You will need a machine for sorting the logs for stacking them into piles once the stems are bucked into series of logs. After enough logs of specific sort are accumulated, and truck will arrive, they will be loaded on the truck and finally transported to their actual destination.
There are many ingenious ways to use pulleys and/or ramps for helping manually load trucks. The majority of loading and stacking however is done by using a hydraulic loader.
You can check https://payeur.com/produits/ for timber loaders and in French language
https://payeur.com/produits/chargeuses a bois.
Mechanical configuration
- Carrier base
Carrier base for the hydraulic loader will impact mainly the stability and mobility.
- A wheeled loader will move quickly around landing area but in comparison with tracked machine it is not so sturdy.
- A tracked loader can be slower but it is more stable and also more costly.
- A trailer mounted loader is the cheapest option and is pulled or pushed into place by tractor unit and after that it remains in place till the harvest.
- Loader types
For handling of logs, Knuckleboom loaders can be used which has specially designed booms. These loaders can be
- Track mounted loaders usually are mounted directly with the log truck. Such loaders are used for loading short wood and have disadvantage of decreasing payload that truck can carry.
- Wheel based machines are used for loading logs onto trucks. Here a fork set with a grapple used for picking up logs. It can pick up and also load a greater number of logs, and shortens the loading time.
- Trailer mounted loaders are not capable of moving around landing by itself. Its grapples are pin-mounted having a rotator that aids in positioning logs for loading.
- Grapples
Based on the material to be handled number of grapples is used:
- Bunching grapples that have wider tongs to handle multiple stems and pick up at a time.
- Pulpwood grapples are to handle short wood. These grapples are usually lighter duty grapples for picking up multiple stems.
- Log grapples are meant for handling a tree length material, delimbing, and also yarding applications. As compared to above type of grapples they are generally robust designs.
- Butt-N-Top grapples are heel mounted on any side of grapple. This kind of grapple is meant for handling material of tree length in bunching and sorting operations.
The heels will provide greater amount of control on the load. Generally, they are used for orienting the logs in truck butt for increased capacity of load.
