Firewood carrier

[JerryK]

Just welded up a new way to haul firewood around my property. The box's inside dimensions are 5.5' W, 4.75' H, 3' D. Going to line the bottom with treated 2 by 8's, and back and side with 1/2 plywood. It will allow me to carry a little more than one and a half face cord at a time, and will shorten the time it takes me to bring the wood out of the woods to stack in the woodpile, then transport it into the barn to burn during the winter. Attached is a picture of it with my home made boom... : )

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

Interesting design. Around these parts it seem smost folks similar thing just use a pallet and either crate it in, or cage it with rebar mesh. Your's should last a long long time

 

[rd_macgregor]

I'm guessing that a full cord (128 cu.ft. stacked) of wet hardwood probably weighs two tons or so. I built a box on a TSC carryall (1000 lbs rated) that will hold over a half-cord if I load it full up. My Kioti DK45S hauls it just fine, but I worry about carrying double the rated load of the Carryall!
You may also find that your tractor can't lift your wood carrier if it is fully loaded!
Your home-made cage looks beefier than my Carryall, but you may need to load the FEL bucket, too, or you'll have inadequate steering weight left on the front tires.
BOB

 

[bpattie]

great design. I built some forks for the bucket this Summer and used them to carry out logs in 12 -16 foot lengths, depending on how tight it was driving them out. I then cut them to firewood length on the forks, at most of it. Cutting a waist level sure beats stooping over. I cut them right at the splitter so I lessened the number of times I had to handle each piece. worked well for me.

 

[kkesler]

I cut a pallet in half, then use 4ft. 2x4 to attach the two halves together. 5 of them add up to ~1 cord. I pick them up using the carryall on the back of my 2230, then back them under the porch.

 

[JerryK]

I currently stash about 10 facecord into my 40 by 80 barn in the fall. Most of this was moved into the barn by wheelbarrow or pickup bed/trailer. I am moving the area I store my wood stash farther down in the valley, and will use the new carrier to bring in the wood several times during the winter. I will still store 3 or 4 facecord inside, but I am thinking of getting another tractor and will be needing more room inside to store toys. This new carrier, is only 3 feet deep, so it will cut down on the leaning over to grab wood like in a truck bed or larger trailer. Besides, gives an old retired fart something to do. Raining too much so far this fall to start cutting, may have to cut some next spring. We have had one of the coldest/rainist summer/falls on record up here in Michigan. Get your snow blowers ready.................

 

[JerryK]

Here are finished pictures, before I take it out in the woods and bounce it off a few trees. I made new wider roads to the back of my woods this spring, but I will still have to carefull in a few spots, and watch the loading with green sugar maple/beech, especially in the hills. But, I'm retired, so I can take my time....

 

[smfcpacfp]

Looks like a nice welding project. I just use the FEL.

 

[Johndeere3720]

I would get one but all the firewood is within 20 feet of the shed. I haul the wood out of the woods with my little craftsman trailer when we do get to cut down a small tree or two.

 

[z0lt3c]

That's a real nice job. I was a little lost when looking at the first pics w/ the boom pole, looks much better on the 3pt. How much did it cost in materials when said and done?

This must carry 2x or 3x more then a 60" bucket but you need to manually unload it at the woodpile?

You should combine your cage w/ the other posters pallet insert and you have a complete solution!

 

[JerryK]

I have about $400 in materials in it, but I had a few pieces of the angle, the Cat 1 pins and bushings, plus I used a pile of welding rod/grinding wheels/cut off wheels, etc. Probably less than $500 when said and done. I have a cleared spot in the valley below the barn that is big enough for me to stack a couple 48 foot rows of wood, and I will be hauling the wood up from there several times during the winter. There is not enough flat area up by the barn to store that much wood. Plus, as I get my trees thined out, I will be buying wood in 10 cord loads and split/stack it down in the valley where there is room to work. And keep the mess/critters down there away from everything. I'm thinking of getting a new tractor/loader/backhoe before I get old, and I will need the area in the barn to store everything.

 

[Steve C]

I currently stash about 10 facecord into my 40 by 80 barn in the fall. Most of this was moved into the barn by wheelbarrow or pickup bed/trailer. I am moving the area I store my wood stash farther down in the valley, and will use the new carrier to bring in the wood several times during the winter. I will still store 3 or 4 facecord inside, but I am thinking of getting another tractor and will be needing more room inside to store toys. This new carrier, is only 3 feet deep, so it will cut down on the leaning over to grab wood like in a truck bed or larger trailer. Besides, gives an old retired fart something to do. Raining too much so far this fall to start cutting, may have to cut some next spring. We have had one of the coldest/rainist summer/falls on record up here in Michigan. Get your snow blowers ready.................

Jerry
I am north of Gladwin a little. Is the sun every going to come out? If all this rain was snow we would be in serious trouble.

I do like snowmobiling up in your area. The last couple of years we were able to ride up ther from here. (Meridith trail head)

It has been raining for weeks...

 

[JerryK]

Jerry
I am north of Gladwin a little. Is the sun every going to come out? If all this rain was snow we would be in serious trouble.

I do like snowmobiling up in your area. The last couple of years we were able to ride up ther from here. (Meridith trail head)

It has been raining for weeks...

They have a bike/snowmobile trail all the way up to the bridge at Mackinaw now following I-75 on an old train railbed. I think there are trails over to Cheboygan and over to the Charlevoix/Petoskey area, too. I live in the Watson Hills in between Vanderbilt and Boyne Mountain.

 

[beenthere]

I've been the route of splitting in the woods and hauling it out, restacking to dry, then re-loading to haul to the house for burning.

But now, drag the logs from the woods with 3pt quick hitch, buck to firewood length, then set up the woodsplitter. Stack directly onto pallets, and the wood stays on the pallets until they are set off in the garage 2-3 yrs later for burning. Drape used rubber roofing 5x5 cover's over each pallet to shed water. This works great for split wood, but the tops that are not split go into a "bin" arrangement of three pallets. Have the forks on the 3pt when snowplow is on in place of the FEL.

 

[kkesler]

But now, drag the logs from the woods with 3pt quick hitch, buck to firewood length, then set up the woodsplitter. Stack directly onto pallets, and the wood stays on the pallets until they are set off in the garage 2-3 yrs later for burning.

That's similar to what I do. I usually cut timber to ~7 foot lengths to fit on the trailer, and load and unload those pieces using the carryall. Then I buck, split right there and load onto my 1/2 pallets. The 2x4 sides make it very easy to load and also keep the wood from falling off when I move the racks.

 

[JerryK]

I live in an old stand of beech and sugar maple trees. Every few years the beech trees have a big crop of seed, and the critter population explodes for about a year. If I tried bringing in pre-stacked loads like you guys do... I'd be bringing the critters and their nests in with the load. My pole building is a no critter zone.... So I guess I will live with the stack unstack stack life..

 

[beenthere]

JerryK
You make a very good point.
I for a long time stacked wood in a shed with open sides, and had about 30 full cords in there. The racoon decided it was their latrine, and had layers of coon scat in there. So I moved the wood outside, and now just place a packet of mouse poison in the pallet loads about a week or so before moving inside the garage (about a pallet a week in the cold of the winter). Then there has been no problem with the critters. A few old, abandoned nests at worst.

 

[clemsonfor]

after reading the poster said that he could load a face cord and a half. If i remember my firewood speak from my forestry speak (im a forester). A cord is 4ftx 4ftx 8ft. A face cord is 4ft x 4ft x 4ft fi i remember right, so that is not a true cord. Firewood speak is different than forestry, we always talk about cords not face cord.

-Nate

 

[SilverbackMP]

I thought a face cord was 4' heigh x 8' long, one row deep, and cut to whatever length the person desired? I could be wrong (has been the case more than once).

 

[beenthere]

SilverbackMP has the face cord definition right. The one clemsonfor mentions is usually referred to as a rick (4' long wood stacked 4' high and 4' wide.

For 16" firewood, a face cord is then 1/3 cord.

Some states will only allow one to use full cord measure, and call out what fraction of that full cord is being sold/measured/bought (whatever ).