CATSHEAD
Julian Hewitt, owner and director of
Norfolk-based Catshead, was operating
a Kesla 25RHS harvesting head attached
to a 13-tonne Case CX130 excavator on a
thinning project in Norwich when Forestry
Journal caught up with him in 2015. Julian
settled on this particular head as part of an
“evolutionary process”, having previously
been through a number of different units
before receiving a Kesla 20SH from
Caledonian Forestry. He explained: “The
Kesla 20SH served our purposes admirably
at the time, and frankly I liked the dealership
and their aftersales service. This gave me the
confidence to stick with Kesla and upgrade to a Kesla 25RHS.
“I have been truly impressed by how the Kesla 25RHS is handling some of
the less perfectly shaped trees. With the right skills and sufficient flying time
under my belt, it doesn’t take too long for the 25RHS to match the versatility of
the 20SH in handling and dealing with poorly formed trees,” he added.
PATTISON
FORESTRY
Ian Pattison of
Pattison Forestry
reflected on the
firm’s fleet of
Daewoo/Doosan
tracked excavators
fitted with Logset
heads – two 7Xs on DX 225s, as well as an 8X on a 255.
When he spoke to Forestry Journal, Ian’s next harvester- a 2014 TH75X/Doosan – was being prepared. He
said he did intend to venture down the purpose-built
harvester route at some point in the future, believing it
to be more attractive to the operators as it would mean
a day’s production could be done a little quicker.
FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UK AUGUST 20 19 89THE CRONIN
BROTHERS
Back in the early nineties,
the Irish forestry sector
was largely served
by small contractors
engaged in manual timber
harvesting, but that all
changed with the advent of
mechanisation. This led to
some smaller contractors
ceasing involvement with
timber altogether and moving into different sectors, while others were absorbed
by the modern industry. One example of this was Co. Tipperary brothers Vincent
and Val Cronin, who previously carried on a winching operation.
Vincent said at the time: “Making a system like winching viable had become
impossible because of falling rates. Machines were getting all the good timber, in
the better sites; the places we were expected to work in didn’t allow us to get the
production you’d want to make it pay so we just had to move on.”
The brothers took up employment with a large contractor – Vincent behind the
controls of a Timberjack 1010B forwarder, and Val as a saw-man. Reflecting on
his new role, Vincent said: “Working indoors was the biggest change and also
the longer hours. On the saws we’d always stop around six o’clock, but on the
forwarder you’re going until eight or nine at night.”
Val said: “Working on the saw now is very different from when I was working
with Vincent. Even though I’ve stuck with the saw, the hardship of the winch has
gone and the saw work I do is different. Most of my work is accounted for by
felling over-sized trees the harvester can’t handle, or really rough edge trees.”
W MCLAUGHLIN & SONS
When John McLaughlin of W McLaughlin & Sons
met up with Forestry Journal, he was operating two
Valmet 941.1 harvesters. The units were very reliable
and designed for operator comfort, he said, but would
perhaps benefit from balanced bogies to make them
better to operate on steeper ground. He also had three
forwarders – a Valmet 890, which he described as a
big machine comfortably taking a 20-tonne payload;
a Timberjack 1110D, which was great for thinning
work; and the most recent purchase, a Timberjack
1510E. Ever mindful of costs, John said at the time,
“The jury’s out on the 1510E. It’s too early to say how
it will perform. It worked well when I used it as a
demonstrator, but one thing’s for sure – the rotating
cab adds to its cost and in my opinion is not needed!”G&A WATT
TIMBER
HARVESTING
Alan Watt of G&A
Watt Timber
Harvesting spoke
to Forestry Journal
back in 2008. At
the time, G&A
Watt was operating two Valmet 901.3 harvesters and a
911.3 harvester, backed up by a Valmet 840.3 forwarder
and a Ponsse Gazelle forwarder. The company’s
specialised work in the Glenmore, Rothiemurchus and
Inchriach areas, which all lie within the Cairngorm
National Park, not only involved thinning, but also
demanded an exceptionally low environmental impact
and minimal visual disturbance.BSW
Forestry Journal made the journey to Stonechest Forest
in Kershope, near Cumbria, after BSW acquired a
Timberjack 1470D. Operated by Colin Cairns, the
harvester was put to work in an area expected to yield
17,000 tonnes of Sitka spruce. Colin demonstrated
the effortlessness with which the machine harvested
timber, with a varied crop averaging around 0.4 cubic
metres, with some of the better trees yielding over
one cubic metre. While these posed no problem, there
were some harvester-testers such as bent trees and
rough branches.