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Great idea! .. A simple no-build option: Find one of those smooth lawn rollers people fill up with water chasing golf-course-flat lawns they later sell at garage sales. Drag that roller "down and back" and you'll flatten the rye just fine, any that try standing back up after the first roll are bent completely backward and stay down. Hints to try: I have broadcast dry beans into standing rye like seeding the lawn and wait until the beans sprout into first leaves then roll down the rye. Or run the cultivator shoes down to cut rows and plant corn into them, then roll after the corn emerges. Standing rye keeps the ground more moist for beans/corn germination.

Very enjoyable video Matt. Thanks for sharing.

Great idea! Keep up the great work on your content. Really appreciate your videos. Blessings

Really good instructional video for the every-day joe on a budget! Great vid👍🏼

Nice. I've considered this exact design idea (using a log). On a commercial crimper, you'll notice that the blades are laid out in a chevron pattern. That way, a blade is in contact with the ground at all times; no "in between blades"... and as a result, it rolls smoothly and doesn't bounce. Yours bounces, as it rolls from blade to blade. Aside from making the ride less comfortable, I'd be concerned that the constant "vibration" will result in the thing beating itself up in due to time. My idea for avoiding this potential issue and making the ride smoother would be to cut the blades into three sections. Instead of one long blade from one end to the other, cut it into three pieces and offset each blade from the previous blade by a couple inches. So each third of the long still have 7 blades going around it, but they're only 15" wide (instead of 4 feet) and no one third of the log blades lines up with either of the others. With more blades touching the ground and at given moment, the ride should smooth out an the log shouldn't bounce. Make sense? What do you think?

I was thinking along those same lines. It is a little ridiculous how much they charge for things like that nowadays. I being on a fixed income will have to follow your great idea thank you!

You beautiful genius haha this is exactly what I was wanting to do. Thank you!!

Good idea and simple!

That's brilliant!

Very cool. Looks like you guys sure do a serious pumpkin patch

Great idea. Thanks for sharing. It for is way cheaper than the industry standard.

Great idea. Let us know how it holds up. Getting cell cams out.

Cool

Well done

Awesome, I did something similar. I had an old eight inch pvc tube about 4 foot long laying around. I blocked each end and drilled a hole in each end for 1/2 inch pipe. I also found an old rake handle for a sleeve for the 1/2" pipe to fit into. I filled the pvc tube with cement. Attached angle iron to the outside of the pvc. Built a hitch similar to what you did. Works great for what I needed.

Bravo... subbed

Have considered a similar design, but was looking at solid-tired wheels to screw the angle into, thus having a true axle. Looking at how it ran, I would pull it the other direction to give the angle more of a leading edge rather than trailing. Also, from looking at your buckwheat crimping, extra weight is probably needed and, as you stated, waiting for the pods to appear. It would be interesting to see if anything browses the new growth offshoots from the buckwheat. I hope it lasts a few seasons fof you. 👍👍

Nice i have a space piece of culvert i want to make one out of, thought of filling it with concrete. Could you make a disc next please? Haha

To pull with a pushbike or push by hand, should I make the log or drum even narrower, or do you think this one already can be handled by a human being alone? Regarding managing jumpiness, you could split your blades into 8 pieces, and offset four of the pieces by (180/n)° where n is the number of blades you initially started with. (The maths works because 180° is half of 360° and you want to offset 4/8 of the pieces half-way between the other 4; you could also split into 9 pieces, offset 3 by (120/n)° and 3 by another (120/n)°)

I'm looking for something that will really smash down leaves making walking my trails much easier. Would this be a good option?

Really admire your design. How much weight do you think is needed to crimp? Thanks

I like the DIY low-cost ideas as most of us don't have the endless money other You Tubers have to buy equipment! I suppose an oak log may retain more weight after it dries? Do you get good mortality on your rye and buckwheat with just crimping or do you herbicide after crimping?

Did it end up crimping as well as you hoped? Did you have a lot stand back up/would you add more weight next time? I’m thinking about doing this for my plots this summer so wondered if you had additional input after doing this?

How much does it weigh?