# 1/2 Cord Wood racks for tractor forks



## tkirk22 (Jun 13, 2008)

Here's the first and second version of my wood racks. They hold a half cord each and are made to be picked up with backhoe bucket forks. I'll move them away from the house in the summer and in the winter I'll drop one at a time on a wheeled base that can be rolled to the front steps.

On the first one I made, the pallet sits directly on the ground. I revised the second one to include feet to ease wood loading and fork access. Models 3 through 6 will have 4x4 skids as 'feet' for better durability and I'll also spread the uprights out a little more and make them 5 feet tall. 

I have a plastic roof for two racks that will be secured to the center uprights with a rope loop and it will be free to ride down with the wood as I burn it.

It cost more than I had planned as I was initially planning to use free scrap wood for the top half but as the wife said we'll have them for years.

For you guys with tractors, I recently saw a guy who took an old hand powered pallet jack and welded on connectors to attach it to a 3 point hitch. The old broken pallet jacks are cheap if you can find them.  I've also seen similar wood racks made out of 3 moving pallets.

BTW, those logs in the one picture are the ones that laughed at my little electric splitter.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jun 13, 2008)

Looks like you went with PT wood there.  Are the pallets PT as well, or just some you picked up?

Good stuff- I like it!


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## tkirk22 (Jun 13, 2008)

It's all pressure treated. The pallets are made from 4x4s with five 2x6s as a deck.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jun 13, 2008)

That's the way to go my man- if you didn't use PT- you'd be building them new every year as the bottom weakens and you go to lift them with forks


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## Nofossil (Jun 13, 2008)

I'm toying with the same idea, but you must have a heavier tractor than I do. My rack holds a bit less than a third of a cord, and it's too heavy to be comfortable. I'm looking at making a set of short rear forks that attach to the 3-pt hitch. My plan is to make a couple dozen of these and load them in the woods, then line them up in my drying area, then transport them into the basement with the tractor.


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## tkirk22 (Jun 14, 2008)

nofossil said:
			
		

> I'm toying with the same idea, but you must have a heavier tractor than I do.



Well, that's the kicker. It is a larger tractor  but I haven't yet put the forks on the bucket. I'm slightly concerned that my tractor may not be able to pick up the load because of the extra leverage of having the forks hang off the bucket. I have picked up trees much heavier than a half cord and I do have confirmation from a good source that it will work with ease so I'm hopeful. By next week I should find out for sure. Otherwise it's plan B...whatever that may be.



> My rack holds a bit less than a third of a cord, and it's too heavy to be comfortable. I'm looking at making a set of short rear forks that attach to the 3-pt hitch. My plan is to make a couple dozen of these and load them in the woods, then line them up in my drying area, then transport them into the basement with the tractor.



Try to find an old pallet jack as mentioned in my first post. It has the main parts, you can buy the 2 bottom pins easily and will probably just have to make 2 plates for the top mount. If you ever make your way to East VA, I know where there's a few tucked away in a barn. He wanted $75 for one a few years ago.


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## DKerley (Jun 17, 2008)

Here is a picture of my 1/2 cord rack. The uprights fold down flat for storage.


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## dolmen (Jun 17, 2008)

Hi DKerley,

Thats whats so great about the web, info from experience crosses the world so easily. That is a great design for drying your logs, I like it a lot ;-) I might even have enough 4''x4'' to make one. What length is it please?

Thanks for sharing

Cheers

;-)


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## DKerley (Jun 17, 2008)

Hi Dolman,

Here is my first sketch of the design. It changed during the building process but the dimensions remained the same. The uprights are hinged with a piece of 5/8 rebar. The rack takes 5 - 4*4*8', 10-5 1/2 lag bolts and 24" of rebar. The uprights lock against the lower cross members so that there is no need for a cable across the top.  Good luck.


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## tkirk22 (Jun 17, 2008)

Doug,

I do like your design and I thought about building them like that in the early stages. 

I cut my wood between 12 to 16" and I figured that it would be more stable for moving and be easier to stack if the rack was in a block form. I can also drop the pallet right on the sidewalk and roll it near the door. That would be difficult or impossible for me with any rack over 5 feet wide.

One downside is that the wood won't dry as quickly as in your style rack. I thought about trying to stack them in an HH fashion with the center splits vertical to aid ventilation. I also though about wrapping one in clear plastic with a vent to try to make a poor mans solar kiln. Then again I may not ;-) I have plenty of dry wood for next year so I'm just kicking around ideas.


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## dolmen (Jun 17, 2008)

DKerley thanks for the quick and helpful response. I'll have to make a couple of those when I get time ;-(

Cheers

;-)


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## renewablejohn (Jun 17, 2008)

I use the metal frame of the IBC containers to store the logs in the polytunnel then pick them up on the 3 point link of the compact tractor.


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## JustWood (Jun 17, 2008)

I found an old 10 ft dump truck body and torched it in half.  2   -  3x5x7.5 buckets that hold a full cord heaped.  They are heavy but I have a 8000 lb loader to handle them. I have seen guys use old fuel tanks cut in half also.


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## ISeeDeadBTUs (Jun 18, 2008)

A cord of red oak lists at 3,757 #. Thus a 1,500# cap skid steer should be able to lift about 1/2 cord. Depends on terrain.

Go with a heavier skid stter, or go with tracks which will be more stable.

Jimbo


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## tkirk22 (Jul 7, 2008)

We built the fork hooks and 4 more racks last week. I used 5ft high sides for the new racks which proved to be just at the limit for my hoe. When fully stacked with fresh cherry, I could lift it, but the weight was too much for my tilt cylinders. We ended up taking about 300 pounds off the top and all was well.

If someone builds something like these, the weak link is the top cross connector that holds the two side in place. It really needs a steel strap to strengthen that joint.

Needless to say, as soon as we moved the last rack, I found a source for $1 pallets. I'm going to try a few of those with pressure treated skids on the bottom. We have another 2 cords to process and it's too cheap too not try.


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