When it's crashing down, business is booming
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If you go down to the woods today, you might well come across Tree Harvesting collecting timber and transporting it to the firm's sawmills. Bryan Jarvis has been doing just that
DESPITE Britain importing over 90 per cent of the wood and other related prolducts that we need, its own timber industry maintains an active presence in the British market.
This is due mainly to the efforts of the Forestry Commission, which manages more than half the 1.8 million hectares (4.45 million acres) of forests and woodlands that are spread across the United Kingdom. The remainder is privately owned but still contributes towards the domestic market.
Afforestation programmes for conifers take up to 40 years to reach maturity and when they do, sections are sold off to private timber companies.
One such company, Weston Softwoods of Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, Glamorgan uses one of its subsidiary companies, Tree Harvesting, to collect the timber and maintain a regular supply to the group's two sawmills located at Caerphilly and Newbridge on Wye.
As with most industries today, the timber haulage companies keep up with the latest developments, so their transport and log-haul equipment, particularly for loading and off-loading, is modern and efficient.
Most of Weston Softwoods' needs are met by Welsh timber although its area of operation can reach into central and southern parts of England.
The trees are felled by the Forestry Commission, and they are then trimmed to the lengths stipulated by Weston Softwoods and left for collection in the forests.
• Tree Harvesting's nine-vehicle fleet is all Volvo; five F7 8x4 rigids, an F7 4 x 2 drawbar outfit and two semi-trailer units (these 'vehicles are all equipped for long-haul work) and an F88 4x2 rigid with flat-body which is used only for carrying cut timber from the mill to customers.
One of the semi-trailer combinations is an F86 4 x 2 with a skeletal trailer, which is used to transport the longer log sections; the other is an F10 sleeper-cabbed tractive unit pulling a tri-axle trailer with a Granning lift on the leading axle of the bogie.
At the moment, this latter one i5 the only combination running at 38 tonnes but the company is thinking of acquiring a sleepercabbed F1225 6x2 tractive unit with axle lift at the end of this month and an F12.27 6 x 4 with rest-cab in April.
As there are no return loads, payload is vitally important so while each of the F7s is carrying over 17 tonnes of timber on a two-loads per day basis, the F10 is managing payloads of around 23 tonnes, 10 to 12 times a week.
Private contractors supply almost as much again to the group's sawmills, which have the capacity to accept 2,300 tons per week.
Accessibility to the timber plantations is very important and the Forestry Commission is obliged to provide good B or C class roads.
Local councils have different priorities and often provide poor access roads.
This must be taken into acCount by Weston's timber buyers, who know that the collection operation has to be planned carefully. The 38 tonne gcw operation is only possible with good access.
Weston's log controller Roger Thomas explained that its driv
ers have to be competent for highway work and must also be able to operate in difficult areas of the forests.
"Loading by crane and carrying the timber out of the plantations requires a different level of skill to that of the average truck driver" he said.
Roger showed me a site in the forest above Ludlow where a company vehicle was being laden. Its driver, Derek Evans manipulated the control levers skillfully to slew, extend the boom and select several logs at a time all in one smooth operation.
Loading and arranging them on the vehicle was also very slick, and the job was done in under an hour.
Skill is also needed to preven overloading, which is a particular danger in the wet for the logs' weight increases substantially.
Western Softwoods has tried to have this recognised by the Department of Transport but without success, so the driver must rely on his experience.
There could well be a market here for low-cost on-board weighing devices, with load sensors fitted in the crane's grab to add up the payload and warn the driver of overload. It would eliminate the risk.
The eight timber vehicles all have Highland Bear 6010 Series cranes and Exte log bolster frames.
James Jones and Sons of Larbert in Sterlingshire builds and supplies the cranes. They are hydraulically powered from the vehicle's power take-off and consist of a fabricated pillar with a power-operated turntable on which the operator perches. From here, he can control the arms and grab assembly to select and stack the logs on to the back of his vehicle.
At each side of the pillar, hydraulic stabilisers support the body and prevent any unnecessary movement. Not only a safety feature this also adds to the limited level of comfort.
On the F7s, the cranes are mounted centrally behind the cab with the stabilisers behind the front wheels. This allows full all-round reach and once the vehicle is fully laden the boom lays over the top of the logs in a travelling position and helps to secure the load.
The Fl Os Highland Bear is located a third of the way along the chassis and can stack timber, fore and aft of it. The logging vehicles are all fitted with steel log bolster systems made in Sweden by Exte and supplied by Cairntract of Market Weighton near York. These systems are U-shaped, three-piece frames in pairs on the body and the eight-foot tree lengths are packed between them.
One method of mounting the bolster sets is to fit the square sockets into the body edge opposite each other and flush with the decking for the extendible upright stakes to lock into.
Weston Softwood however, prefers to have a separate crosschannel with sockets at each end attached to the floor. This adds around 20kg per set to the kerb weight and is a more costly arrangement but it reduces the risk of floor damage, which keeps down repair costs and can improve the resale value.
Maintenance, repairs and test preparation are carried out at Tree Harvesting's workshop near Bishops Castle, just inside the Welsh border, and 30 miles north of Newbridge on Wye.
It was here that the crane and log bolster equipment was fitted by Ken Maurice and his JCBtrained mechanic Peter Williams. Ken has worked here since 1969, when the workshop belonged to Imperial Tobacco and was used to supply IT's pulp mills in Bristol.
Ken pointed out that the increase to 38 tonnes gcw has not really helped the timber trade "because so many of our sites are inaccessible to semi-trailer."
The answer, he thinks, is 38tonne drawbar operation, but that looks a long way off at present.