# Cement tamper



## JonathanGennick (Sep 15, 2006)

Buying a cement tamper was a mistake, right? :madman:

I should have been more patient and ordered a McLeod over the Internet. 

I've not the slightest idea what I'm ultimately going to do with this slightly used tamper. 

On the good side of the ledger, those Rogue Hoes are working out fantastically well.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

Do you mean one of those things that look like a geriatric walking frame? I thought those were only used to flatten trail ahead of a mobility scooter?


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## JonathanGennick (Sep 15, 2006)

Nah, I mean one of these:

Buy.com - TAMPER 10"X10" PRO WOOD HNDL

I wanted something to tamp with that day. The hardware store down the block had this cement-tamper thing. I bought it. I suppose it was a worthy try, but it'll probably just end up sitting idle in my basement for the rest of eternity.


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## ColorVoyeur (Jun 13, 2009)

That's a sweet tamper. McLeods are handy because of their versatility, but that tamper is way better than a McLeod at actually tamping. We use these to tamp down jumps and there is nothing better.


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## Mr. Lynch (Jun 11, 2010)

We use a tamper quite a bit. Using a tamper on the lead in/landing of jumps and on berms means less work/repair later on.


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## TFitz (Jun 21, 2008)

We use tampers like this all the time on just plain old trail segments where we've decided that crushed rock armoring is the solution to a problem.


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## 475856 (Feb 6, 2010)

TFitz said:


> We use tampers like this all the time on just plain old trail segments where we've decided that crushed rock armoring is the solution to a problem.


Same here for our trails. Not a bad piece of equipment. The only thing I can add is to weld a steel post on in place of the wooden handle that will break....


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## pascale27 (Aug 26, 2011)

ColorVoyeur said:


> That's a sweet tamper. McLeods are handy because of their versatility, but that tamper is way better than a McLeod at actually tamping. We use these to tamp down jumps and there is nothing better.


used a tamperer for a berm we recently built, helped getting the berm set way quicker than with a McLeod or shovels. But as a multi use trail tool a McLeod is hard to beat.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

That is a great tool. Not just for stabilising basic trail and berms, but for slamming rocks into the tread and also settling newly laid rock drains. Noisy though.


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## JonathanGennick (Sep 15, 2006)

Ok. Maybe I'll hold onto the thing then. It's heavy and awkward to carry, but it does actually tamp well.


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## Mr Berms (May 26, 2012)

I wouldn't be too concerned with how hard your tamper is to carry.
You will spend far more energy working with the wrong tools than carrying the correct ones to your trail repair.

If you are changing a riding surface you will need an effective tamping tool.


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## slocaus (Jul 21, 2005)

We use them frequently, for major repairs, for the skills park berms and jumps, table tops especially.

One unique use is the repair of a blown out trail due to a freak massive storm that dumped almost as much rain in two days as we normally get in a year. It blew out drains and then went down a steep old legacy trail that was a converted road. (We cannot reroute because of the seasonal stream and some plant species on both sides.)

So, even when muddy wet, you can fill the soil, lay some heavy visqueen sheeting over the top, and almost tamp the moisture out of the mud!


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## Mr Berms (May 26, 2012)

I like that sheet idea, it would stop dirt from sticking to the base of your tamper when working with moist soil.

On a side note, It looks like your trail could benefit from installing a rolling grade dip.
Thanks for sharing your pictures, It is always nice to see trail repairs that have been done with effort, Props to you.


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## slocaus (Jul 21, 2005)

Mr Berms said:


> I like that sheet idea, it would stop dirt from sticking to the base of your tamper when working with moist soil.
> 
> On a side note, It looks like your trail could benefit from installing a rolling grade dip.
> Thanks for sharing your pictures, It is always nice to see trail repairs that have been done with effort, Props to you.


Here is one of three, closely spaced, just at the top of that beast, after being rebuilt.









Torrential rains filled a wet boggy seep. It released, took out the pavers and culverts that normally handle the seep, or at least they did for 15 years. 



















Ran from above the horizon to the upper left, overflowing about 30 rolling drain dips with probably 100 times the volume of water they would normally have to handle.


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## Mr Berms (May 26, 2012)

It looks like you have got some great trails there Slocaus, but back onto the tamping thing...
(Sorry for steering this post off topic Jonathan)

I recently made a heavy duty tamper.

I have found that a McLeod will only tamp the very surface of a trail.
So I will tamp with a McLeod first then with the heavy tamper to get a compact trail surface right away.

There is a high stone content in the soil where I do trail work so sometimes a McLeod just won't press everything down.
Sometimes I even start a repair job with a 7 pound sledge hammer to squash any protruding stones down to the trail height if the trail section is extra rocky. (While wearing safety glasses of course)

Also if i am building a section up I squash any stones that are added in as fill to an even surface height so as the trail wears the stones don't poke out at you)

It is made up from 3mm steel plates and rubber sheeting and is bolted together so I can add or remove weight to suit the area i am working in.

The rubber in between the steel plates was added to reduce the noise created when pounding against stone.

There is a picture of my tamping tool in my photo album if anybody is interested, sorry but I don't have the correct post count to add images yet.


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