Stihl FS130 brush cutting (review)

[stonebroke]

SD

I have a browns tree cuter and you can cut a 8 inch hardwood with it. You just have to back into it and hope it is not going to fall down and kill you. You can actually cut bigger trees if you take several different cuts into them. You are right three inch hardwood is about the biggest I would drive over. After that turn around and back. It also helps to have a versatile bidirectional tractor.

Stonebroke

[joe_indi]

A five year old Stihl FS100 that I have just had its fourth Ignition module failure.

(For any FS100 or FS130 users here: The symptoms when the ignition is failing is that the engine may back fire, or if it starts it will not accelerate, or if it does accelerate it will be intermittent.)

I had a digital coil from an OleoMac GS720 lying idle. I tried it on the FS100.
The result is to be seen to be believed. So have a look at it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAOa8JfBuAc

Joe

[SwampDonkey]

Never know when your picture is going to be snapped.



Me using my FS550 on the beginning of a new work strip. From about 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm I had over 1/2 of an acre cut in here. In the morning I had cut 1/2 an acre down the road. The trees are spaced of course, not all mowed down. The stuff got bigger, deeper in this strip. This was road side. I'm at a red maple clump in the picture. Two more days and I was finished this and 1/2 an acre off the back of the next strip behind me.

I wear plugs.

[beenthere]

SD
How about some "after" pics of the area to show your "work". ?

[SwampDonkey]

I didn't take the picture(s) and I haven't any on hand of that site. Still pictures don't show thinning really well unless viewed from over head. I have some post thinning picts of my own land. But, as I said you can't see much. I can post one of those I suppose.





This was in 2007, when I ran across a couple bull moose muscling about 3 rows of trees away. Yeah, where are the rows? :D

[Tom]

Hardwood thinning is not as understood in the Southeast where pine is the major crop.  I sure would like to read some short information from you northern Foresters about what is thinned, what causes it to need to be thinned (stump sprouts?), frequency of thinning, season of thinning and what the thinning accomplishes.   It seems to me that thinning in a mixed-tree environment, like you have, would require some strong and ready identification skills, as well as a good knowledge of the growing characteristics of each species.

[SwampDonkey]

Tom,

The primary goal is to "release" the stand at a stage in development where dominance is not already expressed by certain trees of same species in the stand, or the height growth and girth is pretty uniform of that species and trees even aged. It increases growth rate, girth-wise, and improves health and quality of the stand. Usually treatment stands are of clear cut, fire or plantation origin. The idea is to select trees of quality with species preference dictated by the mills management goals (under their public forest license agreement). On sites with the majority of species not favoring their mill demands, species of quality are favored for other markets. There may still be species the mill favors that are found (ie scattered softwood). Selection favors quality trees of highest value and ranked in order of preference. In our area the top softwood tree is a spruce, then balsam fir, white pine, cedar, tamarack, hemlock. I will favor a cedar over a fir on wetter ground because fir needs lots of nutrients and doesn't like wet. On hardwood sites, which in our area is maple and birch mostly, we rank as follows: yellow birch, sugar maple, white birch, white ash, red maple, beech, aspen, black ash, gray birch, cherry (pin, black), elm and any odd balls like basswood and butternut I put at the top if they are decent trees. We thinned one site this spring with a lot of butternut, so I left them. The top three species of each group (softwood vs hardwood) are favored with the top 3 softwood being given highest rank. We delay treatment until sufficient height is reached and then space so crowns close in quickly to induce self pruning as the crown lifts and helps reduce stump suckers or slows them down so they eventually die out under canopy or become less competitive if they persist. Time of year up here depends on snow and being able to get to the sites. Only exception is extreme fire danger when you have to leave the woods by noon. The majority of our hardwood sites are not stump suckered. Only red maple and sometimes beech are bad for suckering and many times they are single stem trees as well. Sugar maple doesn't sucker from mature trees, and almost 100 % of yellow birch as well is seed origin trees, not suckered. A hardwood site can have 5 mature yellow birch an acre before harvest and end up 90 % yellow birch and thicker than words I'm allowed to use to describe it. ;D :D  Most aspen is either root suckered or wind blown. On most sites in the out back it's wind blown and only road side for 150 feet or so deep. Pin cherry, gray and white birch is all seed origin after cuts and fires. All softwood is seed origin except planted trees, where there are often double or triple trees in a plug from the nursery. Some nursery stock gets thinned for doubles and such, but DNR doesn't seem to do it. I think Irving is about the only outfit that thins out the doubles before the trees go to the planting site. No scarcity of regeneration in this country. ;D Why some sites are planted is a head scratcher at times when I have to go in and start mowing some down. :D

Sometimes I even have to leave a willow or an alder and maybe even a serviceberry to fill the "spot". Usually the red spruce sites mixed with balsam fir are a solid wall of stems, except harvest trails. Branches all the way to the ground and intertwined like wire, so you cut 10 and they all fall or you pitch them like hay. Look out the sawdust doesn't hit ya on the way bye. :D :D :D

Now mix into all that the rocks, "chickos", blow dows, root wadsw, hard cedar stumps, and wet muck holes to work through. ;D

[SawTroll]

Bmill,
You might find the Stihl "Comfort" harness more comfortable, especially for the wife.
Part No. 4134 710 9001.

The FS130 is torque y being a four stroke.In the Stihl brushcutter range, irrespective of two strokes and four strokes, I would place it between the FS 120 and FS 200.
But, the engine looks very much  like that of a Subaru Robin four stroke brushcutter.
Whether this is a coincidence or not I dont know.

Joe

I don't know of the 120 and 130, as I have never used them (and don't really want to) - the specs of the 130 tell me that I am better off with my FS200 anyway!

I haven't tried the "Comfort" harness though, but my (trimmer expert) brother highly recommends it!

[Tom]

Swamp,
When you are thinning, are the thinning plans laid out before hand, to a certain extent (flagging, painting, etc) or do you and your crew have a general approach for what species are important and then just dive in, making decisions on the fly as you wade through the thickets?

[SwampDonkey]

Swamp,
When you are thinning, are the thinning plans laid out before hand, to a certain extent (flagging, painting, etc) or do you and your crew have a general approach for what species are important and then just dive in, making decisions on the fly as you wade through the thickets?

Tom, the only thing marked out is perimeter of the work site and the strip lines. The areas between the strip lines are measured for area, that is what the guy gets paid for cutting. Individual trees are not marked most of the time. Where we cut in that butternut stand a few weeks back the contractor and probably the forest company didn't even take notice of the butternut trees.  : When I ran crews I used to mark a specific tree to save if it was one of those odd balls species for the north such as an oak, butternut or basswood. Otherwise, the bark is so similar on young trees you could be cutting an aspen and it was really a red oak. You couldn't go out with the idea in mind of finding all those special trees, it would be impossible and no compensation in your pay cheque. ;) Up here softwood has a lot less defect in the stem than a hardwood. Spruce is king in the north where in the south it is pine. Most hardwood is pulp, the best chance of a hardwood log is going to be from a yellow birch or sugar maple. Those stump sprouted red maple are just fibre trees. We pretty much do the selecting and cutting on the fly for the most part, leaving the better looking trees as we go and try not to cut a lone spruce in a hardwood thicket. If so, better bury it. Ooops! Sometimes it can't be helped when the saw kicks or you direct a tree to fall and the saw takes a dive into a leave tree.