Mini forwarder at home in hardwoods

[Big J]

A couple of pictures of my dinky forwarder shifting some rather oversized (for the machine) ash logs and the tractor too.

 

We're on a nice hardwood site in Somerset doing a thin on a mostly ash woodland. Quite large trees really, with some topping 100ft and 55cm DBH. It's a perfect site for the forwarder as there are no traction issues at all and the nimbleness and diminutive size of the machine means that it's really quick. Just a touch under 200 tonnes out in 5 days, which I'm very pleased with. This consists of about 150 tonnes of firewood and 40-45t of saw logs. 

 

The forwarder is managing 3m lengths at up to about 800kg and will drive over just about any brash, meaning I can take quite direct routes through the stand. Being able to extract as soon as trees hit the deck means the cutters are always felling onto clean ground and don't run the risk of burying product lengths under brash. 

The little winch tractor has been incredibly useful this week too and has pulled out quite a few hung trees.

 

[andy cobb]

Do you think that with it being quite a small machine punching above its weight, it may be more prone to break downs and premature wear in pins and drive train?

[Big J]

2 minutes ago, andy cobb said:

Do you think that with it being quite a small machine punching above its weight, it may be more prone to break downs and premature wear in pins and drive train?

Maybe. But the day to day running costs are peanuts. It uses about 14-16 litres of red diesel a day and a tube of grease a week. That's it really.

[spuddog0507]

whats the crane rated at J ? would be good if you could upload some vids of it working, i was talking to Dick Bradshaw the other day and he was on about your machine he said machine was pretty niftey and as the operator gained more experiance on it it would be a good package,

[Big J]

36 minutes ago, spuddog0507 said:

whats the crane rated at J ? would be good if you could upload some vids of it working, i was talking to Dick Bradshaw the other day and he was on about your machine he said machine was pretty niftey and as the operator gained more experiance on it it would be a good package,

Not exactly sure what the crane if rated for as the plate on it seems to be for a 5.7m Farmi rather than 4.2m crane that is on it. It will straight lift just under 750kg close in, and will one end load (and then the other) a slightly bigger log. Probably tops out at about a tonne under favourable conditions. 

 

Nice that you chatted with Dick. Lovely chap. If you see him again, please say that I'm much less crap than I was when he did my assessment. Have about 160 hours on the machine since then

[spuddog0507]

hi, i will be seeing Dick before christmas i hope, need him to do some digger ascessments for me and a couple of lads on saws who work with me 

[Will Heal]

That’s a blast from the past! Dick Bradshaw used to teach me at Newton rigg!
He must be past retirement age by now tho say hello from will heal if you see him

[aspenarb]

On 02/11/2018 at 21:38, Big J said:

Maybe. But the day to day running costs are peanuts. It uses about 14-16 litres of red diesel a day and a tube of grease a week. That's it really.

 

On that note Big J have you got a daywork rate figured out for that machine/operator and some idea of cost per mile for transport ?

 

Bob

[Big J]

3 minutes ago, aspenarb said:

 

On that note Big J have you got a daywork rate figured out for that machine/operator and some idea of cost per mile for transport ?

 

Bob

I tend to work by the hour rather than by the day, and it's been £40 an hour up to now but I've only done one hourly rate job so far (National Trust) and it's going up to £45/h in the New Year. 

 

That being said, I don't think that I really have more than the odd day spare until about April! 

 

I much prefer to work on tonnage where possible, and ideally on my own jobs as you've control over how the timber is presented and other factors that greatly affect the speed of forwarding.

[MooresFT]

Looking good!

that wood all sold J? You on site this weekend?

cheers Sam