Burden Cloth
I never seem to live anywhere a cart is usable, and I hate wheelbarrows. Working in my garden, I've hauled everything from straw bales to gravel with the help of Burden Cloths. I’ve been using them for about 20 years, and have the patio (3x3’) and farm (5x5’) sizes right now.
As opposed to a tarp or burlap, the Burden Cloth has one-inch-wide stout cotton webbing double-sewn around the entire edge of the cloth, adding strength and durability. Burlap just isn’t as sturdy as the material used in Burden Cloth. At the corners, the webbing comes out and forms a loop before continuing onto the next side. The loops are probably 6 to 8 inches in radius; you can custom order them larger. I get the recycled cloth option (canvas is available for a little more), and they always come in interesting colors or patterns.
You could certainly make your own: get sturdy cloth, stout webbing, and sew away. You probably wouldn't have to have a commercial sewing machine to do it, but I'm not sure. I could knit socks too, but I don't do that either.
Manufactured by and available from Timeless and Daughters
Favorite (15)
Edward Bryant
I too have used a burden cloth for years. Very handy, especially with low to moderate weight bulky loads like weeds or fruit tree prunings. You can move a lot of stuff over rough terrain with only moderate effort. For heavy stuff like firewood or cinder blocks, a cart or wheelbarrow works better for me.
David
One of the great things about Cool Tools is discovering products I never knew existed and hearing how useful they are for others even if I have no use for them myself. Thanks for posting this cool tool.
Wes
Huh, so that is the name. I grew up on a farm and a 200 pound burlap fertilizer bag was our burden cloth. On had to rip the sewn seams to make a small one. When I was a kid my grandfather still had hand pickers for cotten, Rather than buy burlap cotton sheets he would pay us $1 to sew 4 together to make a cotten sheet. My grandmother used them for collecting and moving leaves. I have been known to fill a burlap sheet with leaves, tie the 4 corners and lift to a wheel barrow for transport. Sigh, they don't sell fertilizer in burlap bags anymore.
Laral
Seems pretty expensive when a dollar store tarp would serve the same purpose. You could tie 1" banding to the 4 corners if you wanted to but not really necessary. No big deal when it wears out either.
Deb Snavely
Laral commented that it seemed pretty expensive. Quite right, if you want to perpetuate buying plastics that are manufactured from petroleum products, shipped halfway around the globe to your local dollar store, and you don't care if the landfill overflows next week.
A dollar-store tarp must also be grasped with your fingers, weak little muscles and all. The Burden Cloth handles let you use the larger muscles of your forearm, arm, and shoulder to do the lifting. (A happy customer told me in 2007, "it makes everything lighter!") No, it's not an anti-gravity device. Just ergonomics. Great for adaptive gardening, folks with arthritic knuckles and creaky knees.
The Burden Cloth (tm) has always been made of recycled or remnant fabrics; hotel tablecloths, manufacturer remnants, thrift shop yardage, misprinted fabrics, etc. Stuff that otherwise might end up in a landfill. Only the cotton webbing and thread to sew it is new. Works out to about 85% recycled/reused.
Carol Jacobs, a working engineer who got her degree in 1945, lived through the times when *nothing* was thrown away. Even burned-out light bulbs were recycled during WWII for the tungsten in the filaments (because the USA didn't have native sources of tungsten and shipping from anywhere else in the world was subject to Axis attacks—not to mention that oil and gas were going into the war effort). She once wrote a thoughtful essay titled, "Where the Heck Is Away?" And polyester, for instance, makes wonderful sturdy Burden Cloths but non-breathing and static-y clothing (don't get me started on its napalm-like qualities!).
Disclaimer: I'm one of the two daughters in the business; I've moved everything from a stack of invasive blackberry canes to a swivel, rocking, recliner using a Burden Cloth, and they just make the job of gathering and carrying easier. Which is the point.
If a dollar store tarp had to pay its own carbon tax, it would cost a *whole* lot more than a dollar. I haven't even tried to calculate how much more.
With respect,
Deb
Andrew
Laral, cloth is far easier to use than a plasticky tarp for yardwork. Any decent cloth will do; this one's a fancy one but most people simply use an old thick blanket.
J Renaud
Use an old shower curtain rather than buying new crap.