Posted this thread earlier this year: Help me stop my stacks from falling over And I hadn't posted since. My stacks were embarrassing. Got a lot of good feedback, but just zero time to implement. I'm finally stacking again. I dumped all those piles, cleared the area and I now have this: The one in the background will be a little over a full cord. 12+ feet long, 3' wide and 4' tall. The new stack will be less - the pallets aren't as long and it'll probably be ~32" wide instead of 36". I still have some more falling stacks to transfer over. I anticipate doing another row of these in the short term. Very excited to be back to hoarding!
I used some fence post to stack like that...worked great...until spring. When the ground thawed out it was so soft that the posts just pushed right over...yup, I got to re-stack. But this time I drove the posts in at an inward angle (toward the center of the stack, pretty steep angle too...maybe 20-25* angle)...no problems since.
Good improvement , looks like they will stay up nicely :stacke::stacke: Wait , how far did you pound the posts in ? Those wings on the bottom of those T posts should be in the ground
Cribbing isn't so hard, just keep either equal halves (half moons) or square chunks to the side and Jenga them up. I like to run a couple deadmen for extra stability every couple of feet.
Nice! (They grow up so fast, don't they?) Just try to keep them level whenever you lay a piece of wood onto the stack; to avoid getting a high side.
I would tie the t-posts together from end to end so they don't sag outward. Something light like twine would work. Steel cable would be stronger but overkill. Of course it would give the birds a good place to sit and........ well you know...
I'd pound those in further or you're probably going to have a problem in the spring. A trick I use is I raise everything off the ground w cinder blocks and pound the post through the block void as extra security. Your pallets aren't going to last long sitting directly on the ground like that.
Good to have you back posting and hopefully you do like most of us; that is, keep on learning. Like HDRock the first thing I noticed was the posts not driven in far enough and looking at that one picture that I copied below you can see how the posts are really leaning badly. Then as the ground freezes and then in spring thaws, the ground will be a lot softer than it is not and, well, the results might not be so good. But all is not lost. For the time being I would use some wire (better than rope as it won't stretch) and tie those posts together end to end. That way you won't have to re-stack but you won't make that mistake in the future. btw, if you still wish to practice your cribbing skills, which are learned quickly, go ahead and crib while still using the posts. Also, in the future if you buy more posts, the t-posts are a bit stronger but the ones you have will still serve you well.
After you get done stacking, you can also run a rope or piece of braided cable from the tip of one post the the tip of the other post, keeping them together.
Thanks guys. I thought I was doing everything right now - but oops. We actually had a big t-storm last night and the back of the big stack pushed the posts over...since the ground became real soft. I just unloaded all the wood on the ends, leaned the posts in slightly at an angle and pounded them past the T into the ground. Also pounded in the bars on the new stack too. Revised pics below. The right-hand side of the big stack is still leaning...all I did was pound them in further. I'll probably unstack those sides and re-do them when I have some time.
Wouldn't have to wait until the top of the stack for the tie in between the two posts. 1/2 way up would be good enough also. Sometimes, by the top of the stack, the posts are already beginning to lean outwards....
never thought about doing it half way and just stacking on the rope/cable. Good idea for sure. Definitely will prolong the life of your uprights and the way they are secured at the ground.
Lookin shnazzy! I rick mines up like they too. It's a great way to sure up the stacks.. Clean looking
Tie them together with surveyor's tape. Wrong thread? One you get them driven in past the "T" you should be ok. Savage has a good plan of practicing cribbing with the post as a back up plan. If all else fails, be lazy and make bookends.
Like Dennis said, at some point you may want to learn how to crib your ends when stacking. Using your posts to back you up when you practice will help if you don't do so well on the first few tries. When I am starting a new stack, I purposely split some as close as possible sizes of wood to crib with. You develop a feel for it, and if piece doesn't fit right grab another. It's like doing a puzzle. Nice photos, and you'll get better every year.
They're never embarrassing, I've been using the t-post since I started and some people don't like them but I really don't care. We have plenty of seasoned wood and that's all I care about.
I meant the previous attempt at cribbed ends was embarassing - the stacks were falling over. I think the t-posts looks 1000% better than my previous stacks!
