Roger Holcomb, Mentor, Minn., needed a better fence around his buffalo herd. He decided to build one out of railroad ties, despite the fact that he was recuperating from hernia surgery. He succeeded, thanks to a bucket-mounted post handler he put together in his shop.

Holcomb used 4-in. square steel tubing, an old hydraulic cylinder, some threaded rod, and a small piece of 3/16-in. plate steel.

He started by cutting two 3-ft. lengths of the steel tubing to make "fingers". In one piece, he drilled two 1 1/2-in. holes and put matching holes through the bottom of the old bucket. Then he fastened the tube solid to the bucket, using 1 1/4-in. threaded rod cut to length for bolts.

He set the second section of tube about 8 in. away from the first and fastened it with just one bolt, so it would pivot back and forth. He bolted the steel plate over the top of the square tubes.

On the back end of the pivoting rod, he welded ears to match up with his hydraulic cylinder. The other end of the cylinder fastens in the bottom of the bucket.

"I had my ties all loaded on a wagon. To pick one up, I raised the bucket and tilted it down so the grapple fingers were over the post. Then I grasped it by activating the hydraulic cylinder. It worked great after I cut some teeth into the inside of the stationary tube, so the post wouldn't slip out," he says.

"I have an 11-in. post hole auger on the 3-pt. hitch of the tractor. I replaced the pto drive on it with a hydraulic motor. That makes it a lot easier to use. If I hit a rock or get into tough soil, I can back it out of the hole," he says.

"When I'm making fence, I pick up a post with the front-end loader and drive to the place where I'm going to put it. After I dig the hole, I make a U-turn with the tractor and then drop the post into the hole," Holcomb explains. "It really works well and I didn't have to touch one post."

Holcomb says despite the size of the threaded rod he used for bolts, he's broken more than a couple of them, mostly by gripping the post a little too tightly.

"It only takes a couple of minutes to replace one. And since it's fastened to the bucket with bolts, when I'm finished setting posts, I can take it out in less than 10 minutes and have the loader bucket to use for other things."