Firewood storage for newbie

[muddstopper]

I have done something this year I normally dont do. I was able to get about 5 cords of white oak in log lengths for free. They even loaded it for me, but I did have to haul it about 20miles to get it home. Anyways, I got the wood the week before Christmas. I would buck a little here and there, but set in toward the end of march and got it all bucked. Toward the end of April, I got the grandson and one of his friends to help me get it all split,everything was in a great big pile, nothing stacked. First week of June, I stacked about half of the wood out side the wood shed and then took the tractor and just spread the rest of the pile every which way. June 7th, I had a knee replacement and all wood activity stopped. I was looking at the wood last week and noticed the wood was graying and cracking. Sure sign the wood is drying pretty good. Even the wood I stacked has the ends splitting with pretty good size cracks. Of course, the wood is out in full sun, no shade, and temps have been hovering 90*+ all summer, but this little test has sort of convinced me that rushing to split and stack isnt all that necessary. Wood scattered will dry just as well as wood stacked, but it does make it hard to mow around.

 

[sawjunky23]

I have done something this year I normally dont do. I was able to get about 5 cords of white oak in log lengths for free. They even loaded it for me, but I did have to haul it about 20miles to get it home. Anyways, I got the wood the week before Christmas. I would buck a little here and there, but set in toward the end of march and got it all bucked. Toward the end of April, I got the grandson and one of his friends to help me get it all split,everything was in a great big pile, nothing stacked. First week of June, I stacked about half of the wood out side the wood shed and then took the tractor and just spread the rest of the pile every which way. June 7th, I had a knee replacement and all wood activity stopped. I was looking at the wood last week and noticed the wood was graying and cracking. Sure sign the wood is drying pretty good. Even the wood I stacked has the ends splitting with pretty good size cracks. Of course, the wood is out in full sun, no shade, and temps have been hovering 90*+ all summer, but this little test has sort of convinced me that rushing to split and stack isnt all that necessary. Wood scattered will dry just as well as wood stacked, but it does make it hard to mow around.

You poor thing.... Having to drive 20 whole miles for 5 cords of oak. Lol.

 

[muddstopper]

Well, it did take me 5 trips to haul it all so really 200miles total. took all day and a full tank of gas. No such thing as free firewood.
And on the bright side, I have all my wood c/s/and mostly stacked for the next 3 years.

 

[sawjunky23]

Well, it did take me 5 trips to haul it all so really 200miles total. took all day and a full tank of gas. No such thing as free firewood.
And on the bright side, I have all my wood c/s/and mostly stacked for the next 3 years.

I agree with that! No such thing. You did pretty good on that score. I would give up a Saturday and a tank of gas for a big load of oak.

 

[jasper nl]

I'm using old seed potato big bags for my woodstack works perfect with a pallet under it transport so from the splitter in it holds for years

 

[MuskokaSplitter]

I would agree c/s/s the wood and it will last along time even uncovered. Where i am i get a lot of wind but dont have a lot of sun(where my wood is) so i put it in a shed.

This is my latest. Holds just over 4 cords.

 

[jr27236]

Nice shed!

 

[mu2bdriver]

Looks great! Nice quad.


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[JeffHK454]

That's not a wood shed..that's a fortress !

Super nice.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Haven't seen anyone mention it yet... But get the bark off it. Bark holds moisture and that's what will contribute greatly to rot.

I'm currently cleaning up a staging area where the trees have been laying for about 6+ years. It consists of primarily ash, but there is some white oak, walnut and a fair bit of shagbark hickory. All the ash that has shed its bark is perfect. Most of the white oak is great with some rot starting where the bark was left on.... Most of the walnut is about worthless and the hickory is gone.

The wood is going to need to sit for a week or 4 to finish drying out. It wont fully season in log form. I'm finding moisture readings between 30 and 15% in the ash. Haven't checked any of the oak or walnut because I can tell by weight and feel its still way to wet. The ash I will burn this winter if I have to.

Ive gone through several iterations of storing wood. I started with this...

Great for storing alot of wood on the cheap, but the interior wood wont season as quickly as the exterior wood. Theres over 12 full cords in there.

After getting a tractor with a loader, I had this idea...

Great for seasoning wood and simplifies the handling process greatly. But with a small tractor each basket only holds about 1/2 a face cord. And the pallets will freeze to the ground. I found its taking up way to much space to store the amount of wood I need.

With the purchase of a new stove, I am now able to buck all my wood at 20" rather than the 15" I was doing to fit in the old stove. This wasted a lot of room in the insert since it can take 24" pieces. So Ive gone back to stacking on pallets. But now I stack 2 rows on 2 pallets with T posts between each pair of pallets to mark off full cords. When I get to this point, I will put enough room between pallet rows to get the pushmower through and keep going.

 

[MuskokaSplitter]

thanks guys. shed is all full now. i also made some cheap 2x4 racks and used old doors for the roofs. worked well didnt look so great however.

yea the quad ive had since new in 2002. for a 300 its a workhorse and on the trails doesnt get left behind by the bigger machines. the suspension leaves your back pretty sore after a long trail ride though.

 

[Old grizzly 708]

I am new to firewood and have a few questions, I found some good information searching but would like a little more.

I have around 15 trees, mostly Ash but some Hackberry that I had an excavator come in and remove in an effort to thin out my grove and yard. I have cut the majority of those into 10-14' logs. The trees vary in diameter from 10 to 30+ inches so I feel like I have many years worth of firewood. I am planning on getting an add-on wood furnace (probably Kuuma).

I've gathered that the biggest thing is to get the wood off the ground and make sure it has decent airflow and preferably sun exposure. My questions are if I leave them log length will they last several years sitting outside or should I attempt to tarp them? I also have an old Quonset shed that isn't really used for anything that I could store some or all of it in if absolutely necessary.

Also, I assume it would be best to split it all now and store it in the Quonset but I don't have the time. However, I could buck some or most of it up into firewood length, would this be preferred? Is it easier to cut the logs now while they are still green rather than when they are more dried out?

If you keep it in long logs, it will dry better if you run your saw down the length of them, through the bark and about 1/4" into the wood.
This provides an escape for moisture along the entire length.

 

[Henry and Wanda]

Hello,
When I moved from my first house to my second house years ago, I took my firewood that I had stacked and split with me. I know some of it was stacked for 6 or so years and then by the time I used it, it had to be a least 10 years old. It was all fine. I always had it up off the ground and the top covered. I would split everything and then it will be very dry and usable when you are ready to burn it. It has to be split at some point, so if you have the time now, go for it. You will never have to worry that your wood isn't dry enough !!!

Henry and Wanda

 

[CaseyForrest]

EDIT: Didn't realize I had already explained this just a few posts up...

Anyway, heres my stacking method.

Both my burning apparatus will take 20" wood so that's what I cut at. 2 rows on the pallets, 8' between the posts and stacked 5' high gives me just over 1 full cord between each set of stakes. 30" between each row of pallets for the push mower.

Tops are covered with 40mil HDPE textured liner that I get from work. We get it on 22' rolls and I cut a section off at 44" so I have some overhang to allow water to run off and not run down the sides of the stacks.

Of course there are draw backs to this method as well. First and foremost is handling the wood. I'm working on resolving part of that with the new splitter and table I am going to build. The other drawback is needing to keep a path cleared to the backside of the yard. Doable, just something to consider.

sent from a field

 

[Polish hammer]

I know this is an older thread but.... I just finished my wood shed open front closed 3 sides with decent gaps between The rough sawn lumber and medal roof 6' in rear 8.5 in front.. So I'm putting a small gravel road going around the yard past it for easy Loading and unloading from The gator my question is instead of filling it with gravel can I lay slab wood or osb cutoff a down to stack wood on? I don't want pallets because I didn't want to have to worry about watching
My every step thanks for any replie! First post and I got wood shed ideas from here thanks!!

 

[Marine5068]

All of those tips on storing off the ground in log firm are good from us guys that burn regularly. Just keep in mind that you want most hardwoods to season for at least a year first before burning with denser woods like Oak, Elm and Sugar Maple maybe two years or more, that's from time that wood is split and stacked.
It sure makes sense too. Burns great and turns wood into heat instead of burning away water. Plus little to no creosote build up in chimney.
Welcome to the site and happy burning.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Pallets are fine if you stack the way Casey does in post #34. If you have access down both sides, no need to trip, stumble, and break through old pallets.

I use 2" x 4"'s on edge with a cleat on top at each end in my woodshed. The sections are short, 8' long, and when empty they are easily moved to access the next row. Then they are reused and placed as the shed gets refilled.

 

[CaseyForrest]

I know this is an older thread but.... I just finished my wood shed open front closed 3 sides with decent gaps between The rough sawn lumber and medal roof 6' in rear 8.5 in front.. So I'm putting a small gravel road going around the yard past it for easy Loading and unloading from The gator my question is instead of filling it with gravel can I lay slab wood or osb cutoff a down to stack wood on? I don't want pallets because I didn't want to have to worry about watching
My every step thanks for any replie! First post and I got wood shed ideas from here thanks!!

What I'm doing now is setting a piece of plywood against the garage under the lean too. As I use wood, Ill lay the plywood down across each pallet so I don't have to worry about stumbling. Plywood is buried in the stacks so its not in the way and only presents itself as the firewood gets used.

 

[Polish hammer]

Thanks guys so what I ended up doing is graveling and then laying osb sheets down... Then I put only Unsplit smaller rounds on the bottom thinking it would last longer?? Hopefully it works out

 

[Big_Eddy]

I used to lay pallets in the bottom of each woodshed bay. I don't bother any more. I stack my wood bark down on the ground row, bark up every row above that. My woodshed has 5 individual bays about 1 cord each. I start cutting wood as soon as I empty the first bay, and refill each bay once it empties. At the end of the heating season I top off the "active" bay so all 5 are full for the summer. I burn about 3-4 bays a year, so most of the wood cures ~12 months and 1 bay is 2yrs old. The bottom row sometimes freezes into the ground and needs encouragement to come loose. Sometimes you just walk over the bottom row until the ground thaws. Never had a rot problem - but even if the bottom row were to rot some - I'd burn it anyway.