Micro forestry

[Big J]

Latest crazy plan to get me out of the sawmill is to look at micro harvesting. Small scale forestry has always been something I've been passionate about, and having done about 840 tonnes of mostly elm in the past four months, I've been enjoying being in the woods.

 

I've worked repeatedly over the years with Alstors (have one on a site at the moment) and whilst I like them, I'm wanting something just a bit bigger.

 

This is the front runner at the moment:

 

Bison 10000 6WD - Kranman

 

With all bells and whistles it's about £45,000. That's just about every upgrade and extra bit of kit relating to forestry (tipper body not included).

 

My argument for it is that it's a bit bigger than an Alstor, has most of a cab (not sure about the extra £4k for a cab) and lifts a fair bit more. It's also cheaper.

 

Then on the harvesting front, I came across Usewood a few years ago, and their 8x8 Harvester is very sexy:

 

Forest Master

 

Takes up to 22cm diameter timber and goes just about anywhere. Price from online rummaging seems to be about £51,000, which seems like bloody good value. Provisional calcs suggest 40-50 tonne a day is feasible, which matches it to the forwarder perfectly.

 

The idea is first thinning softwood, specifically spruce (with enough other work thrown in to keep us sane, as well as a rotation of operators. I don't think 5 days a week in a Sitka stand is good for anyone!). Spruce thinning is done too late in the cycle in the UK, resulting in overdrawn and wind vulnerable trees. If you could get in and delicately thin the trees when they were circa 15cm dbh, you'd produce a stand with greater wind resistance and ultimately a better final crop. Couple that with idea that I imagine most land owners expect to make nothing from a first thin (ie, you might get the wood for free, or near enough free) then perhaps it's worth pursuing. 40 tonnes of chipwood grade spruce is worth about £1280 locally, which in my mind is a reasonable day rate for two machines and two operators. Couple that with a 40% SRDP grant, negligible running costs and no haulage costs (both machines are under 2.5t), am I right in thinking it might make reasonable business sense?

 

J

[Big J]

This is a good video to illustrate the idea:

 

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[Treadlight Forestry]

The machines look great but the questions you need to answer:

 

Can you find enough work - year round to keep the machines busy?

Can you really shift 40 ton in a day. Every day?

Can someone else do the job cheaper with a bigger machine?

 

The problem I have found is that most woodland owners don't really care about the low impact benefits they simple want to know how quickly and how cheap can you do the job. If we can educate the owners then yes I think the small machines can be viable.

 

Riko UK have now started bringing in a mini forwarder which looks very capable.

 

If anyone is interested drop me a PM and I will get some specs and pricing.

 

T8 - KINETIC 8x8

 

 

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[/ame] Edited April 8, 2016 by Treadlight Forestry

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Micro machines will limit you to micro output with less timber handling power than conventional 12-14 tonne harvester and 10t forwarder. These get into first thinnings no problem and will take Bandtracks; an absolute essential Imo. £60-70k will get you tidy used pair of machines.

 

Oh and 40-50 tonne a day in first thinnings with micro gear; no chance.

Edited April 8, 2016 by TimberCutterDartmoor

[Big J]

Good feedback, and really like the look of the Kinetic T8 - like an Alstor on steroids. Would certainly be interested in seeing prices and lift capacity close in.

 

TCD - my calculation was done entirely hypothetically. What would be a realistic output, would you reckon? The advantage these have is being able to work in small, otherwise uneconomic stands. You could run them to site on your trailer, work them for a couple of days and leave without ever incurring haulage costs.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Good feedback, and really like the look of the Kinetic T8 - like an Alstor on steroids. Would certainly be interested in seeing prices and lift capacity close in.

 

TCD - my calculation was done entirely hypothetically. What would be a realistic output, would you reckon? The advantage these have is being able to work in small, otherwise uneconomic stands. You could run them to site on your trailer, work them for a couple of days and leave without ever incurring haulage costs.

 

Now the haulage point is a very good one. Waiting on the low loader between jobs is truly maddening! I think output is dependant on the cleanliness of the stems and the length of extraction. A recent first thinning I did in exactly the size material you're talking about was very slow going due to how hairy the spruce was. We hand brashed the racks first but still had to fight with bog-brushes through the head, especially in the matrix trees that we hadn't skinned up. From memory, each rack was yielding 10-15m3 and I was doing 3 racks a day. I'll post some pics... This was with significantly more hydraulic horsepower than a micro machine or swing shovel.

[CHC]

Think your better off with a digger and stroke head at lest if you have a quiet time you have a digger to do something else with

[slack ma girdle]

I am thinking of similar ere i west Wales, but mounting a hypro 300 on the Kinetic to process first thinnings. There is not enough softwood around here to keep me busy, so it would have to be back to motor /manual for hardwood, of which there is enough to keep me busy.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Just watched the above video. The micro harvester is cute but it would put me to sleep. You have to put stabiliser legs down - a big minus. Very little crane and slewing power, slow head (despite being roller), poor ground clearance, tiny wheels etc etc; not sure they'd cope in a normal brash mat. The slow feed in the head will seriously hamper delimbing aswell. Get a cab, it's Britain! The timber in that vid is comparatively clean, first thinning in Sitka...!...Hmmm

 

Oh and first thinnings (neglected) goes upto 40cm dbh readily down here.

[Big J]

Now the haulage point is a very good one. Waiting on the low loader between jobs is truly maddening! I think output is dependant on the cleanliness of the stems and the length of extraction. A recent first thinning I did in exactly the size material you're talking about was very slow going due to how hairy the spruce was. We hand brashed the racks first but still had to fight with bog-brushes through the head, especially in the matrix trees that we hadn't skinned up. From memory, each rack was yielding 10-15m3 and I was doing 3 racks a day. I'll post some pics... This was with significantly more hydraulic horsepower than a micro machine or swing shovel.

 

The hairiness of the stems is going to be the determining factor I guess. Something I'd need to speak to the manufacturer about. The hydraulic flow rate seems to be quite high on the Usewood machine. Even if you managed the low end of that scale (30 cube a shift), that's still a wagon load and still makes sense financially.