Jakob you have to take into consideration that your truck will use twice as much wood pulling a heavy load of wood on a trailer. I haul all my fire wood on a trailer with my wood truck, usually about a rank and a half to two rank to the load and i will use twice the wood.
2 Likes
I know I burn more wood with a loaded trailer I have been wondering where that balance is. If burning more wood is necessary to haul more wood that works until you are burning more wood than you can haul. I am really trying to get this truck running because I want to do some test runs to see how much wood I am going to need. In the Idea of sending wood ahead I thought about going half way there say wichita ks and hauling a thousand pounds of wood and dropping it there a few weeks ahead of time so on my trip it is already processed and i just stop in and get it and roll and i refuel with whatever i burned getting there.
1 Like
The kind of weight that Wayne Keith takes including his trailer too argoes is im thinking near the max you would want too haul if takeing the big roads, Maybe Wayne Keith will coment on this weight thing, Dont know how the smaller roads are out west theses days, back when i was about 12 years oldâ 1971 our famely loaded up an old chevy truck and headed too and fro ca. back too MI. Had one heck of a good time. Ask around and took 50 mile short cut through the desert fire trail . Went all over too the sites. Another trip you may be able too take later on. best wishes.
2 Likes
Having a cache of wood somewhere in the middle seems like it might make life easier - I had been thinking about the idea of renting a storage unit, but is there anyone within range of a reasonable midpoint that would be able to deliver some wood?
My uncle lives and does cabinetry work in wichita so I could at least store wood there, but he is asking some of the shops now If the waste is available.
1 Like
I like to plan about a pound per mile . Pulling a small trailer on good roads and a modest speed I usually will get better than a mile per pound .
3 Likes
Remove the word âalmostâ and I will now agree with you 100% 
I decided to try to do something useful with all that wasted heat from the charcoaling process, but the green wood caught on fire much faster than seemed possible! Seems the flames find the path of least resistance through the wood, and the pieces in that area dry out, then start to burn.
For my next attempt I am going to lay the barrel on its side, so I am heating solid steel, and letting all the steam escape through the mesh end. That way I can also rotate it to give it an even roast and it should make emptying it a lot easier.
I am up to 30 buckets of cut wood now, so I am getting there!
6 Likes
You can probably guess why I said that
Experience is often learned from failure
I tried to dry some wood in a 55 gal bbl by directing the exhaust from a 6.5 hp engine into the bottom. Charred some pieces on the bottom but found dripping wet hot wood in the remainder
DUH! ,engine exhaust has lots of water to condense on cool wood
5 Likes
I plan on building a water jacket around fuel oil drum, leaving a big door too rake the chunks out when dry. Until i get some thicker steel, probly last 3 too 5 years anyway without any fancy oils too fight the corosion. I can tie it too my home heating boiler and gain a biger water jacket at the same time, which i need anyway. The water jacket temp runs between 175 &188 BEFORE my controler shuts the fans off that feed air too the down draft through the coals gasifier boiler. SAME simular deal as our truck gasifiers , only the gas is burned just as it leaves the top wood hopper, in the bottom burn chamber.Makes for a no smoke wood burner heater.
4 Likes
I use a 30 gallon barrel layed on its side with a door and air controls on one end and one length of stove pipe running horizontal from the other end .Put a 90 degree elbow on the end of that and stick it in the bottom of a wood smoke house. Welded legs about 9 inches long on a cast iron fry pan and set it inside the smokehouse above the the opening of the elbow to force the heat and the smoke to go out to the whole smoke chamber more evenly. Never burned the wooden smokehouse down yet.Seems like you could rig a 50 gal. barrel up to dry wood the same way with a mesh to hold the wood above a smoke defuser and a30 gal. barrel off to the side for heat
3 Likes
My experience with drying anything is that it always comes back to air movement more than (or at least as important as) heat. Heat alone wonât get it done unless the heat is also moving air to vacate the water vapor. True for clothes, and coffee beans, and tomatoes, and wood and mushrooms and everything else. âŚI think your idea will workâŚ
4 Likes
I meant to say I think your idea would work well.
It would be kind of stupid for me to tell you that the idea you are already using will work. 
3 Likes
I had hoped to have run a test already so I could determine if your faith was well founded, but it has been too rainy here for me to want to try. I did set up a stand out of t-posts, and I think its a promising idea. The barrel rides on 2 round hurricane fence rails, so its pretty easy to turn. The mesh end is tilted slightly upward, so hopefully the steam will rise and find its way out.
I can report that I did finish cutting chunks on the 24th, so they will get nearly 3 months of air drying if nothing else. The ones I put in the greenhouse had already come down a few percent, so might set up some more cages out there. Between that and the drying rig, I think I will have it plenty dry.
I bought a pack of sandbags, and I am thinking of bagging them once they are suitably dry. I have not tested to see how much they hold, but I think they are around 5 gallons, and should be a nice manageable weight.
4 Likes
How much wood did you end up with? Estimated dry weight.
2 Likes
It should be 1400lbs at 43%, so if I am doing my math right, it will be at least a thousand once it dries down to below 20%. Depending on how effective the drier turns out to be, I might be able to cut some more later on and get it ready in time as well.
4 Likes
Just to help you with your planning. This is about half of the 1500 pounds I think I can chunk before March. This is all very dry stuff that has been in my wood pile for more than four years.
8 Likes
Well, I filled up this wood crib, enclosure thingy I made out of chicken wire, aka poultry netting lol. 
5ft diameter by 4ft high. If my calculations are right there should be about 1500 lbs of chunks here. I guess if youall donât show up I just have a lot more incentive to get my gasser working. I have to go back to working on my bathroom again. Wife says.
6 Likes
That looks good that will be a big benefit. Their is a slim chance I wonât make it in march It might be in august but I am shooting for march if at all possible. I have been sorting wood for the trip i will show pictures of our new wood supply later. I have to go back to work and maybe even fire the truck today. 
3 Likes
Sorting??? I expect we will have to do some sorting when you get here, to Colorado. I would guess you make up sacks with assortments of chunks that you know will work well in your setup? Just thinking.