Moving Firewood

   / Moving Firewood #1  

crossfire190

Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
43
Location
Erie, PA
Tractor
Kubota BX2350
I am trying to figure out the best way to move firewood. I consume about 10-11 cords per year. I need to get it from the woodpile to the house.

Currently I am loading it neatly into the bucket by hand - this way i get the most in the bucket. But, it takes time and effort. Would I be better off adding a grapple? Bucket teeth or something else?

My bucket is 48" on a Kubota bx2350.

Any suggestions are welcomed.
 
   / Moving Firewood #2  
With a larger tractor you could palletize the wood and then use q/a pallet forks. That might still work on the BX but you would need to use clamp on pallet forks Untitled Document .

Another option might be some sort of trailer but you would still need to hand load and unload it.

Norm
 
   / Moving Firewood #3  
I have the light weight paynes clamp on forks and have created log racks(3feet wide X 30 inch high x 20 inch) that 2 racks can be loaded directly into my wood shed. Talked my wife into cutting a hole in my house so the log racks can be loaded into one side and then pulled out doors inside the house beside the fire place.
This is small scale but saves me alot of work. Alot of up front work making the racks but if you have enough racks you can fill them and let the wood season so no more stacking. I burn 4 or 5 cords but only enough racks for 2 cords. This will be my second year using this system.
 
   / Moving Firewood #4  
crossfire190 said:
I am trying to figure out the best way to move firewood. I consume about 10-11 cords per year. I need to get it from the woodpile to the house.

Currently I am loading it neatly into the bucket by hand - this way i get the most in the bucket. But, it takes time and effort. Would I be better off adding a grapple? Bucket teeth or something else?

My bucket is 48" on a Kubota bx2350.

Any suggestions are welcomed.

Afternoon Crossfire,
Your buckets too small ! ;) All kidding aside, the bucket idea works well but a bigger bucket or some sort of a pallet fork arangment to transport skids of wood would be better. I have used my bucket to do the same thing but mine is 6 ft and I can get a fair amount of firewood in there. I would think your going to need some counter weight if you try going with small pallets.

Im not crazy about the grapple idea, I would think it would be kind of messy and would only work if your cordwood was in a big pile, unstacked and then you would be dropping it close to the house to bring inside ! Then you still have to stack it inside. Maybe others have more helpful ideas !
 
   / Moving Firewood
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Let me clarify my burning setup. I have a wood-fired boiler in the basement and I have an exterior stairwell that I can dump the wood into. So, my thinking was that if the grapple would work to pick up the wood from a pile, then I could make several trips and fill the stairwell.

The pallet idea is a good one... I may have to give that some thought - I could get some pallet forks.

Keep the ideas coming!!
 
   / Moving Firewood #6  
crossfire190 said:
Let me clarify my burning setup. I have a wood-fired boiler in the basement and I have an exterior stairwell that I can dump the wood into. So, my thinking was that if the grapple would work to pick up the wood from a pile, then I could make several trips and fill the stairwell.

The pallet idea is a good one... I may have to give that some thought - I could get some pallet forks.

Keep the ideas coming!!

Crossfire,
If you have an exterior door to your basement such as a Bilco door, then the grapple might work out well for you. Especially if your using a 4 ft bucket, then your not going to be spilling alot of wood on either side of the door which only creates more work for you ! Im sure there are plenty of people out there that just split their cordwood throw it in a pile and then scoop it up with the bucket and grapple and dump it as your planning on doing ! IMO the palletized idea would work if everything is at ground level rather than the basement !
 
   / Moving Firewood #7  
Regardless of your tractor size, you'll have significantly more capacity if you think in terms of a 3 point hitch forklift arrangement, than one on your loader. I have both, but use the 3pt for firewood. I have pallets that are 32 x 48. I added uprights and bracing to them so that I can stack the wood 5.5 feet high. That gives me just a little less than half a cord per pallet. I've got a perfect covered spot on the back porch where I can park the pallet that we're working out of. I don't think your BX could pick one that big up, but you might go 3 or 4 feet high OK. The pallets are "Euro" standard, and are extremely well made. I have four full and a pile that will fill up two of them again. Unless we have an extremely harsh winter for our area, 3-4 cords will get me to April.
 
   / Moving Firewood #8  
jeffinsgf said:
Regardless of your tractor size, you'll have significantly more capacity if you think in terms of a 3 point hitch forklift arrangement, than one on your loader. I have both, but use the 3pt for firewood. I have pallets that are 32 x 48. I added uprights and bracing to them so that I can stack the wood 5.5 feet high. That gives me just a little less than half a cord per pallet. I've got a perfect covered spot on the back porch where I can park the pallet that we're working out of. I don't think your BX could pick one that big up, but you might go 3 or 4 feet high OK. The pallets are "Euro" standard, and are extremely well made. I have four full and a pile that will fill up two of them again. Unless we have an extremely harsh winter for our area, 3-4 cords will get me to April.

Afternoon Jeff,
Your method sounds great for what your doing and very neat also, but his boiler is in his basement, he still need to get the wood down to his boiler. Are you suggesting he use your method and just throw the wood downstairs from the pallet ?
 
   / Moving Firewood
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Scott VT - That is correct. I have a Bilco Door and with my small bucket a load will drop in nicely.

Any thoughts on how well the grapple would do to pick up the wood from a pile? At this point, I have my wood delivered and it is dumped into a pile. Previously, I would stack the wood and then move it as needed. But if I can skip the stacking step, that would save a lot of time.
 
   / Moving Firewood #10  
crossfire190 said:
Scott VT - That is correct. I have a Bilco Door and with my small bucket a load will drop in nicely.

Any thoughts on how well the grapple would do to pick up the wood from a pile? At this point, I have my wood delivered and it is dumped into a pile. Previously, I would stack the wood and then move it as needed. But if I can skip the stacking step, that would save a lot of time.

Crossfire,
I personally dont own a grapple so I really dont know how that would work ! If the wood is being delivered seasoned than stacking is not so imperative IMO. But if the wood is wet its not going to saeson out as well just being dumped into a pile, it really needs to be stacked for sun and air circulation.
 
 
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