chemical tote uses

[caveman]

The 250 or so gallon chemical totes are useful for all sorts of things.  I know a guy who was raising fish in them using an air lift pump system to circulate water, but that is for a different day.

We have one we use to collect sawdust that comes out of our blower we have attached to the sawmill.  This is handy, especially if the guy who uses our sawdust for his horse barn comes by with his flatbed truck.  I think I may try to get another in the rotation.

Adding an edger to our rinky-dink operation has been, to use a cliche, a "game changer".  It's efficiency improvement diminishes when it comes to cleaning sawdust out from under the machine and its axle.  I cut the top 9" off of the chemical container that we use to collect the mill's sawdust and slid under the edger.  It has a couple of scraps of live oak boards attached to one side to provide a place to tie mule tape or a rope to assist in getting it out from under the edger.

For mills without an axle, a deeper container could be used.  There are numerous other uses for these totes.

[doc henderson]

I use the metal cages for firewood and made a paint booth from one of the plastic liners.

[Andries]

Firewood.

Cut down one side for better access.

[TreefarmerNN]

I also use the cages for firewood.  I cut the plastic up to make rain shields on top.  I've got about a dozen totes and would like to have 5-6 more as wood stores well in them and you can never have too much firewood!

[Ljohnsaw]

I have two of these 330 gallon super heavy duty ones that will be used for my interior fire sprinkler system. Original use was sanitizer (chlorine) for a public water company. Right now, general purpose water supply for my bath house.

This 1,200 gallon one will be the domestic water supply.

[PAmizerman]

I use them for scrap that I cut off before the boards go through the edger 
I cut them 32" and burn in my outdoor boiler 

[Old Greenhorn]

Where do you guys find these cages? I've been looking but I can't find any under 75$ or so within less than 3 hours drive (one way). Having a bunch of these would make my firewood life a WHOLE lot easier, but I would need a bunch for 8 cords minimum.

[caveman]

I only have a couple of them, but they found me.  I emptied sawdust before I left for the Pig Roast.  When I returned it was about knee deep with rainwater so I guess they can also be used as a rain gauge too.  I've known of folks to use them for man baskets.  We've used them to transport water to livestock.

I don't have much use for firewood.  I discovered a couple of large oaks, one laurel and the other live oak that were down and intertwined from the storm.  I started dealing with them this afternoon and will finish up tomorrow.  There is some tension in a lot of those limbs and stems.  The root ball on the laurel oak was about 15' in diameter.  It sat back down, but I pushed it out - machines are handy.

[Andries]

Greenhorn: we find that three totes of split and neat stacked wood is equal to one full cord of firewood. 
We don't mess with shoddy marketing tricks like 'face cords' around these here parts. 
I'm having fantasies of talking my better half into building access into our house to place a full tote of dried hardwood on the floor next to the woodstove.
An insulated hutch with an access door on the outside of the house, sized to match the tote being lifted on forks.
It's a Glacial Thing people - winter's nip is in the air up here. Ask Caveman. He almost made it up to Canada . . . almost.

[SawyerTed]

Much like everyone else, I use the tote cages for firewood.  I have 2 totes with the liners I used to pump the treated water out of my old water stove back when it needed to be replaced.  I pumped the treated water into the new stove.  

For firewood I place a tote cage next to the log splitter and load directly.  The firewood seasons in the cage and I stick a full cage in the roll up door to my basement where the stove is.  

I started with sweet potato bins/wooden crates but they just don't hold up many years.  

Sometimes i use the tractor forks to hold a stack of slabs over several cages and I saw the slabs up for firewood.  The pieces fall into the cages without handling.  

[Stephen1]

Firewood. I can put 2 at the end of my covered porch. It makes bringing in firewood less snowy if that is a term we can use in the north. 
I just bought 10 more from my neighbour at my shop for $50 each. 
I use them at the sugarbush also . 
Like Andries I cut the side out of  them to make access easier. 
I have 2 teenagers that cut and split my slab wood at the shop and fill them for me. The hardest part is teaching them the difference between softwood and hardwood. 
I'll burn softwood in the house but preference is the hardwood. 
I like to separate the wood as softwood is great for the campfires.

[Nebraska]

Farm chemical businesses around here ask how many do you want.  I've seen them used as warming huts for calves, dog houses etc.

[Andries]

Caveman might use them as a rain gauge, but they have Debby Downpours in that part of the USA.
Sorry to go metric on you Kyle, but they hold 1000 liters each.

I've seen two totes with liners turned into a shower. Open up the sides and fit a shower head up top. 
Surprising what passes for 'elegant' in the North Woods. 😋

[doc henderson]

loose thrown, it takes 4 totes to make half a cord for me.  Tom, if you run across road construction, look for the concrete plant.  my brothers old company crushes the and buries them if they cannot get rid of them.  it is a wax emulsion to slow the cure o concrete in the summer.  I can get you 40 for free tomorrow, if you want to make the drive.  might even have some wax emulsion left over to try on logs.  

[Andries]

Oh man Doc, you are loose with your throwin'.

[Ianab]

I've seen those and wondered if they would make good weights for putting on top of a drying stack? Lift them up empty, fill with water, and you have 1,000 kg of weight there. Need to make sure your stack was stable of course. I guess you could even stack a line of the cages, filled with drying firewood? Make double use of your space. 

[doc henderson]

Actually, I agree.  It has been a while and by math it should take two crate to make a near half cord.  I bet 4 makes a cord.  I have a drying rack, and it holds 16-inch pieces, and is 4 feet tall and 12 feet long.  It sets under a part of the tri level house and so is covered.   � The nice thing is I can bring them close with a track loader from the yard and move them on the sidewalk with a pallet jack.

[doc henderson]

There is a place near here that does ag spraying.  they also sell the used crates.  I would be more concerned not knowing what was in them if it was an herb or pesticide.  I bet they have to wash them out and that would add to the time involved.  We have 3 acres, and I am limited by how many I want in my yard.  

[PAmizerman]

I got mine off facebook marketplace

[caveman]

I discovered a couple of large oaks, one laurel and the other live oak that were down and intertwined from the storm.  I started dealing with them this afternoon and will finish up tomorrow.  There is some tension in a lot of those limbs and stems.  

Since we were discussing firewood and totes.  I did not harm any totes today, but piled 1.5 oak trees on a pile.  It was a chore to light this morning due to the humidity.  Heck, it was hard to strike a match.  It's going now and will be for a week or more.