Skid steers

[Redhorseshoe]

82hp gross, 76hp net.  It's a case sv250, working load limit of 2,500 lbs.  It'll lift waaaay more than that though (not necessarily though)  I picked up a 16 foot pine log with a 38" butt that was cut down about a year ago just to see if the machine could do it.  It may have only been on the front two tires but it picked it up and moved it.  I won't be doing that again any time soon! 

[YellowHammer]

I am looking at the tree shears with grapples.  However, I used to make burn piles so big the could be seen from the Space Shuttle, but I'd just as soon not do it anymore.  A mower or mulcher cleans up the trees and the mess.  

[mike_belben]

one really needs a hydraulic accumulator finger to hold the trunk being sheared, or at least a heavy brush bar to push it over as you nibble the but so that it lays down away before sever. 


These single circuit open back shears are pretty wreckless, just asking to get pinned or poked. A limb hits the control stick and all sorts of tragedy can rare up. 

[YellowHammer]

I'm interested in what you are saying....I'm not sure I understand the difference, I've never used one.  I've seen adds for ones with accumulators some not, some that automatically close the jaws as a precursor to the shears, some I guess that have separate control circuit.

This style is what I'm looking at.  They range from $10K to $20K.

Dymax 14" Skid Loader Grapple Tree Shear by BOSS ATTACHMENTS take 2 - YouTube

[mike_belben]

that ones fine, its got control of the tree before turning it loose.  google "timberline HTC shear" for an example of a great tool for flattening your cab frame so itll never take a door again. 

[Walnut Beast]

Get a mulcher and be done with it. If you want to cut trees down do it with the disc mulcher. Any size and fast. Then use your grapples

[Walnut Beast]

It's still Cummins power 132 hp. The new MAX cab. 

 

[YellowHammer]

That things a monster!  

I was looking at attachments, and seeing all the tree shear attachments, and it occurred to me that it would be handy to have an attachment I could use on the log deck, to cut logs to length, so I didn't have to hand buck them with a chainsaw.  

So I started looking for hydraulic shears that would rotate 90° so could pick logs off the ground about midway, and could have a pretty big bite capacity.  Such a tool would be a huge timesaver at the mill, like a skid steer mounted sawbuck.

Has anybody seen one of these?  Or is there a different attachment that would do this?   

[Southside]

Are you asking about shearing off logs to length or a grapple with a saw?

[Magicman]

Our sawmills quit taking logs that had been sheared rather than cut because of the fractured wood in the butt.

[Southside]

I fear the whole college football rivalry has gotten out of hand. YellowHammer must have been watching his game while wearing his new fangled "Feel the hit" Virtual Reality head set which @WV Sawmiller clearly had disabled the safety switch on and had locked in in "Full skull crush" mode.

Can you picture it now. A shiny new skid steer rolls up to an $8 / BF Missouri Walnut log in nowhere Alabama. The jaws pick up the log when suddenly the silence is broken as the operator yells "Look Martha, No Hands!", followed by the deafening crunch of jet black, clear four sides, 24" Walnut as it is instantly transformed into kindling wood. 

A sinister "Roll Tide" is then heard as the skid steer heads towards the stash of imported Ipe and Martha picks up her phone to call the local sale barn asking about available cattle.  :D

[WDH]

The perfect Reality TV Show.  "A Day at the Milton's". 

[barbender]

😂😂😂 YH, you don't want to use a shear on your logs, trust me. Although I get the sense that some of these guys would get some kind of sick pleasure seeing you destroy a high dollar walnut or white oak log with one😂😂 I believe it is Hammerhead Attachments that sells a grapple saw, one of my buddies bought one and seems pretty happy with it. He just uses it around a firewood processor though, no walnut😁

[mike_belben]

dont worry, NW still has a buyer for walnut toothpicks with metal.  ;D

[YellowHammer]

The perfect Reality TV Show.  "A Day at the Milton's".

That's a great idea, I'm gonna film it for the YouTube! I won't even have to saw wood anymore, I'll be a gozillionare from the videos!  Just drive around and crunch up sawlogs and film it.  

There no way I'd use it on a high value Alabama Walnut, but I'd have a ball with it on an Auburn pine, a Georgia Dawgwood or maybe a Clemson Tiger maple!   :D :D
Bite, crunch, "Next!"

I haven't seen a processor head small enough for a skid steer, but I'm looking!

This is what I've seen so far.  It cuts to length, and then splits it for the stove.  Who wouldn't want on of these?  Imagine what it could do to my sawlog pile?

I'll look at the Hammerhead Attachment, also.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40v6Nq5d-L8

[ladylake]

 Try running  some crooked snarly firewood though that, great for the staight stuff/  Steve

[Walnut Beast]

YH look at Vail X they make a tree saw that is directional along with the Disc Mulchers they have. 

[nativewolf]

dont worry, NW still has a buyer for walnut toothpicks with metal.  ;D

Toothpicks have to be right much good sized dragon toothpicks....and walnut.  

[nativewolf]

The perfect Reality TV Show.  "A Day at the Milton's".

That's a great idea, I'm gonna film it for the YouTube! I won't even have to saw wood anymore, I'll be a gozillionare from the videos!  Just drive around and crunch up sawlogs and film it.  

There no way I'd use it on a high value Alabama Walnut, but I'd have a ball with it on an Auburn pine, a Georgia Dawgwood or maybe a Clemson Tiger maple!   :D :D
Bite, crunch, "Next!"

I haven't seen a processor head small enough for a skid steer, but I'm looking!

This is what I've seen so far.  It cuts to length, and then splits it for the stove.  Who wouldn't want on of these?  Imagine what it could do to my sawlog pile?

I'll look at the Hammerhead Attachment, also.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40v6Nq5d-L8

Much better business model...smash a few walnut logs and get 1 million views and laugh to the bank.

[Old Greenhorn]

The perfect Reality TV Show.  "A Day at the Milton's".

That's a great idea, I'm gonna film it for the YouTube! I won't even have to saw wood anymore, I'll be a gozillionare from the videos!  Just drive around and crunch up sawlogs and film it.  

There no way I'd use it on a high value Alabama Walnut, but I'd have a ball with it on an Auburn pine, a Georgia Dawgwood or maybe a Clemson Tiger maple!   :D :D
Bite, crunch, "Next!"

I haven't seen a processor head small enough for a skid steer, but I'm looking!

This is what I've seen so far.  It cuts to length, and then splits it for the stove.  Who wouldn't want on of these?  Imagine what it could do to my sawlog pile?

I'll look at the Hammerhead Attachment, also.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40v6Nq5d-L8

Much better business model...smash a few walnut logs and get 1 million views and laugh to the bank.

You guys do realize you are starting to sound like "THEM" now, don't you? (Quick buck, little work, I deserve my piece of the pie too!) I'm shocked, shocked I say. :D ;D

[mike_belben]

is it me or did bigfoot completely clone the halverson processor design?  

[mike_belben]

Try running  some crooked snarly firewood though that, great for the staight stuff/  Steve

have you ever seen one doing badly in curvy stuff?  i have never found a video of that and have looked, since i plan to do a slide tray feeder slaved to the splitter like that on my own machine also.  in my mind it should be one of the best processors in junky stuff if you can get it loaded on the trough.

[barbender]

I like the slide tray, but not on a skid steer. Visibility issues.

[YellowHammer]

I look at attachments such as this, 12 inch capacity, seems decently fast, able to cut vertical trees and also reach up and trim limbs as well as logs laying on the ground.  I compare this to a mulcher which would have a slightly bigger capacity but is much more violent and harder on the skid steer.

The mulcher cutters clean up the debris which is a big plus, these style machines don't sling debris everywhere, which is also a big plus.

These seems to have a use, but I don't see them being used, maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.  Are these just really toys, and not ready for prime time?  Out are they useful but limited or just too slow?  This is just one of several made by different manufacturers.  

Incisor ISR512 - YouTube

[farmfromkansas]

That incisor looks a lot like a Kansas Clipper.  I have a Wichita Shear, only has 10" capacity.  A lot of trees I have to cut 3 or 4' high off the ground, which is ok, just spray the stump with some diesel and remedy, and it dies. Sticks up high enough you can see them from your tractor cab, so as not to hit them with your farm equipment.  Ash and hackberry rot off fairly quickly. Most of the problems I have are with bigger trees, and break hydraulic fittings.  That one looks like it is designed to avoid most of those problems