garden cart vs 2 wheel wheel barrow for hauling fire wood

I currently have my 2001 E350 van , very useful for many things,keeps my tools dry and accessible, hauls building materials and people , no problem towing on the road ,but things than need much traction , not so much

I have done the lawn mower and wagon using my father in laws mower , it worked when i was cutting behind his house several years ago

I have thought about a 4 wheeler and trailer but then i am back to tractor like expense as i might as well get a tractor

I was just trying to think of a way that would improve my jobs without getting to expensive

At our last property, I used a wheelbarrow and a cart, and the cart won HANDS DOWN

I could easily load a LOT more firewood in that cart, than the wheelbarrow, and it was much easier to pull. One day, I had it loaded so heavy, wheel hit a rut, and it bent the axle. I told DH I broke the cart, he started laughing while he took it into the shop, and later delivered a much beefier cart (DH is a Welder...).

We still have the same garden cart after 7 years of use, as a firewood and gardening cart! Best investment I could have made for the use we are getting out of it, compared to all our other garden type tools...

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If you have a garden tractor, a regular cart/ wagon will haul a full load of wood. I bring green oak up out of the woods with no trouble. It is an old one, so it may be better built than the ones made now. It is similar to this:


Mine is not designed to dump. That makes it sit a little closer to the ground as the bed actually sits directly on the axle and tongue and the wheels are out to the side. The wheels are actually the same as on a standard wheel barrow.

I beefed the chasis up on mine last year, but it worked well for several years with no problems. I bought it used for $60. The only thing one needs to be carefull about is "dropping" wood into the bed. The metal isn't that thick and it will be dented, so one needs to set the wood in.

some of the "dump" models I see now have beds perched up too high. I would think they would be top heavy and less able to cary the weight.

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My DD gave me one like that also. The bed and sides were made of rotten plywood, so I yanked it all off, and will replace it with 2 by 12 material after hay season is over.

Ill have to replace the tires also if im going to do any heavy hauling with it.

I have an original Garden Way cart too. It's their bigger one, and I recall it's rated to carry 400 pounds. I've used it to haul wood too, completely full, from the woodshed out back to a shed closer to the house, and it's fine. The biggest asset with the Garden Way cart (and others exactly like it) is the extremely fine balance from the axle placement. The narrow wheels are an advantage in snow, and if you get the pivoting back end like we did, you can simply tip and dump your load with ease.

These days I'm using my Kubota RTV for many of the jobs that I used to use the cart for; but due to the lower bed and smaller footprint, there are still times when nothing works as nicely as the old Garden Way cart. We've used it hard for almost thirty years, and we love it.

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I pimped my wheelbarrow.I added 2 more wheels and installed solid rubber on front so no more flats.I still need to install a hand brake like on a bicycle.

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I've been hinting to DH that I would LOVE to have this as a birthday gift.

Orscheln's has it for 99.95. It has a 1000 pound capacity not that I would want to drag a half ton around the farm..

I don't intend to haul wood out of the timber with it, maybe from the barn to the house. Mainly I want it for garden work.

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We have a garden way cart and love it. We haul compost from one end of the property to the other, Hubby uses it to put the boat motor and gas cans down to the boat, the hill is a little steep and we are a little older and not as steady on our feet. If I ever found another Garden Way cart I would buy it in a heart beat.

Bad, that's what I was talking about in an earlier post

Buy the wheels and build the Whizbang! You will NOT regret it, ever.

I don't do much woodworking, but the instruction book for that cart is absolutely excellent, every detail. Take your time, let the glue dry between each step, and you'll have a wonderful cart that will last you for a very long time.

I've built 3 of them I love them so much. Modifications I made were

1) put a screw in the very corner of the outside J-bead. Otherwise it eventually pops up and starts snagging your jeans and tears holes. Ask me how I know this.

2) I made the bottom of Cart 2 and 3 with marine plywood. Why? Because I tend to leave mine out in the rain. Then the plywood starts to separate, but only after about 2 years of that kind of neglect.

My son that destroys things did crack the handle, but only because he really yanked on it with two hands right in the center. He destroys pretty much everything. Great at demolition, but I don't let him build stuff.

Beautifully balanced cart, and much sturdier than even the Garden Way. Follow all the instructions, fill all the screw holes, and stain it some really nice color. Mine are barn red and morning glory blue.

And yes, we've packed it full to the brim and over with firewood. It's also hauled multiple loads of waterlogged cow manure without any problems.

A real nice feature is that it's a good height to lay a board across and then you've got a mobile workbench. Tools in the bed and you're golden. I've sawn a lot of wood with the cart as the wood holder. And then there's the sifters that I built which fit right on the cart sides.

Buy the book direct from Kimball Herrick--he's a great downhome guy who homesteads and makes his living from selling his books. Man, I should get a commission. http://whizbangbooks.blogspot.ca/2007/12/wb15.html

I've also built his plucker and his wheel hoe. If the man wasn't already married, I might consider making a play for him.

Post Carbon

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I have a 2 wheeled wheelbarrow, a garden cart and a tow behind 'trailer' for my (free )ridding mower and I have used all of them to haul wood.

The wheelbarrow is the worse. The lack of a flat bottom means you can't really stack the wood on it which limits how much you can carry, you can only easily carry shortish pieces and you can't get the center of gravity correct, or at least I can't, which makes it almost dangerous to use. Then there's the fact its a pain in the butt to dump.

The garden cart will carry more weight in wood then I want to push/pull (pulling is easier for me) and the flat bottom means you can stack the wood to get more on it, you can put very long pieces of wood on it and it dumps everything with relative ease.

The tow behind had the advantage of being able to carry MUCH more wood than I'd ever think about putting in either of the other two, IIRC its rated for over 500#, plus it has swivel and dump ability. It can not take as long pieces of wood as the cart but it will handle ones too long for the barrow. And in a pinch you can rig a handle to pull it by hand, BTDT.

If I had to have only one for manually carrying wood or even as my ONLY carrier on the place the cart would win hands down.

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