willie in mn
Well-known Member
Beaver Islander's thread below reminds me of my younger days. We didn't have such conveniences way back when. I was always trying to find ways to use a machine to do the backbreaking hand work.
This will probable get a bit longwinded. I don't burn wood, heat with pellets, but that's another story.
Fast forward to when I retired a few years ago & moved out of the big city. Neighbors all had stories about being snowed in for days at a time, so I bought a tractor with loader.
Jim, guy up the road, was using his ATV & small trailer to move his firewood. Cut logs in the woods, lift chunks into trailer, haul home & lift them again. After splitting, stack in pile, then load by hand again to haul to the house. Plowed snow with the ATV too. Called for help a few times to lift/drag logs & rescue when he got stuck plowing snow. Bought himself a Bobcat a few years ago.
Things have progressed since then, I have tought him to use his brain instead of his back. He uses grapple on Bobcat to drag/carry logs out of woods & stack near splitting area by shop, built a rack to set logs on so can cut to length while standing straight up, roll chunks onto splitter instead of lifting from ground, made a table on splitter to catch split chunks. Built a bunch of baskets on pallets to stack split wood, use forks to transfer to storage area, & move to house as needed.
House is on hillside, can drive to basement entrance, so after dropping a tree, the next real lifting is to carry an armload inside to furnace when needed.
More to follow.
Willie
This will probable get a bit longwinded. I don't burn wood, heat with pellets, but that's another story.
Fast forward to when I retired a few years ago & moved out of the big city. Neighbors all had stories about being snowed in for days at a time, so I bought a tractor with loader.
Jim, guy up the road, was using his ATV & small trailer to move his firewood. Cut logs in the woods, lift chunks into trailer, haul home & lift them again. After splitting, stack in pile, then load by hand again to haul to the house. Plowed snow with the ATV too. Called for help a few times to lift/drag logs & rescue when he got stuck plowing snow. Bought himself a Bobcat a few years ago.
Things have progressed since then, I have tought him to use his brain instead of his back. He uses grapple on Bobcat to drag/carry logs out of woods & stack near splitting area by shop, built a rack to set logs on so can cut to length while standing straight up, roll chunks onto splitter instead of lifting from ground, made a table on splitter to catch split chunks. Built a bunch of baskets on pallets to stack split wood, use forks to transfer to storage area, & move to house as needed.
House is on hillside, can drive to basement entrance, so after dropping a tree, the next real lifting is to carry an armload inside to furnace when needed.
More to follow.
Willie
