Morbark Waste Recycler

Morbark Hog

The photo here comes to me all the way from a friend in New York. The Machine is a Morbark recycler. Unlike the tub grinders which are popular today, this machine is what the saw mill guys would call a hog. It features an 8 foot diameter disc fitted with knives and turned by a V-12 Cat engine producing 650 horsepower. This rotating meat cleaver chops wood and brush to smitherines in nothing flat. This sort of a machine is great for mulching trees and brush, however one does need to keep the rocks and scrap iron out of it because they do not chop well.

Disposal of woody debris has become a major problem in recent years. In times past these materials were simply burned on site, however, in most places this have become environmentally unacceptable due to smoke and the like, so the materials either have to be stacked and left to rot or chopped up into mulch. The problem with trying to compost them, is that many jurisdictions think that is running a landfill without a license and go ballistic. Conversely, it is a waste of space in a good garbage dump to haul a stump there. One of these machines solves the problem.

Staten Island, NY

Since no one really believes there really are loggers on Staten Island, they even sent me a photo of their John Deere skidder to prove that they were not imaginary. It is clearly a mighty find skidder. Now if we could just find them a mighty fine tree to go with it.

Every time I look at that big recycler and think of it being on an island, it reminds me of some years ago watching loggers at work on Lopez Island in the San Juan's up in Puget Sound. It seemed that the only sawmill was on Orcas Island. Life was complicated because the ferry served several islands, stopping first at Lopez and discharging a few vehicles and then crossing over to Orcas where most of the cars got off. That's great, except if you want to ferry from one island to the other you have to back on the ferry so you can drive off with the rest of the folks when you get to the next island. So far so good. But now understand that the wharf at Lopez island is a long skinny thing with a square corner in it. Being far too narrow for the vehicles to be loaded to fit on it while the vehicles are unloading, the ritual is that the vehicles getting off the ferry unload first and then those proceeding on back down the ramp, around the square corner and onto the ferry. They are then the first to unload at the next island. Well, if you are a logger there, guess what you get to do with your loaded log truck while 500 impatient carloads of tourists watch??? Now no one said that a loggers life was easy, now did they.

- - Updated 12/20/2012

- - Updated 04/20/2008

- - Updated 2/8/01

- - Updated 03/16/2008