The condition of forest road pavements was studied in spring, one week after maintenance and in autumn. The effect of vibrating blade was slightly better than that of pulled drag. Large loose stones couldn’t be pressed into pavement with either of the implements. The use of the vibrating blade was three times as expensive as the use of the pulled drag, however, the blade is suitable for other purposes as well.
The PDF includes an abstract in Finnish.
Forest transport of timber in Finland has been arranged as horse haulage during winter time using horses vacant from farm work. Tractors have now begun to replace horses in agriculture, which will lead to shortage of horses for timber harvesting in future. The aim of this investigation was to find a method of mechanized forest transport suitable for Finnish conditions. The method should be provided by an agricultural wheel tractor that is shared with agriculture. It should also be applicable to timber transport of relatively small forest holdings.
A method for time studies of tractor driven timber harvesting was developed. The competitivity of tractor transport of timber against the traditional method was studied in four pulpwood harvesting sites. The results suggest that if the tractor forest transport method in question is to be applied in practice, conditions should first be chosen which favour it most. A tractor forest transport method evolved on the basis of experiments presupposes certain conditions to be successful. These include snow for the construction of the packed-snow driveway, frost to harden the driveway, the location of strip roads in relatively easy topography, and of the main haulage road that is gently sloping in the haulage-loaded direction. The optimal transport distance for this method are about 3-10 km.
The PDF includes a summary in English.