Method Strength Weaknes
Single tree felling heads using shears or knives
  • Well established system
  • Produces high-quality industrial wood (e.g. pulp, pellet feedstock)
  • Suitable for fuel treatments in stands with low industrial value
  • Potential to produce fuel chips but larger number of impurities due to needles, branches and foliage
  • Low cutting productivity and high cost, especially in the case of small-diameter stems
  • Stems are not delimbed
  • Need for roadside processing for industrial wood portion
  • Need to dispose of biomass at roadside
  • Small payloads in off-road and on-road transportation
  • High transportation costs due to lower density of stems (due to the crown)
Accumulating felling heads
  • Multiple-tree processing
  • High cutting productivity and lower cost, especially in small-diameter stands
  • Potential to produce industrial wood and removes fuels (lowers overall costs)
  • Suitable for fuel treatments in stands with low industrial value
  • Potential to produce fuel chips but larger number of impurities due to needles, branches and foliage
  • Stems are not delimbed
  • Need for roadside processing for industrial wood portion
  • Need to dispose of biomass at roadside
  • High transportation costs due to lower density of stems (due to the crown)
Felling heads with feedrollers
  • Multiple-tree handling
  • High cutting productivity and lower cost, especially in small-diameter stands
  • Potential to produce industrial wood and removes fuels (lowers overall costs)
  • Industrial wood is already delimbed no need for roadside processing
  • Large payloads in off-road and on-road transportation
  • Low cost of forest haulage and road transportation
  • Very versatile system – can be used for multiple purposes
  • Produces high quality fuel chips for bioenergy
  • Biomass stays in the stand (CTL at stump) and will need to be removed in wildfire prone areas which adds an extra cost
  • Produced quality of delmined stems might vary
  • Not as efficient as a purpose build piece of equipment
  • Needs a large component of industrial wood in order to be feasible