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Firewood Bags

Started by 250quality, October 25, 2011, 07:06:22 AM

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250quality

Is anyone using bulk firewood bags rather than piling? We do about 40-50 cord a year for re-sale and looking to get away from piling. Trouble is most people up here that use processors don't pile it but just put it in a heap to dry. (Yea right!) If the consumer see's it piled you can't keep the stuff in the yard and I don't want to ruin that.
The apache bags hold about 1/3 of a cord and just wondered ho well it would dry in such a thng. Sure would save a step in the wood buisness.
Thanks
Brian

beenthere

250
Tell us what you are thinking for an "apache" bag. I googled it and came up with women's purse-like bag with two handles. Any picture or link?

There was a member a year or so ago who was into bagging firewood, hanging the large commodities bulk bag on forks for filling and moving. Maybe this is similar to what you have in mind.

If little to no air can pass through the bag, I doubt green wood would dry much in any bag.
Not sure I understood the "yea right!" comment, but take it you feel the wood doesn't dry well just coming off an elevator onto a pile.
To me, split wood is either piled random or it is stacked in rows or on a pallet. ;)  Would you stack it in a bag, or dump it random in a bag?
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Al_Smith

 A bag that holds a face cord ? Well you certainly wouldn't be able to lift it unless you had a skid loader or fork lift .

T Welsh

Like beenthere said, whats wrong with piles? do you stack your wood? do you have a retail outlet along a highway? that you have it all stacked and pretty for marketing? for me,processing wood is all about handling the least amount and getting the best return for it. as for drying in piles,if you let it sit for 9 to 10 months it will be dry enough to burn OK. we have customers that will get there wood in early and stack it up a month or 2 before the season and they have told us that it sheds the rest of the moisture fast. give us more info on your idea. Tim

zopi

Study in sawmill and woodlot showed that parallel stacking seasoned quicker...
There is a company that makes this big drum looking thing that works like a christmas tree wrapper...set the drum over a pallet and fill with firewood...then it lifts a net around the drum...and the drum is lifted out...big net bag o firewood...cannot remember where Isaw thw vid tho...
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Al_Smith

Quote from: zopi on October 26, 2011, 08:21:09 AM
Study in sawmill and woodlot showed that parallel stacking seasoned quicker...

Well yeah I've said that for years but everybody wants to leave it in a big heap . Agh  I've got some in a heap too but I will stack it in due time .

zopi

I put my wet wood in a peanut cart..ten or twelve yard dump cart with a plenum at bottom to allow air drying the nuts...lots of natural airflow, and rain drains out the bottom...just pile it in there...maybe six cords per...thinking of rigging up a solar deal to force a thermal draft through the stack, and a set of bows and tarps on top...think mobile firewood kiln...slow..but steady...and cheap.
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Buck

Zopi, that was over on arboristsite in the firewood section. At least thats where I saw it.
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T Welsh

Zopi, this has always been a problem with firewood,how do you get it dry in bulk quantities for little or no initial investment or handling ???. we where busting out more on the processor Sunday and afterwards sitting around drinking cold beverages came up with an idea of setting a 20yd can under the conveyor on stilts and building a fire underneth it and cooking the green wood till dry :D Beer does is every time! or do you let it sit in piles for free and what for mother nature to do her thing! Tim

thecfarm

zopi,got a picture of that peanut cart? You have talked of it before. I would like to see it,since I never seen or heard of one before.
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Al_Smith

Bill Poor has a very interesting deal for his firewood .He got a hold of old airport baggage carts that hold a couple cords .The sides roll up and they can be loaded up from his pile and transported right to his house .Carry in what you need and the rest is nice and dry out of the weather .Wonderful idea .

250quality

Apache forest products is what to look for. They make a mesh bag much like and onoin bag.
What happens is you put down a skid on the ground then set the steel cube of a frame on it that comes with the system an drape one of these bags over the frame. After you fill the bag you remove the frame and you can pick up the skid with the bag of wood on it which holds its shape and can also be stacked on another one.
I did see the one with the silo style deal where it wraps it as it lifts and thats pretty slick too but outa my price range.

250quality

The problem with piles is the labour. This year we piled 33 cord and already ran out. Next year I want to hit 100 cord think my kids will leave home if I make them pile that much.
And yes the wood is thrown in the bags directly off my conveyor and not piled.
Moved by tractor and forks not by hand.

250quality

You Tube link is- B120 fast firewood bag

zopi

Sorry no pics...my only i.ternet is on the phone...
But...picture a two wheeled farm trailer...plumb sided, ten or twelve yards, with a dump chute in back...a one way dump...like a flat bottomed grain cart...the floor is perforated steel mesh....underneath is a duct runni.g the length of the cart...it gets loaded with goobers...backed into a barn with a big duct running down the length...heated fan forced air is blown through the peanuts through umbilicals which connect to the trailer...much too cold and inefficient to season firewood fast...but...it gives airflow and drainage...especially in hot weather...now my idea was to put bows over top amd tarp the thong over with a dark colored waterprroof tarp and leave the ends ventilated....at the duct in the back, a simple glazed solar oven with vents to cause a thermal draft up through the wood stack...of course this is not going to be even, or fast...but...umm..it is firewood and I am not in a hurry...
What would be the bees knees is a chain of carts on solid wheels which could be pulled through an insulated kiln and dried, then stored covered umtil marketed....load off the processor with an elevator and it goes right into the kiln, whole the rest of the carts are filled amd ready to dry...one batch comes out to be bundled then sold..or bulk packed to ship out...
Basket pallets are cool too...but a quarter cord at a time? Eh...still too much handling...

My peanut carts are ag salvage, and hold on the order of six cords stacked...maybe five loose...

Hmmm...more ideas coming...this bottle of cheap wine is helping.
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

zopi

Sorry no pics...my only i.ternet is on the phone...
But...picture a two wheeled farm trailer...plumb sided, ten or twelve yards, with a dump chute in back...a one way dump...like a flat bottomed grain cart...the floor is perforated steel mesh....underneath is a duct runni.g the length of the cart...it gets loaded with goobers...backed into a barn with a big duct running down the length...heated fan forced air is blown through the peanuts through umbilicals which connect to the trailer...much too cold and inefficient to season firewood fast...but...it gives airflow and drainage...especially in hot weather...now my idea was to put bows over top amd tarp the thong over with a dark colored waterprroof tarp and leave the ends ventilated....at the duct in the back, a simple glazed solar oven with vents to cause a thermal draft up through the wood stack...of course this is not going to be even, or fast...but...umm..it is firewood and I am not in a hurry...
What would be the bees knees is a chain of carts on solid wheels which could be pulled through an insulated kiln and dried, then stored covered umtil marketed....load off the processor with an elevator and it goes right into the kiln, whole the rest of the carts are filled amd ready to dry...one batch comes out to be bundled then sold..or bulk packed to ship out...
Basket pallets are cool too...but a quarter cord at a time? Eh...still too much handling...

My peanut carts are ag salvage, and hold on the order of six cords stacked...maybe five loose...

Hmmm...more ideas coming...this bottle of cheap wine is helping.
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

John Mc

A nice firewood system I saw somewhere (maybe here on FF, but I'm thinking I saw it "live"). The end result sounds similar to the steel cube & mesh bag that 250 posted.

Take a pallet and wrap that orange plastic "hazard barrier" fence or plastic snow fence around it. Staple it to the pallet around the edges so the fence stand up and makes a square around it kind of like a 4'x4' basket that stood 3 feet high. (He may have nailed some 2x4 posts on the corners to hold it upright - maybe not, I can't remember).

He'd bring the pallets right out to where he was splitting, and just toss the split pieces in. Never bothered to stack them. Move the pallet up on the porch when needed. When it was empty, move that one out and move the next one in. Minimal manual handling of wood - throw it in the storage "bins" right off the splitter, and it stayed there till he was ready to bring it into the house. Since the fencing had a lot of holes, air circulation for drying was pretty good as well.

This was an individual landowner, doing his own firewood, but I wonder if something similar would work for a commercial operation? Swapping out bins under the conveyor as they fill may be a hassle, but less hassle than stacking and then loading later?? You could sell it right in the pallet "bins"... if you had enough in them, nay give repeat customers a small credit if they returned the pallet bins in good shape when they got their next order?

John Mc
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

John Mc

In thinking more about the plastic fencing on a pallet method... I think he just used a scrap 2x4 on one corner, so he had something to staple the ends of the fencing to. It would also help hold it upright. Might want one on all 4 corners for commercial use, so the fencing would be less likely to flop inward and close the opening if a chunk of wood hit it wrong. That fencing does have a bit of stiffness to it, so maybe you could get by with just the one 2x4 to staple the ends of the fencing to?

In watching the B120 fast firewood bag, it's a slick idea, but the time to unhook the bag from the cube/frame and remove the frame might be a problem for commercial use?
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

250quality

I was also thinking  of the fence idea but more like some 4 foot chain link.
Usually pretty easy to find used stuff from my fencing buddies.
Also wondered about using 6" wire mesh. We use it for concrete reinforcement and it comes in 4x8 sheets.
Gonna build one of each for fun and try them out.
Will post pics after.

saltydog

I seen a setup in farmshow magazine .It was a two rows of fence post around 8 ft apart as long as you want to build it(the longer it is the more wood it will hold. I think 8ft high. with chain link fence or hog panels .you dumped it in loose it dryed because it was narrow and tall.You set it up so the wind blew through it not on the end.here you would build it north south as the wind is usually westerly.im going to try it next year just fill it with a conveyor.I have lots of post and old fence .
Proud to be a self employed logger.just me my Treefarmer forwader Ford f600 truck 2186 Jonsereds 385 and 390 husky and several 372s a couple 2171s one 2156  one stihl 066  Hudson bandmill Farquhar 56"cat powered mill.and five kids one wife.

jueston

i just ran into these on craigslist and thought of this thread


they are something like 4*4*4, and at only $5 each it might be worth it, i think some customers would like it being so orginized and neat.

beenthere

 Doesn't look like firewood would dry very well in that box.  ::)

Or are you thinking something else in the box?
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

jueston

thats true i was thinking of putting dried firewood into the box, but i guess that is just one more time you have to handle the wood.

logboy

This summer I came across a guy up north who was getting out of the firewood business and was selling off his stuff.  He used these knockdown pallet cages that are used to enclose pallet sized chemical tanks. I picked up 20 of them.  They are heavy (200 pounds each) and each hold a face cord. Now I stack my wood in them right off the processor. When I need wood in the house I pick one up with the Bobcat and set it outside the basement door and open one end of the cage.  No more multiple handling of wood.
I like Lucas Mills and big wood.  www.logboy.com

CuddleBugFirewood

I have the bags you are talking about.  I bought 200 bags and the metal "cage".  We made a "merry-go-round" that had 4 bays.  We put net bags in each bay and just rotated the bays under the converyor.  So I didn't use the "cage" as the manufacture intended and I was not impressed with the bags.  some bags would become lopsided and it was a nightmare to stack one on top of one another.  That could be our fault for not using the cage the way the manufacture intended. 

I believe the 1/3 cord measurement they reference is misplaced, they actually hold 1/4 cord of loose stacked firewood.  If you physically stacked the firewood, it would be 1/3 cord.  We ship in 53' van trailers and it was my experience the bags did not hold the form needed to ship in a van containor as stated above.  The bags would work fine if you had a place to set them on your lot for your customers.  I mostly wholesale, so I don't need them.  The local customers that have come out and picked up firweood really liked the quality of the firewood in the bags as they provide great airflow and the pallet keeps the firewood off the ground.

I also tried bulk piling firewood in a pile (150 full cords or 450 face cords) and I was highly disapointed.  the middle of the pile grow mushrooms and did not dry out, it also became dirty and black from rainwater, sawdust, and dirt from the wood on top of it.  If someone is doing large piles, they are having to dry their wood a different way or maybe doing it on concrete, because it did not work for me.  I am not talking about 6 cord or 10 cord piles, as when I first started out that is what I had and the firewood gennerally dried out fine, but if you are doing large quanities of wood, you will run into many issues with seasoning that much firewood. 

We now stack all our firewood on 1/3 cord or 1/2 cord pallets and do not use the bags.  If you are interested in the bags I would be willing to part with the remaining bags and the sides (enough for two complete cages).   

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