I want a self loading hand cart for moving woodchips

I want wood chips but kind of dread moving them.
I have no place for wood chips to be deposited that is also OK for them to stay indefinitely.

I have moved from shoveling into wheelbarrows and buckets to forking onto tarps, and that has helped,  but I'm still gunshy about seeking new loads of chips.


This is the challenge that has me thinking about a building a  "new" kind of garden cart.
Here are some photos that get close to what I'm imagining:

Here is close to the ideal form.
It's kind of expensive, and the wheels are small.
I would like to build a diy version

This is a deer hauling cart.
The triangle design is typical of these carts, the solid sides are not.
Most of them have a folding skeletal/ladder frame.
I'm imagining a plywood or sheet metal skinned version, with a toothed blade.
I'd like a  handle that is built and angled to transfer the weight of one's body to the front of the cart.

This is a carpet roll dolly.
It is a lot like the deer hauling carts, but built solid, not collapsible and with smaller wheels.
I can imaging this framework,  built of wood and skinned with sheet metal.

So basically you want a big scoop shovel with wheels so you don't have to carry it to where you dump it.
I use this cart that way.   It has too thick an edge to actually scoop into the pile but enough that a lot can just be pushed into it before pushing the handles down and it dumps the load back int the bottom of the cart.  Being molded as one piece it has been very strong with the sides and and handles for the heavy lifting but using it to scoop up a heavy log cracked the front edge and I had to reinforce it by screwing a board on the underside.

I have heard good things about the product that Hans has posted. It is a workhorse for a lot of backyard folks with the big wheels.

If I had one I'd probably prop it forward by my pile, Fork a whole bunch of stuff in it, and cart it away.

I do like the thought of the carpet dolly as a framework for a custom build though...

Hans, because I'm cheap and I like to futz around, I will still consider ways to DIY something but it sounds like that cart would do what I need.

Possibly plywood sides and and back with sheet metal front scoop with a steel bar for the front edge.  If you can find one to measure to get the balance proportions right it might save a lot of redoing in the build.
If the sides extend behind the back wall enough to make a hand grip on each side at a good height to push the scoop into the pile with a wiggle motion might help.
Hope you can document the build so the rest of us can benefit.

Snow scoops are great for this. Some people already have them but forget they have summer uses. They hold a good volume and slide easily on grass, dirt, sand.

Wouldn't the carpet dolly model need to be altered to allow it to dump? How would you unload a version that looks like the carpet dolly?

I was thinking of it mostly as a framework that I could build.
The geometry can be altered to fit our specific needs.
That said, I do have an idea for emptying any cart.
It's hard to describe, but basically, the cart is lined with tarp and to empty the cart, you pull on the back edges/sides of the tarp.
The front edge of the tarp is secured to one edge of the cart.
In our cart, that would be the "digging"edge.
You can also secure the taro edges with rope tied to an anchor  and then back the cart up.
The

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How about a sheet of cow hide put on the ground with buckles  all the way around ...

Over this take  an car engine car lift and give it wheels....


Then connect each of the corners to the cow hide  and lift with the hydrolic press...  lifting up the chips you raked on. by the cornes ....

On our farm we found an old car hood turned upside down worked excelent  to load on, and to pull.

People use weathered plywood as skids for all sorts of bulk materials, with 2x4 or 2x6 sides and a sturdy tow bar in front/back

Bonus points if you have a bunch of them laid out and the truck dumps your chips right on top.

Mart Hale wrote:On our farm we found an old car hood turned upside down worked excelent  to load on, and to pull.

I have seen that done, and it works. I use winter poly sleds for the same purpose. It's easier to load when you only have to move the stuff over a 4-6" lip.

My current tool for most loose materials is just a tarp with rope through the grommets.
It takes all most the lifting out of the process, but each fork or shovel full still takes its toll on this old man.

The advantages Im seeing in a wheeled shovel/cart thing is leverage, with he wheels acting as a fulcrum.

Maybe it isn't even worthwhile for woodchips, as they don't really weigh that much.
If they are in a pile, pulling them onto a tarp might be better than digging in with a fork.
A potatoe hoe or refuse fork could be perfect in this role.

Refuse Hook

A potato hoe or refuse fork could be perfect in this role.

Yes using one this week loading vines into the cart.  Pulling into the cart your body stops it from moving.  Also ergonomically the latissimus dorsa muscles can endure more pulling than the pictorial muscles pushing and lifting.   The latissimus dorsa muscles if you translate it goes from under the arm on each side to the spine; from the spine the psoas muscle transfers the force to the legs.  Part of what I teach as a therapist.

I'd love to see what you come up with as I currently just fill 5-gallon buckets with wood chips and either put them on the cart or carry them directly depending on how far from the pile I am.

Also old car hoods have plenty of homestead value as a sled.  The large boulders (400-500 lbs) in my rock garden wouldn't be here without a spud bar, brute force from my hubby and I and an old truck hood.