Homemade Firewood Racks

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hydestone

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Hearth Supporter
Jan 11, 2006
91
Does anyone know where I can buy a few heavy duty firewood rack brackets? The ones I find online seem pretty flimsy. Or should I just use some lumber and bolts? I am stacking in an open area without trees to stack against and want something sturdy with 2 little kids running around.

Anyone have pictures of brackets or other types of connections?

Thanks
 
I just made mine out of 4x4's.

I notched the end posts 4 inches up and the very ends of the cross pieces. Then they just fit together nicely and I screwed them together with some decking screws. I added a cross brace and these things are sturdy as hell!! :)

I can take some pictures of it when I get off work.
 
I was thinking about using some square steel tubing to make something like this, but so far the pallet/fence post system has worked pretty well for me. Like Don said though, notched 4x's should get you a pretty sturdy rack.
 
I use 2x4s on concrete blocks. They're nailed together with galvenized nails. I use 7 2x4s per rack so they are about $14 each.

Matt
 
Thanks for the leads. I think I will drop 10.10 on the Seymour MFG brackets and some 2x's for one rack and make another with notched 4x's.
 
The best idea I have seen on the forum yet is the six foot tall "T-Posts" (For wire/barbed wire fences) tied together with poly rope. Put some pallets up on either patio blocks or cinder blocks...with the T-posts..."You would be Stylin'..." IMHO...

What locale are you in? Any pallet shops nearby? Most of the pallet shops around here are happy to "give away the plastic pallets" for free to anyone that asks (so they don't have to pay $ to get rid of them). Most of the plastic pallets are still useable (for firewood duty) but aren't in good enough shape to be re-sold. Depending on what type you get...some are "nesting" to save on storage.
I've got a half dozen (and could get tons more if I wanted) but the six come in handy...and don't take up much space. I "did my part for the enviroment" so to speak...kept a few pounds of plastic from winding up in the landfill...and when they get so trashed they aren't worth hanging onto...they get cut up and tossed...into the recycling bin. :)
 
Big thumbs up for the T-posts. I made 3 racks this way, they're very neat, and easy to set up. just a pair of pressure treated 2x4's with a three cleats to tie them together and a T-post on either end. With this wet weather and the soft ground, I'll keep an eye on them, but they don't even seem to need the rope cross tie.

-Dan
 
Anybody got pictures of this T-post rig? I would like to see it, if you have one.

TIA,

Bodeen
 
I've got pallet racks since I have pallet forks for my tractor loader. Three pallets and an old sheet of tin makes a great rack the wind and still blow through. I also stack the wood too. If you don't care about the square ends you can build a really stable pile. I tend not to make the square ended piles, to unstable through frost heave and knocking it.
 
bodeen,

Check out this link: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Stack_Firewood_1/

This is the T-post and poly rope method I used, and it works great. Kudos to Eric Johnson for sharing and adding it to the Wiki!

It take some practice to figure out how much slack to leave in the rope (I cut my firewood much shorter than EJ does, so I can't string it tight like that), but it's not difficult. With the rope tied to the posts, you don't have to worry about the wood pushing the posts over at the ends. The weight of the wood on top of the rope pulls the posts in tight.

Good luck!

Jason
 
I like to get the wood from the end of the pile, so I don't think the ropes would work for me. I do use the fence posts with no rope and they really lean. Not so bad at the old place with sandy ground, but here at the new one it's hard to drive them into the rocky ground.
 
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