controls?

    The hydraulic controls for the PLOWRAKE can be utilized with a standard plow control set up if a vehicle had a hydraulic plow system from a normal plow. The PLOWRAKE takes advantage of existing hydraulic control systems and therefore anyone who has a plow on a truck or tractor could purchase a PLOWRAKE and start working with it. Typically in a plow control from the cab of a truck, you lift the control lever up and the plow blade raises. Conversely, lower the plow control lever down and the plow lowers or drops. The rake tines are controlled by the left and right direction of the control lever, which clamshell the tines down or up. More advanced plow hydraulic controls that offer a third option that splits a normal plow in the middle to create a forward wedge would allow the PLOWRAKE to angle to the left or right.

  • How much does the PLOWRAKE sell for?

    The general thought is that the PLOWRAKE would be priced at a premium of around 125% or slightly higher of a normal plow. Since the PLOWRAKE's expanded ability and versatility can do so much more than an ordinary plow a contractor could make back their investment in the PLOWRAKE with a handful of landscaping jobs and then reap the profits of its effort and time savings qualities for years after the initial purchase.


    The designer of the PLOWRAKE is looking to license the patent-pending PLOWRAKE to a large company that will manufacture and market the new tool worldwide. Woody Harding designed and built the PLOWRAKE and uses it successfully during the course of his stump removal and re-landscaping business. As shown in the available DVD, the PLOWRAKE can dependably do the work that two or more manual laborers would be doing and complete jobs faster with a quality yet unattained in the landscaping business today. On the farm or ranch, this device can be mounted on a truck or tractor and work very efficiently doing any number of jobs.

Stumpbuster LLC

Features and Benefit

The PLOWRAKE is revolutionary in its design and serves as a platform for a broad range of uses. The PLOWRAKE does much more than a standard plow. It's durable with robust design features and has a broad application range and can easily be mounted on pickup trucks, excavators, tractors, and bulldozers with no special tools.

What Makes the PLOWRAKE Superior To an Ordinary Plow?

  • One Tool Works In Forward & Reverse Saving Labor, Time, & Money
  • The Ability To Rake, Grade, & Move Material With Precision Control
  • Rakes Within an Inch Of Foundations, Fences, Garage Doors, & Obstacles
  • Offers Options Of Solid Upper Blade With Extensions & Tine Rakes
  • Rakes Equally Well With Snow, Dirt, & Gravel In Challenging Conditions
  • Plowrake Benefits in North Haven & Hamden, CT

Simplify Landscaping

Not only does the PLOWRAKE's evolutionary horizontally forward-rotating design outperform plows in all traditional uses, it completes tasks a simple plow is not expected to accomplish. The PLOWRAKE's added versatility will be a strong incentive for current plow users and a new generation of consumers to switch to a PLOWRAKE.


The PLOWRAKE's rotating blade design allows for easy, efficient raking, moving, and grading of a wide range of materials in reverse while conventional plows are only meant to work in a forward, pushing motion. The PLOWRAKE offers the ability to work in two directions without hindering the normal plow action. This one revolutionary landscaping plow saves time, reduces labor costs, and makes money in commercial uses. The PLOWRAKE is a cost-effective tool, and it is estimated that landscaping tasks can be accomplished with 40% less labor and machine time. This benefit allows for much better resource utilization by the landscaper with a return on your investment of fewer than 3 months with typical use of the PLOWRAKE™.

  • Plowrake Concept in North Haven & Hamden, CT

Development Status

The PLOWRAKE concept has gone through several evolutions and now has reached the stage of an advanced prototype that is suitable for field demonstration. Videotapes and DVDs of the PLOWRAKE in operation are available. Since the device is considered to be evolutionary and innovative, patents have been granted to broadly cover the concept. It is estimated at this time, that the manufacture of the PLOWRAKE will have a cost approaching a conventional plow as volumes increase.

Trust Your Land to the Tree Care Professionals

Our local tree company has been proudly serving North Haven & Hamden, CT since 1986. In that time, we've seen and handled a multitude of tree problems. We pride ourselves on offering our community a higher grade of tree services than our competitors do.


Whether you need us for a stump removal or a tree trimming project, you can trust that we'll leave your property in great shape by the time we're done.

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