by Nick Drew | Mon 19 Sep 2016
A day in the woods at the APF Forestry Show (Part One)
The APF Forestry show is without doubt the highlight in the calendar for those who work in the forestry, woodland, arboricultural and associated industries. Held within the grounds of the Ragley Estate in Warwickshire there is always something interesting for those of us with an interest in plant and machinery too.
The event which is now in its 42nd year, attracts over 300 exhibitors who display and demonstrate their wares over the 3 day period of the show. I last attended during the 2014 event which was a record breaker in terms of visitors, but the organizers were predicting an even bigger turnout for this year’s show with an anticipated 18,000 people coming through the turnstiles. Of course representing the Digger Man Blog my main focus was checking out some of the machines which have been adapted for the rigours of forestry work. Kingwell Holdings Limited who are based in Braintree in Essex had a wide variety of kit on display but for me the most impressive was this Hyundai HX260 HW model which featured a raised turret design, and beefed up undercarriage with track guards which are required for the tough work in the forests.
Scottish based Jas P Wilson Forest Machinery were displaying models of the Lasco log splitting cones which were mounted on a number of JCB excavators including this 10 tonne class JCB 100 C-1 model which was being put through its paces on the demo plot.
Molson’s were demonstrating the German Sennebogen 730E timber handling machine on their stand. This impressive and well engineered machine has an operating weight of 34.1 tonnes and a maximum working range of 11 metres. According to a company spokesman this machine can pick up 4.4 tonnes at a reach of 10.5 metres.
Rototilt UK were demonstrating some of their latest products on their stand and had the ever impressive Takeuchi TB290 tracked excavator on display complete with Rototilt tilt-rotator and a Hurricane tree shear.
The ever increasing take up of tilt-rotator systems was a great topic of conversation with the lads on the Rototilt stand as the UK has finally got the message about these game changing attachments.
Kubota UK are always regulars at the APF Show and as usual put on a large display of their products, but the most eye catching machine was Simon Tomblin’s Rocket Rentals 6 tonne class KX057-4 which has been painted in blue to raise awareness of prostate cancer. Managing Director Simon wants to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK, a charity very close to his heart as his Godfather and director of Bison Plant Hire Ltd, Brian Smith recently passed away from the disease. This initiative has been supported by Kubota UK, Chepstow Construction Equipment, Whites Material Handling, Kubota Finance and Trakm8.
The blue Kubota will be joining the Gloucestershire based plant hire companies hire fleet and Simon will donate a percentage of every hire to the Prostate Cancer UK charity along with any donations and money raised along the way!
Away from the diggers and one cannot fail to be impressed by the skills of the chainsaw artists who carve incredible designs out of raw lumps of wood, with astonishing detail! Apparently the winner of the European Chainsaw carving championship was Will Lee who retained his title, with his creation but for me the winner was this stunning dragon design!
Look out for more machine related photos in part two of this blog post later this week.