Tree shears are one of the fastest-growing attachment categories in Australia because they turn ordinary excavators into controlled tree-cutting machines. A tree shear grabs, cuts, retains and places the stem — a major operational advantage over simply pushing trees over with an excavator bucket.
For a contractor whose tree work is measured in hundreds of hours rather than thousands, a shear on an existing carrier is very often the better commercial answer than a dedicated felling machine.
Tree shears are the fastest-growing attachment category in Australia because they solve a specific commercial problem: a business with real tree work but not thousands of felling hours a year cannot justify a dedicated felling machine, yet pushing trees over with a bucket is slow, dangerous and leaves a mess.
The range sold locally spans an unusually wide bracket — from around 140 kg units for 1.5-tonne mini excavators through to 2,400 kg heads requiring 250-300 L/min on 30-tonne-plus carriers. Those extremes are genuinely different machines addressing different markets, and comparing them on maximum cut diameter alone tells you almost nothing.
Australian conditions add a specific test that northern-hemisphere specifications rarely address: stringy, fibrous eucalyptus regrowth. A blade geometry that performs well in softwood can tear rather than cut in local hardwood, and published hardwood and softwood capacities frequently differ by 50 mm or more on the same head.
Indicative published manufacturer and distributor figures. Confirm every specification, lift chart and hydraulic requirement with the manufacturer or authorised dealer before purchase.
The OMEF Big Inch shear family distributed in Australia by Randalls, spanning mini-excavator to 30 t-plus carriers.
| BI100 | 1.5-3 t carrier · 140 kg · 150 mm max cut |
|---|---|
| BI200 | 3-7 t carrier · 230 kg · 200 mm max cut |
| BI300 | 8-14 t carrier · 420 kg · 300 mm max cut |
| BI400 | 14-24 t carrier · 845 kg · 450 mm max cut |
| BI500 | 23-30 t carrier · 1,810 kg · 600 mm max cut |
| BI600 | 30 t+ carrier · 2,400 kg · 700 mm max cut · ~250-300 L/min |
A useful benchmark for the medium-commercial shear market on 6-20 tonne excavators.
| Bare attachment weight | ~310 kg |
|---|---|
| Carrier class | ~6-20 t excavators |
| Hardwood capacity | up to ~250 mm |
| Softwood capacity | up to ~300 mm |
| Hydraulic flow | ~50-150 L/min depending on cylinder arrangement |
Full published specifications, commercial fit, and what to verify before signing — for each machine.
420 kg shear for 8-14 t excavators, 300 mm published maximum cut — the regrowth and fence-line workhorse.
1,810 kg shear for 23-30 t excavators with 600 mm published maximum cut.
2,400 kg shear for 30 t+ carriers needing ~250-300 L/min — a different category from compact shears.
310 kg shear for 6-20 t excavators — 250 mm hardwood, 300 mm softwood, and the difference matters.
These are the numbers that determine whether the purchase works. Specification sheets rarely contain any of them.
Assemble every one of these before contacting a supplier. Any line you cannot answer is where your commercial risk sits.
Each of these is a documented pattern, not a hypothetical.
Obtain consumable prices at quotation stage and model annual expenditure. Use the dealer quote checklist.
Purchase price is the smallest part of most forestry equipment decisions. These are the variables that decide what the machine costs per unit of saleable production.
A shear's commercial appeal is that the expensive part — the carrier — is already owned and already earning elsewhere. The attachment itself is a modest capital item, so the economics hinge on blade life, hydraulic compatibility and how much of the carrier's lift chart the head consumes.
Blade maintenance is the recurring cost most often underestimated. In clean softwood a blade goes a long way; in stringy eucalyptus with occasional ground contact, attention is far more frequent.
Model these against your own contracted hours rather than accepting a generic hourly rate — the machine cost calculator works the arithmetic with your figures, and the bottleneck analyser shows whether the machine is the constraint at all.
The same machine class suits very different businesses in very different configurations. These are the situations that recur.
Specification sheets are written for global markets. These are the factors that change the answer here.
None of these are proof of a bad supplier. All of them are reasons to keep asking.
Any line you cannot answer is where your commercial risk sits. Take this to the supplier meeting.
The comparisons, buyer profiles and fleet packages that turn on this machine.
Highest-throughput felling in the full-tree system — cut, accumulate, bunch, repeat.
Grips before it cuts, and keeps control of the severed section — the attachment for working near assets.
Excavator or purpose-built machine — the biggest single commercial buying decision.
Does not grind the stump — it penetrates, splits, loosens, extracts and handles it.