Forestry Grapples Australia

Why forestry handling needs a forestry grapple

Log handling places very different demands on an attachment from demolition or general sorting. Forestry material is round, irregular, long, springy, frequently dirty, difficult to balance and usually handled in bundles. The grapple has to penetrate a pile, wrap around timber and release quickly, with repeated high-speed cycles and constant impact, without becoming so heavy that it consumes the carrier’s useful payload. That trade-off, strong enough for forestry but light enough to leave capacity for the load, drives every design decision in the range.

Powerhand’s EX Series is designed specifically for forestry biomass, brash, log handling and chipper feeding. Typical Australian work includes feeding wood chippers, clearing brash, moving whole trees, loading logs, stacking, biomass handling, storm cleanup and land clearing. Machinery Specialist distributes Powerhand in Australia; see the Powerhand brand page.

The current EX range

Powerhand uses solid Hardox tines, with smaller-section tines on the EX25 and heavier 50 mm tine construction on the larger models.

EX25

The EX25 is the lightest current EX grapple at around 400 kg with rotator, with 0.25 m² of capacity and a 1,641 mm opening for 8 to 12 tonne carriers. It suits smaller forestry excavators, compact chippers, council vegetation work and medium brash, and its low mass preserves carrier capacity.

EX28

The EX28 is the crossover model: 0.28 m² and 617 kg with rotator across a broad 12 to 25 tonne carrier range, for civil clearing, biomass, forestry, chipper feeding and storm cleanup. The capacity step over the EX25 comes without moving into the mass of the largest grabs.

EX36

The EX36 brings 0.36 m², a 1,928 mm opening and 837 kg with rotator on 16 to 25 tonne excavators. Wider tines and more volume make a real difference when grabbing bulky brash and larger log bundles.

EX40

The EX40 is the industrial grapple: 0.40 m², a 2,137 mm opening and 1,091 kg with the specified rotator, for high-volume log handling, large biomass, heavy brash and substantial chippers on 20 to 30 tonne carriers. At more than a tonne it needs a carrier sized around both the attachment mass and the timber load, because a large grapple is counterproductive if the machine reaches its lift limit before the grapple is full. The four-way comparison helps pick a size by material.

Grapple area, opening and tine geometry

Buyers often compare maximum jaw opening. That answers how wide an object can fit between the tines. Capacity in square metres answers how much bundled roundwood or brash the geometry can contain, and for repetitive chipper feeding or biomass handling that number has far more influence on cycle productivity. Compare the two separately and weight them by the work.

Geometry decides how much of that rated area is usable. Powerhand describes inward-angled tine geometry intended to wrap around round timber as gripping force increases, with additional gripping structures on the underside of the headstock to stabilise large timber against the grapple body. The commercial objective is better fill, fewer dropped loads, fewer re-grabs and less slow, careful travel with an unstable bundle. Forestry loads shift suddenly; a grapple that holds securely saves seconds on every cycle.

Rigid mount versus swing link

Rotator selection

The rotator is not an accessory. Rotation lets the operator align logs, build stable stacks, feed a chipper, orient timber into a truck and work in confined road corridors. It also adds weight, cost and another wear component. Where timber orientation is irrelevant, a simpler mounting returns more payload.

The economics are simple to illustrate. Five seconds saved per cycle across 300 cycles a day is 25 minutes a day, or roughly 83 hours across 200 working days. In high-cycle work that justifies a rotator many times over; in occasional log handling it may not. Ask how gripping pressure is controlled as well: too little and loads drop, too much and timber and components suffer.

Payload utilisation

The bigger EX40 is not automatically better on a 20 tonne machine if it removes too much payload at the required reach. The lift chart guide and the lift capacity calculator make the check quick.

Feeding a chipper

Chipper utilisation depends on how continuously it can be fed, and a large chipper waiting for an undersized loader is an expensive bottleneck. Illustratively, if the chipper can process 40 tonnes an hour and the loader supplies 25, the chipper is idle for nearly 40 per cent of its running time. A larger grapple helps only if the carrier can lift it full, the pile geometry allows full grabs and the chipper’s feed opening accepts the bundle. When choosing a size, analyse feed opening, average stem length, loader reach, material density, grapple cycle time and safe bundle mass together. See biomass and chipper operations.

Grapple selection by material

Clean sawlogs favour precision, controlled closing, rotation and visibility; oversized brash capacity adds nothing and a grapple that is too large reduces visibility, consumes boom capacity and slows fine sorting. Some products are also sensitive to bark damage, crushing and tine marks, so gripping pressure and geometry matter beyond productivity.

Pulpwood favours rapid bundle handling, grapple area and cycle speed.

Brash favours a wide opening, tine penetration and retention. A large volume may weigh little but occupy enormous space, so geometry matters more than rated load.

Whole trees favour stability, large geometry, safe load and rotator strength. Tine width is part of the same decision throughout: wider tines improve durability but can reduce penetration into dense fine brash, while narrower tines penetrate more easily and carry different stress.

Forestry grapple versus sorting grab

A sorting grab is designed for demolition waste, scrap and general materials and may handle timber occasionally. A forestry grapple is optimised for roundwood, long stems, bundles and brash, with penetration into piles, high cycle rates, reduced attachment mass relative to payload and timber retention. If the fleet spends only occasional hours moving logs, an existing sorting grab may be adequate. If log and brash handling is a core activity, the purpose-built geometry improves cycle efficiency. See the full comparison.

Grapple versus grapple saw

If timber arrives already cut, a saw adds unnecessary weight and complexity, and a pure grapple is better for loading, feeding and stacking. A grapple saw earns its extra mass only where material needs cutting as part of the same cycle.

Powerhand Terragrip

The Terragrip is a different philosophy. Australian distributor material describes one fixed leg acting as a root ripper and rake, one moving gripping leg, an opening of approximately 1,540 mm and fitment to machines around 14 to 25 tonnes. It is best considered a clearing and raking hybrid rather than a substitute for every EX grapple, suited to operators who need to rip roots, rake, grab brash and clear ground with one tool.

Productivity, storage and support

Track cycles per hour, tonnes per cycle, re-grabs, dropped loads, average boom radius, fuel and rotator downtime. The best grapple is the one that maximises safe material flow, not the one with the largest opening. Large grapples also need stable stands, protected hoses and safe lifting points, because poor storage bends hoses and damages rotators. Price pins, bushes, cylinder seals and rotator seals before purchase and ask about the tine repair procedure. The wear parts guide and transport guide cover the details.

Buying used

Inspect tine wear and bending, jaw alignment, main pins, bush wear, cylinder rods, rotator leakage and bearing play, hose swivel, frame cracking and the attachment bracket. Load real timber and watch how the jaws meet under pressure. See inspecting used forestry attachments.

Red flags

Be cautious when grapple opening is quoted without capacity, when attachment mass excludes the rotator, when carrier range is used instead of a lift chart, when rotator torque is not considered, when wear parts are unpriced, when tines have been extensively rebuilt with undocumented welding, or when the grab cannot be demonstrated under load.

Confirm in writing before ordering a forestry grapple

• Capacity in square metres, maximum opening and minimum gripping diameter
• Base mass and mass with the specified rotator, and rotator torque
• Carrier class and the lift-chart check at your working radius with a full bundle
• Required flow and pressure for the grapple and rotator circuits
• Rigid or swing-link mounting, and coupler compatibility
• Wear components, tine repair procedure and Australian parts availability
• Chipper feed opening and pile geometry checked against grapple size
• Storage stand and transport arrangements

Frequently asked questions