My Firewood System

[DaveK OR]

This is a project I finished some time back, but I'm very happy with it and decided to share.

I built a set of firewood racks out of 1 1/4" tube, so I could haul wood from the shed to the house. They have some old chain welded to the top-piece so I can carry them using the FEL and my chain slots.





Here's a photo of the racks full of wood being carried by the tractor.



Once I get close to the house, I use a little Harbor Freight hand truck to move the wood to my deck. I welded a little chain-slot onto the hand truck to help secure the load.



Here are three of the racks staged next to the chimney and a sliding glass doorway.



I forgot to show the canvas cover I sewed to protect the wood from rain and bird-poo :smiley_aafz:. It's open on the house-side so I don't need to take it off to get wood.

The nice thing is that I now don't need to stack wood in the bucket, then carry it from the bucket to the staging area and stack it yet again.

 

[JimR]

This is a project I finished some time back, but I'm very happy with it and decided to share.

I built a set of firewood racks out of 1 1/4" tube, so I could haul wood from the shed to the house. They have some old chain welded to the top-piece so I can carry them using the FEL and my chain slots.

View attachment 503841 View attachment 503842 Here's a photo of the racks full of wood being carried by the tractor.

View attachment 503843

Once I get close to the house, I use a little Harbor Freight hand truck to move the wood to my deck. I welded a little chain-slot onto the hand truck to help secure the load.

View attachment 503844 View attachment 503845

Here are three of the racks staged next to the chimney and a sliding glass doorway.

View attachment 503847

I forgot to show the canvas cover I sewed to protect the wood from rain and bird-poo :smiley_aafz:. It's open on the house-side so I don't need to take it off to get wood.

The nice thing is that I now don't need to stack wood in the bucket, then carry it from the bucket to the staging area and stack it yet again.

Very nice

 

[General Lee]

I like it. And the chain slots. Great idea

 

[MossRoad]

T...

The nice thing is that I now don't need to stack wood in the bucket, then carry it from the bucket to the staging area and stack it yet again.

That's my main pet peeve about firewood.... how many times I end up handling it. YIKES! It gets old.

Cut the tree down.
Haul the tree out of the woods.
Cut the tree into firewood length rounds.
1. Throw the rounds onto the trailer to drive it home.
2. Throw the rounds off the trailer.
3. Pick up the rounds onto the splitter.
4. Throw the splits aside.
5. Stack the splits.
Wait 2 years................................
6. Throw the splits into the cart.
Take the cart to the house.
Dump the splits into the basement.
7. Stack the splits in the basement.
8. Load the splits into the stove.

Anything to help handling them one less time! :laughing:

Nice job on the racks and dolly with chains. :thumbsup:

 

[Sawyer Rob]

That's my main pet peeve about firewood.... how many times I end up handling it. YIKES! It gets old.

Cut the tree down.
Haul the tree out of the woods.
Cut the tree into firewood length rounds.
1. Throw the rounds onto the trailer to drive it home.
2. Throw the rounds off the trailer.
3. Pick up the rounds onto the splitter.
4. Throw the splits aside.
5. Stack the splits.
Wait 2 years................................
6. Throw the splits into the cart.
Take the cart to the house.
Dump the splits into the basement.
7. Stack the splits in the basement.
8. Load the splits into the stove.

Dang! IF I had to handle MY firewood that much, I'd forget about burning wood in a hurry!

I think I have that amount of handling firewood cut right in half... You are working waaaay too hard!

SR

 

[DaveK OR]

Just think of firewood as a very efficient personal heating system... It warms you many times before you burn it, and then one last time when you haul the ashes!:laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Dang! IF I had to handle MY firewood that much, I'd forget about burning wood in a hurry!

I think I have that amount of handling firewood cut right in half... You are working waaaay too hard!

SR

I'd ask how many times you handle your wood, but this is a family friendly forum....

Let's compare.

You cut down a tree.
I cut down a tree.

You use a tractor to haul it out of the woods.
I use a tractor to haul it out of the woods.

You use the tractor to hold it over a trailer and cut it into rounds onto the trailer.
I could use the tractor and cut rounds onto the trailer, but then I'd have to leave the tractor at the remote property unattended instead of bringing it home, because my woodlot is 9 miles from my house. I won't do that. So, I cut a year's worth of trees on one day, trailer the tractor to the property and haul them out of the woods and stack them on the 2nd day, and haul the tractor back home. So I have to cut my rounds on the ground and load them onto the trailer manually. That's one extra step for me.

You trailer your rounds to a splitting area.
I trailer my rounds to a splitting area.

You split.
I split.

You stack.
I stack.

You wait for it to dry.
I wait for it to dry.

It's dry. We agree.

Now, I don't know if you burn inside or outside, but let's say inside for comparison.

You bring the wood into the house.
I bring the wood into the house. I could gain one less touch here if I just dumped it into the basement. But I've found that I can store almost 3 times as much wood in the same space if I stack it neatly in the basement VS letting it lay in a pile. So I stack it up and don't have to bring wood to the house but once every 3 weeks in the peak of winter. If I dumped it, I'd have to bring it to the house every week.

You load it in the wood burner.
I load it in the wood burner.

I don't see your firewood handling as half as much. I see one less step. What am I missing?

I'm thinking about getting a winch and/or crane on the trailer so I could bring the logs home in 20' lengths and cut them into rounds on the trailer at home right next to my splitter and woodpile. That would be one less time handling the rounds, and that would be great. Each time handled is wasted energy, however, I can use the exercise and the wood needs to come off the property. I only do 6 cords a year and enjoy being outside. But I'd enjoy it more if I didn't have to handle the wood quite as much as I do now.

Any suggestions to increase efficiency would be greatly appreciated. :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Just think of firewood as a very efficient personal heating system... It warms you many times before you burn it, and then one last time when you haul the ashes!:laughing:

That is so true! :thumbsup:

 

[Jim Shooz]

I look at the tree as it lies on the ground and think 'I'm going to pick up that entire tree 4 or 5 times' Makes me tired just thinking about it.

 

[Thomas]

Good idea. :thumbsup:

 

[JimR]

DaveK OR I want to build something similar to your wood boxes but in a more 4' x 4' x 5' Tall size so I can use forks to move them around. My thought is to bring my splitter into the woods with me and get it all done at once right there where the tree falls. I'll cut the tree into log length for my stove, split it and load the pallets. The pallets will be moved to a storage area I have for wood. I'll move the pallets with my tractor to a concrete pad near my back door for burning in the woodstove when I need wood. That will save me a lot of time handling wood or moving wood around like I am doing now. The best part is I think I have enough steel lying around to make 4 - 5 pallets.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I'd ask how many times you handle your wood, but this is a family friendly forum....

Let's compare.

You cut down a tree.
I cut down a tree.

You use a tractor to haul it out of the woods.
I use a tractor to haul it out of the woods.

You use the tractor to hold it over a trailer and cut it into rounds onto the trailer.
I could use the tractor and cut rounds onto the trailer, but then I'd have to leave the tractor at the remote property unattended instead of bringing it home, because my woodlot is 9 miles from my house. I won't do that. So, I cut a year's worth of trees on one day, trailer the tractor to the property and haul them out of the woods and stack them on the 2nd day, and haul the tractor back home. So I have to cut my rounds on the ground and load them onto the trailer manually. That's one extra step for me.

You trailer your rounds to a splitting area.
I trailer my rounds to a splitting area.

You split.
I split.

You stack.
I stack.

You wait for it to dry.
I wait for it to dry.

It's dry. We agree.

Now, I don't know if you burn inside or outside, but let's say inside for comparison.

You bring the wood into the house.
I bring the wood into the house. I could gain one less touch here if I just dumped it into the basement. But I've found that I can store almost 3 times as much wood in the same space if I stack it neatly in the basement VS letting it lay in a pile. So I stack it up and don't have to bring wood to the house but once every 3 weeks in the peak of winter. If I dumped it, I'd have to bring it to the house every week.

You load it in the wood burner.
I load it in the wood burner.

I don't see your firewood handling as half as much. I see one less step. What am I missing?

Any suggestions to increase efficiency would be greatly appreciated. :thumbsup:

I don't do several things you have "on your list".

I don't have to do 1., 2., 4., 6., or 7. so that's how I got to my last post...

NOT having to do THOSE, takes a LOT of the work out of my firewood...

SR

 

[4570Man]

I'm trying to get my wood for sale to handling it twice by hand. 5 times by hand is the best I can do for my personal wood. The steps would be run through my processor which currently doesn't exist. Stack in my racks which currently don't exists. Move to drying area and unload with forklift. When dry re load with forklift. Drive to either my house or the customers house and unload the rack by hand. If it's my wood I'd have to move it from the garage to the wood stove. I usually stack a small stack in the house and then put that in the stove. If I sold it green I could do it with zero manual handling assuming I didn't stack it at the customers.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't do several things you have "on your list".

I don't have to do 1., 2., 4., 6., or 7. so that's how I got to my last post...

NOT having to do THOSE, takes a LOT of the work out of my firewood...

SR

So how do you do your firewood, tree to wood burner?

 

[4570Man]

I don't do several things you have "on your list". I don't have to do 1., 2., 4., 6., or 7. so that's how I got to my last post... NOT having to do THOSE, takes a LOT of the work out of my firewood... SR

So let's review what you just said. You don't cut down trees. You don't haul the tree that you didn't cut down out of the woods. You don't haul your rounds to you splitter. You don't stack your wood ( which you do in your boxes that you constantly brag about ). You don't let your wood dry.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

So how do you do your firewood, tree to wood burner?

Here's the list that was ORIGINALLY posted that I followed up with an answer,

Cut the tree down.
Haul the tree out of the woods.
Cut the tree into firewood length rounds.
1. Throw the rounds onto the trailer to drive it home.
2. Throw the rounds off the trailer.
3. Pick up the rounds onto the splitter.
4. Throw the splits aside.
5. Stack the splits.
Wait 2 years................................
6. Throw the splits into the cart.
Take the cart to the house.
Dump the splits into the basement.
7. Stack the splits in the basement.
8. Load the splits into the stove.

1. I do NOT have to "throw the rounds on the trailer" This means you cut on the ground, I skip that step.

2. I do NOT have to "throw the rounds off the trailer"... I split right off the trailer.

4. I do NOT "throw the splits aside", I most times split "right into" the boxes I build or another trailer that self unloads.

6. I do NOT "throw the splits into a cart" or have to take a "cart to the house". I move my splits with my tractor, I don't have to touch them.

7. I do NOT stack the splits in the basement. NO need to, I pick them up and put them right into the stove "as needed".

SO, I don't handle my firewood near as much as you do...and I'd like to cut out even more ways if I could.

SR

 

[Sawyer Rob]

So let's review what you just said. You don't cut down trees. You don't haul the tree that you didn't cut down out of the woods. You don't haul your rounds to you splitter. You don't stack your wood ( which you do in your boxes that you constantly brag about ). You don't let your wood dry.

I see you STILL have reading and comprehension problems... lol lol

SR

 

[4570Man]

I see you STILL have reading and comprehension problems... lol lol SR

Maybe you have issues quoting the right post.

 

[mark02tj]

DaveK OR - very nice setup!!

 

[SpringHollow]

I think this is a versatile solution:

Receiver Hitch Crane by Apex - 1, lb Capacity | HMC-1 | Discount Ramps

Ken