Firewood on Pallets

[Racerboy832]

I'm getting tired of the , load the wood onto ATV, Stack it in a Pile, In Winter Load it again onto the atv and then stack it in the garage routine. This year I'm thinking of putting 1/4 cords on Pallets. Wrapping it with that orange safety fence with the big holes in it. Now that I have a small backhoe with forks I can just pick up the whole pallet and drop it in the garage. Anyone have any advice on this. I'm trying to get the handling process a little easier for me.

 

[BSD]

I've been putting wood on pallets for a while, but there is no easy/fast way to do it. criss cross the ends. the fence isn't strong enough to hold the wood in if its stacked normally. although at that point the fence is a waste of time and $ if you're only going to put 1/4 cord on it. it won't be that tall and top heavy. I can stack almost a true half cord on a pallet(40x48x48). I do it without the fencing, but you can typically only move it 2-3 times before it gets too lose and prone to toppling over. if you have to move it a long distance or over bumpy terrain it'll go over quicker too.

I bought a bunch of forklift-able bags to try to put some wood in this year. they claim it will breathe, but i'm not holding my breath. going to do a test run side by side with another method to see what works and if the bags are worth the extra cost.

 

[Racerboy832]

I was thinking 1/4 cord cause I think my machine will only lift about 900lbs. I will have to drive them up my bumpy driveway. I have alot of the orange fence stuff laying around so I thought about wrapping it then a few good zip ties just to keep it together. Ideal would be those 275 Gallon totes with the metal cage. Just remove the plastic drum but that would get expensive.

 

[wackydeejay]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[jimw]

Pallet wood

I started out with the wood on pallets, then wrapping them with
12 inch wide shrink wrap. Could easly move the pallets with my
tractor into the under house garage. All was well untill my wife
spotted a mouse in the kitchen. Turns out that the vermin
kinda like them nice wrapped wood nesting boxes i made for them !!
Now i pile the wood outside on pallets off the ground with out
wrapping. I use those 275 gallon metal totes fastened to a pallet
with the opening on the side, not the top. I leave the plastic insert
and cut one side off, keeps the garage floor cleaner with the chips/
sawdust contained in the plastic container. Only takes a few minutes
to take one out and put a load of wood in it. I use two of the totes
and rotate a full one in when needed. I also have two pallets in the
garage with castors on them, drop the metal totes on the wheeled
pallets and push them to the back of the garage.
No more mice with only freshly loaded wood coming in the door !!
Happy wife/unhappy mice !!!
Jim

 

[Mister Twister]

I see a guy down the road does that with his wood. He stacks it on skids and puts it where he can pick up a skid at a time with his Kubota tractor. That is very clever and he does not seem to wrap it with anything but it looks like he has a technique for stacking it though.

 

[BSD]

I started out with the wood on pallets, then wrapping them with
12 inch wide shrink wrap. Could easly move the pallets with my
tractor into the under house garage. All was well untill my wife
spotted a mouse in the kitchen. Turns out that the vermin
kinda like them nice wrapped wood nesting boxes i made for them !!
Now i pile the wood outside on pallets off the ground with out
wrapping. I use those 275 gallon metal totes fastened to a pallet
with the opening on the side, not the top. I leave the plastic insert
and cut one side off, keeps the garage floor cleaner with the chips/
sawdust contained in the plastic container. Only takes a few minutes
to take one out and put a load of wood in it. I use two of the totes
and rotate a full one in when needed. I also have two pallets in the
garage with castors on them, drop the metal totes on the wheeled
pallets and push them to the back of the garage.
No more mice with only freshly loaded wood coming in the door !!
Happy wife/unhappy mice !!!
Jim

the problem with your method is that you have to handle the wood more than once. ideally you want to go from splitter to pallet to stove, otherwise you're wasting time and effort. I've been experimenting with different methods and none are perfect. you either have to deal with bulky bins that you have to make & store. or they cost big bucks (275/330G IBC totes).

BTW, The plastic wrap will also keep airflow down and trap moisture in there leading to a greenhouse effect. think mold and rotting

 

[TMFARM 2009]

a friend of of mine uses totes with metal cage... he conveys splits right into them (tw-5 w/ conveyor) hauls them to storage shed until delivered.
i have thought of doing this with pallets and using cattle panels for cage around it..bolt the bottom to pallet and use wire cage rings for attaching tops together at corners.. the heavier plastic pallets work better then wood but are hard to find.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Pallets This Year

I've decided to start using pallets. They have numerous advantages, but the best of them all is that they get the wood off the ground so that the bottom layer won't freeze. I tried using rough-cut scrapwood lengths of 2 x 4s underneath, but that still allows freezing.

A truck driver friend of mine has so many left over that he can't wait for me to start using them. Hardest part will to get them all level and flat. I'll be storing about 24 cords. I imagine a few snakes might find them a comfortable home undernneath, but that's the breaks. opcorn:

 

[arlen]

Use concrete mesh

I have seen people that use the flat sheets of concrete wire mesh and make an open circle and set it on top of the pallet, if the openings are too large wrap it with chicken wire. It will breath and the wood will dry. David

 

[flewism]

If you store your wood outside in the winter month, our pallets end up frozen to the ground I can see wooden ones being destroyed trying to lift them.
If you store in a woodshed or barn it would work with wood pallets.
All our split and stacked wood is on wood pallets outside. I use a 4' by 4' by 16" deep ATV trailer to move wood to the house. we load the trailer by hand and then park the trailer in the attached garage. This last four days to a week depending on the weather. When the snow get really deep the ATV will not pull the loaded trailer through the snow so I use the front end loader on the compact tractor. I push the trailer out of the garage and dump two buckets full into the trailer and push it back into the garage.

 

[GeeVee]

Use pallets to make pallet boxes.

You'd want to have the ability to stack a pallet on top of another for space, so at least the bottom pallets should be a box made of other pallets to hold the weight of another on top of it.

The driveway wire mesh is also a good idea. a circle of mesh hog ringed together is a simple deal. Fence staples can secure the bottom of the "ring" to the pallet.

It may hold up if you use TWO wraps of the orange stuff, and don't care to stack one on top.

The orange stuff may also work if you put four upright 2x4s and a couple of flat brace 2x4's to stack pallets, filling the sidewalls with stapled orange stuff, zippy straps for the "front'door.

Whether loose into a ring or box, or stacked, a "pallet box" is a sound idea in my opinion. If you luck into enough identical pallets, a little carpentry can go a long way on builidng reusable boxes.

 

[mooseracing]

I take a pallet, add some scrap lumber and have a skeleton of a box. I usually can fill the pallet about 4- 5ft high depending on the wood before you start steering with wheel brakes.

My dad's newer tractor can pick up more and he uses old sign post to make about 7ft high rack almost ~4ft deep. He loads them on the rack as soon as he splits them.

I'm thinking a semi trailer would be nice :msp_biggrin:

 

[rhizando]

I tried using pallets this year under my wood shed but couldn't get them straight and level. This year I'm filling it with crusher and burning the pallets

 

[Wood Doctor]

I tried using pallets this year under my wood shed but couldn't get them straight and level. This year I'm filling it with crusher and burning the pallets

That may be my eventual doom as well, but I thought I would give it a try. I also have some loose bricks and boards to help level them up. I'll probably end up spending more time messing with the pallets than they are worth.

Eventually, they make good kindling.

 

[1harlowr]

I started using pallets this year. I took 2x4's. Screwed four 4' pieces straight up on the sides about 12" in from the corners. Took 2x4's across the top. They work pretty good. I am going to build several more but re-inforce them with small pieces of plywood where the 2x's meet to make it more solid.
I'm hoping to go from splitter to pallet. Sometimes I split in the woods. I wouldn't try to more a full pallet of wood on a hillside. Using forks on uneven ground is more dangerous than a tractor bucket of wood/dirt.

 

[kemer]

If you can get alot of pallets then make sides and back using 4 pallets.Then I just run heavy guage wire across the front.The slats in the palletts let air flow thru.I also use metal strapping at the corners and sides with sheet rock screws.I got 2 years out of them so far and I think I'll get5-6

 

[applefarmer]

I don't know how close any of you guys are to commercial fruit orchards, but old bulk fruit bins work well. They come in different sizes most common are 18 and 20 bushel. The base is close to the same size as a pallet and the sides are around 3 feet tall. New they go for around $70.00 but old ones go as cheap as 10 bucks. If you have a forklift and take the time to level the wood you can stack them if you have the head room (think polebarn).