The chipmunk

The chipping dog is a large machine that chops wood into coarse shavings called chips. It got its nickname “The Chipping Dog” because it was operated by a forester who walked in front and steered it with one hand, a bit like a dog on a leash. The museum’s chipping dog chopped wood chips in Lindet Skov from 1983 to 1990, after which it came to the museum as the last of its kind.

Forestry produces the raw material for many things that we know from our everyday lives. Most people are familiar with floors, furniture, roof rafters and planks made of wood. But there is also a large production that we are not so familiar with: wood chips. These are small pieces of wood that are mostly used for fuel, but also for example. covering in flower beds. The production of wood chips is actually as large as the production of all other forest products – combined!

Wood chips are not just wood chips. There are differences in quality. Wood chips are made from different types of wood, and the water content and purity vary, which affects the selling price. The wood from the forest is sold for the purpose that gives the highest selling price. Therefore, whole trunks can also be used for wood chips, especially if the quality of the wood is poor, for example due to fungus and rot.

Wood chip production is an important industry, and the large machines are expensive to buy – so they must be efficient for it to be worthwhile.

The museum's wood chipping dog was developed in collaboration between the Danish Forest and Nature Agency, Hedeselskabet and Silvatec Skovmaskiner ApS. It was only in use for 7 years, because the safety of the forest workers was not good enough. It is dangerous to walk in front of the machine, so in the new wood chippers the forest worker sits safely in a cab on top of the machine, and the logs are put into the machine with the help of a crane.