This is a little project that has turned out to be very simple to do and very handy. keeps the saws from sliding around in the back of the bed and holding folds up and stores in minimal space. Less than $30.00 and a few hours to do.
Also made up a length guide that attaches to any saws bar. This keeps them uniform in length when doing large rounds. Some times my eye gets off when you start cutting 3 ft plus diameter logs.
Album by Kevin Foust. 1 - 28 of 28 Total. 4096 Visits.
1 Bought a Pressure treated 2 x 8 some bungee cords and 2 packs of screw on D rings. If you have bigger bars a bigger board would be in order as this is close on some of mine.
2 I want it to hook in between the gap of the bed and tailgate, thus not allowing it to slide forward. Got a scrap of thin steel and bent a pattern. Then to the steel pile and got some 1/8" strap stainless and cut them to length after cutting the board to bed width and laying it all out.
3 Transferred the bend lines to the 2 straps and bent them both in the press at once. Makes them the same and used a square to make sure they were straight.
4 2 simple bends and I'm good to go. Nice matched set this way.
5 Here you can see how the hook in. The 45 degree bend is needed to clear the tailgate. It just barely hits it when closed and locks it into position. Basically trapping it with no straps or bolting down, Quick and easy.
6 Put the saws in position allowing some space between. Slot positions can be added where ever needed down the road too. I just plunge cut them with a chainsaw and made them twice the width of the bar.
7 Hit them real quick with a rounding router blade to get rid of the splintered edges. Not too worried about perfection here, it's a used tool.
8 All the slots done and rounded over. Now I'm ready to attach the straps.
9 Went to the outer edge and checked to see if everything cleared. After doing so I drilled a 3/8" hole in the ends of both straps and A pilot hole in the 2 x 8. I used 3/8" lag bolts 3 inches long.
10 Putting them on the outer ends allows you to fold the straps in for storage . It also allows it to be thrown in the bed and wood stacked on top of it when you can just stick your saws into the wood load like we all do.
11 Here it is in position. Be sure to check your biggest saw but just in front of the wheel well works for mine. Next is the D rings.
12 I put them on the top edge and position them in the middle distance between the slots.
13 I then wrapped the ends with some electrical tape to keep it from messing up the paint on the truck and to get some of the slop out.
14 Put some of the saws in for a trial test and works great. When you have a bed liner saws are always moving around and panic stops will send them rolling. We have some hills in the woods too and this will keep them in place while getting there.
15 Nice ,safe from damage and tidy.
16 An inch or 2 gap in the back.
17 You can have saws going the other way as well so about 8 saws can be done easily.
18 Ready to load wood? Just fold it up and put it in the front and stack on top of it. Stick the saws in the cut wood and you're good to go.
19 Stores easily and compact. This is a nice little project that can be done pretty quickly for little money. Most probably have the materials laying around and I thought you guys might be able to incorporate this into your operation.
20 Here is another little project I've been meaning to do. When bucking up larger logs to be split I sometimes misjudge the length. That and when called upon to do firewood for others who need it shorter I mess up. Got a magnet from HF for around $7.00.
21 The way they made this is that the nut is trapped inside. Instead of sticking a screwdriver in there to tighten it, I'll just make a self locking strap with a 1/4" 20 thread.
22 Found a piece of scrap with a threaded hole all ready in it. Just cut and ground it so it would slide in the slot.
23 Got a length of stainless rod from the steel pile and spun it down to put some 1/4" 20 threads on it. I premeasured the length to 22" to the edge of the magnet(far side)
24 Took it out and threaded it. I'll put a nut on the outside to act as a lock nut.
25 Here it is all together and locked in place. I also spun a relief and marked it in red at 15 inches. This way I can get that length right with the same tool. You can mark what ever length you need this way.
26 Here is a close up of the cut in relief and painted red marker.
27 Magnet is plenty strong and just snap it on and you have a quick length guide.
28 Quick and easy and have really like how this has worked so far.
