Palletizing Firewood

[hunterbuild]

This is how I am palletizing my firewood.  Easy to move and cheap to do!


 


 


 

[thecfarm]

I really like your picker upper.  ;D

[Mooseherder]

That is a great way to measure cords.
I'm sure your customers like it also.
Very nice operation you have there.

[r.man]

Nice way to do firewood. The pallets are no problem but the only thing I have to pick them up with is three times the length of your skid steer and takes 2 acres to turn. Would love to do it that way though.

[SPD748]

I agree with 'farm, that's one nice picker upper! Are those 1/2 cord pallets?

-lee

[hunterbuild]

I do love my John Deere. I try to get 4x4 pallets, but I take what I can find. I'm cleaning up the yard of all the un split stuff I had laying in piles here and there. I have 16 so far. I will have 6 or so more when I'm done. I've never sold any wood, I have 6 or seven cord stacked up elsewhere. My wife says to keep it in case I break a leg or something. I'm getting a lot of slabs from my saw milling so I may have to sell someday.

[Cat-Face Timber]

I love your idea of plastic wrap, do you cover the top also?

[hunterbuild]

The plastic wrap is my friend's idea. It seems to hold the top pieces in although the banding would be enough. I may make some sign vinyl covers just for the tops so they can breath.

[stumpjumper83]

Hunterbuild, curious to know how the pallets held up.  How long did you store them for before you sold them?  Reason I'm asking is cause I'm looking for a way to store a 1\2 cord on a pallet and move them around with the skid loader and stuff.

[47sawdust]

hunterbuild,
I have something very similar in mind.My plan is to stack 1/3 cord per pallet right off the splitter,let them air dry, then move to the woodshed for winter use.My tractor loader only has about a 2k lifting capacity,so I'm trying to be conservative with the weight out front.Things can get squirrelly here where it ain't flat.My hope is to handle the wood one less time.Sometimes it seems like that is all I do.
Mick

[beenthere]

I stack on pallets as well, and figure about 1/5 cord per pallet. Stack right off the splitter, and move a pallet at a time to my garage which is near my inside woodboiler.



 

[OneWithWood]

I use 48x48 pallets that I make from green tulip poplar and stack 48" high.  (1/2 cord per pallet)  The top rows on the pallet are secured with plastic wrap and the pallets are moved from the splitter site to a slab next to the OWB.  I move the pallets with a JD4520 with a 1500# weight on the back.  Barely lift the pallet off the ground and move real slow.  It helps that I built a road from the splitter to the OWB using crushed stone.

[sam-tip]

I like the side boards on the pallets.  Keeps the $ down.  I use 2x6 with heavy plastic pallets but they get expensive.  Also like the band ideal to hold the top in.  Nice!  I did not think wood pallet would last to many years.  Will have to give it a try. 

[TeaW]

Good idea hunterbuild, this is the first one I built about 20 years ago.


 

[stumpjumper83]

Well hunterbuild, thank you, you solved my problems.  I was trying to get some way of dealing with firewood that didn't involve lots of money spent on folding crates, or too much time & material in building them. 

I tried using a sheet of concrete panel for the sides with tie wire between. It was cheap enough, about $10 in material costs, but it took too long to make it up.  Stability was good after it was done.

Then I took some steel and make a gizmo to stack it in kinda like a posch thing that they don't import http://www.posch.com/allsite_prod1/ContentView?pageId=24499  Tried using steel banding to hold the rows, it holds three 40x48 rows and a pallet on the one end then you tip it up with a loader and remove the pallet & wood.  It didn't cost a fortune to use, maybe $6 and a pallet to use, it went fast, but the wood was unstable and it would shift in transport loosening the strapping, then fallin over and making a huge mess.

Then I tried your idea, tried it first w/ 5' sides, and 2 bands.  It worked well, but the rack on the front of my pallet forks is too short and some wood would move around a little.  So I applied a coating of stretch wrap.  Worked well.  Today I tried some with 40" sides, and only 1 band, w/o plastic wrap.  Dad was moving the pallets with his loader as I had to move my ctl out to a job.  He hit a pothole in the road, I know the pallet bounced a foot and maybe 2 on the loader forks, and somehow it didn't even loose a stick.  The only downside with the shorter pallets is that I will only be able to get 7.66 full cord on a semi load, instead of 10 like I'd hoped, but they go together quick, and are cheap.  I think with hardwood lumber (pallet stock @ .45 a bf) and banding I'm not a $5 a pallet in materials.  Awesome, thanks, problem solved