Firewood
Open-mesh sides for airflow, hinged front gate, raised deck to keep the bottom course dry.
Second life 04
The Storage Locker
Keep the cage, lose the bottle. What is left is a stackable, forkliftable, weather-vented locker that costs a fraction of a shed.
- Sheet
- 75
- Revision
- 2026-10
- Scale
- 1:1
- Drawn at
- Peoria IL
44 cu ftUsable volume
1/3 cordFirewood capacity
3 highStackable
100%Reused steel
Four ways we build it
Feed & salt
Bottle retained and cut down as a liner, lid panel on top, scoop door at the front.
Jobsite gear
Full steel panel sides, hasp for a padlock, fork pockets kept for crane or forklift moves.
Recycling station
Three-bay divider with labelled chutes, used on farms and shop floors.
Where the bottle goes
Every locker we build starts with a tote whose bottle failed — cracked, crazed or chemically spent. The cage, the pallet and the hardware are perfectly sound; the polyethylene goes to the granulator and comes out as regrind for pipe and pallets. One failed container becomes a locker and a bag of pellet, and nothing goes in a hole.
What a cage actually holds
| Contents | Capacity per cage | Configuration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seasoned firewood | About 1/3 cord | Open mesh, hinged gate, raised deck | Genuine airflow on four sides |
| Bagged feed, 40 lb bags | 28–32 bags | Bottle cut as a liner, lid panel | Keeps rodents out |
| Bulk salt or mineral | ≈ 1,800 lb | Liner plus scoop door | Hygroscopic — seal the lid |
| Jobsite tools and gear | 44 cu ft | Steel panels, hasp, fork pockets | Craneable and lockable |
| Recycling, three streams | 3 × 14 cu ft | Divider panels, labelled chutes | Farms and shop floors |
| Hay, small square bales | 6–8 bales | Open mesh | Feeder conversion popular in autumn |
- Three high stackable empty, two high loaded, one high in transit — the same rules as any cage.
- Fork from the base. A cage slung from the top rail pulls the top frame out of plane, which is repairable but pointless.
- A liner is not a tank. These hold dry material or bagged goods, not liquid.
- No UN rating. The marking belongs to the complete design type, and a cage on its own certifies nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can the Storage Locker hold?
It offers 44 cu ft of usable volume. The page lists about 1/3 cord of firewood, 28 to 32 bags of 40 lb feed, roughly 1,800 lb of bulk salt, or 6 to 8 small square hay bales.
Can it hold liquids?
No. The page says a liner is not a tank. These lockers hold dry material or bagged goods, not liquid, and they carry no UN rating because a cage on its own certifies nothing.
Can I stack lockers?
They stack three high empty and two high when loaded, and one high in transit. The page says to fork from the base, because lifting from the top rail pulls the top frame out of plane.
What configurations are available?
Four builds are listed: firewood with open mesh sides, feed and salt with a liner and lid, jobsite gear with steel panels and a padlock hasp, and a three-bay recycling station.
What happens to the original bottle?
The bottle is removed in most builds. It has usually cracked, crazed or chemically spent, and goes to the granulator as regrind for pipe and pallets, so one failed container becomes a locker and pellet.
Next in the loop
Base container: Grade C 330 gal. Typical build time: 4 days. From $210. Every build starts from a container somebody else was finished with.