Skidder

A skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut trees out of a forest in a process called “skidding”, in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing. Here they are loaded onto trucks (or in times past, railroad cars or flumes), and sent to the mill. One exception is that in the early days of logging, when distances to the timberline from the mill were shorter, the landing stage was omitted altogether, and the “skidder” would have been used as the main road vehicle, in place of the trucks, railroad, or flume. Modern forms of skidders can pull trees with a cable/winch, just like the old steam donkeys, or a grapple or a clam-bunk.

Contemporary skidders are tracked or four wheel drive tractors with a turbocharged diesel engine, winch and steel, funnel-shaped guards on the rear to protect the wheels. They have articulated steering and usually a small, adjustable, push-blade on the front. The operator/logger is protected from falling or flying debris (or parted cables, or rolling over) by a steel enclosure. They are one of the few logging machines that is capable of thinning or selective logging in larger timber. Forwarders can haul small short pieces out, but if mature timber is to be thinned, a skidder is one of the few options for taking out some trees while leaving others. While selective logging can be done badly in a host of ways, taking some trees while leaving some may be a preferred alternative to taking all the trees.

Cable skidders. On a cable skidder, the cable is reeled out and attached to a pull of cut timber, then the winch pulls the load toward the skidder. The winch or grapple holds the trees while the skidder drags them to a landing area. Cable skidders are less popular than in the past. They are more labor intensive than grapple skidders because someone (the operator or a second person) must drag the winch line out to the logs and hook them up. This is helpful where it is not possible to drive the machine close to the log (such as in steep hills).

Grapple skidders. Alternately, some skidders have a hydraulic grapple bucket instead of a winch, and the bucket- attached to the skidder by a boom- grabs and lifts the timber.There are three types of ‘fixed boom’ grapple skidders: a single function boom type with two hydraulic cylinders, only allowing the boom to lower in one position. The dual function boom has four cylinders which allows for adjusting the boom in two different places. The third type permits the grapple boom to be swung from side to side allowing spread out trees to be grabbed at once.

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1. What is a skidder? What kinds of skidders do you know?

2. What are contemporary skidders capable of?

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using skidders for harvesting operations?