MACHINERY
A welcome addition
Providing every aspect of commercial and residential forestry in Worcestershire
and the surrounding counties, Jonathan Cook Forestry has been in the market
for a new forwarder for a while. Following delivery of a new John Deere 1110G,
Hilary Burke paid a visit to see how it is settling in to the operation.58 AUGUST 20 19 FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UKW
ITH the workload building up, Jonathan
Cook Forestry Services Ltd (JCFS) needed
a significant upgrade in extraction
capability.
For a few years, Jonathan Cook himself
has been swinging a Keto harvesting head around in
the woods of the Midlands and the Cotswolds from the
comfort of the cab of a Hitachi excavator base machine.
The chainsaw operators were still required to deal
with any sizeable trees marked to come down, but the
mechanised harvesting capability led to a significant
increase in the Worcestershire-based concern’s timber
production. Forwarder operator George Gilder was the
key member of the team feeling the pressure.
The pre-owned Rottne F9 had turned out to be a very
capable machine for the workload for which it was
intended. The appointment of Nigel Overton of Pershore
by Jonathan Cook as a full-time maintenance engineer
three years ago kept the mechanical side of all JCFS
operations running smoothly. Nigel now has eight vehicles
and half a dozen forestry machines to keep in safe and
efficient running order. In agreement with Jonathan he cannow prioritise the workload: a slight rattle on the exhaust
on one of the tree surgery trucks could be checked and
the work postponed to the following week; any issue with
the Rottne forwarder had needed to be sorted without
delay.
Even with George Gilder fetching and carrying tools
and parts for Nigel – and inevitably, crawling into
inaccessible places to hold a spanner on the end of a
turning stud – half a day’s production at roadside was
often lost. Jonathan Cook took advantage of the APF Demo
last year to find out what the major forest machinery
manufacturers could offer in their forwarder ranges.
A medium-capacity machine was required, but with
the business regularly working in hardwood crops, a
more powerful than average loader would justify a slight
increase in cost and overall machine weight. John Deere’s
111 0G 8-wheeled forwarder, fitted with the CF7 boom,
immediately put itself forward as a candidate for the JCFS
fleet expansion.
The increase of around 25 per cent in both lifting
moment and slewing power over the CF5 option was sure
to be used to great advantage on a high proportion of theAbove left: The EU Stage
IV emission compliant JD
PowerTech Plus 6068
engine produces 1 45
kW at 1600–1900 rpm.
That is ample power to
shift this load up the bank
before turning for the
timber landing.Above: Fast handling
of heavy timber has
always taken a toll on
loader components.
John Deere’s recent
boom-control system
developments have
smoothed out the action
and distribute the
stresses more evenly.
Cylinder ends can now be
equipped with devices to
eliminate the juddering
shock previously often
encountered when rams
suddenly reach the limit
of their travel.Above right: A double
extension package allows
the maximum reach of
the CF7 loader to be
increased to 10 m.