Equipment Used In Tree Harvesting.

[Gunfighter]

I'm having a few acres of Popular tree taken out before they start falling over on their own.
Popular is a fast growing soft white wood best suited for the paper industry but I've seen
a few log cabins & cabinets built with Popular.

Thought some of you maybe interested in seeing some of the equipment used to harvest
the trees. This is a chipping operation, the advantage over logging is they take the whole
tree, tops included...

TREE CUTTER

 

[Gunfighter]

Think they call this skiding logs.

TREE HAULER

 

[Gunfighter]

CHIPPER

 

[Gunfighter]

Tree waiting to be chipped...

 

[beenthere]

A lot of lumber in those trees, and I understood the value per cubic foot (or by weight) is much higher in lumber than in chips. Sorry to see that they are chipping everything. Once the tree lengths are in that landing, seems they would be cutting out the logs for some bigger money.

 

[Gunfighter]

They are not clear cutting the woods, they are only taking the
Popular tree an leaving the hard wood, The open area you see
is from mowing, not logging.

You are right about the price, loggers, even for Popular trees will
pay a higher price but the logger leave such a mess behind.
The logger will take only half the tree, the top half is left for you
to deal with.. There is a place west of me which was logged an you
can't walk through the property without climbing over tree tops...

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I think what beenthere was saying is why didn't they cut the lengths out for logs and chip the rest? Maximize your value.

 

[ScottAR]

Tree cutter= Feller buncher
Tree hauler= Skidder or grapple skidder since it has one...
Tree chipper or wood hog... Wood hog may be a brand name though...HTH

 

[beenthere]

Yes, as Robert_NY was saying, I meant chumming the piles of tree length logs you have in the "to be chipped" pile. The woods looks good (I assume) and the money is there in the pile in the form of logs. I gather the chipper operator may not think he is making any money by only chipping the tops, so he wants the big logs as well. Many an operation makes the mistake that chips are so easy to get, but the real money is in the log in the form of lumber, NOT chips.
Unless these Popular (Yellow poplar? or aspen? - sometimes called Popple) trees (which are hardwoods) have no valuable lumber in them (not apparent by the photo's).

 

[Gunfighter]

I'll agree, logging an chipping the tops appear to me as the smart thing to do
but I don't find anybody that did both log an chip. It appears these small outfits
like to specialize in one thing only and the big outfits want to come through an
clear cut everything...

I'll say this from experience, it's getting hard to find small outfits who'll do a
few acres of selective cutting.