I noticed Woodwhore's profile pic and it made me think of a question I've had. If you want to build a very long stack, would you need to just crib the ends of crib every eight ft (face cord) or what? (Correct me if wrong... I think cribbing is creating a vertical stack of two or three splits where you run each layer parallel to one another with some space between; supposed to be more stable.) I can't really tell what's going on with this image due to the reduced size but here is his image. Looks nice. Also looks a bit taller than four ft. Regarding cribbing, I have also often wondered if I should save square shaped splits for cribs!
I have made stacks 24 ft long, 4' high and cribbed the ends just like the picture above and it worked fine. When splitting I used to set aside all the good square pieces like you suggested for the ends.
Any size/shape split works fine for cribbing. I personally like half round splits. I dont crib that much anymore as i dont have the patience (not that i dont, but im usually in a hurry) if that makes sense.
It does not matter what the length of wood stack there is. Just crib the ends and it should be fine. However, I've seen others that crib every 8' or so but I do not think it is necessary and have never done that. I know I've had some wood stacks up to 50' or more in length. When I was a kid I think we had some much longer than that. Here we had a few stacks of varying lengths. I do remember when we top covered (gasp) with tarps that we used to stack longer piles. Now we use mostly 10' galvanized steel for top covering so keep our stacks at that length or a little shorter.
I crib the ends but if I have a longer run and it a different type of wood starting, I'll crib it. No real reasons other than I like to look at the stack and tell right away how much of such and such I have left. And the other reason is I guess I'm just a weirdo. By the way, my son does a lot of stacking, so the extra work is his. But dont tell him that.
Do whatever is pleasing to your eye. There are no rules. HAve the courage to exercise your own preference(s).
It is only necessary to crib the ends. You will see cribs in the middle of my stacks which are usually softwood at one end and oak at the other. Because the drying times are different, I frequently remove one before the other. Cribbing allows the remaining end to stand until I refill.
I actually never did well with cribbing. When I tried it always gets a bit lopsided looking and telling myself “How in the world do some of these guys do it here?!”. It seems for some it’s tedious but they try, others it’s second nature. I need to work on cheater cuts and stack with blocks not triangle splits.
I only crib the ends and that is so the stack doesn't fall over. Make splits double size and shaped like squares or rectangles to be stable. Pair the pieces so they are the same size.
Cribbing like that, is personal choice. You should be able to zoom in on this, and notice I cradled at the far end, and used a t-bar at the near end. Why both ways?? I give up. I just did.
Keep the pictures coming gang. Have limited space in the yard and needing to move 3 cords and stack them. Trying to do it as neat as possible, by the cord, whether one long stack or multiple ricks. Just not wanting to move it again. Have a well to drill come spring and need as much free space as possible. Don’t have any skids on hand and thought about buying some treated lumber...2”x6” or 4”x4” set about 12”-14” apart. Might get a little spendy, but that’s ok. Just wanting to elevate it up off the ground 8”-24”. Railroad just changed ties...have a big stack of used ones near by. Won’t take them without asking though. Would be great for stacking wood on...just thinking too heavy to move around. Find the right spot and only move them once though.
yes Square I suggest staying away from railroad ties. They are pretty nasty. Although if you can get your hands on some rails they are the schnitz. Ashwatcher will be happy to show you pics of his rows. Cribbing only the middle of a long run gives you stability at the midpoint as you take down part of the stack. It can allow you to fill in behind and keep the vintages of your firewood separate.
I crib every so often. Makes it more stable when stacking & when moving sections to the woodshed:: .... Long train trip ahead
I crib every 10 feet, using 5x5 pallets as a base I know each crib to crib section (4x4x10) is a little more than a cord
