Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Alan46]

A wedge whacked in at the top is useful when cutting a stem up.
Sometimes the friction alone of the wedge is enough to prevent the drop until you can get the saw out of there.

I wish that was the problem! What happened was when I was banging my wedges, I didn’t move the saw far enough away from the kill zone and the tree fell on the saw! The Fir was over 100’, it’s a good thing there was a low spot or I would be the proud owner of a new saw let that be a lesson to me and you!

 

[cmyoung2]

I'd be concerned for the bucket using bucket forks with a load like that?!

I've been wondering about stacking with them cut - so far, I've left the top ring uncut, which results in regular head-bonks... but I've been wondering if - when full of wood, it's not like there's much outward pressure on the cage; it's not like it's a water tank... the vast majority of force goes directly down onto the floor of the tote, unless you're stacked. And, if it's stacked with the upper tote actually being on the lower cage, is it really going to be bad to have a gap? Would tossing a couple 2x4's or even 4x4's to act as a header be better?

I'd kinda like to get rid of the top of my tote "doorways" but I do stack a few totes in my barn during the winter.

Also: when I cut the tote cages for the "doorways" I cut at about a 45° angle and briefly clean up the edges with the abrasive to reduce chance of encountering sharpness...

I tried stacking the loaded totes one time, thought I was on flat ground, tractor tilted against the side of the shop. I lowered the loader, backed out, will not try that again.

 

[Bavarian]

Another load is at home.

 

[BackRoad]

There was mention about IBC frame failure from stacked wood:

One can stack up a 4 foot high stack of splits in the open with just a T-Post in the ground holding it up. There is little, side pressure pushing outward. Splits are fairly static with minimal outward pressure (unlike cannonballs!)

One of the regulars on here who sells firewood commercially uses canvas bags. Even pallets of landscape rocks are often held together with just chicken wire for shipping. The IBC totes are more than capable for splits.

There was mention of not cutting the top bar out of concern of bin failure, but this has not played out in actual use over the last 5 years I've been using the bins for firewood. It would be a PITA, at least for me, to have to dodge the top bar continually!

I refrain from stacking them double high, so can't speak to those risks...

 

[John_Mc]

If you are stacking it in (not just tossing it) and if @Windblown estimate of 1/3 cord is correct then you could easily be looking at 2000# for green, premium firewood species such as Oak or Hickory.

If you are just tossing it in, I generally figure of fitting 80% of what I can get compared to stacking. (e.g in the bed of my Tacoma, I can fit 1/3 cord if neatly stacked, or 1/4 cord thrown in).

 

[John_Mc]

One can stack up a 4 foot high stack of splits in the open with just a T-Post in the ground holding it up. There is little, side pressure pushing outward. Splits are fairly static with minimal outward pressure (unlike cannonball!)

You must have better ground condition that I: T posts will not hold a 4 foot high stack of split wood in my ground - at least not for the long term. I started with at 11-12 foot row of pallets with T posts on either end of the two rows I stacked on them. The posts started spreading within a couple of months.

Generally, I’d lose about half the posts within a year or so. If I ran a rope across the top to tied the posts together, they help up much better (though the rope gets in the way when stacking.

 

[wolc123]

You must have better ground condition that I: T posts will not hold a 4 foot high stack of split wood in my ground - at least not for the long term. I started with at 11-12 foot row of pallets with T posts on either end of the two rows I stacked on them. The posts started spreading within a couple of months.

Generally, I’d lose about half the posts within a year or so. If I ran a rope across the top to tied the posts together, they help up much better (though the rope gets in the way when stacking.

You are reminding me of the 3 nightmare winters, when I stored my firewood outside on pallets, under tarps. I su
would not burn firewood, if I ever had to do that again. I never tried the t-posts, but I would alternate directions of the firewood on the ends of the stacks, to keep them “square”.

What a pain that was, trying to sort out appropriate sized pieces. That was minimal, compared to the pain of dealing with the tarps in the wind and under the snow. I had been spoiled by many years of storing firewood inside an old, well-weathered timber-framed dairy barn that my great great grandad had built, shortly after the Civil War.

I had to take that old barn down, to clear a spot for my new pole barn, a few years ago. The three years between that takedown, and when I built the woodshed on the back of the new pole barn were awfull, concerning storage of firewood.

We get so much rain here (dead center between two Great Lakes), that the outside storage of firewood don’t work well at all.

This new woodshed works great, with 8 ft 2x6’s on the outside edge, to hold up the stacks.

 

[John_Mc]

I have enough room for a season’s worth of firewood under the lean-to off the back of my garage/barn. The rest goes on pallets. One end of the stacks leans against the wall, the other end rest against a 2x4 running from a sill plate the ground

I tried the cross-cross method of stacking on the ends. IMO, it was more trouble than it was worth. Tried the T posts, but they did not hold up well.

So these days, my second season of firewood is on pallets. I make “L” brackets by fastening two pallets together with diagonal braces across the corners. Works well, and any idiot can stack in them without much thought or skill. If I pick the right pallets to start with, I might get up to 10 years out of them before they rot to the point where they need to be replaced

A friend gave me to plastic k pallets I’m trying, bu I have not yet figured out a good way to fasten them in to L brackets.

 

[wolc123]

Our house is pretty well insulated, and it only takes an average of 2 cords, to heat it thru the winter. My woodshed holds 8, so it’s easy to stay at least (3) years ahead. We also have outside campfires, and those up our usage a bit. Much of what we burn there is lawn or construction waste though.

One of the worst things about the outside firewood storage for me, was the added difficulty, every time it snowed. In our “between the lakes” location, we get lots of that, in addition to all the rain.

The woodshed holds plenty of dry wood, with no snow on it and is always accessible, with a plowed driveway along it. Fetching a tractor bucket a time (that holds about the same amount as the little covered porch next to the stove on the house) is always easy, day or night.

If the kids, wife or myself want a little added exercise, we carry it by hand from the woodshed to the porch. We never keep any extra wood inside the house, to limit bugs and mess.

Most of the fetching is at night because we get a lot more of that than day throughout the winter. There’s electric lights in the woodshed and on my porch and tractor.

 

[BackRoad]

Not exactly about "Tractors and Wood", but it is about my woods tractor!

MX6000 is a bit over 4 years old and I hit the lottery - the dreaded 1200 hour "everything maintenance"!

About 1.5 of those years was heads down building my house, so most of the hours were added in 3 years. The majority of the total hours have been taking down trees and reclaiming pasture.

This was the 1st time I've taken off the FEL since buying it new. Figured I might as well sponge wash it while I was doing it...1st time for that too (he says embarrassed).

Spent a rainy Sunday afternoon and 500 bucks in Kubota oil and filters, but we are good to go hit it some more!

My wife is away, so I sent the picture of the tractor in her normal parking spot while I did the maintenance. Told her it looks good there! She hinted to not get too comfortable parking it in her spot!