Cable Skidders

chris_girard

Treehouser
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
1,535
Location
Gilmanton, N.H.
I started off as a logger before becoming an arborist and the first skidder that I worked with was an old C4 Tree Farmer. These were tough little machines that could do an awful lot of work on very small, hilly sites without doing a lot of damage to the understory tree line.

Sadly, you don't see any of these around N.H. anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a4F5T3XbiY
 
...that one is real nice shape for it's age...sadly in our hills as well more and more the Feller Buncher and large Forwarders get the work...call it progress but IMO stumps are all high and the lot looks like shit for years...there are still lots of JD 440's and 540's around most either parked or for sale
 
Seems like the ground just keeps getting steeper, which makes sense, since the good ground gets harvested first. Because of that,rubber tired skidders have become limited in use to the ground that they are safe on, which is gentle terrain for the most part. I use mu 5H track skidder more and more to get trees to the easier ground, then pull them the rest of the way with the rubber tired machine (518 grapple). The problem has become: Cat hasn't built the 5h or 527 for some time and the prices of these machines has become almost prohibitive, Like 350 grand for a reconditioned machine. We are looking at going to the FMC or KMC rubber tracked grapple skidder, which are expensive, but about half that of a 527. Fellerbunchers should leave a super low stump if the operator is conscientious.
 
Cutter operators that are working in snow are the ones that tend to leave high stumps. Its not always a matter of caring or not. It sometimes boils down to not being able to see the base clearly.
 
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I know that I'm only 47, but I long for the day when a man could buy stumpage at a fair price, work it with a cable skidder and have someone hall the logs to a local mill (not Canada).

Around here, the small logging skidder operations went the way of the diary hill farms almost a 150 years ago. I know that people have to change with the times, I just wish that their was a choice for them.
 
I know that I'm only 47, but I long for the day when a man could buy stumpage at a fair price, work it with a cable skidder and have someone hall the logs to a local mill (not Canada).

Around here, the small logging skidder operations went the way of the diary hill farms almost a 150 years ago. I know that people have to change with the times, I just wish that their was a choice for them.

It's the same up here. The little independents are gone. The little town I grew up in and live 10mins out of had half a dozen mills in and around it as a kid. Beehive burners lit up the night sky from my bedroom window. Now the closest one left is about ten minutes away(almost my neighbor). Big production from one plant. Two shifts always three at times. Our woods are supposed to be publicly owned but you have to be a billionaire to get access to cut them down. And then you can keep outrageous profits in the name of 'job creation'. When all that's really happened is taking away all the small contractors and turning what was a good living into a crappy job where you better put long days in to make someone else the gravy.

Yah I'm bitter. I'd love to be a logging contractor. If I could raise a mil or two I could probably get my toe in the door but I'd be more likely to have that toe squished than have it kick the door open and be able to make a good living.
 
Squisher, my forester friend from the state and I were talking about why the Canadians do more logging than Montana. We agreed that the Canadian system is better than ours. How come you have to be a billionaire to get access? We were under the impression (wrong) that anyone could go cutting.

Sorry for the derail in advance.
 
I started off as a logger before becoming an arborist and the first skidder that I worked with was an old C4 Tree Farmer. These were tough little machines that could do an awful lot of work on very small, hilly sites without doing a lot of damage to the understory tree line.

Sadly, you don't see any of these around N.H. anymore

Cool picture. I remember them being green always, I guess this one was painted yellow. Hard to beleve they aren't seen anymore, they used to be everywhere.

..there are still lots of JD 440's and 540's around most either parked or for sale

Chris….hint, hint…..

Seems like the ground just keeps getting steeper, which makes sense, since the good ground gets harvested first. Because of that,rubber tired skidders have become limited in use to the ground that they are safe on, which is gentle terrain for the most part. I use mu 5H track skidder more and more to get trees to the easier ground, then pull them the rest of the way with the rubber tired machine (518 grapple). The problem has become: Cat hasn't built the 5h or 527 for some time and the prices of these machines has become almost prohibitive, Like 350 grand for a reconditioned machine. We are looking at going to the FMC or KMC rubber tracked grapple skidder, which are expensive, but about half that of a 527. Fellerbunchers should leave a super low stump if the operator is conscientious.

Interesting info on the CAT tracked skidder situation. If there is demand for the reconditioned machines, I wonder if CAT will start producing them again? I always heard good things, back in the day, about FMCs.

I know that I'm only 47, but I long for the day when a man could buy stumpage at a fair price, work it with a cable skidder and have someone hall the logs to a local mill (not Canada).

Have things changed that much that there is no longer room for a 2 man crew/company?:(
 
Squisher, my forester friend from the state and I were talking about why the Canadians do more logging than Montana. We agreed that the Canadian system is better than ours. How come you have to be a billionaire to get access? We were under the impression (wrong) that anyone could go cutting.

Sorry for the derail in advance.

No one can just go cutting. Firewood licenses are free and you can go cut dead trees on public ground for personal use only. Lotta people will cheat on that if they're in the firewood biz. Any wood cut 8' or longer requires a timber mark which is only given out by the government (forest service).massive tracts of land are restricted in cutting as tfl's(timber forest licenses) and if you aren't the holder of the license you'd better not be cutting there. These are almost exclusively given to big business as they're the only ones who can 'manage' it to the governments specs.

No one up here can just wander out into the woods and start logging.
 
Honestly. Canada does way more logging because we have way more land mass. And thus way more trees.
 
That's crazy seeming as in a whole we are huge exporters of milled and raw logs.

Surprising that it isn't more cost effective for American companies to mill down there. Weyerhaeuser is a big player in bc still.

Might be that there isn't a consistent enough supply in certain areas to sustain a mill?

Seriously. If your logs are crossing the border to get milled up here. They're crossing the border again to get sold as lumber. Our lumber industry is heavily reliant on your guys's housing industry. Natural disasters down there and the massive rebuilding afterwards directly benefit our mills through lumber pricing/demand.
 
I'm sitting here in a resort in Punta Cana and all I see is a jungle full of palm trees with more under brush then trees.....there's a big Husqvarna billboard down the road.:lol:

As Justin says in Canada most of the timber in the Canadian wilderness is called "crown land" owned by each of the provincial governments. Big timber permit fees to even consider cutting it, which is left for the big forestry companies.
But private land owned by farmers for example can be logged at the owners wishes if he decides to sell it. Our local forestry company Tolko buys up logs from private land along with crown owned.
Their sawmill operation is shut down but moth balled for now as their waiting for the U.S. market to pick up, 90% of their lumber goes to the U.S. Their paper /pulp mill is still going strong selling Kraft paper for cement and feed bags, mostly to Mexico.

As Chris and Cory mentioned earlier about the old Tree Farmer C4's being yellow.....that was their original color from day one in the early 1960's up until 1974 when Tree Farmer turned lime green.
The first skidder I ran was a little C4 that was yellow that had a Ford diesel 4 cylinder in it. The company got rid of them by 1974 and went to the C5 model with the 353 screaming Jimmy.
 
To clarify my post, as Willard said you can log private land here. But you still have to log to regs and you still need a timber mark to stamp all loads that leave. There's some private land logging here but it's tiny in comparison to the public land that's logged.

Hope your holiday is going well Willard!
 
Holidays going good Justin, highs around mid 80's and damn that sun is bright:) Only here for a week, wish we could stay longer but kids are older now and can't miss too much school.

About private land logging here the land owners still have to follow government regs like around rivers, highways etc.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I should have been more specific in that I did not mean that anyone could just go logging. I was thinking timber companies. Sorry about that. I understand now. Too bad that the small independents can not afford to get the work done, I suppose that is by design to keep the big companies happy.
 
After hearing all this I have been reminded, that I am fortunate to be a successful small "small" Gypo logger this day in age. After retiring from commercial cutting/contracting for some time I went back to the woods with a farm tractor and a portable sawmill. That was almost 10 years ago. Now I have a complete harvesting business, paid for. It is a 2 to 3 man operation(small). That is America, start with basically nothing and go from there. But did I mention working 7 days a week including Christmas?
 
I had a logmaster bandsaw mill that I recently sold because logging/thinning was keeping me busy full time. I have a Lucas Circular with 60" slabbing attatchment. I would never part with the Lucas.
 
Not much to add to the discussion. But I really enjoy reading everyone's replies and questions. I'm on R+R trying to convert to being up in the day and sleep at night after 2 months night shift. My favorite small skidders are the small Timberjacks. . Right foot, left foot, right foot, turn and sit. Saves a couple hundred steps a day getting on and off the skidder when setting your own snares.
 
I liked the old TJ 230 and 240D's. Only one side to get on & off but low to the ground and good center of gravity for the operator.

From sitting offset to the left the operator has a good view of the blade while back blading and bunching up felled timber.
Their winches were nice too. Alot easier to pull out the mainline compared to the stiff Tree Farmer's.
I remember some of the older TJ's came with an optional grapple on the blade for piling log length. Would be a handy machine for a tree service
 
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