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"Adult Forts" for small operations

Started by OffGrid973, May 09, 2017, 03:22:18 PM

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OffGrid973

So I was curious what some of the smaller operations use to store and maintain there slab\lumber piles.
This second "adult fort" as she jokes, matches the first and is 16x6x6 and seems to do the job nicely.

I live on less than 1/2 acre here in Jersey and was curious if other options exist for us limited spacers.
Porch is almost clean and ready for summer furniture or the next great idea post-it note from a neighbor.

Thanks for advice or cracks on my barn which is gaining a nice patina as they say.

-Chris



  

  

  

  

 

Your Fellow Woodworker,
- Off Grid

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

WV Sawmiller

C973,

   My back is aching just from looking at those Paul Bunyun saw horses. I'm betting you see some good ideas come in.

Kbeitz,

   Any idea what your half cord stack of firewood weighs?

   I cut up some slabs for campfire wood yesterday. Just a trial to see if they will sell. Used a 5 gallon bucket as a prototype/sizer for diameter. Tied the bundles with leftover hay strings. Once tied I wedged in edging strips and thin cuts to tighten the bundles. Pretty labor intensive and if they sell I will have to come up with a faster and much more efficient method. Of course I am always amazed anybody would buy small bundles of packaged firewood especially for a campfire. Thank God for city slickers.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

longtime lurker

We mostly sell our firewood bulk, but do package a little bit up for retail sale because we used to get regular drive ins from people going camping up the road in the place we were before.

Retail of course is far more lucrative.

Big mesh onion bags. You can buy them by the roll quite cheaply, wood can still get some airflow in them to dry out, its a convenient size/weight for sale, and you can toss a whack of them on a pallet. We cut it so its two piece to the bag length and it works pretty well.

Those steel or aluminium framed bulk transport bins on a pallet base are pretty good for it too in larger quantities. Works well having one of those sitting by the docker, and they're designed to pick right up with forks. We have a $50 deposit on the container, and mostly they come back empty and a full one leaves.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

jwade

hey cwimmer that is a beautiful house you have there.

Kbeitz

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on May 09, 2017, 04:34:11 PM
C973,

   My back is aching just from looking at those Paul Bunyun saw horses. I'm betting you see some good ideas come in.

Kbeitz,

   Any idea what your half cord stack of firewood weighs?

   I cut up some slabs for campfire wood yesterday. Just a trial to see if they will sell. Used a 5 gallon bucket as a prototype/sizer for diameter. Tied the bundles with leftover hay strings. Once tied I wedged in edging strips and thin cuts to tighten the bundles. Pretty labor intensive and if they sell I will have to come up with a faster and much more efficient method. Of course I am always amazed anybody would buy small bundles of packaged firewood especially for a campfire. Thank God for city slickers.

Weight... I don't know but it's enough that my big kubota cant lift it so I
made this trailer to move the boxes. Now I can move them with my small
tractor.



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

WV Sawmiller

Kbeitz,

   That is my concern. I have a small JD 750 with bushhog 1640 loader and short forks in front of the bucket with limited lift anyway. How do you load yours on to customer truck/trailer? By hand?

   BTW - I like the cart dolly to tow the firewood carts around.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Kbeitz

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on May 09, 2017, 10:47:43 PM
Kbeitz,

   That is my concern. I have a small JD 750 with bushhog 1640 loader and short forks in front of the bucket with limited lift anyway. How do you load yours on to customer truck/trailer? By hand?

   BTW - I like the cart dolly to tow the firewood carts around.

On the bottom of my firewood boxes is a 1/2" x 6" steel bar running
all the way across the bottom of the box just for short forks.
This bar keeps the box from tipping off the short forks but I still
cant lift it. I don't load anyone's truck and I don't deliver. I sell
one box (1/2 cord) for $40.00 and you load it your self. So far
I have sold every box full that I have. This way I have no scrap
to deal with. $40.00 for 1/2 cord of fire wood is cheap.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

petefrom bearswamp

I copied Kbeitz' design, fill it with only 3' Hemlock slabs (green) and my Kubota 8540 85 hp handles them with ease.
3 footers leave lots of room for mistakes in loading from my forks.
I line up the ends and stack slabs when offbearing put them on a series of 8' 8x8 timbers spaced 3' apart,
move the forks in to 2' and put them under the end of the pile, then saw down thru.
pic a bunch up and dump in the bin, repeat.
These are for my own use in my owb to heat domestic water in the warmer months.
working good so far.
My main reason for this is that I cant legally burn them in NY and being Hemlock they dont sell worth a hoot here
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

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