I used the neighbor’s rock bucket to move some splits today. It was great for leaving the dirt, rocks, and bark behind. It didn’t hold much wood though, maybe 1-2 wheelbarrow loads. It’s 7 ft wide, 1.5 ft tall, and maybe 2.5 ft deep. A heavy bugger at 800 lbs, but it did the job today….it just took a while. I want to build one and would like to know what people here prefer for tine spacing. I was thinking 2.5”, because I had a few pieces of firewood fall through today at 3” spacing. I am shooting for 2’ tall, 6ft wide, and at least 3ft deep. Probably use 1/4”x 2 for the tines to save some weight.
Mine is an IronCraft 5.5’ wide, 28” deeep to the outside, so 25” inside, and 18” tall. Weighs 485 lbs based on the website. Tine spacing is 2-3/4” and 1/2” thick tines, so 2-1/4” openings, not much besides waste falls through. I did manage to wedge a piece of firewood between the tines a few times. It doesn’t hold as much wood as I’d want, but it can hold more rocks than my tractor will lift. If I were to have one for just wood, it would be 7’-8’ wide, same tine spacing, 24”-30” high, with slotted sides, and probably 3’ deep or so. That way it would hold a big scoop of wood.
Firewood buckets are cool...but I couldn't personally justify one. For a large scale commercial seller that handles hundreds of cords per year and doesn't stack the wood it makes perfect sense. This is what I personally use. I can't dig into piles of wood, but it's multipurpose and works for lots of other non firewood jobs. I use it to work out of all the time. Much easier than ladders, or setting up staging. Just a thought.
Thus is what I have. Works great. Old Style Rock Bucket 1 bucket of rounds will make almost 2 buckets of splits. (1/4 cord.) Works great for cleaning up limbs and clearing brush too.
It takes me between 13 and 16 bucket loads with the 74" GP bucket on my CAT 239D3 skidsteer to put a full cord of loose rounds in my truck or trailer . Sometimes I only get 1 wheelbarrow load per bucket . And plenty of sawdust and snow. But. It's a lot easier than throwing it all in by hand . Takes me about 1/2 hour to load my truck . That's fine with me . The rock grapple bucket that I need to go pick up. Has 3" spacing . Sometimes , a small diameter round or split will fall through. I wouldn't go too lightweight on building one . 2.5" spacing would probably work for shaking out the snow , sawdust , dirt ect . For myself . I would prefer to get more debris out than keep 100% of the small stuff in . They can always be raked up with the tines. Just my take on it . The way I look at the slower production . My machine isn't a 966 or 988 . But then , it doesn't cost me like one of those would . Production is relative .
