If you need often to leave them in an exposed spot, a short length of chain and a padlock joining two together would be very discouraging of theft - it's unlikely anyone's going to have a machine that can lift two (side by side) at once. Or if you've just got one at a time, loop the chain in such a way that a fork can't get in the slot.
More thoughts on the versatile IBC ... Ordinarily I would be happy to pick a good sunny spot for my wood and then leave it be, confident that good weather will outweigh bad over the long term, but since I was a carefree grasshopper instead of an industrious ant, and did not split my wood last year, I now have only one summer to finish it as best I can. This therefore means "active management" - exposing it as much as possible to sun and wind, and as little as possible to rain. Within reason. Not covering and uncovering several times a day, but rather looking at the forecast and planning ahead. One strength of the IBC is the large top surface area that is exposed to the sun at its hottest, highest point (Southern hemisphere summer here). However this is also its weakest point when it rains I don't have the plastic tank to cut rooves out of, so the choice is: hard or soft top? (roofing iron or tarpaulins). I've been experimenting with both. Logically a tarp is going to be lighter and quicker to throw on and off, but it's very fiddly and frustrating to tie down a tarp in any sort of wind. And they tend to pool water. And they flap about noisily and work loose and tear and ... actually I hate tarps! The latest evolution of my "tin top" concept is shown below. The "tee" clamps at the top of the vertical pipes hold a horizontal pipe that supports the iron sheets, then another on top clamps them down. The difference is this time that I've used hose clamps to "sandwich" the iron. A few turns of a screwdriver and they will slide off and the whole roof can be lifted off. The back edge is a 2x4 fence rail that is screwed into the two sheets of roofing iron, but it's just resting on the IBC - gravity is quite sufficient. Even if the wind got under it, it would just fall back in place. Actually it's resting on a another 2x4 since the slope of the roof was a bit severe (I didn't want to shorten my two vertical pipes as I have an alternative use for them at their current length). Detail: The wind here is predominantly northerly and westerly so I faced the biggest gap to the East. But I've had another of these contraptions set up for two years and it has survived several storms despite facing North, so I'm pretty confident it'll hold up.
Left is Norway Maple - on the right is European Ash... to be continued. Looks good Billy and its works too! In the end we all use what we got. I can imagine a nice line of them gonnae look stunning.
Thanks. And the best thing is that my home office and my bedroom both overlook this particular IBC, so I can gaze lovingly out the window at it in any weather for as long as I like. 'course I won't get any work done. Or any sleep.
I'm still willing to give tarpaulins a chance. The only slight innovation (if that it be) is to tie steel pipes (I got lotsa pipes!) to each short end of the green tarp below to weigh it down without tying it. The pipe in back is heavier gauge, to see how each performs in high winds. The blue tarp is just held with bungees in the conventional way, as a sort of control. Underneath both is a piece of "roundwood" (we call it). Like a round fence post. It just serves as a ridge pole to give the roof a peak and aid runoff/reduce pooling. I hope these photos show a bit smaller than previously as I've been annoyed at how big my photos have been (I hate photos that don't fit on a laptop screen)
Made a onesie for my wood. That's right a Wood Onesie. That's a single large steel pipe serving as ridge pole. I padded the ends so the lawnmower guy wouldn't get decapitated. The extra length that extends kind of reminded me of a ship's bowsprit ... so I added some bungee cord "rigging" which worked surprisingly well to keep tension over the whole surface. We got plenty of rain after these photos were taken and it shed water very nicely. When I opened a new package of assorted bungee cords I thought, "Well, those little black ones are never going to be any use". A prediction that was busted less than an hour later.
Mmmm ... I just realized something: I'm the only other person posting photos here. I think I've made a blunder. Somehow I got the idea that this was a serious version of the funny photos thread - i.e. "my Fotos" meaning each person's "my" rather than what I now conclude is the OP's "my". Apologies for the intrusion. Sometimes I can be a bit thick.
All good Billy, english language sometimes difficult language - what i wanna say and what i end up writing... isnt always exactly the same sort of. Its not too late to start yir own Fotos Thread and from time to time you can post one here just for the oldtimes sake.
Some Fotos from 1 week ago, i forgot to post. Been standing in a ditch again while cutting, rotten core but overall a good amount of firewood anyhow As soon as the swamp is dry i gonna haul it away... hopefully it will be dry in no time. The saw has a 20" Bar so youll get an idea proportions wise.
