It may not perform like a Hesston, but Tim Rhodes’ backyard-built, hand-operated straw baler is quite the machine.
Fourteen-year-old Rhodes decided to give it a try when he saw a YouTube video showing how to build a small square baler out of scrap wood.
“The bales aren’t terribly tight, but the machine does work. I made five bales for 4-H and another three for my chickens,” said the farm boy from Virden, Man.
“I saw it on YouTube and thought it would be cool to build one myself,” he said. “I had no experience working with wood, so I just sort of found some scrap lumber at the dump and got a hammer and nails and started building. It would be better if it was made out of steel. The way it is now, the wood starts to bend when you put on too much pressure on the plunger compressing the straw.”
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The machine is easy to use. Two lengths of twine are placed along the back wall of the chamber and through slots in the front door. The front door is then shut and latched.
Straw is hand-fed into the top of the chamber. The hand-operated plunger compresses the straw layers as the bale grows. Once the chamber is as full as possible and the plunger cannot compress straw any further, the two twine cords are tied off and the front door is opened to remove the bale.
Despite his achievement, Rhodes isn’t sure that a career in engineering is in his future.
“Oh, I don’t know. I like doing chickens … making things for my chickens.”
For information on a variety of hand-operated balers, search for “How to use a hand hay baler” on YouTube.
