where/how do you store your wood to burn

[logbutcher]

Dolmen got it down right.

:jawdrop:

DITTO....We've done it like that for years: warm summer rains do seem to dry the wood faster. Try it ( may not work the same in Ohio ) It works. Then it goes into the woodsheds for winter.

 

[dolmen]

Thanks for the support there logbutcher

Cheers

 

[willisl64]

Find some dead standing ...

I agree w/ previous poster about looking out for some standing dead trees for firewood. Get them bucked and split and they should be fine for winter. There are enough standing dead elm trees w/in 5 miles of this place that we'd never have to cut anything else for the next decade or two. As for storage, I stack my wood in a single file row 110 feet long and 4-5 feet high on pallets along a fence row for maximum wind/sun exposure. Come the end of September we'll stack that in the shed located 25' behind the house, and every week through the winter we'll bring enough wood to the back porch for a week or so.

 

[Ohiowoodguy]

Dolmen got it down right.
We've done it like that for years: warm summer rains do seem to dry the wood faster. [/FONT]

Ok, I'll take your word for it. I do know that 'seasoning' wood actually means the cells in the wood collapse as they loose moisture; and that rain or snow may wet the wood, but usually don't 'revive' the cells. I've heard truisms that make even less sense at first glance.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Primarily all I cut is dead and down or dead standing. I just make one big ole pile in a half circle around my OWB. Stacking just seems like another step I'd rather avoid. If it was green wood then I'd stack. Wife doesn't even complain about the unsightleness of the pile since I planted some large bushes that hide it from view.

 

[danrclem]

I've got a lean to horse stall on the side of my barn. It measures 12x18 and I stack it about 7' high. That measures out to almost 12 cords but I know I couldn't take that amount and put it in there because the stacking wouldn't be tight enough.

Danny

 

[OldHickory]

My recent woodpile work:

Here are some recent pictures from my summer work just completed.
I take $2 landscape timbers 8' long (2 per stack) & set them on 3 cinderblock (one on each end and one in the middle) or you might have wood long enough to use a cinderblock on each timber if it is 20-24" (ends and middle for total of 6 blocks). You'll need that one in the middle or it will sag.
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I'm trying a carpet runner for a cover on my left-over wood from last year. I thought it was heavy enough to stay put without anchoring (which would have looked pretty tidy). Unfortunately, I had to go back to the unsightly cinderblock. Otherwise I think it looks better than the tarp---the edges tend to cause a drip line off the woodpile keeping more of it dry in rains and water doesn't seem to puddle on it like a tarp that has logs/blocks on it.

 

[dolmen]

OldHickory thats a rather unusual way of building the ends up... I'll fancy trying that to see if its more stable than usual square 2x2 or 3x3 end build. Is it common in your area? or where did you come across the idea? its similar to the holtz build!

Cheers

 

[Rookie1]

I have a 1987 Federal Airtight 288 cast iron wood stove. It will handle a 24" log, but I usually cut them a little shorter. Her's a Pic:

Doors are usually closed. The logs to the right are undergoing the final drying process prior to burning.

Very nice setup and house Wooddoctor.

 

[Zodiac45]

Most years, my wood is split and seasoning by April latest. While collection goes on constantly, most of the wood I split by April has been sitting in rounds or large quarters from the previous year. I used too just do what you see in photo 1. Lately, (past 2 years) I've gone too the pallets you see in pix #2 and further away from the house. In September, it all goes into the barn Pix#3.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Very nice setup and house Wooddoctor.

Thanks Rookie. I love that old Federal Airtight. Now it's getting hard to find parts for her. So, I sometimes make my own.

Like every good stove, it needs a little TLC. What I usually do is exactly what we are talking about on this thread--feed her seasoned, dry hardwood logs. Perhaps the worst thing you can do to a stove and chimney is try to burn green wood in it. Even with a powerful draft, you will pick up creosote like gangbusters if you burn green wood.

BTW, I tend to agree with Dolmen. Covering firewood in the summer makes little sense. Covering in the winter to protect it from ice and snow makes some sense. However, when brought inside, ice/snow covered wood will dry indoors in a couple of days. That surface moisture means practically nothing compared to the slow seasoning process that sun and wind produce naturally in the entire log. The idea is to get that internal moisture content down as far as you can.

Classic cases are oak, mulberry, locust, and hackberry. These species seem to take forever to season. But, when they are seasoned, they burn hot as a $2 pistol. I once tried burning hackberry and mulberry after six months. It moaned and groaned. But, add another six months and you have a spectacular burning firewood.

Finally, I always try to stack most of the split logs with the bark side up or on the side. I usually cannot get them all that way, but I just keep it in mind as I build the pile.

 

[OldHickory]

Woodpile Corners

OldHickory thats a rather unusual way of building the ends up... I'll fancy trying that to see if its more stable than usual square 2x2 or 3x3 end build. Is it common in your area? or where did you come across the idea? its similar to the holtz build!
Cheers

Thanks Dolmen.
Those corners are pretty neat. I can’t say that I’ve noticed anybody else piling wood that way either. Once upon a time, we bought wood delivered and stacked. The suppliers used a slight pitch in the corners. When I adopted it, I tried a steeper pitch & it worked for me. It forces the weight inward like an arch. I try to cantilever the pile beyond the ends of my supports and get more on the timbers. I've also had piles fall but almost always it isn’t the corners. The wood either shrinks as it dries &/or settling shifts the pile and develops a lean. (More typical with lightweight maple than a heavier wood like oak)

Does anyone else use wood chips/slivers to shim their pile? Since I burn directly from my piles just outside the basement door, I’m careful about how I stack them (piles may lay there for 2yrs). I find it really can stabilize my pile with the trashy pieces I scrounge up! Burning directly from the pile has eliminated the roaches/crickets/moths that came out of my wood when I’d bring it in by the wheelbarrow load. It also makes me appreciate how good it feels after coming inside from the woodpile!

 

[hangnail]

I think I am going to end up with several small piles arouind my yard, just looking out there the other day to try and clearing an area, and I really dont have a great spot, but a few o.k. ones. would love to see some pictures, I know there are more people that burn here.

 

[logbutcher]

yep,crisscrossig it will keep the wood neatly stacked and looks good too.

That's it ...all that counts is that "IT LOOKS GOOD". opcorn: If you've got the Woodpiles Addiction ( a.k.a. W.A ) that's all This is a strict W.A. thread. The hell with all this foolishness about heating, it's about this OCD thing. We lurk, we drool, we stare, we come out under the moon with a beer just to sneak a peak at those woodpiles. Admit it and join. It is worse than that other OCD: Chainsaw A. :monkey:

Dolmen: where are you ? We go to Castletownbere to visit my lady's cousin Joe every couple of years. Why don't you burn turf ?

 

[dolmen]

Dolmen: where are you ? We go to Castletownbere to visit my lady's cousin Joe every couple of years. Why don't you burn turf ?

I'm up north and I do burn turf , but its hard to beat good seasoned firewood, not nearly so much ash as with turf and it burns longer too There's something special about working at firewood, very satisfying.

Cheers

 

[logbutcher]

I'm up north and I do burn turf , but its hard to beat good seasoned firewood, not nearly so much ash as with turf and it burns longer too There's something special about working at firewood, very satisfying.Cheers

Might be interesting for you to do a show and tell for across the pond here about turf: harvesting, drying, burning.opcorn: opcorn:

Are you in the north, or kind of like Sligo way ?

 

[woodbooga]

In addition to how you stack, where you stack is important.

In terms of orientation/exposure, south is better than north ans east is better than west.

I stack in our southeast-facing dooryard, adjacent to the barn where all the wood is taken in come fall. Since our principal stove is a cookstove with a smallish firebox, I need really finely split fuel. Between the sun, wind, and smallness of my splits, even red oak processed by Memorial Day is good to go. I wouldn't recommend this, however, if you had a stack in a north-facing shady area of your property.

 

[Blowncrewcab]

My 20' rows are pointed southeast to northwest. during the summer days both sides get sun. also most of our rainstorms come from the NW so it doesn't penetrate the sides of the stacks too bad.

 

[dolmen]

Might be interesting for you to do a show and tell for across the pond here about turf: harvesting, drying, burning.opcorn: opcorn:

Are you in the north, or kind of like Sligo way ?

In the north, Co. Tyrone among the bushes as they say ;-)

Good idea, I might do that next year. Its getting difficult to find bog to cut turf from, as a lot of that land is now going for conservation areas these days, and maybe thats not a bad thing

Cheers

 

[wistattman]

My wood is ranked outside so it can sunbathe until Labor Day weekend.

On Labor Day weekend, I start moving the pile inside. The basement wood area is filled and then the balance of the wood is ranked in the machine shed. It takes me most of the month of September to get this wood moved since it is usually just me doing it - weekend project.

The wood in these pictures will be used to heat my mom's farm house and my house this winter.

Gary