Breaking Out
Three-in-one compact combo Story: Hayley Leibowitz
Above: Henry Fear is known for innovation in New Zealand forestry circles. Below: Henry Fear using the Blade Runner to remove a stump, roots and all.
36 NZ LOGGER | February 2023
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HE NAME HENRY FEAR IS SYNONYMOUS with innovation in New Zealand forestry circles. Whether it be as an early disruptor in silviculture with mechanical planters, introducing ‘smart spades’ which identify exactly where to plant a tree seedling, or hydrogel to extend the planting season, where there’s transformation you’ll find Henry in the thick of it. His latest project is no exception. The Kobelco ED 160, aka the Blade Runner, using an MDE Koala 400 tree shear attachment, is doing the job of three machines when we meet Henry in Kaingaroa Forest. Henry of HA Fear contracting says, “Possibly the only three-in-one machine in New Zealand that can fall and bunch trees and bulldoze at the same time, the Blade Runner is a great example of a ‘one man, one machine’ operation and it removes the need for a whole lot of additional more expensive equipment.” He explains: “There are three aspects
to it. Because it’s an excavator top half, we can dig with it; we use the tree shear to cut the trees down and directionally fell them; and then the bulldozer blades sweep the skid sites and form them – all in one machine.” For a small machine it’s clear it can do a lot. The 16-tonne excavator base with upgraded final drives and drive system give it the same pushing power as a D4 bulldozer with a six-way bulldozer blade, so this excavator/bulldozer combination is “really manoeuvrable, incredibly powerful and can push a large volume” says Henry. This becomes clear as we watch operator, Anton Kereama, deftly take the Blade Runner through its paces. Instead of the processor coming through to cut the trees into logs; the forwarder taking them off to another skid site and the bulldozer doing the earthworks to form the skid site, the Blade Runner cuts the
