swedish equipment/ short wood method

[simon lenihan]

The swedes have been developing horselogging equipment for several decades now. The emphasis is on building this equipment light and strong to maximise production. This equipment is suited to working a short wood system where all the produce is converted to the required lengths within the wood ready for extraction. Wheeled equipment is preferred as this maximises the laod the horse can move. It is not unusual for a single horse to extract 6000lb of timber on reasonable ground using wheeled equipment. This system where the maximum amount of timber is moved from forest to landing at any one time makes for a slick and efficent timber harvesting method. Long extraction skidding small volume is non productive and does not give a good impression of what horses can achieve. It is possible to build most of this equipment quiet cheaply and the cost would soon be recovered from the increase in production. I built my first skidding arch 20 years ago and what a disaster that was [ freddy flinstone would have done better ] little articulation, shafts wrong length and wrong design. Articulation is vital in building any of this equipment, its no good saying there is some play as this will not do. Little or no articulation means the horse has to pull the whole load with one shoulder, this will become evident when the load size increases. The shafts have to be long enough so as to achieve the correct line of draft, the shafts should be adjustable so the equipment can slide forward or back to accomadate different sizes of horses. Shaft equipment can be attaqched to the d ring but only if it has a pad on the inside to protect the horse. Lets make life easier on oneself and utilise the horse to its full potential.
simon lenihan

[jac]

Really neat rig. Is that similar to Doug Joiners ? I was at the late Charlie Pinneys open day when he was staying in Scotland and a man called Chris Wadsworth had a Scandanavian rig there. I did notice his horse had a rubbed area where the shaft was pegged so i guess the padding must be essential..
John

[simon lenihan]

more swedish wheeled equipment.
simon lenihan

[simon lenihan]

Hi john,
Douj joiner makes swedish type equipment but i have never used it, i have no doubt that it works well as he has been making them for a few years now. Charlie pinney [ rip ] what a loss to the draft horse world.
simon lenihan

[Does’ Leap]

Simon, with the exception of the last picture which has a loader, how do load logs on that equipment? I struggle getting logs up onto my scoot, the bunks of which are 16″ off the ground!

George

[jac]

Yea he was quite a character. Totally dedicated to the cause.I remember him at a ploughing match years ago and he did the whole match with the lines looped over the hames !!! I believe his triple system is now being sold over in the US under licence.
John

[Scott G]

@simon lenihan 23802 wrote:

This system where the maximum amount of timber is moved from forest to landing at any one time makes for a slick and efficent timber harvesting method. Long extraction skidding small volume is non productive and does not give a good impression of what horses can achieve. It is possible to build most of this equipment quiet cheaply and the cost would soon be recovered from the increase in production.

Simon,

1) I have a mental image of a southern evangelical church where the entire congregation stands up and yells “Hallelujah!’ & “Amen!”

&

2) I have already drank the Kool-Aid…

Even though I currently don’t have horse-drawn forwarding capability yet, I am feeding the piggy bank to get there. I am, however, putting together a job this summer that will use a tractor-drawn forwarder to forward trailside material that was pre-bunched with a horse.

It has been my primary soapbox that a mixed-harvesting system using horses as pre-bunchers combined with some type of forwarding system is what will put our preferred method of timber harvesting in front of the general forestry community as a truly viable, low-impact, AND economic form of harvesting.

John Plowden has been working on manufacturing/using Scandinavian-inspired equipment. Check out some of the pics at http://www.draftanimalpower.com/photoplog/index.php?u=55

Thanks fo everything you do, brother!

BTW, the pic of that one forwarder is in front of a pile of chips. Small-scale energy/heating plant?

[jac]

I am interested in the 5th wheel coupling.. tho thats not a good description as its not a wheel at all:o.. It looks like a pin set vertical in a bracket at an angle ?? does this prevent a castor effect ?? and those paralelagram shafts are a really cool idea that should perhaps be incorperated into farm equipment…
John

[simon lenihan]

The smaller 8 wheel wagons are designed for hand loading, mostly fencing material and small pulp wood. Most of these wagons come with a 2000lb hand winch which attach to the opposite bunk. However this system is slow and if working on a commercial basis not very rewarding financially. The slightly larger wagons can be fitted with a wire crane and winch run by battery. A system we have used in the past is to extract all the smaller produce first using hand loading and using a horsedrawn forwarder for saw logs. The wire crane forwarder is cheap to build and is very efficent and maximises your output. All extraction methods by horse have been tried and tested in sweden using a time and motion study, the shortwood method come out on top by a long way. The job we work at is hard but very rewarding but we also need to make it as rewarding financially as possible. The more sucessfull we are the better it is for the industry and the more young people will be encouraged to take up the trade

[simon lenihan]

Jac,
well spotted, check out below.
simon

[Mike Rock]

Simon,
Beautiful equipment. With the Vimek 420 hydraulic loader, I notice that there are no outriggers. Does that preclude loading a second wagon off to one side, due to tipping stability? With all the hydraulic power, a set of outriggers might be in order. How do the wheels, with or without bogies work in snow? How deep can the snow get before you need runners rather than wheels?

Mike

[simon lenihan]

mike,
Most modern hydraulic loaders have no outriggers as this slows down loading but most importantly they can get damaged should the horses move. The sjm forwarder like ours has hydraulic frame lock which locks up the front two wheels when loading. The forwarder will work in snow but not in deep snow. I have been told that it is possible to take off the wheels and fit runners but i have not seen this but i think it is very possible.
simon lenihan

[john plowden]

These are really nice looking rigs – I have some pics to post of the equipment I make and have sold that is Scandinavian inspired – Until then for those interested go to my website or facebook –
John

[Anonymous]

While not aiming at going into the logging business… These pictures and discussion give me ideas as to how to ecologically service future alternative energy systems customers without using motorized trucks in sensitive areas.

Dave Aitcheson
“SolarGeek”

[simon lenihan]

Great work on those rigs john, glad that someone is making this equipment so as to make life easier on man and beast. However most of the arches made today are made from tubular steel which is easier against the horse and it is easier to set up articulation. Shafts also need to be adjustable so as to allow for different size horses, this is usually achieved by having tubular shafts fit through a larger tubular sleeve with some locking nuts in place. It also helps to run a chain from the arch to a point on the shafts to prevent sway and stress on the lower points of the arch [ see pic ].
simon lenihan

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