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Timber Harvest Methods & Equipment

Started by Ron Scott, March 24, 2002, 02:14:52 PM

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Swede

Had a mobile band sawmill, All hydraulics  for logs 30\"x19´, remote control. (sold it 2009-04-13)
Monkey Blades.Sold them too)
Jonsered 535/15\". Just cut firewood now.

Ron Scott

No, other than the "live oxens" discussed and shown elsewhere on the Forum. Is that an engined powered bunk unit and does it need another prime mover??
~Ron

Swede

Ron.
 
As any oxen the "iron" oxen is moving itselfe........slowly.
There is an Iron horse  ( JÄRNHÄST) to.

http://www.se.jonsered.com/index.asp

Swede.

Had a mobile band sawmill, All hydraulics  for logs 30\"x19´, remote control. (sold it 2009-04-13)
Monkey Blades.Sold them too)
Jonsered 535/15\". Just cut firewood now.

Ron Scott

4501 Iron Mule. Picks up a snow covered sawlog. Flint timber harvest 1/04.


~Ron

Kevin

I tried hock'n a stick or two out today but the trail is still too --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!!!!!--.com/photo/74882584/116791060CJRumT

Ron Scott

4501 Iron Mule. Parked at the landing for the day. This was a "snow day" for the loggers with all schools in the area  closed due to the heavy snow. Travel was to a minimum. Flint timber harvest; 2/04.


~Ron

Ron Scott

4501 Iron Mule. A good "work horse" in a "tight" hardwood thinning area. Flint timber harvest; 2/04


~Ron

Ron Scott

Thinning Northern Hardwoods. Winter logging; Flint timber harvest; 2/04.


~Ron

Ron Scott

4501 Iron Mule Works in Northern Hardwood Thinning. Loading firewood bolts from the topwood. A good winter for firewood sales as well as sawlogs and pulpwood. Good wood utilization; Flint timber harvest; 2/04.  


~Ron

Ron Scott

Some "wood-hauler" names recently noted on the road to and from the western UP.

"Fast Forward II"
"Killing Time"
"Unbelievable"
"Never Satisfied"
"Brute"
"Big Woody"

Over a 785 mile round trip, 83 "wood-haulers" were noted in route. Stretched out, that would be a few at 9.5 rigs/mile.
~Ron

mrelmertoots

I have not seen a crawer skidding logs on this site. I use a Cat D5B with a winch. I skid tree lenth and skid usally 2 or 3 large trees in good conditions. The crawer don't cut ruts like a skidder in soft ground.

Scott

 Hi mrelmertoots. I'd like to get a little dozer for skidding some day. Our woodlot is soft in places and needs roads put in. A D5 might be a little big for my needs but its still a nice size for sure. I agree with you on the rutting thing and thats one of the reasons I like dozers. They may not be as productive as a skidder and they may cost more to run but you can do more types of work and if you use it right you'll  leave the land in nice shape. I've seen a few operators who can steer clutch brake almost as well as one of those new hydrostatic/ differential steering machine. I'd love to see some pictures of your D5 at work.

Ron Scott

The rubber tired skidders and forwarders have pretty much replaced the crawlers for production logging. They are more efficient and effective on most jobs producing more board feet output per day.

Loggers that have crawlers here use them mostly for road construction, reconstruction, leveling and grading roads and landings, moving snow, etc. They then park them for the rubber tired units to do the tree and log moving.
~Ron

Scott

 A lot of loggers here do most of thier road builing with junker excavators to get a rough grade built up then back drag the road with a skidder blade. The roads are usually more damaging to the environment than a old dozer road but I guess they get the added grade they want by digging deep ditches. If you want production then skidders win hands down in most situations. The ground froze up real nice here this winter and the skidders aren't doing much damage.

SwampDonkey

Here is a road side 8 ' slasher.



slashing hardwood, aspen and softwood from treelength


"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Scott

The guy working around here has a slasher something like that except its an older Tanguay. The things pretty slow and it breaks down a lot but i guess it gets the job done. I think they cut 8 and 16 foot logs (mostly cedar) with it plus they use it for loading trucks.

SwampDonkey

Yeah this slasher can cut to any length you want. I'm not sure of the model. The contractor uses it mostly on his crown land operations. We had to use this slasher because of the small diameter hardwood we were thinning in. Helped speed up production.  And it came in handy to trim up the butt rot in the fir and it also did a good job on the veneer aspen. For some reason, all my photos where from the yards. Should have taken some pictures of the job. :-/
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Scott

 SwampDonkey I think that slaher is a HOOD machine. The Tanguay has its saw on a slider rail and can be adjusted to most lengths. I'll try to get some pictures of the operation within this week but the film will be awhile. I'll probably be posting a bunch of snowy pictures in july  :D

Scott

 I just watched a movie on the Quadco site with their Levesque processor in it. Pretty slick unit. Doesn't need to make a cut on the butt of the log to know where to start measuring from like a harvester head would and it doesn't need a butt plate either.

http://www.quadco.com/site/english/home.html

SwampDonkey

I had a look at the Quadco site also. Its quite slick at that small diameter wood. By the looks of the tops it must have been mainly white birch because the crowns were small. I wonder how it handles mature hardwood with big twisty tops like yellow birch. I guess its mostly for pulp processing. But I don't see it being used for other than clearcut jobs. In stands where thinning is required there would be a lot of mechanical damage to residuals and regeneration I suspect. I don't know that it would be more productive than a feller buncher and short wood processor/forwarder (3 machines versus 2 hmmm). I've seen those types of machines used on sites with thick softwood regen underneath and the regen gets a major pounding. Because the tree gets jerked back and forth to delimb and the head reaches for the wood often times grabbing a bunch of regen in its grip. In order to be productive the operator looses contact with the leave trees and focuses on that tree he's processing.

I'de like a short wood forwarder and manual felling/bucking and limbing on thinning sites. You have to cut that wood up where it falls, and fall it in such a way that the forwarder can reach the piece. But your trail system will assure you can reach every piece anyway.  Of course use directional felling, can't fall trees every which way if your going to do a good job. You'll end up passing over the same ground at different times because you can't buck the wood if its all criss-crossed either.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Tom

Hey!  Git that Skidder outa my way. :D


Scott

SwampDonkey, I see quite a few Hornet/ Target processors for sale around here so i'm guessing they handle most of the stuff we'd come up against. I think theyre rated for a 24 inch log. I think most guys use them for in woods delimbing (follows the buncher around) For processing felled trees i'd think them to be more efficient than a regular dangle head harvester because you don't have to cut a slab off the butt to start measuring.Maybe they aren't all like that but any I've seen have to make that cut. I agree with you on the chainsaw thing. the machines may e fast but they can sure make a mess pretty easy.

SwampDonkey

Scott:

Yes I agree with the efficiency of that head, but you still need that forwarder to pickup the pieces, load'em and transport. Plus the extra cost of that 3rd machine to buy and maintain. There is also an increased chance that wood is wasted unless care is taken to keep the short wood together and not scattered all over. Although, not a problem in most cases.

What I doen't like about some whole tree operations is the fact that your road side has a mountain of tops. What we've both mentioned for harvesting systems eleviates that problem somewhat and your tops break down quicker on site when scattered. Athough, they aren't quite as scattered as with manual felling and topping. Doing pre-commercial thinning has proven this, there's hardly a tree top that hasn't pretty well rotted out by 12 years. Those road side slash piles just stick around a long time on whole tree operations.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Frickman

Tom, what's that contraption for on front? Looks to me it's for piling up logs or brush.
If you're not broke down once in a while, you're not working hard enough

I'm not a hillbilly. I'm an "Appalachian American"

Retired  Conventional hand-felling logging operation with cable skidder and forwarder, Frick 01 handset sawmill

Pretend farmer when I have the time

Tom

It's a root rake.   It's used for general cleanup around the landng and on the skid trails and roads.  Practically a subsoiler, it will push out stumps and roots that bother trucks and other road vehicles using the woods roads and landing.  It comes in real handy when piling wind-rows or burn piles.  You'll notice that one tooth is missing.  curt lost it on the last job when the bolts loosened.   He means to put it back on soon.  



Makes the front of that skidder look real mean, doesn't it?

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