New Gear Harvesting New Gear
Forestry Gear

Titan 22 – Faster, stronger, better
The Titan 22 processing head from Pierce (Denharco) has a host of features that the manufacturer says makes it faster, stronger and easier to service than ever. A proprietary hinged pedestal platform makes servicing the Pierce Titan 22’s hydraulic and electrical systems faster and easier. An additional valve section provides more flow to the drive system for greater speed and feed power, as well as to the butt saw for faster, cleaner cuts. Up top, a swing-away top saw location gives greater structural strength and easy access to saw components. The heavy-duty frame has been designed to reduce and distribute stress loads, while providing extra support for the rigours of Canadian timber and conditions. Finally, the heavy duty hanging bracket features single-piece construction for greater durability. www.piercepacific.com

Volvo bunchers to log at DEMO 2008

A live exhibition of Volvo Construction Equipment’s new C-Series heavy-duty tracked feller bunchers at DEMO International 2008 in Halifax, NS will introduce three new Volvo bunchers to logging professionals. The purpose-built bunchers will hit the market early in 2009, but visitors to the show September 18-20 will get a sneak peak at two of the three models. The three models in the series will be the 37-ton, full swing radius Volvo FB3800C, the 30-ton short swing radius Volvo FB2800C, and the 30-ton zero swing radius Volvo FBR2800C. All three can be configured as buncher or heavy-duty harvester/processor. They come with Volvo D9E Tier 3 engines, load sensing hydraulics, and Volvo Care cabs. Loggers can watch the FB3800C full swing and FBR2800 zero swing machines in action. These machines will be working alongside other Volvo forestry machines, as the supplier shows its renewed commitment to forestry, including the Volvo FC2421C harvester/processor, a Volvo L220F wheel log loader, and a Volvo VHD 430 industrial truck and Manac log trailer. “Volvo has made a solid commitment to fully support the North American and global forest harvesting and forest bio-energy industries,” says Mike Rhoda, president & CEO, Volvo Group Korea (Excavator Business Line).  www.volvo.com.

Madill finds home with Modern Machinery
Good news for Madill forest equipment owners troubled by the supplier’s recent woes – Modern Machinery has acquired all rights to the Madill product line, which includes yarders, feller bunchers, harvesters, log loaders, delimbers, and saw heads. The Montana-based company will also be the worldwide distributor of parts and service for Madill gear. In addition to existing parts and equipment inventory, Modern Machinery has acquired Madill’s intellectual property rights. Modern president Brian Sheridan says the company has no immediate plans to manufacture equipment, but will look at options and may either make some machinery or sell the rights to certain parts of the former Madill line. Modern acquired $15 million in existing parts inventory, and thus is ready to provide replacement parts to Madill customers, and has all drawings required to make their own parts in the future as required. Modern’s Madill parts operation will continue to be based in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, and will be staffed by some of the key personnel that were there before. Modern has also hired a number of former Madill service technicians. Modern Machinery is one of the largest Komatsu dealers in North America. www.modernmachinery.com

Tops & Branches
Ontrac Equipment Services Inc. has changed its name to Nortrax Canada Inc., bringing the John Deere retailer into brand alignment with its US-based sibling. Nortrax Canada management says the name change will enable increased market presence and greater competitive advantage in Canada through use of Nortrax marketing and advertising resources.  www.nortrax.com

- Caterpillar Inc. has selected CleanAIR Systems Inc. of Santa Fe, NM as the Caterpillar strategic alliance partner for emission retrofit products. These are installed in existing applications to reduce hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and diesel particulates. www.cat.com. www.cleanairsys.com

- Albright Corp. of Jeffersonville, VT makes the Roto-Select-a-Wedge, what it call an innovation in wood splitting technology. It is a patented splitting machine that uses a rotating “turret-style” member to quickly change wedges to be able to split wood into different size pieces without having to bolt on different wedges. gristmill@surfglobal.net (802-644-2987)

- The Canadian Forest Service  - Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, in conjunction with FPInnovations-Feric, have released a new report on storing beetle killed logs under snow to reduce losses. Penned by R.J. Whitehead, W.L. Wagner, and Joseph Nader can be found at www.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/cwfc.

November 17, 2011  By  Cheryl Quinn

The Titan 22 processing head from Pierce (Denharco) has a host of features that the manufacturer says makes it faster