Lets talk palletizing firewood, I got an idea.

[motoman3b]

So lately I've been thinking more about palletizing, I have a small loader with forks thats capable of 800 or so pounds of lift. I'm sure most of you have seen the splitter I recently built for the back and its got me thinking why go through cutting lifting into truck, lifting out, splitting, throwing it into a pile (or stacking in my storage shelter)

I've looked at a few threads and like alot of the ideas, bought some 2x4s to make some boxed in racks kinda like this one I did a makeshift version of a few months ago...

Then I got to thinking that's going to take alot of pallets, 2x4s and building and I think I've came up with an idea, Basically I'll start with a pallet cut in half (roughly 2ft by 4ft) at the site lay a ratchet strap down under the pallet that later will wrap around the stacked pallet (to hold it together for wrapping) drive some cut branchs along the side of the pallet to hold the upright till I can strap it tight, then lift it up with loader and wrap around the whole thing with plastic wrap so the top and sides are held in leaving the front and back of the stack open for airflow.

Anybody got any input or experince doing anything like this? It would be a little more work on the site but would make unloading way easier and quicker, as well as bringing wood to the burner would be great

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Your idea is similar to some european designs that have a circular form or hoop with a back on it and wires/strapping laid inside the perimeter. Essentially creating a round bale of firewood that can then be moved with forks and even stacked like round hay bales. But hay bales are considerably wider and free standing. The plus is no pallet or mesh bag expense. Two or more rows could be connected with a longer cut piece in the center tying the two split rounds together. The bottom row would still need something to keep the wood off the ground, pallets or runners of some kind. View attachment 284164View attachment 284165
Two photos showing something I have tried. Very difficult to move without tipping. To move any distance or load on flatbed requires a 4' x 8' sheet of osb on each side with a strap. The splits are 16"-17", and the rack feet are 36" long, to keep things upright. This past year all the racks I built have a more stable 4' x 4' foot print. Stable on forks as well. But the rack is expensive and time consuming to build.

Which brings me back to the round bale idea... one problem might be shifting of splits and result in loose tie wires and a sloppy bale.

 

[Jredsjeep]

dont know if you have seen my setup but i use 3 2x4's and one pallet each. i have thought about making hoops from old wire fencing instead of the 2x4's.

 

[farmer steve]

i use these bins for hauling from the splitter to the shop. holds about1/4 cord but the are pretty heavy when full.View attachment 284171View attachment 284172

 

[kemer]

I've been doing his for a couple years now.I use 4 pallets 1 bottom and three sides.I use metel strapping to hold all together and when its half filled I use bailing wire across the front to keep it from spreading open.I then use my forks on my skid steer to move them to where the wind will dry them.when I need a pallet full I move it to the front of my boiler room. I also cover the tops with plastic and a staple gun

 

[farmer steve]

dont know if you have seen my setup but i use 3 2x4's and one pallet each. i have thought about making hoops from old wire fencing instead of the 2x4's.

looks like york co.,blue tractor&firewood.

 

[Jredsjeep]

looks like york co.,blue tractor&firewood.

she is an old work horse for sure! does not have any of those fancy safety stuff but she fires off every time and gets to work! one of my best investments

 

[motoman3b]

My main issue is keeping the load close to the bucket edge, with a full size pallet my small tractor doesnt have a long enough wheel base to balance out the load, really limits my capacity to I estimate like 500lbs even with filled tires and 300lbs of wheel weights! But in the long run it might be easier doing a full pallet and just wrapping it.

 

[Jredsjeep]

i had to add the plow to keep my front end down, otherwise i am just steering with my brakes! even with that heavy plow off the front when i have a load of good wood on the back the steering is sure light but has enough weight to track.

can you add some weight off the 3 pt on the rear for wood moving?

i would rather have a full pallet, maybe you would be better off only stacking a full pallet 2 ft instead of 4 ft high to keep the weight down. if you make it even then you could stack the pallets on top of each other to keep the area use down.

 

[cnice_37]

Motoman, I've thought about this a lot as well and am in a similar tractor class.

These things simply can't lift that much. I've got a 700lb limit on FEL and like 1000lb on 3pt. On the FEL, add to it the distance of the forks, and probably closer to 500lbs. So if you don't have to lift it high, 3pt is usually a better option.

When you add all the pallets to make little cribs, that is valuable weight that is not firewood, so that idea I threw out (not to mention needing a lot of pallets!)

What I think I would do is to just use a regular old pallet and stack it like 4 splits high - let's say 1.5'. Crib stack everything for stability, and you might be able to stack one on the other for a total of 3 high. If after time things dry out and fall over, maybe try to build 4 corners out of KD for even stacking corners. Maybe scrap 2x4s and double them up on each corner.

This is the best I could dream up with my limited lift and desire to not have a yard full of pallets. I haven't done it yet, maybe I can make a set of 3 and try them out to see how they hold up. Problem is I won't use them for another 2-3yrs until I touch that wood to burn.

Good luck.

 

[timber_horse]

How its done european style. Pallets we get for free.
The mesh bag is 1000 or 1500 liters depending on the pallet.
We use some steel gates to hold the bag when filling, third picture. You ned a decent tractor.:msp_smile:

 

[farmer steve]

How its done european style. Pallets we get for free.
The mesh bag is 1000 or 1500 liters depending on the pallet.
We use some steel gates to hold the bag when filling, third picture. You ned a decent tractor.:msp_smile:

are the bags designed for that or are the repurposed from something else?

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Another idea... If you have limited amount of lift what about an arch type trailer or one with forks. A modified type of lift gate with forks, the wheels being along side the load. Stacking side by side might be a problem without a hard surface and pallet jack, but rows would work, or rows two feet apart. It could be fairly simple and connect to the tractor hydraulics.

 

[timber_horse]

are the bags designed for that or are the repurposed from something else?

They are designed for it, cost is 5 $ a piece for the large ones. You can get them from 30 liters to 1500.
Bags make it easy to stack and move firewood, but it takes some time to fill the smaller ones. We use another tool for that.
Most people selling firewood use a firewood processor which makes it easy to fill the big bags.

Link to different bags: Vedsekker - Espegard AS

You can even get another type of bag meant to be used several times who dosen't need a pallet, normally they hang it from the frontloader and fill it with the firewood processor.

Link: Notsekk 1500 ltr med bunntømming - Espegard AS

 

[timber_horse]

Another way of doing it: [video=youtube;hD30ZippyoU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD30ZippyoU[/video]

 

[cantoo]

Not a very good picture but you can see what I use. I use a skid on the bottom and 2 pieces of 6x6 wire ( concrete mesh wire) wound in a circle sitting on the skid. They make the wire in several sizes so you can make the skid as tall as you can lift. I use 5' but it's all my tractor wants to lift. I set this skid on another junky skid just to keep my better ones lasting longer.
Real easy to use and you can unwind the circle if you want so they take up less room. You could even tarp them if you wanted too.
View attachment 284394

 

[cantoo]

Opps did something wrong.
View attachment 284395

 

[cantoo]

Here's another pic with a couple of bins in my shop. Just noticed my plywood bins are in the pic too, they don't work worth a crap, trap snow and the wood seems to never dry out. I think there was not enough air flow with plywood on the sides and back. They also spread out and were a waste of plywood, good thing I got it free.
View attachment 284397

 

[bentring]

Assuming your half pallet is one row straight up, after you ratchet strap it down tight, acoustical ceiling hanger wire would be ideal to use to permanently fasten it until time to burn. The stuff is cheap, soft enough to bend by hand, but strong enough you could bind it down to be as secure as the ratchet strap. And when you get ready to use the wood, just untie it or if you're feeling lazy, it cuts easily with side cutters or similar hand tools. I install acoustical ceilings by trade, and I use the stuff all the time for all kinds of things. :jester:

 

[motoman3b]

Took down a larger locust tree that I've been wanting to get down for some time now, had a issue with a infestation of carpenter ants!

Cut and split some of the top out of it today, worked pretty good just cross stacking on a full sized pallet I figure the bottom pallet weighed about 800lbs my tractor moved it but I could of used a bit more ballast!