"It's a simple way to turn old tractor and truck tires into feed bunks," says Ken Winans, inventor of a new hand tool that lets him cut up full-size tractor tires in minutes.

The tire cutter consists simply of a 1 1/2-ft. long piece of flat steel equipped with a hack saw blade off a power hack saw. The blade is held in a mounting that bolts to the handle at right angles. To use it, the blade is simply hammered into the tire, or slipped in through a hole, and then leveraged up against the tire with the handle.

"It's just a glorified can opener," says Winans. "You just go around the tire like going around a tin can. It'll cut right through a tire without too much work."

Winans says you can cut off the top bead of a tire to make access into the tire easier for feeding. Or you can cut the tire in half and use the two sides as shallow feeders for young animals.

Winans, who sells pickup bed liners made from old tires (see Vol. 8, No.5), says he'd consider selling the tool or providing plans for do-it-yourselfers.