Renting a firewood processor

[Chas0218]

Unfortunately, the stars did not align for me this year. I had four major unplanned projects pop up in rapid succession over the last two month, and now here we are at Thanksgiving, the week I had planned to rent this thing. I’ve been working on crap, often outdoors in the dark, until pretty near midnight (sometimes beyond) almost every night since September. Then back up at 6a to head to work on weekdays, or for a sunrise to sundown work day outdoors on weekends. It just hasn’t left me the time required to get prep’d for the processor.

I hit my limit last weekend, and decided to take today and tomorrow off from work, burning two vacation days. Today I’ll be finally moving one of my half dozen planned new 4-cord wood racks into place, and hopefully starting to fill it. The rain cut my work short on Saturday night, and Sunday was a wash-out here. This was last Saturday afternoon:

I’ve got plenty of wood waiting to go into it.

Some of you may remember the small prototype rack I built back in summer, that’s now installed and loaded on high ground near my barn, so I won’t be caught completely without wood if we have another wet spell this winter.

That tractor has been the source of a few of those major unplanned projects, a new and larger one is on order. It is setup to take a grapple, and can lift over a ton, so that will help with the processor if I ever get there.

I see you have some really nice wood in there! Some Ash, Hickory, Black Walnut, I think that was Oak too. Man that is quite the haul very jealous.

 

[Ashful]

Most of what came down was white oak and hickory. We sold almost all of the white oak to a company that is restoring a tall ship in Philadelphia, and I took about half the hickory. I did get a few pieces of white oak, and the ash cane from a friend just a few doors down from the church. He has another 6-8 cord of ash down, all big stuff, as soon as I can move some of what I have out of my way.

A very large fraction of that church’s yearly operating budget comes out of my pocket, so getting them to pay for the processor would be counterproductive in all ways other than a little tax deduction. I’m just trying to help them by moving this wood out of their way, I definitely didn’t want or need all of this small wood. It takes me 3+ hours to haul a cord of 8” logs, but only one hour to haul and unload the same amount as one 30” log.

The new tractor is a 3033R with a 320 loader. It’s right in the cusp of being too large for lawn work, but it will definitely ease my snow removal and wood hauling operations.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Unfortunately, the stars did not align for me this year. I had four major unplanned projects pop up in rapid succession over the last two month, and now here we are at Thanksgiving, the week I had planned to rent this thing. I’ve been working on crap, often outdoors in the dark, until pretty near midnight (sometimes beyond) almost every night since September. Then back up at 6a to head to work on weekdays, or for a sunrise to sundown work day outdoors on weekends. It just hasn’t left me the time required to get prep’d for the processor.

I hit my limit last weekend, and decided to take today and tomorrow off from work, burning two vacation days. Today I’ll be finally moving one of my half dozen planned new 4-cord wood racks into place, and hopefully starting to fill it. The rain cut my work short on Saturday night, and Sunday was a wash-out here. This was last Saturday afternoon:

I’ve got plenty of wood waiting to go into it.

Some of you may remember the small prototype rack I built back in summer, that’s now installed and loaded on high ground near my barn, so I won’t be caught completely without wood if we have another wet spell this winter.

That tractor has been the source of a few of those major unplanned projects, a new and larger one is on order. It is setup to take a grapple, and can lift over a ton, so that will help with the processor if I ever get there.

Glad to see you finally decided on your shed scheme. You were very thoughtful, and considered many different ideas before your final decision. Four cords and aesthetically pleasing. And I would pressume it avoids the pesky wetland issue that you were grappling with. I hope I can decide on something permanent and commit to it at some point, as well.

 

[Ashful]

Glad to see you finally decided on your shed scheme. You were very thoughtful, and considered many different ideas before your final decision. Four cords and aesthetically pleasing. And I would pressume it avoids the pesky wetland issue that you were grappling with. I hope I can decide on something permanent and commit to it at some point, as well.

Thanks! Yes, I think I’m just barely skirting on the right side of legality, here. These are just big “firewood racks”, not “sheds”, if anyone is asking. I would need 2.5 of these per year, at my present burn rate, but I’m toying with the idea of replacing the more lightly-used BK with a pellet stove. That would reduce my usage to 1.75 of these per year, and reduce my overall footprint from 7 or 8 of these units to 5 or 6 of them.

Most importantly, they will be arranged in one long row, so I can pull my wagon right along side of them, and quickly load one cord. There will be plenty of processing area around them, all mostly out of sight from the house, and completely out of sight from the street. Hiding the mess associated with wood processing, and giving myself more working space, we’re two ancillary goals of mine.

 

[mar13]

If there were a reality TV show about firewood collectors, you'd make for a few great episodes!

 

[SpaceBus]

But where will you store the pellets? Just get a coal stove, it's probably cheaper and cleaner than pellets where you live.

 

[Ashful]

But where will you store the pellets? Just get a coal stove, it's probably cheaper and cleaner than pellets where you live.

I stopped at a local masonry/landscape place this morning, and they're a coal stove and coal dealer. Maybe I should check it out. I'm not in coal country, that's more central to western PA anymore, but coal was very popular here when I was younger.

 

[SpaceBus]

I stopped at a local masonry/landscape place this morning, and they're a coal stove and coal dealer. Maybe I should check it out. I'm not in coal country, that's more central to western PA anymore, but coal was very popular here when I was younger.

It's not like the coal has far to go to get to your door even if it comes from another part of the state. Pellets have to be made and there is a lot of transportation involved. I really don't get pellets over coal.

 

[Ashful]

Finished placing the wood rack this morning.

Got a little cleanup work to do, then it’s time to start filling it!

 

[Poindexter]

I just knew you owned a 48" level and knew how to use it. I just knew it.

Would it be possible to bring the processor to the church property and just deal with splits? When I was felling my own trees I went out of my way to handle the smallest possible piece every time.

 

[SpaceBus]

Finished placing the wood rack this morning.

Got a little cleanup work to do, then it’s time to start filling it!

That does look sharp. If you don't mind me asking how much do you have invested into this?

 

[Ashful]

The rack itself was right around $1000, including all lumber, roofing materials, TimberLok fasteners, and enough galvanized framing, ring shank, and roofing nails to build a half dozen of these structures (5000 count boxes). It could have been a lot less $$ if I didn't use all PT lumber, but I want these things to last, and I felt pretty good about that part of it.

Then I probably spent another $400 in masonry supplies for those plinths it is sitting on, which was entirely due to me getting behind schedule with some unplanned but necessary projects, and not taking time to really plan that part out. I need to find a better, cheaper, and faster way to create some "temporary" pad to set the next few racks on. The constraints are that I can't modify the soil, and must be able to easily remove it, which rules out pretty much any easy solution with gravel base.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

The rack itself was right around $1000, including all lumber, roofing materials, TimberLok fasteners, and enough galvanized framing, ring shank, and roofing nails to build a half dozen of these structures (5000 count boxes). It could have been a lot less $$ if I didn't use all PT lumber, but I want these things to last, and I felt pretty good about that part of it.

Then I probably spent another $400 in masonry supplies for those plinths it is sitting on, which was entirely due to me getting behind schedule with some unplanned but necessary projects, and not taking time to really plan that part out. I need to find a better, cheaper, and faster way to create some "temporary" pad to set the next few racks on. The constraints are that I can't modify the soil, and must be able to easily remove it, which rules out pretty much any easy solution with gravel base.

Thank you for sharing.

Do you anticipate someone from the township or other govt agency inspecting these, regarding the constraints on soil disturbance? Just a practical question.

I cast round concrete stepping stones, four at a time, last summer for a walkway. One 80 lb bag for four stones. You could probably get away using something like these, I'd probably just cast 2 per bag, and try either 12 or 16 laid out in a grid under the shed. At $4.45 a bag, you would only spend $35.60 on the base, if you went with 16. It'd be a fun project with the kids to have them "help" with the casting and levelling. If you have a cement mixer, it'd be minimal labor. I didn't add any wire for reinforcement, but you might want to for this purpose.

I use three cinder blocks under each half-cord stack (8 x 6 x 1.333), laid right on the soil surface, with just a little soil movement for levelling, and they seem to do just fine.

 

[SpaceBus]

Great data. My wife and I still have no idea how we want to deal with long term wood storage.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I think it would be super cool to have multiple smaller versions of these, set up so a flatbed trailer could be backed under the base. Then, just move the whole thing next to the porch when each one is emptied. Probably would need to consider structural reinforcement of the framing if trying to move a cord worth of weight.

Currently sort-of do this with two old garden carts and a wheelbarrow, but my roofs are tarps.

Not suggesting this for you, Ashful, you spent enough time deciding on your perfect solution, and they are very nice. Just contemplating for myself.

 

[Ashful]

Do you anticipate someone from the township or other govt agency inspecting these, regarding the constraints on soil disturbance? Just a practical question.

It’s very unlikely, but if I built the 24’ x 36’ pole pavilion I had originally planned in lieu of these, or if I had even put these in permanent bases, the impact of having the township happen upon them could be severe. With these, as much as a PITA as it would be, I can relatively empty and move one, if I need to prove it’s just a temporary wood rack. At 4 psi maximum loading, they shouldn’t even leave much of an impression in the soil, I hope.

I cast round concrete stepping stones, four at a time, last summer for a walkway. One 80 lb bag for four stones. You could probably get away using something like these, I'd probably just cast 2 per bag, and try either 12 or 16 laid out in a grid under the shed. At $4.45 a bag, you would only spend $35.60 on the base, if you went with 16. It'd be a fun project with the kids to have them "help" with the casting and levelling. If you have a cement mixer, it'd be minimal labor. I didn't add any wire for reinforcement, but you might want to for this purpose.

It’s funny you mention this, as that was my original plan. I still have the 16” sonotube in my barn to prove it! In the end, I guessed that using precast block was easier and quicker, but I’m not sure I was right on that. As to cost, I was aiming to have at least 8 square feet for each of my five footers, and height varies up to 10 inches. I used about 140 of those 2x8x16 dimensional blocks, so just shy of 17 cu.ft., or 2700 lb = $150 (local price @ 80 lb bags) of Quik-Crete. Definitely cheaper, but... the time!

I use three cinder blocks under each half-cord stack (8 x 6 x 1.333), laid right on the soil surface, with just a little soil movement for levelling, and they seem to do just fine.

I started with dry stacking the 2” block, which gave me the ability to level the bases in small increments. I’d have liked to use 4” and 8” blocks in the taller plinths, but that would have required a lot more thought or the addition of 3-8” mortar to each block, to make the heights of the three block heights evenly divisible. All of these blocks are dimensional, not full 2” or 8”, to allow for mortar joint thickness.

I think it would be super cool to have multiple smaller versions of these, set up so a flatbed trailer could be backed under the base. Then, just move the whole thing next to the porch when each one is emptied. Probably would need to consider structural reinforcement of the framing if trying to move a cord worth of weight.

You mean, like this? [emoji3]

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

It’s very unlikely, but if I built the 24’ x 36’ pole pavilion I had originally planned in lieu of these, or if I had even put these in permanent bases, the impact of having the township happen upon them could be severe. With these, as much as a PITA as it would be, I can relatively empty and move one, if I need to prove it’s just a temporary wood rack. At 4 psi maximum loading, they shouldn’t even leave much of an impression in the soil, I hope.


It’s funny you mention this, as that was my original plan. I still have the 16” sonotube in my barn to prove it! In the end, I guessed that using precast block was easier and quicker, but I’m not sure I was right on that. As to cost, I was aiming to have at least 8 square feet for each of my five footers, and height varies up to 10 inches. I used about 140 of those 2x8x16 dimensional blocks, so just shy of 17 cu.ft., or 2700 lb = $150 (local price @ 80 lb bags) of Quik-Crete. Definitely cheaper, but... the time!


I started with dry stacking the 2” block, which gave me the ability to level the bases in small increments. I’d have liked to use 4” and 8” blocks in the taller plinths, but that would have required a lot more thought or the addition of 3-8” mortar to each block, to make the heights of the three block heights evenly divisible. All of these blocks are dimensional, not full 2” or 8”, to allow for mortar joint thickness.

You mean, like this?

Exactly like that, also movable when loaded, and perhaps these are! I'd need a little different configuration, as I'd be moving them with a trailer rather that forks on a strong tractor, but identical in concept.

My cart is up on blocks to level and keep air in the tires. When this load of shoulder season uglies and shorts is gone, it'll be loaded much higher. When leaf season is over, I'll have another cart set up identically.

The other shots are the three cinder blocks/half cord concept, from two angles, and then the stepping stones mentioned before.

Not nearly as lovely, but functional on a smaller scale.

 

[Sawset]

Finished placing the wood rack this morning.

Got a little cleanup work to do, then it’s time to start filling it!

One thing I found, is when using shallow pads like that, and tall risers like on the roof supports, if any part of it starts to settle, it doesn't necessarily lean, but racks instead. It's easy to put cinch wires on the ends to pull the diagonals back in to make it all vertical again. I have something similar, but half the width. One side (the back pads) settled a couple inches. At first I thought it would start to tip, but realized, no, rerack it vertical, minimal effort, so what if the back pads are lower. The pads could sink quite a ways and no one would notice. Otherwise, yours are all exposed to allow for shims, it it ever came to that too.

 

[Simonkenton]

I am a firewood processor. I am for rent, $35/ hour.

 

[Ashful]

I am a firewood processor. I am for rent, $35/ hour.

Lol, I love it! But you’ve seen the pile I need to get thru, your pace may make this cost-prohibitive.

 

[Chas0218]

I need to find a better, cheaper, and faster way to create some "temporary" pad to set the next few racks on.

My neighbor did this using a contractor garbage bag in a 5 gallon pail filled with concrete. I'm betting if you filled the bucket halfway that would be enough. The bag allows it to come out easily or just fill up a bucket and use that.