YOU don’t always need to go big to get the job done.
Whether you are working in a confined space, tackling tricky terrain or on a sensitive site, this month’s Buyer’s Guide brings you the latest on small-scale equipment for woodland management.
Today we share Part I or II, featuring the likes of Treeline and Jas P Wilson. Part II will run tomorrow.
Treeline
Malwa
MALWA was founded with the vision to improve the thinning and management of our forests. Its specialist low-impact machines leave minimal damage during thinning operations and produce stronger, more resilient forests, with a higher percentage of quality trees retained for the final crop.
Malwa continues to pursue this goal through the manufacture of high-quality forestry machines that are productive yet gentle on the surrounding forest. This is achieved by making machines with all the properties of the large harvesters and forwarders but perfectly wrapped in a smaller package.
Malwa is the leading supplier of small-scale harvesting machinery in Sweden due to its attention to detail and constant drive to improve the quality and reliability of their machines. With a harvester, a forwarder and a “combi” machine (which can be switched between harvester and forwarder in 20 minutes), they are all purpose-built machines for professional contractors and to withstand the harsh forestry environment.
All three machines are just 2 m wide when fitted with 500 mm tyres. A 75 hp CAT engine drives two Rexroth pumps, one dedicated to the hydrostatic transmission and one dedicated to the crane/harvester head. This gives very smooth and precise control of the crane at the same time as moving the machine.
All the machine operations and functions are controlled from the joysticks and buttons on the armrests through an IQAN system, meaning that all controls are at your fingertips and customisable. The cab is quiet and comfortable with air conditioning and great lighting allowing work to continue in all weathers. All machines are now fitted with remote diagnostics and there are comprehensive parts diagrams and exploded views of all parts online.
The 560F forwarder weighs just over 5.5 tonnes and has a carrying capacity of 5.5 tonnes, or 9 tonnes with an additional trailer. There are two crane options available, with 6.1 m or 8.2 m reach, both from Cranab. It is available with a UK-spec load bunk with greater loadspace area for carrying shorter products than in Scandinavia.
The 560H harvester is fitted with a 6.2 m reach Mowi parallel lift crane and Logmax’s brand new 2000T harvester head with 420 mm max cut and 4 m/s feed speed. The machine is fitted with crane tilt and bogie lifts as standard.
The 560C combi machine is fitted with the 6.1 m Cranab crane and the same Logmax harvester head but with the bunks and headboard removable with additional weights which are fitted when in use as a harvester. This allows it to retain the same low machine weight and good carrying capacity when forwarding but without sacrificing stability when harvesting.
Treeline Woodlands has just been appointed as full UK dealers following several years of using and promoting Malwa machines. Treeline can also supply a wide variety of other forestry machinery including winches, timber trailers and cranes, chippers and firewood machinery among other things, through their collaboration with Fuelwood (Warwick).
For more information, visit treelinescotland.com or call 01968 660 698.
Jas P Wilson
Jak 200R Rotating Tree Shear
MAKE the most of your compact excavator with high-quality hydraulic attachments from Jas P Wilson.
As of March 2022, looking back on the start of the year, and the end of 2021, it’s been a busy period for many – with recent storms creating a substantial requirement for woodland management tasks and many contractors and machinery operators looking for equipment to improve their versatility and efficiency.
For these duties, excavators are now commonplace, and in recent times compact units with powerful hydraulic attachments have seen a rise in popularity. They are a growing consideration for many due to their versatility derived through their ability to attach and utilise a wide array of attachments, but also due to the compact nature of some base units. This system offers an excellent balance of performance and low impact.
Jas P Wilson has a range of attachments to cover all sizes of excavator, with options to forestry guard them in-house too. When working on sites where low impact is a key concern, attachments for machines sub 5 tonnes are of real value. One such tool, which is a new addition for 2022 to Jas P Wilson’s popular JAK tree shear range, is the JAK 200R Rotating Tree Shear.
This new rotator model is based on the time-served, highly regarded 200 model, which had only been available as a fixed unit until now. This brand of quality Finnish-made shears has been imported by Wilson for six years now.
At its core, this unit has a fixed Hardox steel blade, and a powerful dual-ram system for cutting standing timber of up to 20 cm (8”) across in one clean cut. This cutting unit is mounted on a high-quality German-made IMO worm rotator, to provide a powerful and user-friendly rotation to its operation, which allows for even greater versatility when working on site.
The position of this blade allows the operator to cut very close to ground level, leaving very minimal stumps and allowing maximum timber harvesting. This creates worksites which are very clean; ideal for first thinnings, infrastructure management and arboriculture. The blade can also be quickly unbolted to allow the shear to perform as a standard timber grab for handling logs or feeding machinery such as a crane-feed woodchipper.
A shear paired with a small compact mulcher is an ideal combination to manage a site.
One such mulcher which would work alongside a JAK 200 is an FAE PML/HY 90; this unit will run at optimum performance on small sub-3T units.
The PML/HY 90 is FAE’s smallest excavator mulcher, and is designed for working in areas of brash, bushes and sticks left behind from shearing duties.
For full details, call Jas P Wilson on 01556 612233, visit www.jaspwilson.co.uk or email info@jaspwilson.co.uk.
Orion Forestry
Portable Capstan Rope Winches
CANADIAN company Portable Winch specialises in powerful but lightweight winches that pull rope; ideally suited to small woodland owners, conservation projects and people working in areas that are inaccessible to motor vehicles.
The winches can be anchored to other trees or any fixed object. Extractions can be carried out through dense woodland by moving anchor points or introducing pulleys to redirect a load. Well-designed accessories include skidding cones for guiding timber around obstacles, plus a variety of anchors for fixed-position pulls or anchoring off a tow ball.
Using a capstan drum on a sealed gearbox, the rope is only pulled when you apply a gentle force on the end. Length of rope is only limited by what you choose to carry in the bag, then pull out as much as you need and wrap it round the capstan three times.
There are no short cables to snap or tangle, making operations safe, versatile and reliable.
With three Honda engine-powered winches and an equally powerful lithium battery-powered winch to choose from, users can tailor the kit to extracting timber, recovering game or landing boats. The latest PCW4000 winch incorporates a number of innovations; a powerful 50cc all-angle four-stroke engine, plus a clutch and rope-grabbing system to throttle down and prevent a load from rolling back.
UKRAINIAN forests could be mass felled and the timber sold off to make money for the Russian Army.
— Forestry Journal (@Forestry_UK) March 16, 2022
👉 https://t.co/Hev4z5iJRx pic.twitter.com/gCwYMuGTl1
The four-stroke petrol version can run for hours at a time on one fill of fuel. The lithium battery version comes with a choice of three battery sizes and offers zero-maintenance pulling power when required.
Increasingly, customers are looking for power tools for use in sensitive areas or where petrol is not permitted. The 80/82 Volt battery technology is compatible with Cramer, Greenworks, Stiga, and Briggs and Stratton, for users looking to simplify their range of tools.
Orion Forestry in Essex has been an authorised dealer of Portable Winch products for over eight years. The company’s experience with the product means that accessories and winches can be picked to suit.
For more information, please contact 01279 813591 or visit www.orionforestry.co.uk.
Oakleaf Forestry
Vimek/Sampo Rosenlew
VIMEK AB has developed a new and exciting machine for the Next Generation project.
The new 8-wheel-drive forwarders are built to maintain high production and feature a 2.2 litre Caterpillar engine, which produces 75 hp and is engineered to supply the maximum torque when working at peak efficiency.
Vimek has collaborated with its sister company Cranab to design and produce a new crane. This offers a good solution that will provide the experience foresters are looking for. The crane has been developed to be the perfect match for the new forwarder. The FC4 is a more compact design, specially designed for Vimek Next Generation.
The Next Generation has a loading capacity of 7 tonnes. This machine has double steering, which means the normal waist steering plus an automatic boogie steering at the rear.
Vimek has also identified the need to increase capacity but maintain a low weight.
Improvements have been made in the cabin by making it much more spacious and quieter for the operator.
Staff at Oakleaf Forestry are looking forward to finding out more about this incredible new machine, which will be showcased later this year at Elmia Wood and hopefully in the UK.
Elsewhere, the Sampo Rosenlew HR46x harvester was originally designed for the first thinning of young forests. It is the most reliable, environmentally-friendly, and economical harvester on the market. The workplace of a thinning harvester is a young forest. Good-quality thinning requires that the machine is fairly small and can turn in a small space. This is exactly what the HR46x is. Its unique agility is ensured by the narrowness of the machine as well as the large 50-degree turning angle of the centre joint.
The base of the 7.1 m reach crane is positioned close below the operator, which improves stability and ground-level view of the stems. Small-scale but high capacity with a large fuel tank and excellent visibility.
Contact Oakleaf for more information on Vimek, Sampo Rosenlew, Kesla, and Hypro.
028 3833 0011 / www.oakleafforestry.com
Part II of our guide to small-scale forestry equipment will be online tomorrow (Monday, March 21)
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here