THE WOODBOX SYSTEM
New woodbox design minimizes the time it takes to fill and stack wood in the box and makes for easier removal, including hinged, rotating design, instructions.
January/February 1975
By Jody Briggs
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Jody Briggs' laborsaving ""Woodbox System"" Is based on crates which he makes inexpensively from sawmill slabwood.
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What takes so long about getting in firewood? Cutting? Hauling? No. When you think about it, the tedious part of the job is the stacking and restacking, right?
Let's say you get your fuel directly out of the woods, in the form of logs. That means you've got to [1] load the firewood on a truck, take it home and [2] stack it again in a pile. Then you cut it in stove-length pieces, [3] pile these in a wheelbarrow or other conveyance and transport them to the woodshed where they're [4] stacked yet another time. Finally, you [5] bring the sticks as needed to the woodbox by the stove.
That's five handlings in all! Even if your "stacking" is really more like tossing the chunks in a heap, it still requires moving all that wood bit by bit, one or two lengths per toss. THIS TAKES TIME . . . and the messier the pile, the longer you work to dislodge each unit on the next go-round.
There has to be a less time-consuming way to move firewood from the forest to the stove. After all, the important thing is having that overflowing woodbox in the kitchen where you need it . . . so why not just take the box itself to the woods and fill it on the spot? Then you can transport the whole business straight to the house (forget the intermediate loading and unloading) and-when it's empty-replace it with a full container.
That, in fact, is more or less how I manage the job. I do my cutting and splitting in the woods where the sawdust and chips don't make a mess. Then I load the stove-length pieces-for the first and only time into an empty wooden crate specially made for the purpose. The box sits on the rear end of the truck, and when it's full I move it forward and put a fresh container on behind.
I still keep fuel in the woodshed until I need it, and I still move the wood around as much as ever . . . but instead of handling loose pieces, I work with loaded crates. When my indoor supply runs low, I put a full box on a dolly-which need be nothing more than a piece of plywood equipped with wheels-and trundle the container into a cabinet by the stove.
Granted, it takes a while to build the boxes for this system . . . but it also takes a while to stack and restack loose wood, and I'd rather spend my time on the crates (which are, after all, reusable). Actually, it's only a 20-minute job to put together the largest container I can move without getting a hernia: 27" X 27" X 18". Why those particular measurements? Because my box-building material happens to come in 27-inch pieces, and if I go with that length I don't have to do any sawing (except for the four cornerposts, which are cut to 18 inches since that's the longest stovewood I can use).
