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February 2007 - The Logging and Sawmilling Journal

ONTARIO HARVESTING

WANTED: EXPERIENCED CTL CONTRACTORS

The skills of Quebec's cut-to-length contractors are becoming increasingly valued in parts of Northern Ontario, with forest companies making the transition to processing at the stump.

By Tony Kryzanowski

As leaders in cut-to-length harvesting, a number of Quebec logging contractors are finding that their skills are becoming more in demand in certain areas of Ontario, particularly where the French language is dominant, the border is close, and companies like Domtar are in the midst of making the transition to processing at the stump.

Gilles Pare, a Sherbrooke, Quebec-based logging contractor recently accepted a contract to work for a Timmins, Ontariobased contractor, Northern Softwoods Inc. He brought his more than 10 years’ experience with cut-to-length harvesting and his two sons, Stephane and Pascal (his business partner), along with him to keep his new Valmet 415 EX harvester/processor and Valmet forwarder working consistently. The harvester/processor operates 20 hours a day on two shifts and the forwarder operates a single 10-hour shift to transport eight- and 16-foot logs to roadside.

	Being able to communicate in French creates a comfortable work situation in the woods for Quebec logger Gilbert Pare (left) and Stephan Mousseau (top) of Northern Softwoods Inc.

Northern Softwoods logging supervisor Stephan Mousseau says the company would certainly like to keep experienced cutto- length contractors like Pare around. Several of Domtar’s main logging contractors have lost sub-contractors who have opted not to make the move to at-the-stump processing, or else they are on a steep learning curve with those sub-contractors that have decided to give it a try. One thing’s for certain: the switch has resulted in considerable new business for local equipment dealers, as loggers look for equipment combinations that deliver adequate production, although it’s quite obvious to most that it won’t be as much as was being accomplished with feller bunching, skidding, and delimbing at roadside.

“A buncher and a skidder goes a lot faster,” says Mousseau, “however, there are positives with processing at the stump. For example, when the wood gets to roadside it is already cut to the proper length and is ready for delivery to the sawmill.”

Like many other contractors supplying Domtar’s Timmins sawmill and the Gogama Forest Products Inc (GFPI) sawmill in Ostrom, they were informed recently that they would be required to make the transition from feller bunchers, skidders, and roadside delimbing to at-the-stump processors and forwarders.

Northern Softwoods is owned by Paul Plamondon and celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. It operates much like other contractors in the area, focusing on roadbuilding, maintenance, compliance, and customer relations, while subcontracting out the logging and log haul activities. The company began its transition to processing at the stump in the fall of 2005.

Northern Softwoods harvests about 220,000 cubic metres per year, with smaller logs going

Some of Northern Softwoods’ contractors who opted not to switch to processing at the stump were able to keep busy, as the company took on an additional treelength contract with Tembec in nearby Chapleau.

Pare says he heard through Federal Equipment, the company that supplied his Valmet harvester and forwarder, that there could be work available in Ontario. While there was work available in Quebec, it was selective harvesting where only 40 per cent of the fibre was being removed.

It meant making less money, so Pare decided to sign on in Ontario. Working out of province and in remote areas is nothing new for Pare and his sons, as they have logged in New Brunswick and on Quebec’s Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St Lawrence.

He is a veteran of the forest industry, having started in road building with excavators and backhoes for 15 years, then graduating to feller bunching and, finally, to cut-to-length harvesting when the forest industry in Quebec moved in that direction several years ago. “With cut-to-length harvesting, there are fewer ruts made in the cutblock,” says Pare, “and branches are left in the cutblock rather than being stacked by the side of the road.”

Pare purchased his new Valmet equipment in November, 2005, specifically a Valmet 415 EX carrier equipped with a model 360.2 harvester/ processor head, and an 860.1 forwarder.

Previously he owned a Timberjack 608 harvester/processor, but opted to switch to the Valmet line because of the feedback he received from another experienced contractor.

“I talked to another contractor who operated a similar unit for 2,000 hours and never had any problems with it,” says Pare. “I’ve very pleased with the machine. I’m doing about 2,000 cubic metres per week. I do about 250 cubic metres in a shift and my son does another 350.”

The Pares use a Valmet 860.1 forwarder, which has a 14-ton capacity and comes equipped with a hydrostatic transmission controlled with Valmet’s Maxiforwarder control system. It controls the interplay between engine, transmission and loader.

Valmet is now part of the Komatsu line of equipment, and the EX line combines elements of Swedish Valmet technology with some of the best design ideas from Timbco, which is another company that was absorbed by Komatsu. For example, the unit is equipped with Timbco’s trademark setback boom geometry.

“There is excellent visibility from the cab, and it is very comfortable,” say Pare. The 415 EX carrier weighs in at 45,950 pounds with the optional counterweight and is capable of 360 degree rotation. The track system is a Caterpillar 322 D5 configuration with 600-millimetre DG track shoes, greased chain assembly, Lohmann GFT50 final drive, and Rexroth auto-shift track motors. Its tractive effort is 49,565 pounds.

“I didn’t opt for the tilt model because in my opinion, extra moving parts mean more possibility of breakdowns,” says Pare.to the GFPI mill and larger logs to Domtar in Timmins. Poplar is transported to the Grant Forest Products oriented strand board plant, also in Timmins.

He adds that when he harvests on a grade, he prefers that his cab sits exactly in relation to that grade so that he is properly oriented to his surroundings and takes precautions when the grade is extreme. He has plenty of experience logging on steep slopes, some reaching up to 45 degrees in parts of Quebec.

“I always harvest travelling up the hill and never going down,” says Pare, “because if the tree is heavier than the machine, it could pull the machine over.” The 415 EX is capable of speeds up to 6.4 kilometres per hour, and comes equipped with a SisuDiesel 74ETA, 215 horsepower engine. Its fuel capacity is 379 litres.

The boom is a box construction with three-inch minimum diameter pins. The standard length boom has a maximum reach of 21 feet, five inches up to the attachment pin. It has a lifting capacity, not taking the attachment into consideration, of 23,125 pounds at 10 feet, 12,150 pounds at 15 feet, and 7,625 pounds at 20 feet.

The Valmet 360.2 head weighs in at about 2,745 pounds and is capable of cutting trees up to 25 inches in diameter. Feed speed is about 16.5 feet per second, and it comes equipped with steel rollers or rubber rollers with an anti-slip device. The feed motors have alternative speeds, meaning that feeding starts in a more powerful low gear before switching automatically to maximum speed. It has four delimbing knives and a 29.5-inch bar on the topping saw.

Pare had no complaints about the head’s accuracy, but says he leaves the computer settings to his son, Pascal. Settings ensure that they are consistently cutting either eight- or 16-foot lengths, and the system is calibrated before each shift. The measurement wheel on the 360.2 head is available in different versions, which are adapted to different tree species and seasons. Valmet says that with double digital pulse sensors on the upper delimbing knives, the diameter of the tree is measured extremely accurately.

Mousseau says it’s immediately evident by taking a trip into the cutblock where the Pare crew is working that they are experienced, simply by the neatness of the roadside decks. He adds that there isn’t much lag between the trees being harvested and processed and the forwarder gathering them to roadside, meaning that what is being harvested is making its way quickly to roadside for delivery.

The Pare’s eight-wheel drive 860.1 forwarder has a 14-ton capacity and comes equipped with a hydrostatic transmission controlled with Valmet’s Maxiforwarder control system. It controls the interplay between engine, transmission and loader. The engine is a Fortius SisuDiesel 66 EWA, six-cylinder engine with electronic fuel injection that works together with the machine control, partly to attain high fuel efficiency.

Pare says that there is practically no need for communication between himself and son Stephane when he is operating the harvester/processor and Stephane is operating the forwarder because they are so used to working together. When he is in a mixed forest environment, he will lay the jack pine to one side and the spruce to the other. He will also create separate piles for the shorter eight-foot logs.

Stephane knows the system, and when collecting the logs for delivery to roadside, he will stack two piles of eight-foot logs at the bottom of the bunks, then place a stack of 16-foot logs on top. This helps to keep the species and different tree lengths separated. It also keeps the smaller logs from shifting on the trip back to roadside.

Pare concludes that what has really sold him on his Valmet tandem is the excellent service support that Federal Equipment has provided whenever he has had any minor issues. Part of the reason he has had so few problems thus far is because of the care he and his two sons take to conduct regular preventive maintenance. Each harvester/processor operator spends an hour after each shift greasing, checking oil, and making sure the unit is ready for the next operator to step in and begin work.

This page last modified on Saturday, July 21, 2007