Donaren type Scarifier in Longman Workshop
The photograph is courtesy of the family of George Dey. George took many forestry photographs in his forestry career and many of those are now shown on this web site. Check under ‘Groups’ and George Dey Collection.
A view of the powerful Donaren Scarifier used to cultivate dry free draining felled sites before replanting. The star shaped discs on the machine are hydraulically driven mounted on two arms which are also hydraulically positioned either narrow or wider when lowered down.
When driven over the site the two discs turned and pushed the branches and other woody debris aside and scraped a shallow trench in the soil pushing some to the side. In very heavy brash and high volumes of woody debris the best plan was to run over the same strip twice the first to part the woody material. This type of cultivation organised the site into recognisable strips and ensured more even planting coverage but it was still difficult to get the two metre equal spacing across the rows as along them. This machine did not work well in wetter sites and weed growth also quickly overtake young trees.
The Scarifier is mounted on a Caterpillar D6 76939 or 8 and may have been based in Wales but did some work in the North of Scotland for part of the year. The PDF shows other views of the outfit.
Any comments on the machine and its performance very welcome
Download Large Version (260kB)
Groups: George Dey Forestry Collection, Tractors Ploughs and Drainage Machines