Sided pallets for firewood?

[DCJL]

I'm thinking about stacking firewood on pallets so I can keep them covered outside and when i run out of firewood I can just drive over to the wood pile and simply bring another pallet into my garage. Any idea where I could get either 2 or 3 sided pallets?

 

[pitt_md]

I'm thinking about stacking firewood on pallets so I can keep them covered outside and when i run out of firewood I can just drive over to the wood pile and simply bring another pallet into my garage. Any idea where I could get either 2 or 3 sided pallets?

Can't tell you where to get the pallets at in VT. I have a place a few miles away that just makes pallets. I would think if your somewhat handy you could build your own out of scrape lumber.

Are you thinking about banding the wood on the pallet so it does not fall off when you move it?

OK, don't mind my question....didn't know what you ment by 2 or 3 sided at first.

 

[JSharp]

Just take 4 pallets and nail, screw, or bolt them together. You'll end up with a box that has the top and one side open. Easy to carry around and easy to get the wood out of.

 

[Rara Avis]

I'm thinking about stacking firewood on pallets so I can keep them covered outside and when i run out of firewood I can just drive over to the wood pile and simply bring another pallet into my garage. Any idea where I could get either 2 or 3 sided pallets?

Stop by your local recycling center...CSWD has piles of them that you can take before they are chipped for burning...

Like the others mentioned...hook them together...

 

[acohen100]

I have been considering the exact same thing recently. I'm in Bennington, VT. Haven't gotten to the point of actually designing one though.

 

[Rara Avis]

Farm Show CD
Volume 27 Number 2 Page 41
You can make handy firewood racks on
top of 40 by 48-in. wood pallets. Bolt
three 4-ft. 2 by 4 s to the sides of each
rack with a cross bar near the top of each
side. Then run a steel strap, wire or chain
between the two sides to brace he tops.
It'll hold three rows of 18-in. firewood,
which is approximately 1/2 cord. That's
about all my skid loader can safely
handle. Makes the wood easy to handle
and keeps it off the ground. Best of all,
it's cheap. (Paul Klassy, W6701 Klassy
Rd., New Glarus, Wis. 53574)

Volume 29 Number 3 Page 42
I use old pallets to make wood racks to
haul firewood. Each rack measure 5 ft.
square and is made from three pallets.
They stand about 1 ft. above ground so
I can slip a pair of bale prongs under
them using my IH 560 tractor. Some of
the boards on the bottom pallet extend
about 1 ft. out, allowing me to brace the
sides. Sometimes I run another board
across the top to keep the pallets from
twisting on rough ground. I stack firewood
behind my shed and use the loader
to transport the loaded pallets to my
house, where I set the pallet down and
toss the wood piece by piece into our
basement.
I've used this idea for 10 years and it
works great. Each pallet holds about
1,000 lbs. of wood. When the pallets get
old I rebuild them or put new sides on.
(Ken Litterer, 27744 35th St.,
Maquoketa, Iowa 52060 ph 563 652-
2093)

 

[John_Mc]

Saw a picture here on TBN once of a guy who took a pallet wrapped some orange plastic fencing around it (might have been snow fence or ??). The pallet was the floor, and the fencing was the walls. The fencing was light weight and strong.

He'd drive into the woods with his pallet on forks on the front, a splitter on the back, and a chainsaw. He'd drop, cut, and split the wood and toss it in. The full pallets get parked till he needs them. When the one stashed close to the house is empty, he takes it away and brings in another.

Seemed like a great way to minimize the handling and stacking.

 

[catvet]

I've been stacking wood on pallets for a couple of years. Is a great time saver. Problem is how many do you need and where are you going to put them when they are empty in the middle of the winter? I've got about a dozen which I built myself. I stack them two high for storage and in the garage. I have a hand pallet mover to push them around in the garage. I've taken to reloading them from the woodpile during the winter. Saves unloading them at the other end.

If I had to do again I would use a different model. There was an article in Sawmill and Woodlot (Dec 2006 - Jan. 2007) which had a good looking setup. Were collapsible versions which you could fold down and stack when they weren't being used. Looked easy to build. Used less wood then I have in mine.

Remember to take into account what your tractor can lift and also whether you can get your tractor where you need to drop them in the garage.

By the way I'm in Hyde Park so if you want to see what I've done, or borrow my copy of Sawmill and Woodlot let me know.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I've been doing this for a couple years now. Overall, its a great system. This past winter, I ran into a problem that hadn't occurred in the previous two winters...mostly luck....good before, not-so-much this year. Almost every time I needed to bring up a new pallet of wood, it would be too wet to drive the tractor over the yard to spot the pallet on the back porch. I would move smaller amounts in a little wagon behind my GT, which saved the lawn, but circumvented the brilliant plan of minimizing handling.

I use Euro pallets, which are 32 x 48. I used some scrap light duty angle iron on the corners to go up 5 feet and tied the top together with more angle iron. I added a wooden strut than ran top to bottom about 8 inches from the corners on the narrow ends. This supported the 16" wood chunks, but allowed circulation for drying. I've got 4 and need to build a couple more, but I'm all out of scrap angle, and don't want to actually spend any money on this project.

 

[DCJL]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Originally I wanted to use plastic pallets so they would last forever. After reading it appears I should just build them out of wooden pallets and discard them when the get too old. I'll probably go with the 2x4s vertically and braced at the top as well a s a cross brace on the top to stop twisting.