Putting them on the outer ends allows you to fold the straps in for storage . It also allows it to be thrown in the bed and wood stacked on top of it when you can just stick your saws into the wood load like we all do. Here it is in position. Be sure to check your biggest saw but just in front of the wheel well works for mine. Next is the D rings. I put them on the top edge and position them in the middle distance between the slots. I then wrapped the ends with some electrical tape to keep it from messing up the paint on the truck and to get some of the slop out. Put some of the saws in for a trial test and works great. When you have a bed liner saws are always moving around and panic stops will send them rolling. We have some hills in the woods too and this will keep them in place while getting there. Nice ,safe from damage and tidy. An inch or 2 gap in the back. You can have saws going the other way as well so about 8 saws can be done easily. Ready to load wood? Just fold it up and put it in the front and stack on top of it. Stick the saws in the cut wood and you're good to go. .
Stores easily and compact. This is a nice little project that can be done pretty quickly for little money. Most probably have the materials laying around and I thought you guys might be able to incorporate this into your operation
Here is another little project I've been meaning to do. When bucking up larger logs to be split I sometimes misjudge the length. That and when called upon to do firewood for others who need it shorter I mess up. Got a magnet from HF for around $7.00. The way they made this is that the nut is trapped inside. Instead of sticking a screwdriver in there to tighten it, I'll just make a self locking strap with a 1/4" 20 thread. Found a piece of scrap with a threaded hole all ready in it. Just cut and ground it so it would slide in the slot. Got a length of stainless rod from the steel pile and spun it down to put some 1/4" 20 threads on it. I premeasured the length to 22" to the edge of the magnet(far side) Took it out and threaded it. I'll put a nut on the outside to act as a lock nut. Here it is all together and locked in place. I also spun a relief and marked it in red at 15 inches. This way I can get that length right with the same tool. You can mark what ever length you need this way. Here is a close up of the cut in relief and painted red marker. Magnet is plenty strong and just snap it on and you have a quick length guide. Quick and easy and have really like how this has worked so far.
Back at it and this is load 9. Partial load for load 10. Just had the stuff that needed to be split left and wanted to see how full I'd get after that was in. Dad came down and helped chunk up the larger rounds into 1/4's so I can lift them without so much straining. Most of these wouldn't fit in the door anyway. Splitter made quick work of this stuff with no straining. Makes for a nice work area, that's for sure! Load 11 Load 12 Still had some room so I cut some smaller ones that were in the yard. They were right where you see the dead tree in the upper left hand corner. No room for that one. Load 13 No room in the Inn! I'm stuffed full again with more than enough for this Winter.
To the roof again but at least that section of woods is cleaned out other than one larger ash that still has a little life. It'll be for next year as it's on it's last leg too. Yeah., it's up there. Over 18 cord in here now. I basically stack a stairway like before and keep filling it in. Next up is seeding it as I got all the brush and bark on the burn pile.
Very cool set up Kevin in Ohio... but the fire chief in me gets nervous seeing all those combustibles so close to a heat source... I don't even know where to start on calculating needed fire flow.... water and lots of it!
There is all ready water all around the heat source. Seriously though, I do keep a tidy floor under the door and close the walk in door to prevent a breeze from blowing a spark back into the stack. I had this set up for quite some time so I've learned to load just enough that when I refill it is basically burned down with no raging fire when door is opened.
Nice job with the pics Kevin. Thanks for sharing,its takes alot to take pics and post them with captions.
Kevin, I have joined this site less than 9 months ago. How in the hell did I miss this thread? You, my friend, are a very talented man. I admire you. You also prove to me that watching TV is a waste of time. Your "TV time " is doing your projects. Great!! I am 62 years old and about 2.5 years ago stopped watching TV and it is amazing what I have been able to accomplish. Here is my question(s): What kind of camera? How do you get into the groove of stopping to take photos? I get going and I never think to stop to take photos. My wife said I need to document with the camera because that is how others learn. Lead on man, well done.
Thanks and glad you get something out of the pics. I have to admit that a lot of times it motivates me to get a project done too. I have always enjoyed looking back at stuff and have learned from others projects on "how it is done". I guess some of it is giving back as others have helped me so much along the way. Friends, co workers, parents, etc. I use an old Sony Mavica floppy disc camera. East to use and takes nice pics. Original one died but you can find them around for cheap. Floppy disc drive is a hard thing to find on a new computer so if my 'puter dies I'll either have to change or find an add on. Caveman me likes to stick with things that work! I've witnessed over the years from guys at work about how empty most feel about themselves when sitting idle. Be it TV, video games, or partying they get in a rut to the point where they are broke and depressed. For me anyway, I enjoy making and doing things and it's just good clean fun. My day job requires LOADS of overtime but I still get stuff done. Generally 4 hrs a day. People always laugh when I say I go in to work to rest, but it is true. When doing a project I just keep the camera there. Stop for a water break and take a pic or when a phase is done. I do miss some when I get in a rush but it only takes seconds so it's not a big deal. Loading and comments are done when I have time. The truck project was my first attempt and I was taking 35MM pics while in the process. I did articles for a newsletter/magazine I get and the editor always wanted more so I started with that. Then computers and it became easier as there was no wait till pics came back.
Our neighbor had a larger ash tree that was taken out be EAB and he wanted it taken down. Power line on the backside. Pretty well balanced but a little towards the power line so decided to play it safe and brought the lift up Put a cable in it just to be sure. A couple old steel fence post for a dead man and put my notch in the tree. I told him when it comes down it was going to explode as it has been basically standing dead for over 2 years. Timber! Combo of wedges and cable to do a controlled fall. Most of the smaller limbs came off on their own but the 6 inch and up stayed. Started cutting it up but didn't have too much time. Large rounds here are 17 inches thick as that is what he wanted for his stove. Look skinny by the scale of the diameter. Got close on the one side of the hinge and a little wide in the center. I'm rusty. After dropping it my neighbor said," Man, you sure made a mess for my wife to clean up!" I'm planning on cutting the stump and getting a large cookie off the bottom. See how it dries out as I may make a rustic table out of it.
Saws made quick work of it. Just got the stump to cut yet. Next up is the splitting. Made one length cut for him on the stump and then cut a cookie. Cutting it with an 090 AV with a 4 ft bar. Saving a cookie for conversation piece and if it doesn't split out too bad maybe make a rustic table. I know, no chaps on here but all is well. I do wear ear plus all the time though. Only had a couple hours to split and we loaded it directly into his little pickup and then stacked. About a cord or more an hour. This cookie kind of fills up the bed. Said he's going to have them grind the stump. I told him to get a quote for 1 tree and see if they will bite His pile is growing and we stacked 3 rows deep in spots. Even with a 4 ft bar it wasn't able to single cut it. Had about 6 inches more because of the flare at the bottom.
Not all split yet as we are having rain. Filling in his ricks so it won't be an exact amount. My place is just over the hill and my big ash finally gave up. It was over 5 ft in diameter and I got 13 cord out of it. These are all pics of the same tree at various stages as it came down. This tree was the great grandpa of my neighbors tree.
Very solid tree and hated to see it die. This was a very healthy, fast growing tree at times. Some of the growth rings were 3/4" Finally quit raining and we were able to finish up the little dab we had left. the winch makes moving the bigger ones into position real easy. Dad and my neighbor are supervising. ; Pick them up from the back or sides and get them to size. We normally just back down the length of the tree when it is a big one. Into position and split off a chunk. Swing chunk and table out and split another off. Leave a hanger and you have enough storage that nothing hits the ground again till it is split. In this case, we were throwing it the back of his truck so it never hit the ground till stacked Found the piece we were looking for so we are done. He had moved the smaller stuff out as he said he could handle that with his smaller splitter. He didn't want to hold me up. Good little pile of wood and don't know for sure how much. I'm guessing 6 - 8. All I know is he is as happy as a lark!
