We have been heating with wood for 40 years and in all that time the wood handling hasn't really changed much. We use +/- 10 cord a year (will be close to 14 this year) and that is a fair amount of wood to deal with. As time goes on I realized that the cutting and splitting is less than half the total time it takes to get from from tree to boiler. The other 1/2 to 2/3 of the time and effort expended is in stacking, moving (loading & unloading trailer), and re-stacking. This year, if all goes according to plan, I am going to eliminate most of that work.
We use 2' wood. The wood will go from the splitter onto 4x4 pallets, I'll band it and not have to handle it again until I cut the bands to throw it into the boiler. We have two fairly large (80 hp) loader tractors and a crawler w/loader, any of which will pick a ton. A half cord of sugar maple or beach (most of what we burn) will weigh in at about 3/4 ton. A set of pallet forks and a $200 banding tool and we are good to go.
I will be able to easily segregate wood species and move it from the woods or log landing to drying shed to mechanical room wood shed without touching a stick. Only drawback I can see is that we built the mechanical room woodshed to hold 10 cord, wall to wall, floor to ceiling so we would have a winters worth without schlepping more in, in mid-winter. There isn't enough height to stack in there with a loader so we will only be able to get six cord in at a time. But, that said, it should be no big deal to move more in any time I care to, and both tractors have heated cabs.
Anyone here use this method or know someone who does? I am always open to suggestions as to how to make it work smoother.
We use 2' wood. The wood will go from the splitter onto 4x4 pallets, I'll band it and not have to handle it again until I cut the bands to throw it into the boiler. We have two fairly large (80 hp) loader tractors and a crawler w/loader, any of which will pick a ton. A half cord of sugar maple or beach (most of what we burn) will weigh in at about 3/4 ton. A set of pallet forks and a $200 banding tool and we are good to go.
I will be able to easily segregate wood species and move it from the woods or log landing to drying shed to mechanical room wood shed without touching a stick. Only drawback I can see is that we built the mechanical room woodshed to hold 10 cord, wall to wall, floor to ceiling so we would have a winters worth without schlepping more in, in mid-winter. There isn't enough height to stack in there with a loader so we will only be able to get six cord in at a time. But, that said, it should be no big deal to move more in any time I care to, and both tractors have heated cabs.
Anyone here use this method or know someone who does? I am always open to suggestions as to how to make it work smoother.
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