In the last few year I have used a two wheel hand truck and a lift strap tied to it to get a decent amount of wood down the stairs to the basement. It kinda works but it's easy to get it off balance with just one strap and can tip over the wood that I'm trying to haul. The one I was looking at is like yours and it looks like it would hold a bit more wood and be sturdy. I have a gorilla cart, but I haven't tried to take that down a flight of stairs yet. Seems like it might be a bad idea.
I've pulled it up a couple of wooden steps, fully loaded. No problems. Going downstairs would be interesting. Concrete stairs?
No, wooden ones. Their pretty good though. I've hauled a few freezers and stoves up and down those stairs. I'm getting a new stove this year though and I'm thinking I will need to build a ramp. Might just build it so that I can use it every time I want to haul a large amount of wood down it.
The wooden stairs would allow for it to slide, without damage. Concrete would scratch and gouge it up.
Yeah, and their carpeted with a really ugly utility carpet, so I wasn't really ever worried about goobering it up.
I had room for more inventory (not yet firewood), so I moved more red maple this morning. That was the first load. Mostly cut to length. Then, there were longer logs. Loaded them side ways, behind the front seats. I needed to get my yard wagon in. Pics are too dark. The wood in my temporary holding area. Guessing about 2weeks worth of burning. Maybe longer. I split and left some there for use in a chimnea. The wood was still solid - all of it.
Yeah. That's all of it. I need to check a fresh split and go from there. Minimally, I expect to burn it next fall. In total. I'm guessing 2/3 cord.
Moisture reading in a fresh split read above 30% It'll need to rest for a year, or more. It is swamp maple, after all.
This wood is now being burned as shoulder wood. While I've burned during shoulder season, I've never really had "shoulder wood" before. This wood is really dry, catches fire easily, doesn't force you to open a window to cool down. And., it's not my top of the line wood. Which is oak. I'm going to try to keep some available for use every year.
I’m (almost) jealous you’re still burning. My wife’s allergies are kicking her butt lately so I can’t make them worse by lighting the stove. I didn’t burn any red maple this past season but I have about a face cord for 2021-2022. By then it’ll be a year and a half CSS’d. Looking forward to it
Hey MikeInMa why do you call it swamp maple?? Just because in a swamp? Here that’s a red which is way better than a swamp usually silver maple or box elder
In areas where the water table is high and the ground is "swampy" red/swamp maple seems to be the most prevalent tree. Been my observation over the years. I know its the most common tree in CT. The leaves are red in the fall and when budding out the buds are red and litter the ground when they fall off.
Eric put his maple down to "sleep" for seasoning. Ill let hime explain. Great repurpose! Love that roofed rack!
As buZZsaw BRAD said, I did put my red maple down for a nice long summer's nap Being the opportunist I am, I try to see the value/potential in discarded items. In this case, the wood in this rack is all sitting on my mother's old bed frame rails she threw out last summer. At the time I grabbed them not knowing what exactly I'd do with them, only that I'd eventually have some project where they'd come in handy. Now I'm on the lookout for a dozen more sets. It's hard to beat free angle iron with perpendicular brackets at either end
Just morning fires. Usually out by noon. Chasing away any chills. Well, in this case, it actually came from a swampy area. It's just a regional nae for red maple. I guess. Colorful in the fall.