Firewood Gathering With A Power Trac

[MossRoad]

Or you could heat and cool with geo-thermal for about $35 a month. That is with one of the most expensive electric companies in the U.S. and skip all the work. I'm just sayin

We have looked into it. The initial cost of a geo-thermal system is huge. The energy savings payback would have been about 12 years when compared to our current furnace/AC system. There have also been reports of problems with the geo-thermal systems and corrosion internally, causing the pumps to go out after 8-10 years. Those are very expensive to replace, from what we were told. They also require heat coils in the ducts because when the temps drop deep, they cannot keep up with just the ground water.

Also, I am overweight and out of shape, so I need any physical work I can get!

I really enjoy managing our woodlot. It is about 20 acres. There are 10 acres of trees down the middle ridge that consists of maples, oaks and cherries in the front with literally 10,000 locust and sassafras interspersed and covering the rear. The goal is to cut out the cherries, locust and sassafras so the maples and oaks thrive.

We had our 4 acre field reforested back on 1990 with alternating rows of white pines and mixed hardwoods, totaling 2000 trees. The pines grow fast and conically, forcing the hardwoods between them to stress for the sunlight, making them nice and straight for veneer timber. They should be ready to harvest in about 80 more years!

We had a windbreak planted around our 6 acre field and then let most of it go wild to see what pops up. I keep about 1-2 miles of trails mowed on it and really like tinkering with my crops.

 

[coolconnection]

That sounds great. I have only 2 acres but half is cherry and maple. The cherries weed themselves. I have geo-thermal and it works great and have never used the backup heating coils as of yet. Furnace keeps up well. I have 2,500 feet of buried tubing in the ground 6 feet. It works for me and thats what counts. Designed the house around the furnace not the other way around. Lots of insulation. I help my father-in-law with his 40 acres of farmland but surrounded by cherry trees, just pushing the limbs back or to a bonfire. We usually have loggers come get the logs bigger than 12 inches diameter. Get quite a bit for cherry. Usually $200 to $450 for the main logs (thats per log). I had a cherry tree removed about 3 feet across and got $700 for the log. Burned up the rest in a bonfire. I don't have a fire place. I wish I did but oh well. Be safe cutting up all that wood.

 

[Gravy]

There are 10 acres of trees down the middle ridge that consists of maples, oaks and cherries in the front with literally 10,000 locust and sassafras interspersed and covering the rear.

MR, I think I might be starting to hate you just a little bit. (Where'd the smileys go?). I would love to have a few thousand locust trees to burn. I've got just short of 10 acres, and thanks to some storms I have more downed wood than I can process. Unfortunately, the downed stuff runs to rotten pine and poplar. I think I've got about 3 locust saplings per acre. Got waaaay too many poplars - I'd have to be really desperate to burn that sorry stuff.

Oh well... even a sorry popping smoking poplar fire feels toastier than my heat pump. (But I'd still love a ground source heat pump in addition).

 

[MossRoad]

We were lucky to get that property. It has tyner soil, which is sand. It has varying degrees of slope rated A, B, C and D with D being the steepest. Tyner soil on slopes is deemed highly erodible. Someone tried to stop that erosion by planting locust trees about 20-30 years before we bought it. It worked! We got into a state program when we planted the 4 acres of pines and hardwoods. It stabilized the soil and the state reimbursed us for 75% of the cost of the the trees and the labor to plant them. 2150 trees bought, planted and side sprayed for $265.00!

 

[BobRip]

I used the fork lift log carrier again today and am amazed how much it holds. I would guess about 4 times as much as the 4 in 1 bucket or the bare forklift. Maybe still not a lot, but when I restocked the wood on my car port it took less that one load to finish. The same size load lasted 4 days in my garage

Anyway I took some pictures of an add on. I cut a 2 x 4 to go across the top to tie the front and back together. This just slips on and off. After doing this I wish I had made the thing taller. Another couple of feet would still be strong enough and would obviously hold a lot more wood. I may screw some add on when I get a chance.

This is one of those things that I feel strongly will make my wood handling a lot easier. It goes on and off the forks easily, simple to build, cheap, stores in a small area and now I can disconnect the forks from the PT without unloading it. Being narrow it will maneuver easily through the woods.

 

[toy]

BobRip would you do me a favor and move all that wood out of the way so I could get a better look at your band saw and milling machine. Well I just thought I would ask. lol. Your shop looks nice from what you can see of it.

 

[MossRoad]

This is one of those things that I feel strongly will make my wood handling a lot easier. It goes on and off the forks easily, simple to build, cheap, stores in a small area and now I can disconnect the forks from the PT without unloading it. Being narrow it will maneuver easily through the woods.

Very practical, Bob. Nice job! We don't have an attached garage or I'd be tempted to copy your design.

We have an outside entrance stairwell with the two metal doors that pull up and open to the sides. We never use it except to move appliances into the basement, so I store my wood in there. It is about 7' deep at the door and about 8 steps up. I can fit about 500 pieces in there, give or take.

I have a little wooden cart that is maybe 3 x 4 with bicycle tires that I use to bring in my wood. It holds 50 pieces very nicely. It is balanced very well and I can one hand it in and out. I made 10 trips with it today from my holz hauzen in the back yard. It is only about 100' away. Took about an hour.

 

[DCWhitley]

After seeing what Bob did, it gave me an idea for the stand alone wood rack pictured below. I have included the drawing as well. I felt I handled the firewood too many times. Now I can load the rack were the wood is stacked outside and move it directly into the garage with the forks, eliminating an extra handling. I paid for all the materials on this 1st rack - $15, but have enough 2x4s round to make 3 more racks and only have to spend another $15 on rebar. Thanks for the inspiration Bob!

 

[coolconnection]

DCWhitley you have to take more pictures or your power trac set up. Enclosed cab with what looks like some type of heater set up. You got me interested. Looks good.

 

[SpringHollow]

Wow, blowing hot air into your home made cab - i am impressed!!!

Ken