Equipment and methods for Harvesting eastern red cedar

[Log321]

Hey guys I made a post awhile back about markets for erc, I've cut an acre out of 100 or more that I own with a chain saw and it produced enough that it's definitely worth logging the rest. Now my question is what would you guys recommend for equipment to take some labor away? I have a skid steer and grapple that i used to log the acre. Still a lot of hours and labor in it so I was wondering if anyone had a better way. I know a harvester and forwarder would be the ideal setup. But don't have that kind of money to spend right now. Open to suggestions. Cedarman do you have any input? Thought about a feller buncher attachment for skid steer but that doesn't solve the limbing aspect. Thanks guys

[doc henderson]

I am a small hobby operation.  I have a track loader and 32-foot gooseneck with @yellowhamer log bunks.  I find the hardest thing is to limb them after falling.  I have a Stihl pole saw and I limb as far as I can up the tree and clear the limbs before I fell it and buck it.

[doc henderson]

there was a video about an old wheel made to pull the tree through and limb it.  there are also hydraulic ones that run up the tree to delimb.

[doc henderson]

Harvestech S3000 Delimber in action 3

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January 29, 2020

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=109302.0

[barbender]

I went to NE Nebraska 4 years ago Iirc, with a cut to length forestry equipment manufacturer to do a demo cutting ERC. It reminded me of doing a first entry white spruce thinning up here. Lots of limbs. 

It would be miserable stuff to hand cut, I think. Those limbs, while brittle, are very stiff and I would think they would be miserable to get through to get to the base of the tree. 

Take a look at "The Stripper" delimber. It is a pull through delimber, I thought about building a smaller version to use with my skid steer. If you used one in conjunction with a forestry grapple for a skid steer (like a log loader grapple, not the run of the mill brush grapple) it would be pretty slick. 

I have one I built for my skid steer years back, and I've moved a ton of wood with it over the years. If you're working roadside, it's actually a pretty efficient method for moving small to medium sized wood (which ERC is).

[doc henderson]

I limb the lower 12 feet and then cut it down.  the pole saw keeps you on the outside.  a teenage kid to grab limbs out of the way as you work around the tree is helpful too.

[Cedarman]

When I first started logging cedar 40 years ago, I used a medium sized chain saw to directionally fell the tree.  Then used a technique of letting the tree carry most of the weight of the saw at times as I delimbed. I would limb up to about the 4" diameter and clip off.  Keep saw sharp.  You can use an 8 sprocket rather than a 7 to speed chain up. I used a 60 HP tractor with Farmi winch to yard the trees. Made a stick of proper length and used marking paint to mark where to cut.  Buck the trees and use a loader to load and go home.  A good day was 30  6"DBH to 14"DBH.  Most trees had 3 to 6  8' logs in them.  Later I used a skid steer with a tree terminator shear to cut and lay down the trees side by side to make it easier to winch out.  The shear has grapples to hold the tree.
Now we use shear on smaller trees, chainsaw on bigger and use a grapple skidder to move to yard and then knuckleboom with pull through delimber and haul tree length to mill where we merchandise the logs to the lengths to fill orders.
Not much help.  Just lots of work without big equiipment.