My son and I are going to start selling a little wood on the side. Going to start small as he is only 10 years old. Maybe about 10 face cords this first year. This money will be divided 3 ways; into his piggy bank to spend on what he wants, into a savings account for his car, and into an S&P index fund for later in life. His only job this year will be stacking the wood in pallets I make that hold a face cord, or as they call them around here a"rick". This will mostly be to our neighborhood or surrounding neighborhoods. His duties will increase as he gets older. Now onto my question: As mentioned we will be offering delivery. My goal with firewood production is to always handle it as few times as possible. So after he stacks it in the face cord pallets it will be moved to the drying location with the tractor. Eventually it will be placed on our tilt trailer with the tractor. It would be great to be able to roll the pallet off the trailer and into location at the delivery spot. There has to be a way to put wheels on it. I am thinking a hand truck type thing to lift 2 back corners to place wheels and then use the same hand truck to lift and control the other side of the pallet to wheel into place. A face cord is about 1200, not exactly light. Will this work? Other ideas? My other idea is just drive the tractor to the delivery spot and place it with the tractor. Not always going to be possible in my neighborhood as it is hilly in lots of spots.
I moved my shed across my yard using a few PVC pipes (rollers) and 2x4's (track). Cheap and efficient. If you're not moving the pallet that far it goes pretty quick. Those ancient Egyptians were definitely on to something.
How are you making your racks for a face cord? Standard wooden pallets weigh 30-48 pounds apiece so you will have to factor in the weight of your rack in addition to the weight of the firewood and compare that to the lift capacity of your tractor. I looked up the Bronson 3015r and if you're using pallet forks in front (not off the 3-point hitch), supposedly you can lift 2200 pounds at the pins. The weight you quoted for a face cord is (from what I have seen) for kiln-dried firewood, not seasoned in a yard, so you may find your rack coming in around 1500 pounds and up (not counting the forks). You may want to try and actually lift one of those before you dive into putting one on wheels. If you are able to load these racks on your trailer, there are a lot of variables to consider when delivering if you want to be able to wheel the rack right off at your customer's location. Aside from the very heavy weight of the rack, what happens if the customer has a dirt driveway, a sloping driveway, etc.? I like your idea of handling the splits as few times as possible however I have never seen a firewood seller use the type of setup you're talking about and it may be because it isn't practical (looks good on paper though). If you are dead set against unloading a truck or trailer at the customer's location, you may find it is easier to put the firewood in smaller containers (such as IBC totes) and have a trailer where you can take your tractor and the firewood at the same time. Then you can unload the tractor and deliver the tote(s). Just food for thought.
I've contemplated this same question many times. Without SERIOUS investment, the best thing I have come up with is what EODMSgt suggests. My plan is to load onto a trailer large enough to carry the tote/pallet and tractor (or in my case, skid steer). You then have to determine if you're OK to drive the tractor at the customer's property, is there room to park truck and trailer, can you get it where the wood needs to go (or end up carrying part of the distance), etc. Lots of logistics. Also a little extra fuel, but not much. If the selling price allows you to cover all the bases and you still make money, go for it! I'm delivering my first IBC tote (330 gallon) tomorrow. I'll hand unload in the customer's driveway but at least the loading is a piece of cake. I only need to take the truck so maneuvering is easy. Good luck!
Also must consider if customer needs you to stay on driveway. Some are fussy about driving off the driveway and rightly so. Another thing is people like it if you stack the wood but where do they want it stacked? Some want it in their basement. For sure if you stack the wood there should be an extra charge. Around here people are beginning to charge for delivery where a few years ago it was always assumed if you bought wood it was to be delivered. No so any more as it can get expensive plus all the extra work.
Can you crib stack the face cord on a pallet and wrap it with wide stretch wrap when ready for delivery?
May I suggest looking into putting a 5-10% position of physical gold or silver from the investment fund? Kids love U.S. Mint Silver Eagles.
Does anyone have any pictures of portable racks they’ve built to move firewood with they’re forks? Either loader forks or 3pt. forks. Thanks
This is what I make for uglies and shorts. Holds about 1/3 cord and is easily moved with pallet forks.
The bottom pallet isn't screwed into anything and is optional. I just prefer extra air flow underneath so I use an extra pallet on the bottom.
IMHO for what it is worth. If you want to sell firewood, don't deliver. Pick up only. You have way to many variables on distance, terrain, getting paid etc. On pick up only, people can see what they are getting, mark off with a logging crayon or paint and no investment in time.
Here's another example of their versatility. A friend of mine sent me a pic of his setup for this winter. He doesn't have time to scrounge/CSS so he has firewood delivered which he then loads into his pallet bins and stores in one of his barns. During burning season, it's just a matter of moving the bins over to the farmhouse with the tractor when needed. I believe the bins are stacked two-high in the barn.
Depends what you got for material. Buddy does sprinkler these work good fitting are $6 a piece metal is scrap
If you are only selling 10 face cords (3.33 full cords) you might be better served selling in smaller than one face cord increments. A roadside stand at your house or a relatives might be able to sell that much in a couple months. All depends on location. If you are set on delivery, toss it in the pick up bed and call it a day. I don't think you are at the volume where tractors and roll off pallets would be profitable.
Sorry I don't have any advice on how to stack it and move it but I have a son who started selling wood at the age of 6. We built a wood rack and placed out front. I periodically post on all of the local town facebook pages and now that he's 10, he is well established and is killing it. We live in a development with zero through traffic but people love supporting hard working kids. He sells $5 and $10 stacks.
