Abstract: An improved machine for pointing a wooden stake having a cutting tool that includes a movable plunger having motion coordinated with the feed and ejection motion of the stakes in the machine that assures that any debris entrapped in the cutting tool is dislodged and discharged from the cutting tool during the interval between the discharge of an already-pointed stake and the feeding of an un-pointed stake.

Abstract: An automated drill road loader particularly suited for thin walled drill rods. The loader, generally affixed to a drill, includes an open frame sufficiently wide to accommodate and store drill rods. A clamp rod gripper and a swing gripper consisting of two pendulums are affixed to a side of the frame. A lift first raises a stored rod from the open frame. The rod is then grasped by the clamp rod gripper and the swing gripper to index the rod in a drill mast. By sequentially manipulating and translating the clamp rod gripper and the swing gripper, the rod is carefully held for threading. The drill rod may be establishing a new drill string or it may be inserted into an existing drill string.