I have my Grandfather's red Star Hardware wheelbarrow. But it's kinda small. I am borrowing a friend's much bigger, used for mixin concrete, Wheelbarrow, but I can't keep it. So I looked at various models online, meant for hauling wood and decided to build my own. I bought the cheap Star Hardware model. Man, are they chinsey relative to my Grandfather's 20+ year old model. I moved the wheel about an inch ahead so I could tilt it without the bar in front diggin into the ground. Between uneven terrain and my height, that was necessary. After a few ideas, this is the one I ended up with. I might make the deck longer toward me. I would like to add a bumper at my end so I can stack wood a bit higher toward the back. I stayed away from dual wheel models as terrain would make those pitch my wood all over the ground. I kinda like the flat, low to the ground design: I can stack other things on it, CMU's, bricks, stones, buckets of stuff. Dog for scale...
I know exactly what you are talking about with the two-wheel design. I have one and my yard is kind of flat but if it isn't a putting green, it might not be the best design. I thought about taking one wheel off and going back to old school, but I don't use it that much, so I just don't overload and maybe make one more trip.
I move wood from stack to shed here, and for deliveries where tossing twice would be more work. Since I split on site, I might be able to use it there too, rather than tossing twice before getting to the trailer.
You'll have alot of weight to lift, unless you can somehow get some of the weight in front of the wheel.
Yeah.....I thought of that.....both rear weight and front weight. If it's stacked high and I lift the handles high, that might offset the weight over the wheel....will be fun to tinker with!
Nice build Dave. I see the pooch enjoyed it. Give her a ride around the yard? All kidding aside i love my wheelbarrows. SOP for my firewooding here and at storage. I have an 8ft3 two wheeler that i love. Of course i still overload it. I didnt think i would like a dually but less tipping factor when you overload like i do. I know campinspecter has a couple similar wheelbarrows. Maybe he can give you some input.
Nice build. What you’ve made is a masonry/brick wheelbarrow. Dont see them alot these days anymore. Pushed quite a few bricks, blocks and rocks on one of those. Still have it in the barn. It’s retired LOL As for tires I think an ATV tire of sorts would be a great all around tire. Not a super wide aggressive rear tire design, more of the narrow turf friendly round profile front tire design. Offers more width but not too much. Better for terrain and soft ground. My mother is married to a wheelbarrow. Uses one everyday almost. She had a flat tire I bought one of those box store no flat tires. It was a thinner profile. I knew it was going to be trouble but she needed it NOW!! Well sure enough the thinner and harder tire didn’t make her real happy. Bumpy and sinks into the lawn easier. Ended up getting a regular heavy duty tire again. Bon 11-305 Single Knobby Tire Brick & Tile Wheel Barrow With Wood Handle - Walmart.com
If this one doesn't fill the bill, I'd like to find parts and build a proper one. a bit wider turf type tire make sense. Along with longer and sturdier handles. To your point, I'll use the heck out of this thing all year. I don't know that I'll ever have need to move wood in snow, but a strapon snow-board would be fun to try.
A skibarrow? You know that’s gonna get a google search LOL I think you’re gonna be happy with your new barrow. The rear lip you mentioned would be a great addition. Firewood doesn’t stack as well as bricks, you’ll want the extra capacity. Top of my head I’d suggest about 3/4 the height of the front. Don’t need to use it all if you don’t want.
you're right on all points. It will be useful. 3/4 height is a good place to start. I will do that. Most of my wood is 22" so there will be more stability than with 16" pieces. But I move shorties for one friend. I might be tempted to fabricate sides of some sort for those. Or maybe I'll keep a couple totes handy for that move.
When i first started burning wood in this house i used a big tire 2 wheel dolly to move wood around. Would set it down in the horizontal position and stack wood on it about 3ft high or more in the middle. Then used a ratchet strap to hold it all in place when i wheeled it around. Point of the story was if you can figure a way to ratchet strap your load you might fit more and it'll be more stable.
We have one of those old heavy wheelbarrows like we used to mix concrete in. My son tried to see just how much wood he could move with it and he managed to fit 60 splits! It was stacked to the sky. I think a more normal load would be about 30 splits. It sure doesn't take many loads with that wheelbarrow to make a cord. It doesn't flex and twist like the new thinner models either.
