Too far away from me but maybe close enough for some of you folks in CT. I'm talking to you buZZsaw BRAD! I'm sure there are others in CT but I can't remember off the top of my head.
That zip code is my old home town one over from where i live now. Ive looked at IBC totes and logistically they wont work for me. Ideal for tractor owners with forks. Question: how heavy is the cage?
I can take them off the bed of my truck no problem by myself. Whenever I've purchased I've always had the guy help me lift it onto the truck....but if I had to do it myself I could just roll it on. I don't have a forklift and I just roll them to wherever I need. If there is kindling in them, I waddle them left/right/left/right/etc. which I have done only once when the code inspector said it was too close to the house. I had to empty about half of the contents otherwise it was too heavy to move. I highly recommend it for storing kindling. It holds as much kindling as 5 of the 44 gallon trash bins. I take a 1/2" drill bit and drill holes everywhere except for the top. I use my rear handle Makita circular saw and cut the top off. I left the sillcock open and I try to keep the top off when I know it's not raining. Even if it rains it dries out super quick. You don't need a forklift for it. I have 2 cages now without the totes (that's how I bought those particular two) and I'm using them as a temporary place holder for the wood right in front of my front door. I cut out a section of it to make for easier access. I'm 6' tall and bending down to get the last splits was a bit of a circus act but it's a nice way to hold some dry wood. I need to move some dry wood off of the pallets and into these bins......so I can start stacking the green wood on the pallets. This is not a fbmp concern. This is just a psa for CT people. Here's a quick video I just made to show you what I'm talking about. Very easy to maneuver when empty. Drains extremely well too. I've never had water issues with them.
Oh and I can fit 2 of these totes in the 6' bed with the tailgate down. The one near the cab is installed narrow side so it fits between the wheel wells and the second is turned 90 degrees so it doesn't stick out from the bed. Strapped down with 3 straps - one for each and the one to tie the cages to each other.
Fast drying stuff. Smells phenominal too. I have some in log form and hate to buck for kindling. Gave a some to a fellow member here to practice up on his chain saw mill.
Filled up the other cage with 17% MC black locust.....your favorite buZZsaw BRAD ! I really like that buttery, smoky smell when you burn black locust. I've read some people hate it but I just love it. Working outside and smelling the smoke out of the chimney every time a new log is added to the fire is an awesome working environment. Now I have roughly 2/3 of a cord of dry, ready to burn wood 10' in front of my front door, covered with a tarp, weighed down with some splits and eye hooks, ready to go. I can't believe it but my wife actually helped stack the splits indoors after I brought in the garbage can with wheels! Super helpful!
LordOfTheFlies How have your tote cages held up with the top bar cut out? How long have you used them like that? I just bought 20 cages and need to do some cutting for access but I don't want to weaken the structure too much. Thanks.
I've only been using totes for several months but they are plenty strong with most of a side cut out IF you don't get carried away moving it with forks. I've seen guys try to dump directly out of them by picking them up, tipping and shaking. Not recommended. If you use common sense, you can reuse them over and over.
They have held up pretty well. With the crazy storms we've had I might secure them to the cages to prevent them from blowing all over the yard. I found that drilling holes into the sides really helped with ventilation of the kindling and I would suggest drilling holes first before you cut the top off (ask me why I know this) because otherwise it becomes very wobbly and hard to drill into. Keep the tops on did an excellent job of keeping water out of the kindling. Sure a couple of pieces got wet from water dribbling down the sides and stuff....but overall it was extremely minimal and if I needed to reload kindling I'd just grab from the dry stuff first anyways. My original 2 totes were purchased I'd say about a year to a year and a half ago, basically when I started splitting wood. 20 cages is a lot!! I use 2 of the cages empty as a staging station right outside my front door. It worked out extremely well in the winter....if it was a a nice day I'd bring in whatever I needed to inside the house, but then I'd fill up the cages to make sure the next trip was quicker. This worked when it snowed and I had to dig a path to the current pile I was drawing from.
Here you can see 2 totes I recently moved here.....The simplest thing for me was to cut a flap out on the side. The one on the right I tried to get all fancy and reuse some hinges I saved from the playset but that turned out to be completely unnecessary. Just two verticals on one side and you can see I used the angle grinder and a cut off wheel to remove part of the cage to make it easier to get to the bottom of the tote.
And it turns out I misread your original message. The tote cages are just fine. No structural issues whatsoever with part of it cut out.
