My first attempt at Holz Hausen

Tim Carroll · Jun 8, 2012

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We had some storm damage this past month and I ended up with enough oak firewood for an entire winter (about 3 full cords). The only problem was that I was full up for next winter in my normal linear piles. I have some space back on my lot line but I have 2 rows of evergreens that would make linear piles out of the question. So I decieded to try to make a couple of Holz Hausen piles. The bigger of the two, which is the first one I piled did not turn out very neat because I had help stacking it and I do not think they quite grapsed the concept. The second pile turned out much neater when it was just me working on it. Even though the first pile looks kind of hap-hazard it is very stable and should be fine. I like the way the piles fit in the space available. I know that they may not dry as fast as linear piles but I will restack in linear piles next spring and burn the following winter so I am confident that it will be seasoned for the 2013-2014 winter.

MN Ripper · Jun 8, 2012

Tim I made one for the first time this spring too. Didn't turn out that bad and didn't seem to take long, might even be faster because I didn't spend much time trying to neatly interlock the inner pieces. I had some odd size pallets that were 4' x 7' so I put two on top of some smaller pallets and ended with a Ø7' x 8' in the center peak when I was done. The ends of the wood seem to be checking and sun fading just as good as any other rowed stack I have, I'm waiting to see how well the center dries because I don't see that getting the best airflow.

openloop · Jun 8, 2012

I think those things work better with smaller splits.... either that or big splits with a bigger hausen.

Tim Carroll · Jun 8, 2012

MN Ripper said:
Tim I made one for the first time this spring too. Didn't turn out that bad and didn't seem to take long, might even be faster because I didn't spend much time trying to neatly interlock the inner pieces. I had some odd size pallets that were 4' x 7' so I put two on top of some smaller pallets and ended with a Ø7' x 8' in the center peak when I was done. The ends of the wood seem to be checking and sun fading just as good as any other rowed stack I have, I'm waiting to see how well the center dries because I don't see that getting the best airflow.

That is a nice looking pile!

zogger · Jun 8, 2012

Those look neat!

Steve NW WI · Jun 9, 2012

Looks good Tim, here's your pics:

logbutcher · Jun 9, 2012

Nein

You all need to know that "Holtz Hausen" really translates to:

"Schauen Sie alle die verrückten Amerikaner an, die herum Stapel bauen. " :hmm3grin2orange:

P.S. Never saw any in Germany, Austria. They're too savvy. :bowdown:

Tim Carroll · Jun 9, 2012

logbutcher said:
You all need to know that "Holtz Hausen" really translates to:

"Schauen Sie alle die verrückten Amerikaner an, die herum Stapel bauen. " :hmm3grin2orange:

P.S. Never saw any in Germany, Austria. They're too savvy.

Ich bin Auslander und spreche nicht gut Deutsch, Ich vestehe nicht was Sie sagen.

Other than asking where the bathroom is and how to order a beer, that is all I got. :laugh:

slowp · Jun 9, 2012

Does it work with short pieces?

Sie werden ihn ja morgen kennen lernen und sie werden sehen, dass er absolut .

Tim Carroll · Jun 12, 2012

I think that all small pieces would be tough to make work. There are plenty of ways to utilize smaller pieces in the pile and odd sizes can be buried inthe center of the pile.

rmihalek · Jun 12, 2012

Hi Tim,

In your larger hauzen, I think you may find that you want to split every piece of wood in the stack: even the little 2-3" diameter pieces. The bark does such a good job of holding in moisture that once the ends dry and check, the "inside" can stay moist for years. Birch is the best example of this, if you don't split birch, it'll just turn to mush inside.

What I do for the little pieces is to put an old car tire on my chopping block, pack it full with 15 or 20 small diameter pieces and then wack at it with the Fiskars, splitting each piece in half. It takes maybe 2-3 minutes to load and split, but it's a lot easier than splitting each piece one-by-one. Then, you can scoop all the splits out at once and load them on the stack.

I'm in the same situation: out of good stacking space, but I've got about 6 cords in rounds that need to be split, so I think I'll give the holt hauzen a try.

Tim Carroll · Jun 13, 2012

I guess I have never had a problem getting the small oak to dry, true it would dry faster if split but I do not really want it that small and it will not be touched till Nov 2013 at the earliest. I do like your idea about the old tire, I have seen it in videos and need to try that with the smaller stuff with my Fiskars X27.

My first attempt at Holz Hausen

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