En jämförande studie mellan stickvägsgående och beståndsgående skördare och skotare.

Thinning is performed today with essentially two thinning methods, with strip-roads or stand-thinning machines. The result after thinning affects the stands future development. In this study, the two thinning methods was compared with regard to distribution of basal area, resulting damage, the distribution of stems, actual thinning intensity and the impact that these differences may provide in the future. The survey was conducted in Sundsvall, Sweden in two different stands where basal area- surfaces, number of stems, damage and thinning strength was measured. The result shows that stand-thinning machines produce less damage to the stems and a more even distribution of the basal area. The strip-road method carried out a thinning of excessive thinning intensity of 50 % compared to 30 % for stand-thinning method. From a quality point of view the stand-thinning machines performed a better result. These machines have a lower production (harvested volume per hour) which probably results in lower financial gains in thinnings. Keywords: stand-thinning, basal area, thinning strength, Vimek, soil damage