Current Log:
0.000 2019-03-04 22:45:57; Factorio 0.17.5 (build 43269, win64, steam)
0.000 Operating system: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
0.001 Program arguments: "C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe"
0.001 Read data path: C:/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
0 ...

This has gotten my attention...

Since outright crushing trees would be a waste, maybe a machine that tries to recover some of the trees' wood?

Most certainly it wouldn't be as efficient as a chopping trees manually, but still better than just throwing away all that wood.

If crushing trees is a ...

Oh cool! Glad to see some people like my idea! I edited my post to include basic engines in the resources, since I forgot to mention those. They might be useful in propelling such a large vehicle.

I play vanilla Factorio. I'm tempted to get into using mods, but I don't feel I've gotten to a point ...

We already have the speedy little car and the mighty tank, but neither of which do a decent job of clearing trees early on in the game.
I usually shoot for the flamethrower just to thin them out a bit before the construction bots and what not later on. Though some maps I generate have wonderful ...