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Author Topic: Tote Cage ideas  (Read 4677 times)

Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Tote Cage ideas
« on: October 22, 2017, 09:01:35 AM »

Thought I would start a new topic with my ideas of outdoor wood storage for those of us who have no wood shed or barn to store it in the dry. I had 24 of the chemical tote tanks and cages given to me by a larger farmer in the area. I had known this guy for a lot of years and he just wanted to tidy up around his tool shed and offered to let me have them if I would take them all. After a lot of thought I come up with some easy ways to use these to better store my firewood to prevent rot. Also it's much easier to take wood to the boiler when needed. I fill these right in the woods when I'm cutting. They are stackable and allow ventilation for the wood. If you have another helpful tip on these I would appreciate the help. I wrap these in plastic once they are filled only leaving the bottom 2 feet all around exposed.
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Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2017, 09:06:34 AM »

Sorry about the bad attachments . Here is one more attempt on the photo.
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Pointblank

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2017, 11:13:07 AM »

Id like to find a cheap source for those cage totes. I've checked Craigslist a few times and they seem to run $75+ each which would get expensive pretty quick. So far I've been using a couple wood pallets that I built sides for to shuttle wood from the pile to the stove.
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Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2017, 11:44:28 AM »

I had 24 gave to me for free. I pulled the tank out and gave them to the Amish in this area for water collection. So I have zero dollars in them. I especially like the one that I flipped over and put on a wood pallet. The others are fine and I have found that cutting doors on each end to load and unload wood is the best way to go if you leave them upright. I will cut plastic and put grommets on each end and drape over them and double stack them behind my shop. So basically I'm handling my firewood twice, once in the woods to load and once at the boiler to unload.
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mlappin

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2017, 12:37:04 PM »

I bought 20 for 20 bucks apiece and the guy even delivered em.

I cut one side partially out of em for ease of stacking.

I cut the tops of the plastic tanks and fasten the tops to filled cages for cover, Then I drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the plastic tanks and then screw them to pallets and fill those as well. The wife will fill the cages, she refuses to stack the tanks though, she much prefers the half cord racks I build when time and scrap metal allow.
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Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2017, 01:10:37 PM »

Try cutting a door on each end rather than the one side. Much easier to handle the wood both loading and unloading. I really like you homemade racks mlappin. Have you tried stacking the totes full of firewood?
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mlappin

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2017, 01:16:33 PM »

Yah, the tote cages aren’t bad. The wife much prefers the ones I build though, I already have $15 a piece in em just in new cattle panels, sure not about to actually buy tubing as well. I’d like to eventually have enough built to have at least two years worth of firewood stacked in racks or totes.


Untitled by Marty Lappin, on Flickr
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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2017, 01:50:48 PM »

I cut the bottom and front of the tank and the front of the cage but leave the top bar. Have about 40 of them. They work great!
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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2017, 02:39:25 PM »

I've been borrowing a tractor to load and unload my totes. Thinking of buying me a tractor. I wandering how much a tote weighs filled with green red oak. I'm thinking about buying me a small tractor. Would a MF 245 move those around Ok?
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mlappin

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2017, 03:25:54 PM »

I've been borrowing a tractor to load and unload my totes. Thinking of buying me a tractor. I wandering how much a tote weighs filled with green red oak. I'm thinking about buying me a small tractor. Would a MF 245 move those around Ok?

All depends on the loader and how much rear ballast you have. The more reach your loader has the more ballast in the rear you need. I have a JD401C with the factory loader. We have both rear tires loaded, have 6 inch thick solid cast iron spacers on the rear as well plus two cast iron wheel weights on each tire, I can still pick the back tires clear of the ground. When handling two round bales on the front in the field I always have a third on the rear three point spear. I can handle three on the driveway without any rear ballast if I’m really really careful.
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Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2017, 03:33:43 PM »

Not a loader, a 3pt pallet fork. How much does one of those totes weigh?
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mlappin

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2017, 04:32:32 PM »

Not a loader, a 3pt pallet fork. How much does one of those totes weigh?

Well figure the tall ones hold roughly a third of a cord while the shorter ones takes four to make a cord, so find what what a cord of whatever wood your stacking in em weighs.
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Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2017, 05:15:59 PM »

Looks like 2000# of green hardwood. A MF 245 is rated at 3500# lift capacity. If I could afford a tractor with a loader I would rather have that. Maybe I could find one in the 3000-4000$$ range
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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #13 on: November 01, 2017, 02:06:43 PM »

Stay away from fixed loader buckets. Find loaders with quick change units so you can switch to forks, snow plows, and other creations as needed. Each tool is like having a new tractor.
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mlappin

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Re: Tote Cage ideas
« Reply #14 on: November 01, 2017, 02:51:38 PM »

Looks like 2000# of green hardwood. A MF 245 is rated at 3500# lift capacity. If I could afford a tractor with a loader I would rather have that. Maybe I could find one in the 3000-4000$$ range

One word of advice about pallet forks on a FEL, they work okay, but you can’t see crap if it’s lower than eye level. We used to handle seed pallets with forks on our backhoe, was a two person job as you can’t see the tips of the forks once lower than the hood.
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