The Forwarder at work collecting Logs
Earlier reports 11th November 2009 and 8th December 2009 outlined the start of timber extraction at the Ty Gwyn woodland. December 2009 and January 2010 brought extremely hard winter conditions to many parts of Britain and production was held up by heavy icing on the steep access road.
I made a further visit on the 11th February 2010 to meet the Forester now responsible for the plantation, Rob MacCurrach, and look at the work in hand. Using modern techniques, only three people are engaged in timber extraction - the Harvester driver, the Forwarder driver and the Road Haulage driver. The Forwarder was working near the loading point and Rob was able to discuss progress with the driver.
The Timber Truck parks alongside the stacked logs, prior to loading using the on-board timber crane
The empty Timber Truck arrived after a few minutes - a huge 'Scania' 6-wheel tractor with a 6-wheel articulated self-loading timber trailer. One axle on the tractor and trailer was jacked-up, so that it was operating as an 8-wheel rig.
Rob and I then walked to to where the Harvester was being operated by Peter. I learned that five different types of log were being produced (according to diameter and cut length) plus occasional 'specials' requested from the Mill receiving the timber.
Detail of the H73e Harvester Head
The Harvester is fitted with the Ponsee 'H73e' Harvester Head (see data sheet) which can handle trunks up to 730mm diameter. It's amazing to watch the Harvester at work. In around a minute, a mature Sitka can be felled, de-limbed, cut into the required lengths and neatly stacked for later collection by the Forwarder.
Pictures showing the Harvesting operation are here.
