i would think for a chainsaw operation a forwarder would be a waste unless you had a few crews going at once. one man cannot keep up with how fast a forwarder can pick up logs. it would also be somewhat hard because in order to use the forwarder effectively your going to have to buck the logs to length in the woods which can sometimes be hard because you cannot see all of the angles to tell if a log may have defects. But if your going to work with a harvester a skidder is pointless unless your bringing out tops. the harvester can cut, delimb, and cut to length in the woods, it would be hard for a skidder to back up and haul out a pile of 16 foot logs when a forwarder could do it much faster and easier. but then you have the cost factor, buying brand new equipment is going to cost you alot, harvesters and forwarders can both go over 100K easy, so 200K for both. But i have seen some used for as low as 50K for a forwarder,as for harvesters never had much interest so i dont look into them. but a skidder you can go really cheap on and find older used machines for 10K or lower. so its going to depend on what your doing. for a clearcut with smaller wood go with the fwder and harvester, but if your going to cut larger wood or do select cutting the harvester is out of the question. really its alot of factors that can play into your decision.
