Cordwood Crane Fills Wood Furnace Fast

Cordwood Crane Fills Wood Furnace Fast ENERGY Wood Burners 65 Darrell Inkster and his wife Cathy have an easy way to load large chunks of wood into their outdoor furnace Their double-jointed “cordwood crane” with a 17-ft reach can swing a piece of wood in a 240° arc The crane consists of an 8-ft upright with a 2-part boom A 9-ft boom section attaches to the upright with a swivel point made from 2 wheel hubs A second section about 8 ft long hinges to the first section with a similar set of hubs A 12-volt winch is mounted at the far end of the boom I fabricated the upright out of 4 by 4-in sq steel tubing reinforced on either side by 2-in wide steel strap says Inkster The strap is bridged over short pieces of 2 by 2-in sq steel tubing to give the upright more strength Inkster hinged the boom at about a 7-ft height He notched the 4 by 4 enough that he could mount the swivels for the first section of boom a 1/8-in thick 2 by 6-in rectangular tube I used trailer wheel hubs with axle stubs to make the swivels explains Inkster I cut out steel plates somewhat tear-dropped shaped with holes drilled to mount them to the hubs with lug nuts With the beam and hubs inside the notch I welded the stubs to the outside edge of the upright 4 by 4 Inkster used a second set of hubs for the swivels that connect the two boom sections He welded the stubs to the end of the first section after mounting steel plates to the hubs with lug nuts The plates were then welded to the two long 2 by 2-in sq steel tubes that comprise the 8-ft boom arm Inkster has the upright secured to a tree near his outdoor furnace A length of chain runs from the top of the upright to a point about 2 ft from the end of the 2 by 6 boom arm to give it support He also attached a 1/4-in thick 3-in wide steel strap the length of the second arm bridging it slightly to give it more strength A 12-gauge electric cable runs the length of the boom to connect the winch with a solar panel charged 12-volt battery A second cable with a control switch lets Inkster and his wife run the winch Once the winch lifts a big chunk of log off the ground we can walk it over to the furnace like a loaf of bread says Inkster We set it down on the roller table and shove it into the furnace The winch has a capacity of 1 500 lbs Inkster designed the boom to handle loads between 500 and 800 lbs While it has a radius of 17 ft the winch can be let out to drag chunks of wood from a greater distance Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Darrell Inkster Box 854 Dauphin Man Canada R7N 3J5 ph 204 638-7297; darink@inetlink ca

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