firewood seasoning naturally

[Collins B]

Hello all,

I’m pretty sure this has been discussed, but what’s the best way to naturally season firewood? Do you leave it in piles off the conveyor? Do you stack it on pallets? Talking about commercial amounts like 50-100 cords.

 

[Mad Professor]

Not commercial amounts, but I stack double rows about as high as my chin. Off the ground, either pallets or junk limbs for support.

On top I use doubled/tripled over lumber covers I can get for free. On top of piles I have ~4' lengths of cut branches under and over (fatter/heavier ones) the cover so it keeps the rain off, and wind from blowing off the cover. Dries out well/fast with great air circulation.

 

[DavidInTexas]

I see many different methods for seasoning I live in east Texas on about 15 acres of land I was thinking of putting up a car port type roof to keep the rain off the wood, but this also keeps the sun off the wood . I know...get a retractable roof LOL. I was thinking of using those IBC totes people talk about, I see them on marketplace for $20 each for the metal with sides. Makes it easy to move the wood up to the house in the fall. I do have 13' metal awning around the house to store the wood in the fall, but I do not want to keep it there Also instead of the IBCZ totes, I have a few hundred feed of old 3" pipe to keep it off the ground if not using the totes.

Is it better to keep in sun or covered up with something like a metal carport roof?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I prefer to store/dry my firewood in these half cord boxes; the splits dry much faster because of the way they are designed.

Usually, I stack the wood in them right off the end of my splitter then moving the full boxes out in the sun and breeze for drying. A couple weeks before I'm going to use a box, THAT box gets covered with a cheapo tarp to keep any rain or snow off it.

It works perfectly and I end up with nice dry splits.

SR

 

[StihlsawuserMS361]

All look good. An old forester once told me, if possible, stack the rows running north to south, allowing the wood to get both a.m. and p.m. sun

 

[HavinFun]

How did you build the boxes? I stacked about 1/2 cord on a heavy shipping pallet, but it came apart when I tried to move it. Looks like a good idea, might try to build some of those boxes. I’m assuming scrap wood was used for them?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

How did you build the boxes?

I build them out of scrap or low grade lumber right off the mill,

I ALWAYS use (3) 4' PT 4x4's under the boxes that touch the ground, and I use deck screws to put the boxes together, as that makes the boxes MUCH stronger and also if needed, the screws allow the boxes to be easily taken apart for any repairs.

Over the more than 15 years since I started making them, they have held up very well, like this old one,

Sometimes I just use whatever wood is lying around the mill,

They are fast to make and work VERY good for drying splits, and to be able to easily move the splits to the house to be burned.

SR

 

[HavinFun]

Good stuff, thanks. I’ll have to scrounge the wood as I’m short a sawmill. As it is, I stack the wood kinda close, then go grab what I need and walk it to the OWB. It’s a good workout at least. The recent deeper snow makes it all the more fun. Hoohah!

 

[firekindler]

 

[firekindler]

View attachment 1242108

Stacked North to South - great sun in Summertime. The pallets are free at the construction yard in town. The end pallets are held up with t-posts. I have a very large Fisher Papa Bear stove that really likes fat chunks. But two summers in the California sun seasons them just fine. I don't cover them in winter. Works better for me it the piles breathe. And I'll leave up to 10" chunks unsplit for overnight pieces.
I like that it's the pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

[Marley5]

Wherever I cut it is where I stack it and haul it to the boiler after it's seasoned.
Never cover what's up in the woods stacked.
Oh even though I have an OWB, don't like burning green wood.

 

[dboyd351]

View attachment 1242108

I was going to ask if the rainbow was extra, but you kinda beat me to it.

 

[DavidInTexas]

View attachment 1242108

I was going to say too bad that rainbow got in the way of the pretty power pole LOL. Looks nice.

 

[DavidInTexas]

I build them out of scrap or low grade lumber right off the mill,

I ALWAYS use (3) 4' PT 4x4's under the boxes that touch the ground, and I use deck screws to put the boxes together, as that makes the boxes MUCH stronger and also if needed, the screws allow the boxes to be easily taken apart for any repairs.

Over the more than 15 years since I started making them, they have held up very well, like this old one,

Sometimes I just use whatever wood is lying around the mill,

They are fast to make and work VERY good for drying splits, and to be able to easily move the splits to the house to be burned.

I was going to say some of your scrape looks better than the good stuff at big box stores. I know not the correct forum for this, but what type mill do you have and do you like it or would you get other if bought new today. I want to get one, but I am still building in the house and wife says no toys like that until the house is done inside.

 

[Hermio]

I see many different methods for seasoning I live in east Texas on about 15 acres of land I was thinking of putting up a car port type roof to keep the rain off the wood, but this also keeps the sun off the wood . I know...get a retractable roof LOL. I was thinking of using those IBC totes people talk about, I see them on marketplace for $20 each for the metal with sides. Makes it easy to move the wood up to the house in the fall. I do have 13' metal awning around the house to store the wood in the fall, but I do not want to keep it there Also instead of the IBCZ totes, I have a few hundred feed of old 3" pipe to keep it off the ground if not using the totes.

Is it better to keep in sun or covered up with something like a metal carport roof?

Depends on how much rain you get. Here in Ohio we get 35-40" per year. I keep my split wood under roof (an overhang), but open to the air. It also gets sun from morning to mid-afternoon. My wood gets below 15% moisture that way. I use the 2x4 rack kits and each rack is 8' high x 16' long. I have then 3 deep. One problem I have had is opossums tunneling under the racks (they are on soil) to hibernate in the winter. This destabilized the racks and made them fall over. After moving the wood out I put down chain link fence fabric on the ground and the racks on top of it. The critters have not figured out how to go under that, though they do squeeze into the 3.5" space under the wood.

 

[PennHavenTW]

This is how we do our wood.

I never moisture tested it after a year of sitting but when customers call and say the wood burned so much better than the wood they got from the competition you know something got done right.

We use two sheets of tin on top since the common tin size is not wide enough to cover a normal pallet. Four screws hold it down.

We used to use a thin plywood/panelling to cover it, but after about 8 months of sitting the water leaked through.

Tin is also reusable.

100 pallets in the first row.

 

[GenXer]

The best wood I've ever burned in my life was wood that dried vertically for a few years. Dead standing maple burns beautifully.

 

[jblnut]

Most commercial operations around here leave it in piles off the conveyor from the processor. One I know of dumps the processor into a trommel tumbler device that bounded out the small stuff first and loads it into a dump truck to be hauled to a gravel lot to be dumped into rows depending on species.

More than one operation here stacks it all into IBC totes. I bet there is 1,000 of the things at each site. Because of this the cost of the totes around me is $45-55 which stinks because I want to get around 150 of them for myself to cut/stack into.

If you’re going to build your own cages investing in a sawmill may not be a bad idea. You can make your own lumber and turn the rest into firewood while keeping your cost per cage low.

 

[dboyd351]

@PennHavenTW - That's a really nice setup! I'll bet that wood dries very well.
Do you use a forklift to move each pallet individually? Is it sold by the pallet? How do you deliver it?
I don't do this as a business or intend to, just interested in how you go from those tin roofed pallets to the customer.

 

[PennHavenTW]

@PennHavenTW - That's a really nice setup! I'll bet that wood dries very well.
Do you use a forklift to move each pallet individually? Is it sold by the pallet? How do you deliver it?
I don't do this as a business or intend to, just interested in how you go from those tin roofed pallets to the customer.

We use a skidsteer to move the them and yes we sell it by the pallet.

Each pallet holds .4 of a cord.

I deliver it two ways, one, we shrink wrap the pallet, take the roof off, and haul them on the flatbed pickup and take the skid steer along on a trailer to move them.
Two, we dump the wood from the pallets into the dump truck and take it loose.

I charge more if they want it brought over on a pallet.