The DMS Finish Tool is intended to be the perfect compliment to be carried along with a trail tractor. When constructing or reworking a section of trail most of the heavy lifting is done by the tractor. What is needed is a tool to rake off some of the remaining rock, smooth out some of the rough edges, and possibly chop a few small roots. What is needed is a heavy-duty finish tool.
This tool has been evolving out of a handful of different tools that are almost, but not quite, the right tool for the job. An asphalt rake, with a few tines chopped off of each end, is just about perfect for smoothing things out and removing rocks, the light tasks. A McLeod or one of the many similar variants takes care of any heavier shaping, can chop light roots, but not efficiently, and isn’t good at finish raking. The rake on a McLeod is fabulous when putting in trail by hand, but on a trail that has been built and simply needs finish work the broad rake tines simply aren’t good for the task.
The DMS Finish tool has evolved from this need, and early prototypes are being evaluated in the field.
