Working for the Commission for the first time

[Spruce Pirate]

Stumps look fine (for windblow), but I'd be tidying up the end of the piece.  I know it's only 3m, but, standards and all that!

 

Are you down there for the next couple of weeks?  I might try and drop in and see you as I'll probably be down around Ae at some point.  Be interested to get a look at the machine.

[outinthewood]

I cut a large amount of blown sales and as a matter of course we cut far enough away from the stump to leave a usable lenth i.e. 3m+ if just firewood or pulp or 5.3ish to get a 4.9m that way you on the forwarder can lift the stump if you have to and then cut or on a short lenth it will prob stand it's self. So no problems with "buried " stump ends. Did a sale a few months ago where one side of the road was done just by harvester no sawman and it looked like a scene from the Somme ! It was a private wood and we did the remaining blow and the owner was not happy with the other contractor when he saw how we did it. 

[Big J]

1 hour ago, Spruce Pirate said:

Stumps look fine (for windblow), but I'd be tidying up the end of the piece.  I know it's only 3m, but, standards and all that!

 

Are you down there for the next couple of weeks?  I might try and drop in and see you as I'll probably be down around Ae at some point.  Be interested to get a look at the machine.

It's a shame, but it's just going for chip. It's been down long enough that whilst it's still heavy (sat on wet ground), it's starting to get blue stain running through some of it. Running the risk of rejection from the sawmills, chipwood it is. 

 

43 minutes ago, outinthewood said:

I cut a large amount of blown sales and as a matter of course we cut far enough away from the stump to leave a usable lenth i.e. 3m+ if just firewood or pulp or 5.3ish to get a 4.9m that way you on the forwarder can lift the stump if you have to and then cut or on a short lenth it will prob stand it's self. So no problems with "buried " stump ends. Did a sale a few months ago where one side of the road was done just by harvester no sawman and it looked like a scene from the Somme ! It was a private wood and we did the remaining blow and the owner was not happy with the other contractor when he saw how we did it. 

I'm not sure that the Commission would be happy with that with the machine having a 20m risk zone. I'm trying to avoid doing anything to piss them off! It's a good method though and one I'll keep in mind for other sites.

[outinthewood]

I didn't make that clear ! lift and leave it ready to cut not hold and cut at the same time. 

Although it would be ok for us to have a machine hold a stem which was no matter what you did was going to fly you know when they are held up at a past balance point by the next root plate ? 

Did a sale couple of years ago which was to be subject to European audit so had no choice to cut as close as possible, ended up carrying a stiff brush and still wore out a new 28" chain in 2 days...nothing nice about it every other tree seemed to be set ready to do me ! Thankfully had a 1910 JD and 941/951 Komatsu to help .

[Big J]

Fair point, and I'm sure that the job looked very smart when done.

[Spruce Pirate]

15 hours ago, outinthewood said:

I didn't make that clear ! lift and leave it ready to cut not hold and cut at the same time. 

Although it would be ok for us to have a machine hold a stem which was no matter what you did was going to fly you know when they are held up at a past balance point by the next root plate ? 

Did a sale couple of years ago which was to be subject to European audit so had no choice to cut as close as possible, ended up carrying a stiff brush and still wore out a new 28" chain in 2 days...nothing nice about it every other tree seemed to be set ready to do me ! Thankfully had a 1910 JD and 941/951 Komatsu to help .

What is the European audit about?  To my way of thinking a little bit of wastage on the stump in wind-blow should be allowed by any auditors on safety grounds, rather than trying to recover every last scrap of timber.

[Spruce Pirate]

On ‎19‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 23:02, Big J said:

It's a shame, but it's just going for chip. It's been down long enough that whilst it's still heavy (sat on wet ground), it's starting to get blue stain running through some of it. Running the risk of rejection from the sawmills, chipwood it is. 

Chip was what I meant by 3m.

[outinthewood]

You must have come across a audit like that ? I suppose you would say it's ultimate audit ! all about keep the certification to allow the product to be sold in all markets. The sales to be done are picked out and a gang of "outsiders" arrive to see all done according to specs, any  ground damage no water contamination etc etc. If ever you want to see the local team in a flustered state this is the time. 

I agree with you on the saving every bit of timber but we are allowed 20cm on windblow stumps  by the book and the sale I was refering to had had a covering of light earth for maybe the first 2' and as you and I know we would normaly cut, allow to stand up then the rubbish has fallen off you can take a slice off . 

[Big J]

Well, the job is finished and there was good and bad. 

 

The main issue is that it rained each and every day for 2 weeks. The ground conditions went from passable to absolutely awful. It meant that we couldn't get the larch out through the soft extraction route that we were there to process. 

 

So in the end, we cut about 130 tonnes of larch which was left in the stand until the remaining spruce is clearfelled in three years time. There is no other way of getting it out. We also cut 175 tonnes of spruce (some selective thinning, some windblow processing) which I was able to extract.

 

The forwarder performed well but I lost a few days to repairs. The leg assembly (which is now updated and improved with the manufacturer) was weak, and bent quickly. I now have a very strong leg system. Lost two days to that. The pins were also in need of bracing, which has now been done and they are now unbendable. 

 

I also had a very heavy log slip the grab and land squarely on the back left pin, which badly bent the cross member. Bent back and reinforced, it's much stronger now. 

 

Some of the issues were operator error (only got my FMOCS ticket last Monday) and some were weak points on the machine. What is good though is that the manufacturer is extremely receptive to all feedback and the improvements I'm making to the machine are being taken onboard for future machines. With my forwarder being machine 16 and the first into the UK, it's not quite a prototype, but it's not far off that. UK forestry is harsh compared to the lovely flat sites, and smaller, striaghter trees they have in Scandinavia. 

 

Anyway, we reached the conclusion that the forwarder isn't really suitable for Commission sites (on the whole) as the ground conditions are so poor. Huge dtiches, mounds and very high stumps from previous mechanical thinning. It's good to know what you can and can't do

[Big J]

Got two new trainees on the forwarder: