New Firewood Cart

Peter Rideout

Member
Messages
1,662
Location
Nova Scotia, 45°N 64°W
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This is not fine woodworking, but a very satisfying job to have done over the past couple of days.
We heat the old farmhouse almost entirely with wood, about six cords most winters and the wood gets heavier every year. The job of moving it from the throwing in side to the piling side with an old wheelbarrow has been the most tiresome aspect. This unit is like an old "freight wagon", but just 16" wide. I made it 6 feet long and my uprights are 4 feet, so it should move a quarter of a cord with no extra lifting of wheelbarrow handles. I shimmed the fixed middle set of wheels down a half inch so it pivots easily around it's mid point.

There's a load on the dump trailer under a tarp, but I'm out of gas tonight. Almost looking forward to moving some wood tomorrow evening!
 
Great solution Peter. Did the old house always have a concrete floor or was it an upgrade?

The basement was very low, with a dirt floor, so we dug it down about two feet and put in the concrete floor about 20 years ago. You can see a retaining wall we built at that time to support the bottom of the stone foundation. In retrospect, we should have been bolder and figured out a way to drive right in with wood.
 
Looks good, I'm sure it saves a lot of time taking a large load at a time vs all the travel with the wheelbarrow. I'd probably move the job outside with one of these... http://www.hardyheater.com/

My wife's grandfather has one they heat their farmhouse with. He loads it up with wood twice a day usually and takes care of the heat as well as the hot water for the house. In the summer months he uses the coil/air exchanger to run spring water through and cools the house since the spring water is coming in at 55*.

He does have to trek out into the yard about 15' to load it, the unit and the wood are under cover, and doesn't have to lug the wood into the house to burn it.
 
Looks good, I'm sure it saves a lot of time taking a large load at a time vs all the travel with the wheelbarrow. I'd probably move the job outside with one of these... http://www.hardyheater.com/

My wife's grandfather has one they heat their farmhouse with. He loads it up with wood twice a day usually and takes care of the heat as well as the hot water for the house. In the summer months he uses the coil/air exchanger to run spring water through and cools the house since the spring water is coming in at 55*.

He does have to trek out into the yard about 15' to load it, the unit and the wood are under cover, and doesn't have to lug the wood into the house to burn it.

Those are good units Darren and as all parts of our system are depreciating (including us!) we're considering all options. One of these in a detached garage is a possibility. My wife, however, is not convinced and says as she gets older she wants to be closer to the heat, not further away!
 
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This is not fine woodworking, but a very satisfying job to have done over the past couple of days.
We heat the old farmhouse almost entirely with wood, about six cords most winters and the wood gets heavier every year. The job of moving it from the throwing in side to the piling side with an old wheelbarrow has been the most tiresome aspect. This unit is like an old "freight wagon", but just 16" wide. I made it 6 feet long and my uprights are 4 feet, so it should move a quarter of a cord with no extra lifting of wheelbarrow handles. I shimmed the fixed middle set of wheels down a half inch so it pivots easily around it's mid point.

There's a load on the dump trailer under a tarp, but I'm out of gas tonight. Almost looking forward to moving some wood tomorrow evening!

Fine woodworking?? It seems very fine to me Peter. what would you want to do? Use mahogany and french polish on it?
 
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