Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[hutchman]

OK, here are some more pics ... not my equipment but it is (was) my wood!

.... Out of all that stuff, the feller/buncher was my favorite! Very cool machine ... driving up to a tree, grabbing it, cutting it, picking it straight up (while still vertical) and then laying it down in a pile for the skidder to fetch.

 

[KiwiBro]

Thank you hutchman. That's a heck of an operation and quite a quiver of equipment. I could and have watched them for too long at times, trying to do the math in my head about how much faster they are than manual cutting, dragging, loading, etc. That sure looks like some nice terrain to be working that equipment on. Here the felling heads are normally on the excavators and in some fairly steep terrain.

It looks like they did a real good job cleaning up after themselves. The sort of crowd that gets recommended to other woodlot owners. Not the sort who cut and run.

 

[hutchman]

Thank you hutchman. That's a heck of an operation and quite a quiver of equipment. I could and have watched them for too long at times, trying to do the math in my head about how much faster they are than manual cutting, dragging, loading, etc. That sure looks like some nice terrain to be working that equipment on. Here the felling heads are normally on the excavators and in some fairly steep terrain.

It looks like they did a real good job cleaning up after themselves. The sort of crowd that gets recommended to other woodlot owners. Not the sort who cut and run.

I think it was just 4 guys and they did it (about 23 acres) in less than 4 weeks.

 

[Carl_NH]

I think it was just 4 guys and they did it (about 23 acres) in less than 4 weeks.

Did you use a forester to grade the timber and bid this out or what was the approach? Seems like a decent stand of timber you had, so just curious on the yield per acre in MBF or $ and age of the stand.

They did a nice job and left little behind assume the tops and chips were sold to the pulp or power plants - here they chip everything not mill quality and not much goes to waste.

 

[Billrog]

This is how my son cuts his fire wood in the pick it's bug killed pine in northern BC.

He sold the Cat last fall because it used twice the fuel of the Hitachi and to hard to get good employees seems drugs and alcohol are a problem for those making $42 ph+ benefits.
BTW the fire wood is only for his own use or old people with not much money.

 

[xring100]

This is how my son cuts his fire wood in the pick it's bug killed pine in northern BC.
<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=405223"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=405224"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=405225"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=405226"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=405227"/>
He sold the Cat last fall because it used twice the fuel of the Hitachi and to hard to get good employees seems drugs and alcohol are a problem for those making $42 ph+ benefits.
BTW the fire wood is only for his own use or old people with not much money.

Now thats pretty efficient maybe not as quick as a wood processor but still nice as its multi purpose. Definitely faster than my method

 

[hutchman]

Did you use a forester to grade the timber and bid this out or what was the approach? Seems like a decent stand of timber you had, so just curious on the yield per acre in MBF or $ and age of the stand.

They did a nice job and left little behind assume the tops and chips were sold to the pulp or power plants - here they chip everything not mill quality and not much goes to waste.

I had a state forester and paid two consulting foresters to cruise the timber. Hired one of the consulting foresters to handle the bids etc. I have the reports around here somewhere ... don't remember too much of the details other than the bottom line values of the two cruises weren't vastly different.

I think one of the loggers as they were tearing down the deck area told me they took out 108 loads. Don't know the breakdown of logs vs pulp. We have a lot of power companies and others that have boilers and need wood chips so not much was left behind.

 

[KiwiBro]

seems drugs and alcohol are a problem for those making $42 ph+ benefits.

That's got to be very frustrating for him. Especially if the work and opportunity is there for him if only he could find more worthwhile employees.

 

[hutchman]

This is how my son cuts his fire wood in the pick it's bug killed pine in northern BC.
View attachment 405223View attachment 405224View attachment 405225View attachment 405226View attachment 405227
He sold the Cat last fall because it used twice the fuel of the Hitachi and to hard to get good employees seems drugs and alcohol are a problem for those making $42 ph+ benefits.
BTW the fire wood is only for his own use or old people with not much money.

Thats cool! I've see those machines operate on TV and they are slick! Felling, limbing and cut-to-length all with one machine.

I asked several of the foresters I worked with if anyone around here had that kind of equipment and they said no, mostly the operations out West. I've seen several jobs around here and the equipment used is the same type as was used on my land ... just different colors (Tigercat feller/buncher etc.)

 

[TomSeller]

This is how my son cuts his fire wood in the pick it's bug killed pine in
He sold the Cat last fall because it used twice the fuel of the Hitachi and to hard to get good employees seems drugs and alcohol are a problem for those making $42 ph+ benefits.
BTW the fire wood is only for his own use or old people with not much money.

It sounds like he is not making money off of the wood?