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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Floating Upside-Down Tree
On my deep-mountain scooter ride deep in the mountains north of Kyoto the other day, I came across something I hadn't quite expected, a tree floating upside-down flying across a small valley between two local peaks.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tree Had Approached From The East
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/8000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
It Dangled Above
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gently Let Down Here
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Take'Er Away
worker signals wire-crane operator
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wire Crane Operator
he's there, but you have to look carefully
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Part of The “Crane”
its wires spanned hundreds of meters across a valley
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Time To Turn This Tree Into Logs
(By the way, I wonder whether the large cone-shaped tree behind the backhoe is the same pseudo-cedar discussed in “Deep In The Mountains Above Kyoto's Kumogahata Village”, but without the branch pruning done by the tree farmers....?)
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Employing “The Claw”
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Keto 150 Harvester Head
from Sweden
This thing this was absolutely amazing to watch....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
First, Lop Off The End Piece
with a nice clean, square cut via the built-in chainsaw
Picking up the action with a different log...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lopping off the End Piece
Then the claws open slightly and the internal knobby-teeth tracks spin, shooting the massive log out the end of The Claw at an impressive pace, stopping after exactly four meters are exposed...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Coming At You
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
One Freshly-Minted Four-Meter Log
at your service
It took 8 seconds from cut to cut. The tree is then ejected a further four meters, and 8 seconds after the previous cut...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Log #2
... and 8 seconds later...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Log #3
The remains of this short tree weren't appropriate for the log pile he was deftly adding them to, so he put the remaining logs in a different pile, and tossed the very top part onto yet another pile. Everything was sorted and stacked in neat and orderly piles.
The entire harvester head can spin and pivot forward/backward and right/left with impressive speed, dexterity, and precision. It immediately brought to mind a mix of some kind of video game, with the climactic hanger scene from Aliens...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Like A Scene From Aliens
you half expect Sigourney Weaver to be in there
The operator was clearly very skilled, and I was filled with the same “I can't quite follow along in real time” bewilderment one gets when trying to follow an experienced magician work a deck of cards. I would be hard pressed to work a stack of pencils with my hands as deftly as he worked the tree with that machine.
The operator was a pleasant young guy with one of those easy smiles that beams from his whole face, so I really wanted to take his portrait, but sadly, he declined with a “moi? that'd be embarrassing!” look, so this is the closet we'll get...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Operator
The harvester head can even de-limb the trees, as one side has pincer-looking curved blades that close around the trunk, so when the trunk is being ejected out one end, any tree branches on the trunk are cut off on the other...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Business End
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ejector Treads
( for lack of the proper term )
These treads are the answer to the What's the Point of This “What am I?” Quiz? from the other day.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Retractable Chain Saw
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sawdust a'Flyin
It was truly impressive to watch. If you search for “Keto harvester head” you'll find plenty of videos of them in action. I watched this one with Anthony, to which he replied that it seemed a bit sad for the trees. I understand the feeling, but tried to put it into perspective that it's a tree farm, and would he feel sad to watch someone pick carrots? Both are plants, but trees do feel special, don't they?
Here's another video, this time showing testing of a new model.
I wonder whether the ‘large, cone-shaped tree’ is one selected for seed-production and hence left unpruned ? It does look to be another Cryptomeria/sugi.
I saw a Discovery Channel clip on one of these harvesters and was mesmerized by the speed and efficiency. So different to the manual cutting that I grew up around (the paper industry owns huge areas of forest in northern Wisconsin). My gadget side says, “WANT!” but I think my wife would be upset if I cut down everything in our garden…
Wow. The claw has a great paint job. reminds me of…Optimus Prime?
Great picks good to see how other people do this job. As you say the operator is very skilled,I run the same unit in the south of England and it took me at least 2 weeks before anything of any use could be produced.
Not shown in photo’s but for the gadget mad out there it has a total of 22 function buttons (operated by fingers and thumbs while still driving the excavator) and will measure and cut to within 5mm of reqired length.
The reason Keto use tracks ( ejector treads)on some models is it enables the head to trim twisted timber a bit better and also it wont mark like studded wheels do.
Sad i am ?
Thanks for very interesting photo’s