anybody moving palletized CSS wood?

[rustynut]

Hi all,....Trying to get things cleaned up before things warm up. With EAB trees down throughout the yard i'm splitting at different locations and having to load pallets and transport them to a storage location. I moved a couple of pallets last nite but they pretty much fell apart....... i saved an old trampoline surface and plan to try tieing the pallet together with that. also was thinking a piece of cyclone fence to wrap it with. Anyone got any good ideas on how to move these pallets without having to restack them ?.....JD with forks.......thanks
rn

 

[Babaganoosh]

Get some stretch wrap. They sell it at home depot for 20 bucks. You can wrap a bunch of pallets with it.

 

[max384]

I'd suggest only processing down to rounds at the different places, then transporting the rounds back to split at your stacking site. By splitting at different sites, you're causing yourself more work.

 

[Dobish]

I'd suggest only processing down to rounds at the different places, then transporting the rounds back to split at your stacking site. By splitting at different sites, you're causing yourself more work.

you mean you aren't supposed to have 9 different places to pile wood, 3 places to split, and nowhere to stack? man... i'm doing it wrong!

 

[rustynut]

max,......i kind of like the idea of only picking those heavy rounds up once........thats splitting them where they fall instead of picking them up to move to a splitting site and then picking them up again when i get to splitting them. Tractor will move them just fine when i get them locked down to the pallets.
Was just looking for ideas ?...... Going to try the trampoline material tonight and if that doesnt work pick up a piece of fence tomorrow. I'm needing to be able to place these pallets on 2nd story deck. Palletizing the wood will take alot of the work out of handling as JD can do the lifting for me.
rn

 

[Creekside]

Extra fencing, 2x4s, and plastic pallets are what I'm trying out. Problem is I can't stack the pallets so it takes up a lot of space. I am trying to "touch" the wood as few times as possible so I want to put it right on a pallet after I split it.


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[Creekside]

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[maple1]

max,......i kind of like the idea of only picking those heavy rounds up once........thats splitting them where they fall instead of picking them up to move to a splitting site and then picking them up again when i get to splitting them. Tractor will move them just fine when i get them locked down to the pallets.

I like that idea too.

I split at the tree - but I throw off the splitter onto an ATV trailer. Then I drive the loaded trailer to the piling site, and pile onto pallets. Two touches. Next one is into the fire. The piling site is close to the basement - so the less chance for a bouncing pallet on forks to come apart or the pile to un-pile.

Have a pic of your pallets?

Here's a couple of my two pallet styles:





I double stack. The wires close to the top stop the sides/ends from spreading. Pile the upper portion on the wires. I usually use old clothesline wire.

EDIT: On the mention of plastic pallets, I have some of those too:



They're great, no worries about the bottoms rotting. There are plastics under the wood ones there too. I would really like to get some cage totes next.

Here's the bigger ones loaded, after a summer of drying. Piles started moving around some, I had to knock some back into place before I moved them.

 

[rustynut]

thats pretty good there maple1. So i moved a few friday nite using the trampoline material. It worked ok holding things together but could have been easier to wrap. Neighbor just gave me a piece of fence to try. We'll see how that goes. I'm thinking that will work a bit easier. Thats a couple ideas i hadnt considered.........thanks......rn

 

[maple1]

I like the wire holding the sides together towards the top. That way when they're empty I can pull out the sides & lay them down & stack empty pallets in a pile. Take up way less room. I usually do that through the winter as the wood gets used up, to free up floor space. Makes them quicker to move out when that time comes too. The wire with wood piled on top is quite solid.

 

[BigCountryNY]

I'm using Euro-sized plastic pallets that I get from work for free. I have a couple of stacking supports that I made out of two wooden Euro pallets and I stack and then band the stacks with plastic banding to keep them from moving around. Once the banding is in place I can take away the supports. If you stack them 50" high with 16" splits, that makes a face cord. But if you stack them that high with green red oak, you might struggle to move them. My Kubota L2501 could barely lift them up enough to move them around. So those pallets that are all oak I'll probably only stack 25" high.

 

[Allagash350]

I was browsing Craigslist the other day and saw a guy selling pallets of wood. Are you familiar at all with ware houses? He used 1 inch thick metal bands that we used to use to put around over seas wood shipping containers. I can't remember what they are called but you put it through the bottom of the pallet and over the top, then cinch it tight and fasten it with small metal crimps. I will look for a picture or link, seems perfect for your application

Edit
Here's a link to some strapping
http://www.warehousesupply.ca/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=122

Double edit link to said Craigslist ad

(broken link removed to http://maine.craigslist.org/grd/5569263071.html)

 

[BigCountryNY]

I was browsing Craigslist the other day and saw a guy selling pallets of wood. Are you familiar at all with ware houses? He used 1 inch thick metal bands that we used to use to put around over seas wood shipping containers. I can't remember what they are called but you put it through the bottom of the pallet and over the top, then cinch it tight and fasten it with small metal crimps. I will look for a picture or link, seems perfect for your application

Edit
Here's a link to some strapping
http://www.warehousesupply.ca/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=122

Double edit link to said Craigslist ad

(broken link removed to http://maine.craigslist.org/grd/5569263071.html)

That's the same thing I am using, but in the plastic variety. It's easier and safer to handle, less expensive, and works well too. I got the materials that I needed for it from Uline.

 

[jaoneill]

I'm using Euro-sized plastic pallets that I get from work for free. I have a couple of stacking supports that I made out of two wooden Euro pallets and I stack and then band the stacks with plastic banding to keep them from moving around. Once the banding is in place I can take away the supports. If you stack them 50" high with 16" splits, that makes a face cord. But if you stack them that high with green red oak, you might struggle to move them. My Kubota L2501 could barely lift them up enough to move them around. So those pallets that are all oak I'll probably only stack 25" high.

I tried this last year but found that as the wood dried over the summer the bands loosened up to where they were useless by fall. Trying the vertical side pallets with top wire this year; lose some storage but much more stable.

 

[volunbeer]

I am planning on doing this. Goal is to be able to bring three of them into the middle bay of my garage in the winter - garage stays pretty cold and this will be better than going outside in the yuck for wood. My tractor bucket can handle close to a ton with bucket forks and it's all softwood here so I doubt weight will be a concern. I can move the Gator to the barn in the winter.

On thing I was considering and would be curious if anyone has any suggestions or concerns was using wooden shipping crates - every few weeks there is a company here that puts them on craigslist for free (none listed right now or I would post a picture). I have an 18' by 7' trailer so in two trips I would be able to get 6 of them - figured I could cut some vents in those for wood that is dried and ready to burn and tarp them behind the barn. They are pretty tall, but three of those would hold a fair amount of wood. If it's too heavy I could use neighbors skidsteer - it lifts two tons. I have also been looking at the big pallet apple boxes - those would be nice because I could stack them.

Other option would be to put pallets down in the middle bay and make a big rack and just stack it up, but I like the idea of being able to move it with a machine.

 

[jeffesonm]

I did this for a while and gave up. I was making pallet cubes using a pallet bottom, two pallet sides and then a few random slats across the tops securing it together. It worked pretty well and they were sturdy enough to move, but there were some drawbacks. It took longer to fill them because you have to reach down in there vs just stacking in rows or a shed. Also each pallet cube held about 1/3 cord, so 3-4 cords/year times 2-3 years ahead = 20-30 pallet cubes, which requires a lot of pallets and a lot of space. Fully loaded pallet weighs a bunch so tractor left ruts in the yard, especially when snowmelt made the ground soft. Pallets would rot so you might only get one or two uses from a cube. Had to cut small pieces of rubber roofing to cover the cubes and that was annoying. In the end it didn't seem worth all the trouble. Now I stack it in a shed and then have an IBC tote cage I use to move it one 'pallet worth' at a time.

Also FYI my 3 point hitch pallet forks are awesome, and much more stable than the forks for my front end loader (and I have real deal forks, not bolt on bucket forks.) Having the weight in the back near the tires is so much nicer than bouncing around way out in front of the tractor.

 

[rustynut]

ok.....tried the fence friday and it worked ok. The fence i got was welded and not very flexible. It seemed that my stacks were kind of tapered at the top so when i snugged up the bottoms the top was just a bit lose. Had to bend the fencing just a bit to get it to snug up but when i did that it worked pretty well. i'm thinking that regular cyclone fencing would work just fine as it is lose vertically and would allow you to snug up the top. Not sure which way to go just yet and i think i might have a good look at those verticle pallets with the wire. It might be a bit easier to stack as you wouldnt have to be concerned with criss cross tieing them together. Might be able to just toss directly from the splitter and wind up with ok stacking ?... and skip the fencing...... going to think about that...... rn

 

[jaoneill]

ok.....tried the fence friday and it worked ok. The fence i got was welded and not very flexible. It seemed that my stacks were kind of tapered at the top so when i snugged up the bottoms the top was just a bit lose. Had to bend the fencing just a bit to get it to snug up but when i did that it worked pretty well. i'm thinking that regular cyclone fencing would work just fine as it is lose vertically and would allow you to snug up the top. Not sure which way to go just yet and i think i might have a good look at those verticle pallets with the wire. It might be a bit easier to stack as you wouldnt have to be concerned with criss cross tieing them together. Might be able to just toss directly from the splitter and wind up with ok stacking ?... and skip the fencing...... going to think about that...... rn

When I tried the banding method I had made up L-shaped brackets that would attach to the sides of the pallets with a single screw. Easy to install and remove once I had banded the wood. Double stacking each pallet was a snap, right off the splitter (with no cross stacking needed). I am picturing the vertical pallets working the same way (I will probably utilize my brackets to hold the vertical pallets in place until the stacks get near the top). Since I have the strapping capability I will likely use the plastic straps rather than wire to secure the tops of the verticals. Now that we have our spring planting finished I am getting ready to put the splitter on the tractor and get started on the wood in the next week or so; will let you know how it goes.

Last year my brother (who has the farm next door) used scrap lumber for verticals (4' high) and cross ties at the top with a double stack on each pallet and found that it worked fairly well for him, but he is also planning to use the vertical pallet method this year for increased stability.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Why are you making a mountain out of a molehill ? Get a roll of stretch wrap and wrap a pallets worth and then move it. Millions of stretched wrapped pallets full of product are loaded, shipped, and unloaded all over the world at any given time. You can get an inexpensive banding kit from uline if you want extra insurance, band under the pallet and over the wood after its wrapped, solid as a rock and maybe a few minutes of work per pallet , even less as you get good at wrapping them. Two bands per pallet. I don't think you need banding but it would take a lot more jostling.

 

[brenndatomu]

ok.....tried the fence friday and it worked ok. The fence i got was welded and not very flexible. It seemed that my stacks were kind of tapered at the top so when i snugged up the bottoms the top was just a bit lose. Had to bend the fencing just a bit to get it to snug up but when i did that it worked pretty well. i'm thinking that regular cyclone fencing would work just fine as it is lose vertically and would allow you to snug up the top. Not sure which way to go just yet and i think i might have a good look at those verticle pallets with the wire. It might be a bit easier to stack as you wouldnt have to be concerned with criss cross tieing them together. Might be able to just toss directly from the splitter and wind up with ok stacking ?... and skip the fencing...... going to think about that...... rn

What about using the fence panels the way they transport brick/block on a pallet? 4 individual pieces of fence with a little bend at the top (think upside down L shape) so that they can be hung on the stack of wood, once all 4 are hanging, cinch things down with a ratchet strap or two around the stack. I dunno, sounds like it might could work...