This is the type and style of stone bucket I would like to have for my L425 New Holland Skid Steer, however this one is NEW and too much money.

Also this bucket is 6 feet wide and I only want 5 foot, not that that is such a big deal but I want a 5 foot.

Monday February 20 2012 I visited a heavy equipment manufacturer and while in the plant walking past a metal scrap bin I noticed 13 miss cuts. All were cut on a Plazma machine so were accurate the dimensions are 28" long by 4" wide and ½" thick, PERFECT.
Top one is original and the bottom one I have cut in half.

Before I could cut the pieces of steel, I had to find the bandsaw blades I had bought about 15 years ago. The blades are Lenox RX ¾ wide by 96" and too long for my 14" saw, takes 93". So I cut 3" from the blades and welded the joing with Silver Solder. The photo above shows the beveled ends of the blade.

I put some flux "borax" between the joints and a sliver of silver solder.
The silver solder was originally a wire style and I flattened the solder by rolling it through my home built device until it is .018" thick, it just works better for me this way. That little piece sticking out will be placed alone between the beveled joint.

After heating with the torch and the solder melted and the joint cooled, it looks like this.
Contact me at       stonebucket@me.ca

After welding the blade I used the Dremel and sanding sleeve to smooth the joint.

A closer look, you can see how the silver solder blends with the steel blade.

Just another photo of the joint with the silver solder strip.

Using the 14" band saw I cut all 13 pieces of steel, it took about 15 minutes each.

After all 26 forks have been cut, I tried laying out the stone bucket on a sheet of plywood. Some of the manufactures of these have the forks spaced either 3" or 4" apart. I think I will go with 2½" this will pick up a 2" stone.

In this photo is the mounting configuration on my Kubota tractor, I will have to match up the brackets on the fork attachment to the new stone bucket therefore I can swap out attachments between the Skidsteer and the Kubota..

The mounting bracket has been cut, welded, fitted, and mounted on the front of the Skid Steer. The next challange is to make the brackets for the stone bucket to fit both tractors.

I started laying out and welding the forks in place, just tacking the bars untill I see how things work out.

After squaring things up and leveling the plywood so as not to have a warped result, I layed a ¾ schedule 80 pipe that just fit perfect in the cutout in the bars. There is masking tape on the pipe and the back bar with the layout markings to line up the bars. The bars are on 3" centers which leaves 2 ½ between the bars.

With all the bars, the ¾ pipe tacked in place, I also welded a ¾ reinforcing rod just in front of the little step on the bars. I felt that the bars may be bent while picking up stones so I thought this would help prevent that.

Now to begin the final welding on all joints. I am using 1740 1/8" rod with the electrode positive. The welder is AC but I added a full wave rectofier using 4 600 amp diodes.

The welding is proceeding just great and it is a beautiful day to be working outside. You may think that is a can of Molson Canadian, but, it is filled with water in the event the plywood starts to burn from welding sparks ¿ ¿ ya right.

This is a close up of the weld, I am pleased, I learned to weld on the 3/11 and night shift with no one around and between breakdown calls, after all, I am an electrician, not a welder.

With the bucket flipped over, I began welding the underside. I think things are looking pretty good and I am pleased.

Almost finished, I have some expanded metal I will weld in place on the sides and the back. I don' see the point in placing heavy bars on the sides and back of the bucket.

The mounting brackets have to welded to the 5/8" by 4" flat bar at the back then the locking pin assembly that I haven't designed yet.

Aligning the mounting bracket I received last week, the pieces were plazma cut from 1" thick plate.

As you can see, I am NOT a welder and using the rods I had on hand will have to do.

With the mounting brackets welded to 5/8" thick plate then welded to the bucket should do the job for me.

Mark dropped by on his way home and looked at my welding job, then picked up some rod and did a propper welding job.

We moved on to the stone bucket and welded the mounting brackets there as well, Mark is a much better welder than I am.

This is a close up look at a weld bead as it should be.