Ideas For Moving Rounds Around Yard?

[longislandcamper]

I'm looking for ideas on moving rounds from the front of my house to the splitting area in the back. Distance is about 150'. The first half of the trip is on a bit on an incline but it's not terrible. The second half of the trip has a similar slope but it's downhill. Rolling them downhill really isn't an option right now. I do not have any sort of tractor or ATV.

The only thing I can think of is a heavy duty hand truck to bring the rounds to the splitting area one by one. Eventually I plan to rework the yard so that we'd be able to dump basically right at the splitting area but that's still a few years off.

I could just split everything in the front of the house and use a firewood cart to bring everything to the stacking area but that's not something I really want to do either.

Any ideas?

 

[NorMi]

A friend actually made a hand truck to do exactly this. Just took a cheap harbor freight hand truck, extended the axle rod so he could put 4 tires on instead of 2, bolted two ~2' long pipes to the plate as a cradle for the rounds, done. I think he still uses it and that was 20 years ago almost!

 

[peakbagger]

I have moved wood around around the yard for years with a contractors wheelbarrow. I would love to have one of the garden way carts with the big bicycle type wheels but too cheap to buy one.

 

[clancey]

I would use a wheel barrow with more than two wheels for stability. Also--crazy idea here---could you get a chain or rope or something and sling it through the air like the old fashioned clothes line--don't laugh now....clancey

 

[salecker]

Bobcat...

 

[Dan Freeman]

After using a hand truck and wheelbarrow, I bought one of these. At age 65, I use it for all my wood, rock, soil and mulch hauling. Sure makes life easier.

Overland Electric Wheelbarrow – 10 cu. ft. with Power Dump and Extended Range Battery – Granite Online Store

store.graniteind.com

 

[rottiman]

These work

 

[clancey]

i love that electric wheel barrow and took a copy of that notice but it is expensive but as one gets older that is the way to go especially since i buy 50 pound bags of pigeon seed and have trouble getting someone to empty them in my loft..I use a regular wheelbarrow and it is hard for me because of broken vertebrae in my back and I need to be careful because of ostioporous (sp) and I could just walk down a step and break a leg so I need to be careful but that looks "great"...clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

i love that electric wheel barrow and took a copy of that notice but it is expensive but as one gets older that is the way to go especially since i buy 50 pound bags of pigeon seed and have trouble getting someone to empty them in my loft..I use a regular wheelbarrow and it is hard for me because of broken vertebrae in my back and I need to be careful because of ostioporous (sp) and I could just walk down a step and break a leg so I need to be careful but that looks "great"...clancey

Thay have less expensive ones on their site, too, Clancey. Yup, finally decided I was getting too old to haul stuff around in my wheelbarrow, especially on our sloped property. I didn't want a small yard tractor, and I figured this was less expensive then repairs for rips, tears or breaks on my body.

 

[Montanalocal]

These landworks battery carts work great. They tip down so you can load big rounds.

B07KX7W5Q5

 

[longislandcamper]

I'm currently thinking about a Gorilla Dump Cart. I suppose I could put the tray up next to a large round, get the round in there and then lower the tray down to the travel position. Or simply just load up the cart from the top. When I get to the splitting location I could either lift rounds out or dump.

The cart gives me the ability to manually pull it to the back or tow it if I ever get some kind of tractor. I did find some older $200 ride on mowers. The cheaper ones were missing the cutting decks which I don't really need anyway.

 

[Sean McGillicuddy]

Tractor supply has these.

All 4 sides drop down .. not so high of a lift or put a small ramp and roll it on ...
(broken link removed)

 

[xman23]

It depend's on the round size, how many. And the most of all, your ability to physically handle the move. The machines would be great, but unless you have a long term need, probably not happening. You could rent.

I used to use a wheel barrel, but now I lift the rounds into the trailer I tow with a ATV . If there to big to lift, I tow the splitter to the round. Then go vertical with the splitter.

I like the hand truck idea! Going to give it a try. I have a very heavy duty hand truck. No lifting, get it loaded and lay it over and tow with the ATV. Towing or pushing on soft and rough ground might be an issue. It has solid narrow wheels. But a new axle and pneumatic tires should be a solution.

 

[qwee]

Harbor Freight will have their better hand trucks on sale for Christmas. I bought the heavy duty one ($40). Next, I went to Lowes and bought 2 medium length steel stakes (the ones with holes in them - $10). I drilled holes in the platform part of the hand truck and bolted the stakes to the platform. The idea?

Two forks stick out (like a mini Hyster). So you can just wheel up to a round, and the forks help to pull the round back towards the wheels. It works pretty good. I don't need to bend over or roll the round unless I'm hauling more than one round.

However, it would have been better to use the shortest stakes (instead of the medium ones). And better, would have been to have bolted the stakes a little closer together (thus easier to also grab the medium sized rounds). Larger rubber inflatable type wheels would have been better than the hard small wheels, also.

 

[Sean McGillicuddy]

Harbor Freight will have their better hand trucks on sale for Christmas. I bought the heavy duty one ($40). Next, I went to Lowes and bought 2 medium length steel stakes (the ones with 3 holes in them - $10). I drilled holes in the platform part of the hand truck and bolted the stakes to the platform. The idea?

Two forks stick out (like a mini Hyster). So you can just wheel up to a round, and the forks help to pull the round back towards the wheels. It works pretty good. I don't need to bend over or roll the round unless I'm hauling more than one round.

However, it would have been better to use the shortest stakes (instead of the medium ones). And better, would have been to have bolted the stakes a little closer together (thus easier to also grab the medium sized rounds). Larger rubber inflatable type wheels would have been better than the hard small wheels, also.

Could you post a pic please.

 

[qwee]

It would have been better if the two stakes were closer together, and the the 6" shorter stakes used.

 

[stoveliker]

When I get sick of lifting such rounds in a wheelbarrow, I'll make the same. Thanks for the pics (and advice to place them closer together). Small time (3 cords a year max now that I'm 3-4 years ahead) wood processing anyway.

 

[EbS-P]

I second the hand truck. Do you have a riding lawnmower you could make a hitch for the hand truck for? Nothing fancy rope or a ratchet strap would probably even work.

 

[xman23]

Brothers where onto something here! Lets see the pictures when you get yours done.

 

[whatyousmokin]

Relatively cheap and will get the job done

Robot or human?

 

[bigealta]

Yes i need something to load up with fresh cut oak at the bottom of a hill, and to drag it to the flat top to split and load into truck. The hill is just a bit too steep to back the truck down with chancing getting stuck, It's about 100 -125ft up hill. Was looking for something i could tie a rope to and then tie that to truck and drive truck to pull up hill. Any ideas? i do like the drag sled but not sure how much weight that type of system can handle? This is a wooded terrain so Not a nice smooth ground surface. The tree is good for probably a couple cords of prime oak.

 

[peakbagger]

I have a steep woodlot, some of the slopes are close to 45 degrees. I have a gas powered capstan winch https://www.capstanropewinch.com/. I pull very large logs up and down slope to a landing. The trick is to buy some snatch blocks and choker straps and set up the winch once but install the snatch block temporarily from intermediate trees along the way to keep the nose of the log out of dirt. A skidding cone will also help to keep the nose from getting caught. I suppose someone could fill a sled to pull up split wood with it but I would rather buck it at the landing, hail it home and then split it out of the truck. Its lot quicker with two folks one to run the winch and the other to move the snatch blocks around. It goes one speed no matter what the weight so moving bug logs is quicker than small loads. It took me about two sessions to get my gear figured out and productive.

 

[bigealta]

I’m Gonna have to watch some YouTube vids for that winch set up. I’ve always been able to drive right up to trees on flat ground. Or very short small hills. Thanks

 

[highanddryinco]

I have a steep woodlot, some of the slopes are close to 45 degrees. I have a gas powered capstan winch...

Not to hijack to OP's thread but...I just bought one a month ago. Love it! Level road through the middle of the 40 acres. One side goes up the mountain, the other goes down. To the OP's original question, a log arch similar to my avatar may help in moving rounds.

 

[peakbagger]

I ike the fancy mount for the winch on the tree. Keeps it out of the dirt which happens when I use straps. I am always trying to pare down my kit to the bare minimum to reduce what I need to lug in the woods but I think I need to build or buy something like that. Thanks for the shot. Do you have skidder cone?