A job, woodcutter.

If it is an ancient craft, it is that lumberjack. But cutting down trees with an ax to make a piece of furniture or a house is not an easy task, especially if it's on an industrial scale.
It makes only forty years that forest have begun to ask the question of how to cut a tree, prune and transported quickly and safely.
Forests are often steep places, boueux, not easy to get a tree and it's heavy, very heavy and long. The horse has long proved to be the best of the forest for the transport of logs, almost nothing impedes, either mud or slopes, but a horse pulls a trunk at a time, and a weight in its measurement.
In the years 1950-60, forest began to use agricultural materials to try to transport wood in these hostile environments to machines, and needle thread, and following from accidents, Men have studied mechanical solutions to simplify work and especially, secure.
This is exactly the story of Pat Crawford, founder of the famous company Timberpro. He had 17 years at the end of World War II, he wanted to be a military pilot, but peace in the world has led to other forest roads ....
He almost died twice due to fallen trees at the wrong times, and he began to change agricultural equipment itself. It has not been easy, eventually many people helped in his quest for security, after a few years, other forest asked her to also have machines like hers, and finally, he abandoned his lumberjack to become forest machine manufacturer.

What are these strange machines ?

very broadly, and especially as regards SixMania.fr, 3 machines are required.
harvesters (harvester) that can cut a tree and prune its branches, skidders (skidder) that bring the wood to make lots (from what I understood…) and skidders (forwarder) that can transport the wood to a conventional truck. In the midst of it all, there are a host of devices that make passages, uprooting stumps, clean places and probably other things, I'm not expert on the subject !
Exactly, if an enthusiast or a professional forestry sector is reading this text and in addition he wants to give us his experiences, to write to me at marc@sixmania.fr directly or sends me an article for this page, thank you.

harvesters :

The head of this machine is the brain operations. This is an absolutely brilliant tool, a clamp holds the shaft in its vertical position, then comes a chainsaw to cut the base of the tree, once cut the clamp positions the shaft horizontally and rotating slides entire trunk through the machine, that prunes all unnecessary branches. It can also cut the trunk into pieces of specific size. It only remains to put the trunk and move to the next tree. It is not bad models, very adapted to the different kinds of land it is possible to meet in the forest. There are of course tracked models or 4 wheels.

For example, Timberpro take the TB-830 B

6 WD, 24 tonnes, Cummins engine 8.3 from 300 CV, 24 volts, hydraulic reservoir 60 gallons, Tyre 750/55, xenon headlights, halogen floodlights, integrated extinguishers, satellite radio, pressurized cabin, rear camera, hyper-comfortable seat.

at Timberpro, you can ask almost anything, they will do you. A Version 8×8 or special equipment to your business or your environment.

The cabin still remains level, in possible, but this is disengageable. The arm span is 8 m forward and 10 m above. The possible capacity of 2,8 tons 10 m and 5,8 tons 5 m.

It is possible to adapt the tracks on the double axles.

Count in 315.000 € for a used machine that worked 5 hours. Can not find the new price on Internet !

Timberpro TB 830-B

John Deere

Entracon Apache

GO 1050H (Swedish)

We clearly see the slicer head on this photo.

PONSSE Ergo 8 W

A little research on the Internet, there is also the future of machinery, in draft form, such as this model from Roxroth.

skidders :

A priori, rather it is used to transport logs from one point to another, it is equipped with large claws, but they are also found with heads Cutters.

here is 2 models Timberpro

skidders :

The ancestor of the skidder is the horse. Forwarder in English translates to forwarding and more about in French. It allows to bring the trunks to roads where they will be driven to a sawmill by normal trucks.

This is simply a crane and trailer. The prices used are within the same range as for harvesters.

Some examples :

John Deere 1510 E. The cab is mounted on an arm that can veer sideways for a better view of the work to be done.

Ponsse 10w. 10×10

ElForest Hybrid Forwarder F14

Vohl-acrobatics

Timberpro TF 830-B

other gear :

Just one example because the field is wide !

IH500 Skidder

And last, an article already SixMania, http://www.sixmania.fr/les-multi-pattes/

If a very dedicated person wants to make a complete inventory of these multi-wheeled superb, it's possible, contact me !