This page has been set up to share photos & video relating to the "Logging & Harvesting" chapter of "Step By Step, A Tree Planter's Handbook." Visit www.replant.ca/books to see books about tree planting.
This is a grapple yarder machine. It gets anchored in place, and uses long cables to pull logs out to the roadside.
This photo shows the grapple yarder anchored in place from below by two excavators. It is set in place to pull logs down from the hill on the left.
Here's a closeup of the cables anchoring the grapple to the excavators.
Here's a closeup of the "clothesline" cables that run into the block, to pull logs out to the road.
This giant set of claws is used to pick up logs or entire trees.
This piece of equipment can pick up logs and load them into logging trucks.
Here's a closeup of the mechanism that grabs the logs.
This is a logging truck that is hauling "cut to length" logs somewhere. From the looks of it, it is probably a legal load for a public highway. I say that because it doesn't look overloaded.
This particular logging truck is from the coast, and it's hauling some pretty large trees. Based on the width of the truck, I'd say that this is an off-road load that is heading directly from a block to a log dump, without ever driving on public highways.
Sometimes you'll hear a logging truck driver on the radio, saying, "Loaded from the Hammer." This is the hammer. It's a ... hammer. Depending on the location that it's being used, it has various dies embedded into the head. When the driver leaves the block, he/she stops at the hammer and smacks a couple of the logs on the truck, to stamp their source location into the wood. Then, when the truck arrives at the mill, the receivers can verify that the logs came from the proper area, or use the stamp information to help sort and categorize the logs.
This is a feller buncher. It can grab a tree and then cut it at the bottom, then it swivels and lays the tree down on the ground.
Here's a close-up of the feller buncher's clamping and cutting attachment.
Here's the disc blade at the bottom of the clamping and cutting attachment.
Sometimes, trees are processed and cut up on the block, where they fall. That's called stump-side processing. Other times, trees are brought close to the road for roadside processing. Here's a photo showing a processor working on piles of trees, and creating neat log decks beside the road that the truck drivers will pick up.
Here's a closeup of the processor head. This mechanism can grab a tree, roll it back and forth to delimb it, and then cut it into the exact desired length.
Here's another processor head, on a different machine.
This is a mulching machine. It isn't strictly used for logging. It's more often used for mulching brush and non-commercial trees while clearing powerlines, or clearing a roadway through a forest.
Some of the logging equipment makes the logs seem pretty small. But when you see a full-size pickup truck parked beside a log deck, they don't always seem small anymore.
Some loggers have a sense of humour. This vaguely reminds me of something.
Looking down on a feller buncher. Photo courtesy of Great West Equipment.
Heavy equipment building a new road through a block. Photo courtesy of Great West Equipment.
Here is a skidder that uses tracks rather than wheels with chains. This machine is easily able to crawl through a block, picking up logs that a feller buncher has cut. Photo courtesy of Great West Equipment.
Sometimes, when working on slopes, it's critical for a machine to be anchored securely so it can't roll down the hill. This photo shows one piece of equipment anchoring another in place so it can work safely. Photo courtesy of Great West Equipment.
Trucks are frequently loaded (or unloaded) at the mill with large pieces of specialty equipment. Photo courtesy of Great West Equipment.
A feller buncher in action.
Aerial views of feller buncher and processor.
Logging with a processor.
Cable harvesting using chokers.
Cable harvesting using grapple.
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