History Channel - Logging Tech

[DaveW]

So anyway, I was watching "Modern Marvels - Logging Tech" on the History channel, and part of the show focused on the current techniques of logging - blew my mind away. They have this machine that they use to grip the tree trunk, then a chainsaw fires below the grippers to hack down the tree. The operator then uses the grippers to pick up the tree and flip it so it's horizontal - then you realize that the grippers aren't just grippers - they're like tank tracks - they shuttle the trunk forward and de-branch it. And if the operator wants, it stops at pre-determined lengths and fires up the chainsaw again and gives equal lengths of logs!

To put things into perspective, the operator was talking about how his record for a day was in the 1000s (of trees cut down), and IIRC, his hourly record was 177 trees!

[crokett]

I saw that episode - a very cool machine. The better part is the operator can be selective on the trees he cuts. So no clear cutting. Also the brush, etc from the cutting of each tree are not all heaped up in one spot, but spread out. Both of these are much better for the environment than clear cutting.

[DUD]

LOML and I both saw it, I thought it was great, so did She. Her Father and GrandFather had a sawmill and logged quite a bit of this part of Arkansas. Probably one of those machines would have done all they ever did in a week.

The story is My FIL would never have found my MIL if it wasn't for logging. Her place and job was to watch out for them revenueers, so He found Her before getting to the still. Bill

[Joe Lyddon]

Golly! That sounds so awesome!! Unreal!! Impossible!!

Guess I'd better get back to the History Ch. a little more and give Hallmark a rest...

Thank you!

[mschrank]

I got to watch one of these up close when I was an undergrad in Forestry. While the mechanics of the machine was impressive, I was also impressed by the interior. The operator sat in air conditioned comfort with a 6 speaker sound system. No levers or steering wheels, just a bunch of button on the armrest that controlled everything. The operator just punched in the desired log length, and the machine basically did the rest.

Kind of made me think the days of the hulking Paul Bunyan type of lumberjack were over, since the operator on this machine was a fairly petite gal!

[cwsmith]

Saw that particular program. Another one that is even more impressive is the one they did on "lumber yards", especially the segment covering reclaimed wood.

While I too find this kind of machinery very impressive, I find it sad that so much of a forrest can be cleared so quickly... much faster than it will ever grow back. While much of the U.S. lumber harvest industry does a good job of managing regrowth, there is still far too much lumber rampaging that leaves nothing behind, but erosion.

Even more alarming is the amount of this lumber that is being exported to Asia, mostly by Japanese companies that buy up the land, or the forest on it, and harvest it, thus cutting out much of the American "middle men". (They've done rather well, doing the same to the cattle/beef industry.)

I have a good friend who lives in Malaysia and has traveled extensively in that region. Several times, we have discussed how much of the large forrest of those areas have been laid waste quickly, by such machinery. The equipment is so efficient, that a company can strip an area with very little local investment. Minimum hireing and negligiable addition to a local economy. On top of that, such efficiency really doesn't go far to keeping the price of lumber down for people like us. On the contrary, it generally elevates the market to global proportions, with local forests now placed on the international market.

And what happens to a lot of this wood? Well, a major portion goes to plywood products used for forms in making concrete and steel structures. Afterwards, it is usually destroyed, or recycled into woodparticle products.

If any of you are into history, you might take notice of photos taken in and around some of the more populated areas of the U.S. during the late 1800's and early 1900's. Growing up in NY's southern tier I happened to notice how in areas like Binghamton and Corning, a lot of those turn of the century pictures showed almost barren hills and valleys in what is fairly forrested areas now. Doing some research, I found that with the expansion of railroads, factories and towns after the Civil War, huge work crews would scalp areas within 20 to 30 miles of roadways, townships, etc. Using just manpower and manual cutting methods, this devestation took place over a matter of just two or three decades. The erosion and general devestation caused by flooding, etc. proved to be disasterous. It has taken the better part of the 20th Century to recover from that. Can you imagine how quickly this new technology can bring us back to that kind of environment? (I just saw the Amazon special they had on Discovery last week. I don't remember the thousands of acreas they are loosing every month, but it's scary!)

Food for thought,

CWS

[Texas splinter]

My step-dad was a "Bull-O-The woods" running logging camps in western Oregon and Washington states in the late 1920s thru about the mid 1930s. I have heard the tales and seen the pictures of large crews working for a week or more to fell a giant Fir or Cedar tree, sometimes 10 to 12 feet in diameter.
I have pictures of my cousins who drove log trucks in the late 40s and early 50s where one log completely filled the truck! Now they do acres a day with one person and the loggers all cry that "...if we could just get to that wood in the National forests, we would have employment again..."
they have been unemployed by technology, it's time for them to find another trade.