While driving along SR 410 just east of Greenwater, I recently ran across a logging operation clearcutting a site right next to the highway. Always curious, I found a parking spot just down the road, grabbed my camera and went back to see what equipment they were using. Not surprisingly, I found two Feller Bunchers and a couple of Knuckleboom loaders. The trees were already down and a single swing loader was being used to sort and pile logs for loading logging trucks that will soon take them away.
In case you were not aware, Feller Bunchers have long been used in northwest logging. It's just that they looked a little different back in the day. Here's an earlier generation of Feller Bunchers:
Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1943.42.20572, Asahel Curtis photographer, circa 1911
The above photo shows a logging crew employed by McDougal & Billideau felling a douglas firs at a site near Landsburg. All they needed were a couple of spring boards, a sharp "misery whip", a couple of axes and two loggers - fueled by about 6,000 calories a day each. In no time (maybe a day or so), this timber would be lying on the ground, ready for trimming branches and bucking into lengths suitable for transport by teams of horses or oxen - felled and bunched, in other words..
Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1977.61.2, Darius Kinsey photographer, circa 1906
A crew of two and another 12,000 calories later, "bunching" for transport might be complete.
Here's are photo's of the two Feller Bunchers being used this last week.
Talk about a great place to work. Covered cabs with heat and air conditioning too. The scenery isn't bad here either.
These Feller Buncher machine operators don't even need to get out of their comfortable chairs. Depending on the machine head configuration being used, they can fell whole trees, buck them to length and trim the branches - and probably log onto the internet too? There are several types of cutting heads that can be used on these machines - disk saws, bar saws (much like a chainsaw) and shears.
At maturity, trees today are no longer so big - not like the old growth timber in the age of yore. That, coupled with today's technology, sure makes logging safer and far more efficient these days. Next week, I'll look at Knuckleboom Swing Loaders - then and now.
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