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Firewood labor reduction

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-03-01          151820


We spend a lot of time and effort hauling and stacking firewood. Logs are hauled to the splitter, then split and stacked for seasoning, then manually loaded into a trailer or bucket and hauled and stacked again next to the house for use.

For awhile now I've been pondering a better, lazier way. A business near us is always giving away pallets. It seems pallets could easily be modified with uprights on each corner and chicken wire on three sides to hold firewood. We could split the logs in place, and stack them on the pallet. Then forks could be used to move the pallets to the seasoning area. As wood is needed forks could again be used to move pallets near the house for use. Each piece of wood would only need be stacked once.

Has anyone done something like this?




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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2008-03-01          151826


Yup. ....


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nosteiner4me
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 113 ohio
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2008-03-02          151832


KW....I have been cutting lots of wood for next winter and only putting them in piles next to the splitter until i can fabricate a pallet to stack on and still move it without it falling all over. I am thinking about using some sort of *OOOOOOOOOOOO*u shaped braces to hold the
*OOOOOOOOOOOO*
*OOOOOOOOOOOO*
**************
wood in place on the long side of the logs 2 per pallet ....


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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2008-03-02          151835


Kwschumm,

A friend of mine built several firewood cribs from an old grain bin that he tore down. Each crib is about 14 feet long. He has a set of dolly wheels on an axle that he can attach to any crib on the place, then pull each crib up to the house when the firewood has cured. The axle and wheels are easily removed from one crib, to be placed under the next.

You may be able to do something similar by sliding a few 4x4s through three or more pallets at once.

Joel

....


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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2008-03-02          151840


Murf has several posts on the subject.

I don't think bucket forks on a CUT would handle it. Need some type of 3PH fork set up.

Be nice if you had a garage. Build a heavy duty set of dolly wheels set the load on that push over by door. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-03-03          151859


Harvey's right (as usual ;) ) I've been doing that way for years and have mentioned it several times.

If you use regular pallets you might not get much wood in if it's just tossed in, stacked neatly you can get a full cord into 4 or 5 pallets depending on how big they are. This is where the weight becomes an issue though.

Weight isn't going to as much of an issue for spruce, etc., as it is for me with the dense hardwoods we have out here. The weight of a cord of seasoned hardwood is about 4,000 pounds, fresh cut and wet, about 6,000 pounds. Spruce on the other hand is nearly half of that, around 2,500 pounds dry and about 3,500 pounds wet, so in my case a pallet of 1/4 of a cord of wood is over 1,000 pounds dry, nearly 1,500 wet.

Harvey brings up a good point, you need a serious set of forks for that kind of weight.

No reason though if the skids are free you can't use quite a few of them and just put less weight on each.

One word of caution though, skids won't last more than 2 seasons sitting on the ground. They need to be either on a dry floor (or pavement) or clear of the ground to stay dry.

At the farm we have basically a large shed with no walls, just a floor and roof in which the pallet boxes are stacked, in this way the boxes are well up & clear of rain or snow and get lots of air flow.

Best of luck. ....


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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-03-03          151861


The forks I'm buying are rated for more weight than the loader so that's OK. Loading less wood on each pallet works too. Thanks for the info. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-03-04          151879


I picked up an old airport luggage carrier--for $50--the type that has all-wheel-steer and can be run in trains. This type was an open or non-enclosed one. The luggae was piled onto a bellied-out pan (for lack of better words). I've seen flat-bed ones around for $100 (of course, I live miles from an international airport so they're probably more available here).

The other day I saw a cool trailer on Craigslist. It is 4'x7' and has 8 tires. The cool thing about it is that it has removable rubber tracks sort of like a snowmobile's. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-03-04          151880


Here's the trailer.

http://detroit.craigslist.org/for/593289028.html
....


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nosteiner4me
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 113 ohio
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2008-06-19          154707


Finally figured how to use the pallets to move 1/3 to 1/2 chord at a time. Cut 2x4x8's in half. Use one long screw to bolt each 5-10 inches from edge of pallet. You will use 4 2x4's each pallet with 1 screw in the bottom of pallet. Then with the saw cut a line in 2x4 1 inch deep at the top. With thin rope tie knot in one side and a knot on the other side of 2x4. this keeps 2x4's from swaying when wood is loaded or moved. If i ever get pictures posted will upload them. Think right now have 17 pallets full sitting in the sun and wind. I use rear 3pt pallet forks that cost 280 bux or so, good for upto 2000 lbs. Too bad my tractor only pick up 1200-1400 or so but works great. ....


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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-06-19          154708


Quote:
Originally Posted by nosteiner4me | view 154707
Finally figured how to use the pallets to move 1/3 to 1/2 chord at a time. Cut 2x4x8's in half. Use one long screw to bolt each 5-10 inches from edge of pallet. You will use 4 2x4's each pallet with 1 screw in the bottom of pallet. Then with the saw cut a line in 2x4 1 inch deep at the top. With thin rope tie knot in one side and a knot on the other side of 2x4. this keeps 2x4's from swaying when wood is loaded or moved. If i ever get pictures posted will upload them. Think right now have 17 pallets full sitting in the sun and wind. I use rear 3pt pallet forks that cost 280 bux or so, good for upto 2000 lbs. Too bad my tractor only pick up 1200-1400 or so but works great.


Pics would be great! It's difficult for me to visualize the description. ....


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nosteiner4me
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 113 ohio
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2008-06-19          154714


Kw...im off tomorrow will see if can upload pictures for you. they work great and its so simple. ....


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auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2008-06-20          154723


And if they don't work, pallets burn nicely!

To make the crib, if you're going to stack, don't think you'd need chicken wire, just uprights at two ends tied together at the top so they won't spread. Or, chicken wire all around would take a bit of money and time, but you'd save time in the long run by being able to just toss the pieces in. ....


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nosteiner4me
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 113 ohio
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2008-06-20          154731


kw....click on my pics to see pallets. good luck. they work great ....

Picture Link


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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-06-20          154732


Thanks for the pics. That looks simple and easy.

When you said 2x4x8's in the original post I read it as TWO 4'x8' sheets of plywood and couldn't figure out how they were being used. You were clear but my brain was fuzzy.

Anyway, there's a steel building company around the corner that gives away pallets all the time so I'll pick some up and start fiddling with 'em. Thanks again! ....


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