2018 International Forest Industries December 2017 January 2018 | Page 46

Felling Heads Cat, Deere, Tigercat: head-to-head-to-head Better batching, tilting and sawing are on show from two industry greats T here appear no great secrets to the needs of forestry professional labouring under the tree-length method of harvesting, who have asked for greater flexibility and capacity from leading suppliers. With a few quirks and add-ons to boot, that is essentially what the industry’s biggest providers of such technology – Caterpillar, John Deere and Tigercat – have delivered to the market. 44 International Forest Industries | DECEMBER 2017 / JANUARY 2018 Tigercat builds a full line of innovative felling attachments designed to match the high performance and productivity of Tigercat carriers. The product range includes disc saw and shear felling heads, fixed wrist and directional bar saw felling heads, and a growing line of harvesting heads. Tigercat felling attachments are used around the world and can be matched to virtually any type of mechanized felling application from small diameter pulpwood and biomass clear fell applications to selective felling of oversized, high- value hardwood. 2000 bunching shear The original Tigercat bunching shears were designed in the mid 1990s for North American pine thinning operations. Over the years, the evolution of the 2000 series shear has made into what is considered the premium plantation eucalyptus felling head for the blue