How do you carry wood from the shed?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

LLigetfa

Minister of Fire
Nov 9, 2008
7,360
NW Ontario
Most often I load up a wheelbarrow and push it up the path to the house. Then I can carry one sling at at time to my wood box without rebooting.

If my wood box just needs a little topping off or a different mix of sizes, I just boot up and carry a load from the shed to the box. The problem is every sling load needs a reboot. I'm thinking about getting a second sling to cut the number of trips in half but concerned the wood would bang up against my legs.

Anyone use a yoke to carry two at a time?
 
Just roll the wheelbarrow into the house and dump it into the wood box (Just Kidding) I saw a wheeled carrier at Lowes or Homedepot that might work for you should hold enough wood to fill your wood box
 
I used to use a wood sling, then moved to apple barrels (maybe 10 gallons).

This year I decided to move my wood to the basement to make access easier. Now I go downstairs. So far so good, but it did take a long time to initially move all the wood from outside to the basement. I know this will pay off when it is wicked cold and snowing outside.
 
When I was a kid it was three or four trips every other night to the wood barn with the wheelbarrow to fill the wood box. We had a big brick one built right in with the fireplace. Now at my house I'm just doing an arm load at a time until it gets bitter. Then I'l do a days worth in the garage.
 
Last year I would move 3 slings of wood in a wheelbarrow from the garage into the breezeway. Then I would carry a sling into the house. This year I have a wood cart, like a dolly, that has an antiqued iron finish that makes the work a lot easier.

PS: I've since spray painted the wheels flat black which makes them less noticable.

index.php
 
Wheel barrow, from the shed to under the covered deck. Nice and dry there and can fit about a 10 day supply.

Trick thing to know is--is it gonna snow on that 9th day? Just when you were thinking maybe I should re-supply just in case?

Bet we all would like to have a crystal ball that could tell us that? Weather man seems to be lacking in that department %-P
 
LLigetfa said:
Most often I load up a wheelbarrow and push it up the path to the house. Then I can carry one sling at at time to my wood box without rebooting.

If my wood box just needs a little topping off or a different mix of sizes, I just boot up and carry a load from the shed to the box. The problem is every sling load needs a reboot. I'm thinking about getting a second sling to cut the number of trips in half but concerned the wood would bang up against my legs.

Anyone use a yoke to carry two at a time?

Sling?

Reboot?

Would someone translate this into standard English for me?
 
Bigg_Redd said:
LLigetfa said:
Most often I load up a wheelbarrow and push it up the path to the house. Then I can carry one sling at at time to my wood box without rebooting.

If my wood box just needs a little topping off or a different mix of sizes, I just boot up and carry a load from the shed to the box. The problem is every sling load needs a reboot. I'm thinking about getting a second sling to cut the number of trips in half but concerned the wood would bang up against my legs.

Anyone use a yoke to carry two at a time?

Sling?

Reboot?

Would someone translate this into standard English for me?

I just use my arms! ;-)
 
Sling - A canvas carrier with handles
Reboot - put your boots back on to go back out in the snow
 
fattyfat1 said:
I just use my arms! ;-)
Sometimes when I return my empty wheelbarrow to the shed, I will grab an armload to top off the box if there's room for it.

I generally find that carrying armloads tends to drop more dirt on the floor than using the sling. Somehow it always works out that I refill the woodbox right after the wife just cleaned all the floors. Why is that?
 
when I was about 6 years old we got a wood stove and I had to keep the wood box fed. for a dollar a week I dragged the wood around the house from the wood shed in my country little red wagon ( the wodden one with the stake sides). this was always done after dark because I couldn't be done until my dad had loaded up the stove for the night, so that the wood box was full for the next morning. the worst part was I had to bring the wood all the way around the house to the door and then all the way through the house to the stove ( that part by the arm load) which was located on the same side of the house as the wood shed. Only once did I convince my dad to open the window right over the wood box so I could cut my trip by 3/4. the wood box was an old wodden typewriter case from smith corona ( my grand father worked for them) and it took about 4-5 wagon loads to fill it. I actualy kind of missed the wood routine when we built a new house when I was 13.
 
Being the lazy cuss that I am , I use my tractors FEL to take wood from the shed to the porch .Two well stacked loads last around a week and a half.
 
I have a wood cart that I purchased from Harbor Freight - I think it was around $40. It is much more "industrial" looking than VF's, but I find it very effective, much more so than the sling I used to use.

This is the cart I find it holds about as much wood as I can manage to drag up the stairs into the house at a time, probably about 150-200 lbs, which lasts me for about 2-3 days. The big bicycle wheels handle rough ground well, and make it relatively easy to get up the stairs.

The tubes in the tires are crap, I had to replace them the first year, along with putting friction tape over the spokes (which had poked holes in the tubes after the OEM rubber spoke protectors fell apart...) Not a big deal. The tires themselves are OK

It barely fits through a standard door, but because of the wheel hubs, you can't put more than about a 20" split on it in the area covered by the wheels (not a problem for most of us), and it won't hold splits shorter than about 12". The open design also lets crap from the wood fall on the floor, but that's liveable, also you can't really get past more than about 3-4" of snow or it starts dragging. (I use the snowblower to clear a path around the woodsheds, just have to be careful not to suck up any dropped chunks of wood.)

IMHO it's the best option I've found for getting wood into our house, I like it a great deal. (I still use the sling - it sits near the stove and holds the last few splits when I want to finish emptying the cart to get another load...)

Gooserider
 
Pick up wood with left hand, place in right arm. Repeat until almost too heavy to hold.
 
Sometimes I use the wheelbarrow, but more often than not I simply grab the sling and take in a load of wood from my stash on the covered back porch (I figure about 7-8 days worth of wood) . . . or if there's enough daylight outside I'll pull some wood from my "junk" wood pile and bring it inside without making a stop on the porch pile.
 
I use a garden/utility cart (OK, it's a Heavy Duty Wagon) from TSC. It has a 1,200 lbs rating and is much easier on my back than the wheelbarrow I use to use and it holds a lot more wood and fits through a 36" door. I don't know how many times I had the wheelbarrow tip over in the snow before I would plow, but I do know my back is happy pulling a wagon.
 
I us an old plastic clothes basket. It's cheap and gets the job done.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bster13
OK, lots of good ideas but I failed to set ground rules that SWMBO gave me that I must live by.

Boots that trudged through the snow cannot walk across her floors.
Wheels that drove through snow cannot roll across her floors.
The yuppy VC wood box stays.
No other wood box to ever grace the hearth room.
No snow, rain, mud, or particle of wood to fall on the floor.
No motorized equipment purchases.
No wood to be stored on any covered porches or verandas.

Oh, and lastly... The wood box is at the far end of the house and I have to navigate hallways and furniture without touching anything.
 
I have to walk by the woodpile several times a day to tend to the animals, so I just grab splits on my way back to the house and toss them in the rack on the porch.
 
LLigetfa said:
OK, lots of good ideas but I failed to set ground rules that SWMBO gave me must live by.

Boots that trudged through the snow cannot walk across her floors.
Wheels that drove through snow cannot roll across her floors.
The yuppy VC wood box stays.
No other wood box to ever grace the hearth room.
No snow, rain, mud, or particle of wood to fall on the floor.
No motorized equipment purchases.
No wood to be stored on any covered porches or verandas.

Oh, and lastly... The wood box is at the far end of the house and I have to navigate hallways and furniture without touching anything.

Sounds like serious negotiation time... Or maybe time to convert to gas?

I would suggest that if SWMBO is going to impose those sorts of restrictions, you come back w/ an offer to deliver amounts of wood that she specifies, to a drop-off point of her choosing, and SHE can get it into the house by whatever methods and standards she wishes...

One possible compromise item on the boots issue is something I've seen in various catalogs, Lee Valley among them, but I've never tried - I think they call them boot slippers - they look like a giant version of the open heel "scuff" type slippers made to go over work boots - advertised as protection for floors when making quick trips inside to visit plumbing or other such things so as not to require taking off wet / muddy boots (that with laceups can take longer than the errand did...) Don't know what you can do about tires.

As wood carrying devices, what my friend uses when making wood deliveries (mostly to yuppies with more money than brains...) is a bunch of steel framed canvas baskets about 16" cubed - I believe they are officially 2 bushel apple orchard baskets. They have big strap handle loops on two sides, and we normally carry them on our back w/ a handle over one shoulder - they come off the back of the truck the right height, but it helps to have assistance when putting them down. I'd guess they carry about 60-70 lbs of wood in a load, and about 15-16 baskets full will make a face cord.

They seem to maximize the amount of wood one can carry with minimum effort per trip, and do a reasonably good job of containerizing the wood drippings... PITA to bring in wood that way, but it might be the best you can do to meet the listed requirements...

Gooserider
 
I got one of those plastic lawn-tractor dump carts... fill it up and drive it into the garage. If it snows I hook it to the ATV... gives me a reason to play in the snow and get cold ... and that gives me a reason to build a bigger fire... then I get hot and need to play in the snow again. Thus repeating the cycle!

Edit. Just saw your rules... Get a new wife!
Just kidding!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.