Heavy duty, loader-mounted grapple forks can be made from old cultivator shanks, says David McKenzie, Delisle, Sask., who uses his home-built grapple on a Zetor tractor equipped with a Buhler front-end loader and a 7-ft. bucket.

"I saved a lot of money and it's a great grapple. Cultivator shanks are always built strong so they stand up to a lot of tough use," says McKenzie, who used scrap metal to build the grapple fork's frame.

The grapple fork has four 2-ft. long curved shanks spaced 2 ft. apart. Each shank measures 1 in. thick by 2 in. wide. After cutting the shanks off the cultivator, he straightened them slightly in a press. Then he cut the ends down to points. The shanks are clamped to a length of 4-in. sq. tubing, which in turn is clamped to a metal frame that bolts onto the back of the bucket.

A pair of hydraulic cylinders are used to raise and lower the entire unit.

"I've used it for years but have never had a shank bend or break," says McKenzie. "I use the grapple fork on my cow-calf operation to handle everything from round bales to manure to loose chopped hay. The forks open up about 7 ft. high. I came up with the idea after I saw neighbors bending or breaking the teeth on their commercial grapple forks.