Timber Harvest Methods & Equipment

[gaproperty]

I'll never keep up with you guys but I enjoy harvesting with this set up.

 

Reminds me of me and my father years ago. Dad had this theory. It's not how much money you make it's how much you enjoy your work and how much money you have left in the bank on Friday.  He had horses and old trucks.  Big machines cost lots of money and although they can make good money if you keep them going many went bankrupt. Big money.. lots of pressure and no time to enjoy your work.  
Your method doesn't cost anything and most likely one of the most enjoyable ways to log.  Dad and I got a lot of satisfaction from it.  It's been 45 years and I still work in the wood doing small scale logging mostly firewood.  I have a kubtoa tractor with a logging winch and power saws.  I keep it simple.  https://lostcaper.ca/dad-the-man-the-myth-the-legend/(opens in a new tab)

[g_man]

Yesterday was the end of the winter Sp/Fir season for me. My method is to get 1000 BF on the landing then make two 500 BF trips to the log yard 6 miles away.



 

This is the last load.



 

The mill I used to use closed last year. They would take down to 10 footers. The log yard min length is 12 foot. Makes me wish I had a longer truck. Makes steering interesting when the haul road is icy.



 

gg

[thecfarm]

Your woods look like mine,as in snow.

[78NHTFY]

g-man: nice looking stacks--bet you like that grapple!
Unless we get another big freeze, like you g-man, I am done in the woods 'till summer.  No problem:  my log deck is chocka-block full so I'll be sawing (ash, oak, WP, hemlock--over 100 logs); my landing zone is full with full-length (50' - 75'--lots of dead ash from the "yellows" as my forester call it) so I'll be bucking up and sorting cordwood (mostly) from saw logs, chainsawing rounds and hand splitting rounds into cordwood (gotta stay in shape ;) 

 

 
All the best, Rob.

[g_man]

Looks like that 440 is working out nicely for you Rob !!!

gg

[Ron Scott]

Looking Good!

[Ron Scott]

Salvage of a large area of windblown timber from the destructive August 2018 windstorm has started along State Highway 55 west of Cadillac, MI. The timber salvage changes the landscape appearance while greatly improving the area's aesthetics, March 2019.


 

 

[Firewoodjoe]

Ron that area took it hard. It's to bad how much standing timber we lost.

[Ron Scott]

Yes, hopefully most of the downed timber can and will be salvaged. 

[Ron Scott]

John Deere 700H Crawler and Forwarder parked at the landing of the timber salvage operation, March 2019. The 700H crawler was used to open the snowed in access routes into the windblown timber. 


 

 

[Ron Scott]

The salvaged timber logging/decking area with a John Deere slasher and harvester parked on site during the afternoon thaw. The logging is done during the early morning frozen ground conditions and then stopped during the early afternoon warm ups so as not to "mud up" the operation. March 2019.


 

[gaproperty]

Great hand tools help me with my small scale firewood operation.  Man there is some big outfits and fancy equipment but I have a tractor with a winch and logging trailer.  Great logging hand tools are a great help to my operation.  I have a Kubota l4740 and a wallenstine fx 6500 as well.  I also use a logging trailer.  Usually I winch the tree to the road then buck up the wood into firewood length peaces.  It works pretty good. I find good hand tools are a great help. Good birch hooks, peaveys, etc.  Here is a video of my logging hand tools.


Great hand tools I use for my small scale logging operation

[Ron Scott]

This large commercial timber operator uses a lot of John Deere armor of the largest size for large volume production on this large acreage of wind blown salvage timber, March 2019.


 

 

[Peter Drouin]

Have to move a lot of trees to pay for that,  But I bet it does it well.

[Skeans1]

This large commercial timber operator uses a lot of John Deere armor of the largest size for large volume production on this large acreage of wind blown salvage timber, March 2019.


 

1210? Or 1510?

[Ron Scott]

1210E 

[barbender]

A few from this spring. We're getting some time off this spring for a change, which is alright by me👍

A small sale we cut right off of a highway




A nice second entry red pine thinning




A nice little landing, I tried to put the wood up really neatly because it has to sit until the road restrictions come off. One of the most embarrassing things you can have happen as a forwarder operator is having your end of winter piles fall over because you left too much snow under them. No this has not happened to me😊


 
Ponsse BuffaloKing forwarder and Ergo harvester all done with this one. Waiting for the lowboy to take them in for spring maintenance.



And finally, another outfit that was working down the road. They are running a JD rubber tire buncher in front of a JD track harvester and a JD forwarder. The forwarder's piles are atrocious, IMO😁

[Cub]

Those some nice looking piles there!! Maybe someday mine will be that nice. I'm usually somewhere in between your piles and the last picture. Never had any fall over YET :D

[WDH]

Barbender, you make nice piles. 

[wannaergo]

Those are beautiful piles. I've had one spring pile tip over. It was a small pile of saw logs, and when I made it, the snowbanks were 6 feet tall, and when the trucker went to grab them, they were almost gone.

[Ron Scott]

Neat piles often reflect on the expected quality and perception of a good logging job. The landing/decking area is usually the first part of a logging job seen by the passerby. ;)

[Ron Scott]

The landing/decking area grows with salvaged timber from the August 2018 wind storm. The timber is sorted into product species and lengths for the best market prices. March 2019.


 

 

[Ron Scott]

This small independent logger has been in business for a number of years and has a waiting list of clients in the local area. He uses the simplest of equipment in his operations. Here is a short bunk woodhauler and loader on the landing of one of his current tree length hardwood timber harvests, 9/19.

[Ron Scott]

This logger also uses a 450E John Deere crawler with a grapple on this tree length hardwood harvest operation. 9/19.


 

[g_man]

You don't see a crawler set up like that every day. Pretty neat.

gg