It takes just a few seconds for a forestry harvester to single out a pine from a dense stand, fell it, delimb it and cut it to length. All of these tasks are performed by one single but multi-purpose tool — the timber harvester head. We explain how it works
There are several variations of timber harvesting heads, each boasting many different details. Here we explain the more general design. A forestry harvester fells a tree in several main steps, some of which are carried out simultaneously and within seconds: it grips the tree, makes the cut, removes branches, cuts the logs to length and then sorts and stacks the various elements. Harvesters are mostly deployed in pine and young broadleaf stands, which have relatively straighter trunks and fewer limbs so are therefore more suited to mechanical logging,
