Kubotas at play. Er, I mean work!

Making progress

 

Looking good, my friend

 

A new setup, works great for moving the big totes

 

Put the MTL grapple on the front with forks on back. Had some red oak and small cherry on our place from Helene, a good distance from the processing area. Made 3 trips and got it all moved. Easier than hooking up the dump trailer...

 

This is what Orange Crush with grapple/forks setup moved in 3 trips...

 

Do you need someone to clean those plastic pallets out of your yard?

 

Right? I mean, they're not being used at the moment.

 

Sure, I'll swap some totes for plastic pallets......

 

I have an option on some 5$ and 5 minutes away worth it or focus on totes for Kubota?

 

If you have forks for the Kubota, I would get totes. Stack once, then move to burning area. Plus will hold up lo ger than pallets

 

Thanks TJV I got $1200 dollar bid to change my pin on bucket to SSQA with forks and bucket

Ill get plastic pallets for the slow transition to Totes.
1/4 cord per tote; 3 year plan; 5 cord year so minimum 60 totes that’s $5,000 at normal prices


Yeah we save $ with firewood

 

That's not a bad price for the conversion. Adapter plate for loader is $500-600+ new. We paid $250 for a used one when we changed the L3130 over.

 

If you stack above the top rail on the 275-gallon IBC totes, you should be able to fit 1/3 cord (if stacked inside, not thrown in). Still adds up to a LOT of totes if you're looking to only use totes for storage on a 3+ year plan but would lessen your amount needed to only 45. I'm still on the fence about getting some, but would be looking at them to augment my stacks, not totally replace them. I'd probably only get 9 to 12 for storage of 3-4 cords and stack the rest.

There are countless videos out there about using the totes, but this is a short one showing how much can fit inside them for your Sunday morning entertainment.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rnOpPzJ1fY

 

Yeah adapter plate was new, then used forks heavy duty, then regular bucket cut welded to be SSQA

 

EODMSgt thanks for tip and entertainment.
My lot is 400’ by 2500’ the swamp take up a piece; but the garage and barn are on the property line and driveway/road goes out past them to the processing area, which kept moving as I made more of my land usable from 30-55 yo. As ability declines, I want to keep using wood BUT I process it 500 yards away. Then because snow gets too deep in fall I fill 6 cord rack behind garage. Then over winter I fill 1 cord racks next to stove room. Each and every split gets restacked at least 4 times. That is and not sustainable

 

Over the years I think many (if not most) of us try to find ways to reinvent the wheel when it comes to processing/storing firewood, especially as age and health issues creep up on us. I personally don't even really like the way the totes look (too 'industrial' for me), however they do make life easier.

 

Made a path for some fencing. Grapple worked awesome.

 

I got some wheelie action yesterday but no photos.

 

I know what ya'll mean. We finally figured out that building sheds wasn't the best way, especially with us selling some wood. We still use both sheds and totes.
Cons of totes...initial cost and availability, needing equipment able to move them.
Pros...last a very long time, ability to stack wood once in them until use, dries better than stacked in shed, can be stacked 2 high if needed.
What I like about the totes is the ability to stack the same amount in each tote, especially if selling wood...ie, truck load price, they show up with Toyota Tacoma or F250 with 8' bed...
I like having wood in a shed for personal use, since we have those built, but totes are getting plenty use for our wood also.
They work great for chunk storage bins...

 

Does it bother your back any loading and unloading totes? I see all upside for my personal use wood if I could just tractor wood totes up to my house, instead of filling racks.