I had a much harder time getting a rake to work than I did the baler. I started off trying to build a tow behind rake on wheels. I tried various ways but was never satisfied. Finally I built the one mounted on the front end and man it works great. It will rake pine straw as clean as a hand rake.
I am also have a horizontal baler that I built to make mini straw bales for decoration. 8" X9" X18". I am strongly considering building a Pine straw baler that makes bales 12" X 13" X 26" which is about the size of this one pictured. I am even considering either an air cylinder or a 12 volt actuator to compress the bales. Not there yet though.