Make my own log trailer

[Typhke]

Hi guys,

I've had a look at a lot of posts around trailers here but haven't found anyone with the same thought as me . Maybe I just think weird.

I'm thinking of building my own log trailer. It wouldn't be a classic log trailer because of the purpose.
1. I get most of my logs delivered in front of the house (8' long). Would like to cut them in the middle and load them by hand onto the trailer (mostly around or under 12" in diameter, NOT 30"). If it's too heavy, I can always saw them into smaller pieces.
2. I want to drive around the house and go to my splitting area, get my saw and start cutting at the end of the trailer to start moving to the front. So it would be a trailer and hold the wood while cutting it into the right size (12" logs for now).

Alternative (like we used to do it):
Use a stand/sawhorse style thing (don't know the right word for what I mean), home-made, load it up as much as possible. Buck the 8' logs into the smaller logs. Split them on the same place and then use a normal car trailer to bring them to the back of the house.


The issue is the part in front of the house here. We used to have a overkill homemade splitter and were with 2 people. Now I'm alone, no splitter anymore. I would rather be in my garden swinging an axe than in front of the house. Next to that, I don't want to leave the wood in front of the house for days (I'm still going to university so haven't got the chance to cut every day). Of course there is also a lot of sawdust/mess that needs to be cleaned after bucking and splitting. Would like to bring as most of the actions to the garden as possible. Also due to the bunch of people that REALLY need to come over and start telling their life story.


So that's why I came up with the idea to load the logs directly or after sawing them in parts of 4' onto a trailer. Drive them to the garden where the wood can stay as long as necessary. Have a look at the picture. Don't bother the screen in front of the trailer, just something random. The blue beam is probably where 1 or 2 axles will need to come.
View attachment 268968
The cut will each time be in the middle of 2 beams. In the middle of the trailer, there would be separators to keep the wood split in 2 parts. Working with the correct length of bar and spikes/felling dogs, would keep the nose of the bar away from the other side of the trailer. (+ Have a good wide separator in the middle). Bigger spikes/felling dogs for my 064 will be necessary to be able to reach the wood because of the poles (on the side of the trailer, only the placement where they should be is shown in the picture) keeping the wood on the trailer.

My first thought was to shift the cut just next to a beam, easy to saw on the correct spot. But the 064 is more then 12" wide with the handle bar so it would interfere with the poles on the side of the trailer one way or the other. And I don't want to be rubbing the saw against an iron pole 50% of the time. That's why I think I'll need to get/make bigger felling dogs to keep leverage.


Anyone ever had the same idea? Some thoughts about this? Shoot!
(The beams used in the picture are an example, don't know what size of beams I'm going to use.)

Thanks in advance,
Typhke

 

[Mac88]

Interesting project. Seems like you have to handle the wood an awful lot.

 

[Como]

I presume they can not dump around the back.

I have nearly finished my wood and was thinking sort of along the same lines as to how to make things easier, avoiding the double handling.

In your situation if you pile the wood on the trailer and strap them down you could just cut them on the trailer until you get to the bottom layer and pull those off and cut the overhang and repeat.

Sounds like you are dealing with some very logs so the lower the trailer bead the better. If the trailer has a ramp or tips then you could winch them on. Taking them off could also be a winch connected to something very stationary or hook up the truck keeping the log tied to that something stationary and move the trailer.

There is a guy locally who sells logs 'bundled', 20ft long and looks like 6ft in diameter secured by 2 straps. Handy in your situation. Apparently can be fun cutting them!

 

[mrnecsteve]

You dont really need a trailer with a frame.
Cut the log to workable length.
Notch the log in the center.
Sit the log on a suitable axle with flotation tires with the axle in the notch.
Cut the log while still on the axle ,alternating which end gets cut.
(move it out of notch to get a se-saw effect to keep the cutting end OFF the ground.

 

[Jere39]

You dont really need a trailer with a frame.
Cut the log to workable length.
Notch the log in the center.
Sit the log on a suitable axle with flotation tires with the axle in the notch.
Cut the log while still on the axle ,alternating which end gets cut.
(move it out of notch to get a se-saw effect to keep the cutting end OFF the ground.

Or find a log arch. You can lift the full 8' log by the center, pull around to the back of your house, possibly even using a lawn tractor or ATV, and make your cuts while still hitched to the arch.

 

[Como]

[video=youtube;4Fx1k1iGH9w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fx1k1iGH9w[/video]

If you want to cut a log on a trailer you could pinch ideas from this.

 

[Typhke]

First of all, thanks for the quick replies! I've made another long post but hope it makes my intention more clearly.

Interesting project. Seems like you have to handle the wood an awful lot.

I don't really think so. If I saw it in front of the house,
I would need to saw it like it's laying on the pavement (risk of hitting it) and if I split it in front of the house => I would only need to load it to get it to a stack in the garden.
Or use a sort of sawhorse like we did in the past. We loaded a sawhorse with 2 people. Both picking up one side of the log and putting it on it. => putting it on the sawhorse/trailer and loading it after it was split. 2 times I need to handle it.
But based on experience in the past, I can cut more wood when using a sawhorse/trailer than when sawing it on the ground. Plus it saves my back and knees (I'm 6'8"). Of course I'll need to load heavier pieces on the trailer but my time bend over is limited then. I'm also prepared to handle it 1 more time to move it to the back of the house; reason are at the end of the post.

I presume they can not dump around the back.

I have nearly finished my wood and was thinking sort of along the same lines as to how to make things easier, avoiding the double handling.

In your situation if you pile the wood on the trailer and strap them down you could just cut them on the trailer until you get to the bottom layer and pull those off and cut the overhang and repeat.

Sounds like you are dealing with some very logs so the lower the trailer bead the better. If the trailer has a ramp or tips then you could winch them on. Taking them off could also be a winch connected to something very stationary or hook up the truck keeping the log tied to that something stationary and move the trailer.

There is a guy locally who sells logs 'bundled', 20ft long and looks like 6ft in diameter secured by 2 straps. Handy in your situation. Apparently can be fun cutting them!

No, I haven't thought about making it a dumper. The space between the bars on the trailer is 10" so thought that the 12" logs would be pretty easy to remove after a cut is done, possibly by removing the poles on the side, so the trailer is like in the picture. Maybe by making hinges on them so they can swing to the ground to push of the smaller logs. But think a dumper isn't necessary, working the way you say with cutting the overhang and repeat. Would be great though, make it a dumper but that would make the trailer heavier and it will need some extra work. Though it would be worth it if the unloading doesn't work like I plan here .
I may have overrated the logs. The suppliers says around 12" or under in diameter but in the past, we've always been able to load a 8' log with 2 persons without any trouble. Most of it is probably between 6" and 10" in diameter I think. Trailer will start just above the wheels so they don't interfere while sawing.
The logs aren't huge in diameter, want to load by hand because imo loading with a winch takes also a lot of time + extra costs. I'll get a load of logs (been a few years) at the end of January. Then I can be sure about the weight of them and if it is possible to handle them in pieces of 4'. If they are too heavy, they should be big enough in diameter to be cut on the ground I hope. If I make one side with hinges, that would helpful probably as long as the slope isn't too steep.

You dont really need a trailer with a frame.
Cut the log to workable length.
Notch the log in the center.
Sit the log on a suitable axle with flotation tires with the axle in the notch.
Cut the log while still on the axle ,alternating which end gets cut.
(move it out of notch to get a se-saw effect to keep the cutting end OFF the ground.

That's not a bad idea . Usually use a big log to put in the center and balance other logs on that one. But that would make me cut 1 by 1 and load them afterwards. I like to load a while. Take the chainsaw and cut a bunch. By using this trailer set up, it would be possible to get the logs away from the street size, cut a bunch in a time, at a comfortable height.

Or find a log arch. You can lift the full 8' log by the center, pull around to the back of your house, possibly even using a lawn tractor or ATV, and make your cuts while still hitched to the arch.

That's a lot of driving around because of the limited logs you can take with an arch. Other advantage of the trailer I'm thinking of is that it's easy to cut on the right length.

[video=youtube;4Fx1k1iGH9w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fx1k1iGH9w[/video]

If you want to cut a log on a trailer you could pinch ideas from this.

Saw that in the past. That's a good way for cutting up big logs. But think the logs i'll have to work will be mostly smaller then those. The ones that are that big, can be sawed on the ground and won't be loaded on the trailer.

Logs should look like this:

(Stolen from bcorradi his post on another topic)

I want to get the logs away from the street because of the points in my starterpost:
-Student so sometimes I've got a few days I can't saw. So leaving the wood no the street is rather messy.
-Move the most work to the back of the house. Not a good relationship with the neighbors and they will keep an eye on me every time I take a chainsaw. They report to my father which I don't have any contact with anymore after my parents divorced. In fact, I'm still suing him for some of the things he did...
-Rather split in the garden then in the street.
-Try to keep the street clean, rather have all the chain dust in my garden in my sawing/splitting area.
-A lot of people around always want to start a talk, have some logs that need to be cut, ...
-My splitting area is next to my stacking area, after splitting I can use wheelbarrow to stack them.

Thanks!
Regards, Typhke

 

[stihl023/5]

If you are alone how are you going to load 8' logs or 4' logs on a trailer?:msp_confused:

 

[Typhke]

If you are alone how are you going to load 8' logs or 4' logs on a trailer?:msp_confused:

8' no way 4' = +-47"? Just have to lift them to around 20" height (height trailer) to maximum 50". I can put the log straight up, then I could slide them on the trailer. Want to work wide instead of high. So I don't really have to lift them if they are heavy. Everything that's too heavy for me, will be cut, maybe to a 24" piece and throw it on the trailer.

I was keeping my eye on a tractor with a crane but had to see it go to someone else. That would have been perfect to load the trailer, just put the 8' logs on. Maybe I need to think again about making a side with hinges and a winch or something to pull up 8' lenghts. With a good system it would probably go fast and keep me from lifting stuff.

Haven't got any wood in the last 6 months due to some problems Maybe I'm underestimating the weights. But we always loaded 8' on a sawhorse with 2.


Edit: maybe use the last separator to put a horizontal bar with a wheel on it, so a cable can go from the front to the last separator in the middle and then to the logs.

 

[mrnecsteve]

When talking about handleing logs a very important consideration is what kind of log your handleing.
An 8 foot log by 12 inch thru 11 inch (28 thru 30 centimeters) will weigh about 400 pounds if white oak,about 220
pounds if sugar pine. 181 kilograms thru 99 kilograms.

 

[Jules083]

It almost seems like you are making hard solution for an easy problem. What kind of equipment do you have? Healthy lawnmower at least I assume? You are cutting pieces up on the ground to lengths that you can lift them, since you are talking about loading a trailer.

Why not lift those pieces onto a cutting device. Some sort of stand, or whatever you want. Have it so that when the rounds fall, they land in the lawnmower trailer or whatever you have. Fill that, drive around back, empty, drive up front.

Something similar to this:

Bailey's - Smart-Holder Firewood Holder

 

[Typhke]

When talking about handleing logs a very important consideration is what kind of log your handleing.
An 8 foot log by 12 inch thru 11 inch (28 thru 30 centimeters) will weigh about 400 pounds if white oak,about 220
pounds if sugar pine. 181 kilograms thru 99 kilograms.

Yea it will mostly be oak. Don't know what you guys call it but there is a difference between the European oak and American sorts . At length of 8 ft, 12 inch, will weigh about 280 pounds 'dry' (15% moisture). Don't know with which factor to multiply when it's green, cut in the past 2 weeks. 12 inch will be cut at the ground and will be thrown in a normal trailer at lengths of 12 inch. The trailer would be for cutting a lot of smaller diameters at once in stead of cutting 5-8 inch logs 1 by 1. Maximum 'dry' weight would be around 60 pounds. No need to completely lift it, cuz with the height of the trailer would make it possible to slide to log on.

I see I've made a mistake in my first post. I've posted a diameter of 30" or less. 30 centimeter => 12"!
It was late at night when I made my post :msp_mellow:.

 

[Typhke]

It almost seems like you are making hard solution for an easy problem. What kind of equipment do you have? Healthy lawnmower at least I assume? You are cutting pieces up on the ground to lengths that you can lift them, since you are talking about loading a trailer.

Why not lift those pieces onto a cutting device. Some sort of stand, or whatever you want. Have it so that when the rounds fall, they land in the lawnmower trailer or whatever you have. Fill that, drive around back, empty, drive up front.

Something similar to this:

Bailey's - Smart-Holder Firewood Holder

Yea healthy lawnmower idd and a normal trailer. Not much left next to that.

The thing is, I want to change the 1 by 1 sawing on little diameters. We always use a sort of sawhorse to do that. I figured, why not make it a mobile one on a trailer. So I tried to make a sort of sawhorse on both sides on the trailer. I thought, we did take 8' long with 2 guys, should be able to take 4' log on my own (I'm stronger now than I was when I was back then). Take my 064 instead of a smaller saw and saw all those at once.

 

[Jules083]

Yea healthy lawnmower idd and a normal trailer. Not much left next to that.

The thing is, I want to change the 1 by 1 sawing on little diameters. We always use a sort of sawhorse to do that. I figured, why not make it a mobile one on a trailer. So I tried to make a sort of sawhorse on both sides on the trailer. I thought, we did take 8' long with 2 guys, should be able to take 4' log on my own (I'm stronger now than I was when I was back then).

I have noticed before that if I can pick up, say, 100 pounds by myself I can get 300 with a helper. Only getting one side takes the 'off balance' out of the equation since you each balance each other.

I see guys here that have good ideas on cutting up small stuff, but I'm not sure it helps. It seems very easy to me when limbing to walk down the branch and knock pieces off one at a time, similar to what that rack would hold.


One thing I do like about your idea would be if you could load the log sideways, depending on how much width you have to play with. If they are small enough to pick the whole 8' piece up you could load it sideways and have a good amount hanging off each side to start cutting from.

 

[Typhke]

I have noticed before that if I can pick up, say, 100 pounds by myself I can get 300 with a helper. Only getting one side takes the 'off balance' out of the equation since you each balance each other.

I see guys here that have good ideas on cutting up small stuff, but I'm not sure it helps. It seems very easy to me when limbing to walk down the branch and knock pieces off one at a time, similar to what that rack would hold.


One thing I do like about your idea would be if you could load the log sideways, depending on how much width you have to play with. If they are small enough to pick the whole 8' piece up you could load it sideways and have a good amount hanging off each side to start cutting from.

Yea true but back then I was 16 years old and we lifted the pieces pretty high. Wouldn't have to go so high now and at my work, I lift 64 pounds day in day out.

Using a rack means you are constantly putting the saw down to take a new piece, put it in, take the saw again etc. I'ld like to 'specialize' those times. Time to load, time to saw, and they are all the same length.

I get what you're saying there. Would be nice with 8' pieces. But that's easier sawing on one hand against sawing all the same lengths and low vibration of the logs on the other side. Made it the complete length because I thought about using lengths of 4'.
I could make 2 U's 10" from each other on a rack. Stack a load of 4' logs in it but it wouldn't be as stable as a trailer and it wouldn't handle as much wood. Also I would need to load the logs then to a trailer to transport them. In the picture of the trailer I made, I can stop the 2 main beams at the last U and leave 14" wood sticking out. Then I could make the first cut at 12" without any iron under to interfere. Just don't know the effect on the stability because you're cutting at 25% length of the log.

Trying to combine as much as possible :biggrinbounce2:.

 

[cantoo]

Typhke, I built a trailer kind of like what you are posting. I use it for limbwood and decent sized logs. You could get your supplier to load the heavier logs right onto the trailer and the lighter ones onto the ground.
My trailer is in my 1st post on this thread. http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/153256.htm

 

[KiwiBro]

I have some ideas but it depends upon learning more about your situation.
Please excuse me if some of these questions have been answered already.

1. How many logs or cords of logs do you need to process?
2. How many times a year?
3. How does the truck deliver the logs - do they place them on the ground with a grapple or just dump them from a tilt bed truck or some other way?
4. How wide and high is your access way around to the back of your property?
5. You mentioned you've got a trailer already you tow with your lawn mower/tractor. What size is the trailer, do the sides and ends fold down so it's a clear flat-deck? What weight can it's axel/s handle?
6. Do you have a hire place nearby or somewhere you can hire or borrow a few more trailers for the day of delivery?
7. Is th front of your place where the logs are delivered flat or sloping land?
8. The trailer you suggested building- do you have access to much metal and do you have the fabrication equipment, time and skills to make it or were you going to get someone else to make this up for you?
9. Will you be there when delivery is made?

 

[Typhke]

Typhke, I built a trailer kind of like what you are posting. I use it for limbwood and decent sized logs. You could get your supplier to load the heavier logs right onto the trailer and the lighter ones onto the ground.
My trailer is in my 1st post on this thread. http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/153256.htm

Thanks for the link, that is a lot like the trailer I'm thinking about. But I would like to split it in the middle with poles so the nose of the bar is free. So you are not hitting wood that you can't see. I was thinking about asking the supplier to just load the trailer up. That would be nice.
How does it work for you? What lengths do you cut and do you have any leverage with the spikes when there is a pole in front of the saw? What saw/bar do you use? Are the metal/wood beams high enough so you don't hit the beam connecting the axles and how high are they?

I have some ideas but it depends upon learning more about your situation.
Please excuse me if some of these questions have been answered already.

1. How many logs or cords of logs do you need to process? After this winter I'm broke on wood. Nothing left at all. I'm 21 and will need wood probably for the rest of my life. Next to that I also deliver wood to my future parents in law. So as many as possible.
2. How many times a year? Because I'm a student I'm limited to weekends, holidays or free days. But I try to cut all year long when I got time. If I'm back early, I cut in the evenings also.
3. How does the truck deliver the logs - do they place them on the ground with a grapple or just dump them from a tilt bed truck or some other way? Depending on the supplier, I'm still having a look at who I'm going to use. 2 candidates at the moment, 1 dumps while the other unloads with a crane. We used to work with the one that unloads the logs with a crane and a big chance he'll be my fixed supplier again.
4. How wide and high is your access way around to the back of your property? The smallest part to go through is a little over 13'. Height will be around 7'.
5. You mentioned you've got a trailer already you tow with your lawn mower/tractor. What size is the trailer, do the sides and ends fold down so it's a clear flat-deck? What weight can it's axel/s handle? It's a small one. 6'8" long and a little over 3'7" wide. Got fixed sides, only the back is able to fold down. Axle can load 1850 pounds. That makes it legal that people without a drivers license for a trailer can drive it around here.
6. Do you have a hire place nearby or somewhere you can hire or borrow a few more trailers for the day of delivery? Yes, but that's not cheap. Better build one my own because it will be used frequently.
7. Is the front of your place where the logs are delivered flat or sloping land? It's flat.
8. The trailer you suggested building- do you have access to much metal and do you have the fabrication equipment, time and skills to make it or were you going to get someone else to make this up for you? I have access to the metal and have the fabrication equipment. I'll be making it my own. If necessary and I would have a problem. I can contact my future father in law, he used to make trailers.
9. Will you be there when delivery is made? Yes, normally I would be. If I'm not, there will always be someone else here.

Hope that answers them . Curious what ideas you have!

Thanks for all your efforts! I'm studying economics so I'm trying to get the most efficient solution here , comes with the education!
Typhke

 

[KiwiBro]

Your bucking/log trailer still requires manual lifting of the logs. The logs are coming down from a good height off the truck, so if it were me I would be trying to use the height and gravity to my advantage.

You already have a trailer, and I'm assuming it will hold an adequate quantity of rounds per trip.

Do you have access to scaffolding? I ask because you could erect sets of bunks like H-frames on your front lawn for the truck to place logs into as they unload. These can be at a height you can back your trailer under, bucking the logs so they fall into the trailer or to a ramp that then directs them to the trailer (if the impact of rounds into the trailer is too harsh if dropped from the top of the pile to the trailer deck). Each frame can be a bit over 3 feet apart if need be, depending on the load of logs you intend to stack on them, and you start bucking from the outside log overhangs and remove/dismantle the outer frames as you work your way towards the middle ones, dismantling any cross bracing as you go.

This is a flexible arrangement - you can build it to suit different locations and it can be broken down and stored in a small, tidy stack for future uses which are not limited to firewood. You could build it up to paint your future FIL's house, for example ;-). You will find many uses for it over the years.

 

[Typhke]

Your bucking/log trailer still requires manual lifting of the logs. The logs are coming down from a good height off the truck, so if it were me I would be trying to use the height and gravity to my advantage.

You already have a trailer, and I'm assuming it will hold an adequate quantity of rounds per trip.

Do you have access to scaffolding? I ask because you could erect sets of bunks like H-frames on your front lawn for the truck to place logs into as they unload. These can be at a height you can back your trailer under, bucking the logs so they fall into the trailer or to a ramp that then directs them to the trailer (if the impact of rounds into the trailer is too harsh if dropped from the top of the pile to the trailer deck). Each frame can be a bit over 3 feet apart if need be, depending on the load of logs you intend to stack on them, and you start bucking from the outside log overhangs and remove/dismantle the outer frames as you work your way towards the middle ones, dismantling any cross bracing as you go.

This is a flexible arrangement - you can build it to suit different locations and it can be broken down and stored in a small, tidy stack for future uses which are not limited to firewood. You could build it up to paint your future FIL's house, for example ;-). You will find many uses for it over the years.

I get the trailer back tomorrow, still at my future FIL with a load of wood . Need to measure the height of it and see what is possible. I should probably make a H and extend the middle bar of the H so you can stand next to the wood or stand in the trailer if that is comfortable enough. Use 3 H constructions so I can put the trailer under twice. Might work but i'll need some space to set them up because a load is around 7 cords.

Do you think scaffolding is strong enough to keep the weight? As far as I know, scaffolding is pretty expensive. So probably feel more for making my own construction with bolts instead of welding it. Nice example but no painting houses here, all bricks . But it would come in handy with lots of things idd.

Had been thinking of a beam on the ground with every x inches (depending on bar length) a spacer. They could unload all the wood in the U shapes and would be easy for sawing but I would still need to load it after cutting then. The set up wouldn't need much work though, just buy 2 beams and make some spacers. I hadn't thought about driving under it with a trailer. Nice! Thanks!

Regards, Typhke