The Perfect Half Cord Firewood Basket

Today i am building a half cord basket for storing loose firewood. I planned this design around the fact that i can put it underneath my conveyor belt load them up and never touch the wood until i wanted to dump it with my tractor or skid steer. I picked up these stack pallets from a local warehouse overstock company. They were $150 a piece and i bought 6 of them. The metal to finish 1 of the baskets was $120. So all together one basket cost me $270 to make. The square tubing that i used was 1.5"x .120" and i used #6 4" welded wire fabric. I used this style basket so that i can stack a cord, one half cord on top of another. A "loose" cord where i live measures 180 cubic feet so, i had to make my basket equal 90 cubic feet. The insides of the basket measures 4ft deep, 5ft wide and, 4.5ft tall. I hope this video helps anybody who wants to build a basket for their own firewood storage.

[@BuildALotAcres]

That’s pretty cool. Great job. Nice that your girl was willing to help. Teamwork makes the dream work. Subbed

[@erikkoele1528]

Nice job 👍

[@robertward553]

Nice!!

[@heatherhaddon5489]

Good work

[@imsawsomeone6282]

you 2

[@brucebannerman6848]

Where did you find an official volume for wood that is not neatly stacked? A cord of wood is a pile of neatly stacked wood occupying 128 cubic feet.

[@williswoodproducts]

In the state of Maine a “loose” cord of firewood that is cut 16” is 180 cu ft. And a stacked cord of firewood cut 16” is 128 cubic feet. So when I stack my cords from my baskets I will get a pile that is 128 cu feet.

[@chlyon]

@@williswoodproducts I assume someone has actually tested this cool so 180 Cu feet is 5,097 L = 5 cubic meters handy

[@jakebredthauer5100]

@@williswoodproducts I infer that the state government of Maine has made this volume determination.

[@robbobcat7286]

are you in Maine ? o the sweet sound of a good mig weld

[@williswoodproducts]

I’m in CT

[@mookie0921]

How heavy is that cage empty

[@williswoodproducts]

Maybe around 200lbs or 91kg

[@christopheroconnor3509]

how many pieces

[@williswoodproducts]

How many pieces in what?

[@jakebredthauer5100]

Hundreds of baskets would be needed to dry a large quantity of firewood. 1/2 cord of green wood would be too heavy for most people. I would go with 1/3 of a cord per basket. 300 baskets at $200 per basket would be $60,000. I could build them much more cheaply with a different design and with different materials. I would go with used wooden pallets with concrete reinforcement wire mesh in a circle on them. One side could be openable. Wood could be sold in the basket instead of bulk. Your baskets are probably the kind that you need for what you use them for.

[@williswoodproducts]

Maybe I misinterpreted your design but it sounds like at that point you wouldn’t be able to stack the pallets filled with wood. 1/3 cord baskets are fine if your state allows you to sell firewood in a face cord. My state doesn’t allow the sale of firewood in anything less than a 1/2 cord. I could build them out of wood but they would not last nearly as long as a welded metal wire basket in my opinion.

[@jakebredthauer5100]

@@williswoodproducts It is two kinds of baskets for two different purposes so there is no real competition between the two. They would be difficult to stack without crushing the fabric. Perhaps a flat spot on the pile of wood would support another pallet but not in a safe manner. I would have the pallet supported by one concrete block on each side. Rot would happen but it is common to dry wood on pallets. The top and bottom would not be fastened together so it would be very simple to change a defective pallet. My suspicion is that the state is trying to eliminate confusion about the standard terminology. In no way am I implying that a third of a cord is a face cord because it depends on the piece length. For example, a face cord of 17-inch wood would be more than a third of a cord. Is it really illegal to sell 43% of a chord? I don't think the state would be that stupid. I really doubt that selling bundles of firewood is illegal in your state. A bundle would be less than 1/2 cord. If the state is saying that the measuring device cannot be less than 1/2 cord, that would make sense to me because the size would affect accuracy. For example, a 5-gallon bucket would not hold the accurate amount of wood. I suggest you read that law again to see what it really says. I can give you more details about my design and how to use it if you are interested. Cover the wood with sheet plastic and place more wood on to fasten it. Four pallets could be filled by an elevator at one time if you aimed the wood for the center of the four (two by two). Your truck looks pretty sturdy. Why don't you fill it up to the legal limit on weight and price it by the cord. Multiply the price X the cords for the truck-load amount. I expect that you would need to enlarge the box. If loading height is an issue you could dig a trench to park the truck in. Is your elevator too short to load the truck? For example, 2.17 cord times 300=651.

[@jakebredthauer5100]

@@williswoodproducts When you figure out the cord volume of one truck, that can be your measure device instead of the basket.

[@williswoodproducts]

It seems like a lot more hassle and maintenance issues trying to replace rotted pallets than spending the extra money to have a basket that will last forever. I still don’t understand what you mean by trying to sell the firewood or store the firewood in 1/3s of cords. Where I live the standard of buying firewood is either in 1/2 or full cords. Maybe a little more clarification on why storing firewood in 1/3s of cords is better than storing in 1/2 cords. I would be interested in learning more about your design Do you by chance sell firewood? And if so many cords a year? Or do you just buy or cut and split your own.

[@jakebredthauer5100]

@@williswoodproducts I have no experience using or producing firewood but because of the current energy crisis, more people should enter the business and those in the business should increase their production. I heard that Andrew was hiring 30 more men to produce splitters and processors. What is your annual production volume? 1/3 cord is more the appropriate amount that a normal tractor can handle and that can be piled on a standard pallet. The standard unit for firewood is still one cord regardless of the amount, whether it is a truck or car or bicycle or by hand. It is similar with apples and bananas where the standard is 1lb and you can buy as many pounds and fractions of pounds that you want to buy. It is a simple calculation the cash register can do in a flash. It multiplies the price times the amount. I think you should decide how much you can load on your front axle and on your back axle and fix the truck to haul that much. Then you would set a price per cord for a truck-load amount. You would know how much your truck hauls in cords and use the truck to measure the amount. For example, if the price is 300, and the amount is 2.17, multiply those two numbers (651). My understanding is that wood pallets cost very little and if you put them on blocks as I said, I expect they would last a long time. If a pallet becomes defective, you simply quit using it. The pallets are separate from the wire when they are empty. The middle part of the pallet would stay dry and the edges, being exposed, would dry quickly. The top would be concrete reinforcement wire which comes with various sized holes and various gauges of wire. Normal is 5 ft tall and 50 feet long in a roll. Cut off an appropriate length and finish the ends with a rod or pipe or stick of wood. Fasten the ends apart for access to the wood. If storing the pallets side-by-side on blocks, one block on each side is shared with the adjacent pallet. The purpose of the pallets is for no-touch firewood but you do not want to spend a fortune to build them. Few people have access to those metal pallets. My idea for the truck is bulk firewood. My idea for the baskets is packaged firewood. These are two different systems, not to be confused with each other. You can use both systems in a combination that you see fit. What questions/comments do you have?