As some of you know my arborist activity, family, and other obligations leave me with limited time for hoarding. I have been searching for a way to streamline my operation. Nearly all of my firewood is a byproduct of my arborist business and is typically dumped in windrows in my wood yard. Being limited to around 1k lift capacity on the toro Dingo pretty much limits my ability to use IBC cages. Honestly since Mike Morgan got the idea from here and let the cat out of the bag the cages have been too expensive to source around here anyway. I had seen firewood bulk bags a few years ago. They typically hold 1/3rd of a cord of wood. However, again I don’t have a big fancy tractor to move those beasts around. Doing a little more thinking and searching on this I ended up finding a place that actually sells a smaller 1/6 cord bulk firewood bag. At about 10 bucks a bag they seem pretty reasonable. I did a little back of a napkin calculating and it seemed I could use these bags with the forks on my Dingo to ease my firewood organizing problems. Anyway enough blathering and let’s bring on the I’m anticipating splitting directly off the end of the super split table into the bags and then moving them to where I want to store the wood. Thus eliminating a lot of extra handling for me. But today I had a pile I needed moved and “stacked” or should I say sacked. Today was a learning experience but the curve has been pretty forgiving. I quickly realized these bags are actually a perfect size to work with not too big and I’m able to stack two rows side by side in the bag versus just loosely tossing the splits in there. Of course the 40,000 dollar question: can the dingo lift a full bag. The answer is yes just barely. For clarification the dingo’s lift capacity is in the neighborhood of most subcompact front end loaders. The weave on the bags is fairly open and will hopefully allow for enough air circulation. This will be something that I will keep my eye on though moving forward. They are rated to hold up to 2500 pounds which I can’t imagine getting that much firewood in one this size. I tucked the loops in to mitigate any UV damage as I’m hoping to get multiple years of use out of them. I will keep you all posted with more pics and my thoughts as I continue to use these.
Interesting find Brad! You have the same issue that I have with my lil 1k forklift, load center is pretty short...that's why I built these racks. At 4' wide, 5.5' tall, and 20" deep, they will hold a lil less than 1/3 cord (unless the wood is cut longer) but the forklift handles them pretty well, even green oak, well, that is about the limit though...
Nice racks Dave! Yep similar situation here. I almost did the same thing. I’m hoping to eliminate 2 “touches” in the process by splitting into the bags. After splitting the next time I should have to touch it is when I move it into the wood shed. Versus stacking it then tossing it into the truck and moving it and tossing and stacking it into the woodshed. Time will tell if it works out though. I think it’s worth a shot.
I should probably mention where I got the bags huh or should I say duh. Northern Woodsmen 6-Pack 1/2 Face Cord Firewood Tote Bags I ordered them Thursday afternoon and they shipped quick and showed up yesterday morning via ups. Great service as far as I’m concerned.
Thanks brother! We’ll see though. I’m not 100% convinced there will be enough airflow. Second concern is if the plastic is truly UV resistant.
Nice Dave! I'm trying to come up with a similar system of racks for our Heatmaster. Maybe something that would hold a half + cord of firewood. I could lift it pretty easily with our tractor the problem is seeing the ends of the forks from the tractor seat when your trying to pick one up.
I’m following my tractor can lift more but the stack 3 times is driving me once out back; 2 plus years Then behind garage under cover to be used Then cord next to house because that stays open regardless of snow depth
That’s the main pinch point for me too. The multiple times stacking is getting old. I wish I had more time to devote to the chore but it seems like I fall behind more and more every year.
I'm all too familiar...we have clamp on forks for the backhoe at work...can't see a darn thing! The best way to do forks on a tractor is with QA...
Will you top cover them then? Seems like they'd hold a lil tree/leaf debris/moisture in the bottom if not...and then how much air flow if they are top covered? Who knows, might turn out to be the next big thing!
I don’t top cover. I know sacrilege right. I haven’t noticed any issues with not top covering. My dad never did either. It may be an issue with these but then again idk it’s all new territory for me. According to the place I ordered from their customers prefer not to top cover because top covering traps condensation. The bags are designed specifically for firewood and aren’t repurposed from another industry. The way the bag is designed every piece of firewood is at maximum 20” from fresh air. The bottom is vented and intended to be placed on a pallet so there should be good drainage and airflow there as well. As far as starting a new thing I can’t take credit. These things have been around for a quite awhile.
Barcroftb I've never seen a wheeled dingo, pretty cool. The guy I work for has a tx1000 dingo It will lift the ibc but it does nose wheelies if they are green wood
Trying something similar this year with the tote bags but with lumber cutoffs Local truss company always has a massive pile of scraps that they just burn every so often Picked up a few loads to try in the owb during warmish weather. One problem is that storing it kinda sucks. So a call to a buddy at a local seed plant got me about 30 of the big bags for free!! They throw them out when they get a few holes chewed in them, but work great for wood scraps. Have them on a pallet ready to go when full and use the forks on the bobcat to put them in the owb shed when needed
Convenient if you have the equipment to move them. Will you have them propped off the ground on some sort of pallet/support etc?
I'll be following this close Brad and I hope it works out well. In theory it should but in practice is what counts. One thought is to stack a row of them then make a cover (or use something like the galvanized roofing we use) but keep the cover a few inches above the wood. Next is how to easily hook on to pick up the bags later and do it alone rather than needing help getting the loops on the forks. Good luck.
This one is a little dingo 220. It’ll lift somewhere in the neighborhood of 800-1000 pounds depending on what I had for dinner. It’s a little tank and I’m thankful to have it. It won’t, however, lift an ibc cage full of firewood. I’ve tried. It doesn’t help that my forks are heavy and built for a larger machine.
Thanks Dennis. The loops stand up alright on their own. I bet with a little practice I should be able to get the loops on the forks without even getting off the machine. Time will tell how well it all works out.
