Hauling Firewood with Polaris Sportsman 850 ATV

[JGaulard]

It's been a very busy day. As you may already know, I've been cutting down many trees for firewood on my land recently. I own about 15 acres of beautiful forest. It's got rivers and streams, pine trees and hardwoods. I've actually never seen such a mix of natural beauty. There's a bit of everything.

Every morning we walk our land with our morning coffee. I'm not sure how my lady and I got into this habit, but we've been doing it for months now. Probably since spring. As we walk, she feeds the birds from her hand and I scout out the next dead tree I'd like to take down to split up. What I do has turned somewhat into an obsession; one I'm not sure I'll ever get over. There's a thing with firewood - it becomes addictive and the longer a man burns it, the more he needs to burn. I have gotten to the point of never having enough firewood. I suppose there could be worse addictions.

Over the past few weeks, I've taken down a number of trees, cut them up, and have split up all the logs into firewood sized pieces. I stacked what I split and had every intention of leaving it in the woods to dry until next October. The thing is, I wasn't happy with the bottom layer touching the dirt because that dirt will rot the wood. The thought of my firewood rotting away made me lose sleep. Because of this, I decided to pull out my trusted Polar ATV trailer and my 2018 Polaris Sportsman 850 ATV to do a bit of firewood hauling. The trailer is fairly large, so it doesn't take me long to transport the wood from out back to the front of my house. The previous owners of the house poured a large concrete pad out front and it's perfect to stack firewood upon. I used cement blocks at end pieces and some old 2x4 lumber to keep the wood off the ground. And today, I hauled just about a cord and a half. I still have at least another half cord in the woods. I'll get to that in the morning. It's supposed to be a chilly 20 degrees in the morning which will make my working even more brisk and exciting. I do love the cold.

When I took the photos down below, I had only brought out one or two trailers full. By the time I was finished this afternoon, just as the sun was setting, I had stacked an entire row and had to set up another. I got about half way through that second one and I'm sure I'll top it off with tomorrow's wood. The concrete pad is 24 feet long, so each row I stack at four feet high is considered a cord. It's so neat and easy this way. I like knowing how much wood I've got.

Anyway, enjoy the photos. I'll update this thread tomorrow with some more photos of my piles.

 

[JGaulard]

Not bad for an idea I had a few weeks ago. I saw a dead tree, took out my chainsaw, and began cutting. All in all, I harvested about 2 1/4 cords of wood. That's a lot more than I thought I had. At first glance, I estimated about a cord. What a pleasant surprise.

I just finished up hauling this firewood up to the front of my property about a half hour ago. Today wasn't nearly as much work as was yesterday. Today, I only needed to make seven trips while yesterday was at least double that. At least this part is finished for now. I get to enjoy looking at my nice shiny new firewood dry up and season for at least a year before burning it. That's plenty of time to allow the soaking wet white birch and black cherry to dry. I really don't know why that wood was so wet, but it was. It's dried up a lot already though.

I snapped a few photos of this season's haul. Take a look and enjoy. Also, if you enjoy cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood as much as I do, please let me know about it down below. This is a great hobby for me. I love it with all my heart. It's such a great way to connect with nature.

 

[CaptainDan]

Are you going to leave that outside during your burn season or are you going to restack it inside? I would think it would get wet out there in the rain and snow, even though you've for the plywood on top.

 

[JGaulard]

Are you going to leave that outside during your burn season or are you going to restack it inside? I would think it would get wet out there in the rain and snow, even though you've for the plywood on top.

My initial thoughts this year were to stack all my wood up on the concrete pad and leave it there forever, even when I'm ready to burn. I currently use an open and well vented garage to store all my firewood, but I've been doubting its ability to dry the wood on time. Now though, I'm thinking that if I store the firewood outside covered for at least six months and then move it into the garage in the fall right before burning, it'll be well seasoned and ready to go. I just need to make sure it's super dry. It's pouring rain out there right now and my plywood is shielding the wood from some of it, but not all. One side is all wet, which sort of defeats the purpose. Corrugated roofing would be much better. I can get 16 foot lengths, which would be perfect. I'll need to do that one of these days.

Also, the reason I considered keeping the wood out on the pad was to give me some more room in the garage. But after looking at the situation this morning, I realized I have plenty of room in there, even with the firewood. So that's where I'll keep it. It just need to season more before going in. This, of course, is until I build a legit wood shed outside on that concrete. Then I'll keep it out there all the time.

 

[JGaulard]

I had a few Maple trees fall over the winter, so I cut, split, and stacked them with the other wood I previously stacked above. I still have a few cords to get to back in the woods as well. In early March, I ordered three cords of mostly Oak from a local firewood guy. In the photos below, the four piles that are together came from my property and the two lonely piles came from the firewood guy. I've been stacking for days, but I'm finished for the moment. Until I continue on this week back in the forest. Check it out - there are nine cords in all in the below photos. I've never had so much firewood. The reason I am collecting so much is because I'm finding that my firewood isn't properly seasoned when I burn in over the winter months. I'm trying to get a few years ahead, especially because I have a lot of Oak in these piles. That's notorious for taking at least two years to season. Also, the reason I know there are nine cords here is because I had three delivered and those deliveries are very accurate. They come dumped from a measured truck out of Madison, Maine. The two piles you see together are three cords. I simply multiplied by three.