Small scale timber extraction

[Ty Unnos]

I went for one of these:

 

 

AGT835 imported by Riko. 35HP and weights 1 ton+ so hoping it is the right balance between power and size. I can tow it easy behind the land rover but need to get some better tyres and a winch before I can put it to work proper.

[normandylumberjack]

It's a big industry & more varied than some folk realise. There's space for lots of different outfits working lots of different jobs. It sounds like your business concentrates primarily on large loads of timber in short spaces of time. We on other hand do allot of woodland restoration & low impact thinning. So having small gear with a tiny footprint at our disposal as well means that we can carry out this work to the very best standards. For a clear fell or heavy thin we'd take a tractor & bigger trailer, but as I've suggested it's not always what's required.

 

The other thing I find myself considering is that not everyone has the need or indeed the money to invest in big gear. If a pedal bike towing a homemade trailer to shift a few branches cut with a pruning saw back from a local wood is all they need, haven't they shown great wisdom by not going mad with an rdpe grant & a copy of the forestry journal.

 

This website, is not exclusive, it is as far as I'm aware open to all to join. Full time, part time, home use only, small business or big business. Stick collectors, horse loggers, quad loggers, heavy plant users, harvesters & timber merchants should I believe be able to respect one anothers methods & the areas within which they work.

 

And above all, this thread is entitled small scale timber extraction.

Am I ranting, it's a bit early for a rant, my apologies.

 

 

Well put:adore:

[Arborjesus]

I went for one of these:

 

[ATTACH]91220[/ATTACH]

 

AGT835 imported by Riko. 35HP and weights 1 ton+ so hoping it is the right balance between power and size. I can tow it easy behind the land rover but need to get some better tyres and a winch before I can put it to work proper.

 

Looks like it would be about right. How much did it set you back?

[Ty Unnos]

The basic one is 11K + VAT from Riko.

 

I picked mine up second hand so paid less. The problem is finding them as used alpines don't seem to come up that often.

[Chris Sheppard]

Do you think a bigger compact would be better?

Row spacing is often 1.5m here.

Hard to decide between quad and compact tractor.

Quad = speed but design tow on a diesel arctic cat is 1/2 tonne

Compact tractor would pull more and could run the log splitter off it, wouldn't need a donkey for a forwarding trailer.

 

The little goldoni really is tiny and has quite low hydraulic flow, with not a huge volume of oil either so would be better off with a PTO pump and separate tank for a crane. Also, you'd be hard pushed to find a winch to suit it too as the geometry of the 3PL would make for some interesting PTO angles and also, even a small winch would greatly eat into it's weight capacity.

 

If you wanted something to use with a simple linkage mounted skidding arch or an ATV trailer, then it could be a great little thing.

 

Personally, I'd be looking for either a conventional compact of around 25hp upwards (though the more hp the better) and put some decent tyres on, or an alpine no smaller that 35hp (more from a physical size point of view).

 

Most alpines can be set up as little as 1.2m wide if you have the right wheels, but you'd lose a fair bit of the stability that most people look for when going for an alpine if that makes sense.

 

At 1.5m spacings, surely it'd be as easy to say take something like every 5th row out on the first thin and give it a bit of a tickle in between the rows? Or, to avoid straight lines you could put a few more wiggly racks in and thin between them.

 

I'm sure a quad has it's place, but it could be fairly limited - at least a tractor can be used for other things too. Other than flat out speed, an alpine will go most places (and more) than a quad will anyway.

[Badgermert]

Even a small Compact and skidder winch can move some big bits of timber if needed!

Not sure if the link works!

Edited April 25, 2012 by Badgermert
Doh!

[jmsport101]

Even a small Compact and skidder winch can move some big bits of timber if needed!

Not sure if the link works!

 

[difflock]

Sniff!

Do it right (& I would if we in NI got the grants )

http://www.antoniocarraro.it/na/products/MACH4~4970

Only £68k +£6k for cab +£6k for Joystick controls

All plus VAT of course

Does 40k and can drive on the road on a car licence.

So about £96,000, less discount of course.

Hey heating oil IS cheap.

PS

Thanks to "Pudding" for the idea, I had wanted a Humble Yanmar T80

[RichardT]

Can't help thinking how easily you could throw one of those tracks on a bit of untidy brash....

[slack ma girdle]

Sniff!

Do it right (& I would if we in NI got the grants )

http://www.antoniocarraro.it/na/products/MACH4~4970

Only £68k +£6k for cab +£6k for Joystick controls

All plus VAT of course

Does 40k and can drive on the road on a car licence.

So about £96,000, less discount of course.

Hey heating oil IS cheap.

PS

Thanks to "Pudding" for the idea, I had wanted a Humble Yanmar T80

 

This looks to be abit more realistic:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cVhk9SkyRY&feature=related]Homemade Log Skidder - YouTube[/ame]