If you burn a lot of wood you know how much work goes into handling it. After it's chopped, the wood has to be stacked and later loaded up again to haul to the stove.

Steven Kling of Taylor, Wis., decided to put his wood pile on wheels, using seven old manure spreaders with the apron and beaters removed. He leaves the back end of the spreaders completely open.

Kling got the spreaders for free, or next to nothing, from neighbors. He fills them up as he chops wood and parks the filled spreaders at the edge of a field. When he needs wood in his home or shop, he simply pulls a loaded spreader into his yard.

"This system eliminates a lot of work," says Kling. "Our house has a wood furnace in the basement, with a chute going up through a window. We simply back the spreader up to the chute. Spreaders are ideal for this use because they have big tires that can handle a big load. Each spreader holds about three face cords of wood.

"Another advantage of this idea is that the wood is up off the ground so it dries better."

Kling's collection of spreaders includes Deere, New Holland, and Patz. "The aprons and beaters were shot on all of them so they weren't worth much when I got them," he notes.