How to get big rounds on truck?

[fast*st]

Yeah, hand ramp loaded some 3' oak rounds, pretty much the entire tree on the truck and trailer, my guess would be maybe 6000 pounds total, my back is suggesting perhaps smaller bits or more help would have been advisable! I love motrin.

 

[Dalmatian90]

Along the lines of Guido...

I'm planning to change my normal practice this year. I used to split all in the wood lot.

New plan is, except for pieces to heavy to lift easily, just load up the truck and bring it down as fast as I can.

It's easy enough for me to find a half hour a couple times a week after work to go bang away some stress with the Fiskars (or even at lunch since I'm lucky enough to work from home 4 days most weeks). My weekend time is more valuable for bucking and hauling.

I'm also concerned the way the weather has been this fall, we might see more snow then last year when I got snowed out of my woodlot for two months.

Plus we have the convincing proofs shown on this board in recent years that rounds take up smaller volume then same wood split -- in theory I should be able to haul more down (theory in my case because I'm dealing with a cap on this pickup that may limit my ability to really fill it up).

 

[zogger]

splitting platform

My personal experience is that I typically have to roll the rounds to the truck anyway as I cut in mountainous terrain with a limited number of roads. If I split at the truck I have to load all the splits and then unload them into the shed.

If I load the rounds I am out of the woods sooner and then just roll them off the truck onto the ground 4-5 at a time and split them with the Monster Maul. I only have to move the split pieces once, which seems like a savings to me. While it only takes 1 trip to the truck to load a round, it might take me 5 or 6 trips to load all the pieces.

Works for me, it may not for anyone else.

Instead of rolling them off onto the ground, you could build a splitting platform just a little lower than your tailgate or bed. Now roll the rounds off there. There's a notch in that platform that allows your wheelbarrow in there, split your rounds, kick the rounds into the wheelbarrow (or like garden tractor and little trailer, whatever) You only have to handle the splits once, from the wheelbarrow or trailer into the stack.

Make the platform like from old RxR ties or something so it is tough enough to handle big rounds getting monster mauled on it.

 

[Guido Salvage]

Instead of rolling them off onto the ground, you could build a splitting platform just a little lower than your tailgate or bed. Now roll the rounds off there. There's a notch in that platform that allows your wheelbarrow in there, split your rounds, kick the rounds into the wheelbarrow (or like garden tractor and little trailer, whatever) You only have to handle the splits once, from the wheelbarrow or trailer into the stack.

Make the platform like from old RxR ties or something so it is tough enough to handle big rounds getting monster mauled on it.

I literally back up to the shed and throw them on the ground. I cut 18" lengths and having them at ground level allows me to hit them with the greatest force with the Monster Maul. From there I gather them up and walk them into the shed, thus only handling them once during that process.

 

[ja1724]

Lots of good discussion here. One of my problems is that a main road that I normally use for hauling my 'booty' is a 'passenger vehicle' only road meaning no trailers are allowed and definitley no towing of log splitters. So I'm pretty much left with noodling, wedge & sledge, or some sort of winch device connected to the back of my pickup.

 

[cheeves]

Ok, maybe this is a dumb question but I do alot of cutting in the woods by myself and many times I'll come across some big diameter trees. Like right now I'm working a 28" diameter red oak and a 30" diameter white oak. The problem is, after bucking them into 16-18" rounds they still weigh somewhere in the 250lb range. I can lift a few into my truck but then my back and legs say "no more".

Now I know the obvious answers here like - bring a helper or cut smaller wood but does anybody out there have any creative solutions for getting big rounds on your truck when you're alone?

Thanks much.



Shindaiwa 488 Pro 18" bar
Husky 576XP 24" bar

I put a plank against the tailgate and roll them up.