Rottne H8 harvester in second thinning

Rottne H8 harvester

We have had a series of articles here at NordicWoodJournal.com about different forest machines. You will find links to some of those articles at the end of this article. It has mainly been big machines, but now we will have a look at a smaller harvester – Rottne H8.

Rottne H8 harvester
Rottne H8D.
Photo: Rottne.com

Rottne H8 harvester – small but efficient

By the mid 80’s small harvesters started to turn up from the major machine manufacturers. The first (that I saw) was ÖSA “Lillebror” 0410 which was a combined feller and skidder for thinning. A little later, the Lillebror turned up as a harvester, ÖSA 0470. I operated one myself in Germany in the 90’s. (ÖSA later became FMG, Forest Machine Group, Timberjack and today it´s John Deere Forestry)

Log Max Harvester Heads

The idea with the Lillebror (baby brother) concept was that the harvester should operate also between the strip roads in thinning and process the trees towards the strip road for the forwarder to reach. The forwarder should then stay on the strip road.

Rottne H8 harvester
The classic “Lillebror” at the Elmia Wood show in 1989.
Photo: Per Jonsson

Around 1990 Valmet, today Komatsu Forest, launched their small harvester, the Valmet 701. Further on, Rottne joined the small harvester line with Rottne 2000. Now there were three major manufacturers of forest machinery that could offer this type of machine.

Rottne got new company

Somewhere along the timeline both Valmet/Komatsu Forest and ÖSA/FMG/Timberjack/John Deere let go of this concept. Rottne, however, kept on doing the small harvesters under the model names Rottne 2000, 2002, 2004 and eventually Rottne H8. In the meantime, other brands of small harvesters have turned up such as Malwa, who only manufactures small machines.

Rottne H8

Even though the machine has become larger compared to the Rottne 2000, the H8 is quite small. The length of the chassis is 4834 mm (190 inches), width 2050, 2200 or 2420 mm (80/87/95 inches) depending on the type of wheels, and the height is 3212 mm (127 inches). It can still operate between the strip roads and is mainly used in young thinning.

Film, photos and more information

Here is a film of the Rottne H8 in action:

Rottne H8D i andragallring

You can read more about the Rottne H8 here.

And here are some more photos of the H8 in action:

Rottne H8 harvester
40 years old pine stand being thinned a second time.
Rottne H8 harvester
Rottne H8 is a narrow machine, easy to maneuver between the trees.
Rottne H8 harvester
Operator Linus gives gas. Close to three stems per minute was the capacity during our visit.
Rottne H8 harvester
Rottne H8D
Rottne H8 harvester
This H8 harvester is equipped with Rottnes own harvester head, EGS 406. Log Max 3000 is also offered as an alternative.

Film and photos: Torbjörn Johnsen where not otherwise stated

Previous articles about machines

Read previous articles about harvesters:

Rottne H21

Komatsu 951

John Deere 1470

Ponsse Bear

Eco Log 590

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