Pages

▼

Saturday, 7 April 2018

Movable Firewood Store

Firewood storage is still something I struggle with here. I can fill up our old tin shed with dry wood but it won't season in there as there's no air movement. The other lean-to part of the shed has been filled to the brim with wood to season but I still have lots to store. 

I have messed about filling up pallets before now with wood to season, using collars to make them stackable. This really didn't work as the air couldn't get to the wood and it made it sweat and then go mouldy. 

I needed a different approach. 


Dad suggested I should use pallets but space the collars apart somehow. I thought he might be on to something. Ideally I wanted it to be open sided with a sloping roof and easy to move with the tractor. That way it could be seasoned anywhere on the smallholding and moved up to the house when it was needed. 
I based the design on the Euro pallet system, I can get loads of these and the collars that go on top for nothing.
Working out the height I placed four posts in the corners, one side higher than the other to form the slope of the roof, about 6ft at the front (so I can get in there easily) and about 5ft at the back. I then lifted a collar to the height of the back pieces and fix it in place.

I cut the front bit off the collar and fixed it higher so it holds it all rigid.
 Between the posts I fixed pig netting on three sides, leaving the front open for access. The wood could then be stacked against it without falling out.
 I then ran in a few battens to hold the roof and fixed some old tin down to it using tek screws.

 Picking it up with the tractor was easy, I took it straight to where I'd been splitting the wood.
 I was careful to stack the wood properly in the movable stores, it won't work it it's just chucked in.
 When full it's a little wobbly but moves easy enough if you're steady with it. I could strap it to the forks if I was worried.
The idea worked great, I loved it so much I went straight back and made another! 



The two stores are now sat at the bottom of the garden to season for the summer, I think they might act as huge bug hotels as well to be honest!

I'm going to make a few more of these for the rest of the wood I have lay around the place. I just love the idea of bringing it up to the house when we want some more wood! It also looks like it'll season really well with air flow to all four sides. They also cost me nothing as I just used up scraps I had lay around along with the pallets and collars.

What do you think?

Do you like the idea and think it'll work well?

How do you season your firewood?
at

14 comments:

  1. Leigh8 April 2018 at 03:12

    I think it looks like a great idea! I'll be curious as to what you think after using it for awhile. We don't have a good place to store and cure firewood either. We have an idea, but everything is on hold until after we get the goat barn done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti8 April 2018 at 22:25

      Yeah, I'll see how it works in practice, I like that I can season teh wood away from the house and only have it up here as I need it.

      Delete
  2. colin cuthbert8 April 2018 at 08:08

    What a brilliant idea. And it cost only time. Well done you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti8 April 2018 at 22:26

      Thanks, Hopefully this has solved my storage problem. Need to build a few more of them yet though.

      Delete
  3. Donna OShaughnessy8 April 2018 at 16:31

    They look great! For us, with our rocket mass stove, we burn only sticks no more than 3 in diameter, no logs. So much of our wood gathering time is walking about the yard literally "picking up sticks". We still struggle with storage though and hope to have a better plan this summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti8 April 2018 at 22:34

      I'm going to build a rocket stove for the patio. I keep wondering how is best to collect and store the small brash wood, it's such a fiddle to bundle up but would be ideal for this type of rocket stove.

      Delete
  4. Sue8 April 2018 at 16:45

    A brilliant idea.

    We are currently storing half of our stacked logs in our open fronted garage on a pallet base, open to the elements but protected from rain, we'll see how it does. The rest is in our ramshackle old log store for now but I'll show Alan your design it could be something we can use at the edge of the woodland where we have access for the tractor :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti8 April 2018 at 22:37

      Go for it! Seasoning wood correctly is so important. Nothing worse than finding out half of it is mouldy!

      Delete
  5. Louise Houghton8 April 2018 at 17:37

    Fab. Where do you get the pallet collars from?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mama Pea9 April 2018 at 01:09

    What a great idea! Especially being able to move the whole shebang up near where it will be used. My only concern would be if you get much driving rain that would come in the sides.

    We have two wood sheds, open on the front (where driving rain might hit the first tiers of wood :o(). The sides are 6" boards with spaces for air circulation between the boards. Each with a roof, of course. The larger of the two holds about 9 cords, and the small one about 7 cords.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti10 April 2018 at 10:32

      The driving rain will go on them but it's not something that happens all that much, most of the rain would be kept off. When I move them up the house I may lay a sheet on one side to keep that bit of rain off to keep it dry just before it goes in the fire. I'd love some proper wood sheds but I have a few project to get in first!

      Delete
  7. Kris9 April 2018 at 13:34

    Would the ground be hard enough in winter/snow/rain to allow you to move the store up to the house without bogging/tipping? Or will you be moving the wood up before winter while the ground is dry and hard?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti10 April 2018 at 10:30

      Yeah, I'd need to plan it as it gets so wet around here. A good heavy frost would work as well as I can drive anywhere then. I don;t think it would tip, more just the fact the tractor would make a mess of the fields. You should see it here at the moment, the fields are sat with 2" of water on them, when I ahev to use the tractor it leaves deep tracks, it's horrible!

      Delete