Those are some fantastic looking stacks that you should take great pride in. It is so rare for me to get straight wood, plus most tree services have no idea what 16"-18" is that I end up with as many, maybe more, uglies than straight wood that I am just happy when they stay standing. Getting there using cinder blocks and landscape timbers.
That’s exactly what I have set up for my shed Yawner, 8’ long and 6’ high, 2 rows per bay, some uglies in between. The rail racks are single row, 1.3 and 1.6 cord respectively 4’ high. My buddy who quit burning, (I know, I’ve shamed him repeatedly) copied my rail rack idea and went one better welding 6’ stops on the ends and also lag bolting to railroad ties. He has the equipment to move them and is giving them to me, they are 32’ long. Good luck!
My neighbor (tree service guy) pulled up a while back and hollered you want this ash? Oh heck yeah. He backed up into the yard and pulled the handle and out came a load of beautiful logs.... from 10-30" long and everything in between... some 3', some 4' , 6'. i just pretty much told myself, don't do that again... He burns and sells wood, you'd think he'd know better...
I think your height restriction comes down to the splits themselves. Anyone who has processed any amount of apple can contest that you aren't going very high with it unless you have some serious cribbing. So 6' is perfectly fine as long as your wood will stay. I stack double wide and leave about 6" or so inches between at the bottom and around 5' they come together and lean on each other. Then about 6' I go single row on top for a few splits. I use T posts for ends and have a loose rope tied about the 1/2 way mark. Pack it in till I'm out of slack.
First off, I haven't met anyone in the tree business that doesn't think their time is worth gold so they get the j0b done the fastest way possible to get to the next job. Even if I can save them money by providing a drop-off spot or pick up the wood, the feel it may cost them 15 minutes so just go, get in line and dump it. I've put my name in with a few companies for drop-off or pick up but never get a call, even when I throw some beer money their way to thank them for their time. We have a couple people that dumps loads at Lefty's place. One tends to only cut what he needs to for loading so brings out some nice log length pieces for us to work up. Others just bring whatever it happens to be cut at. Neither Lefty or myself have a problem with shorts and chunks, but nice 16"-20" splits will spoil a person. Biggest plus side anymore is that we have more wood than we can get processed but trying hard to get caught up. Another friend who sells wood is using Lefty's place knows he can take some of the wood laying around but always just brings in what he can find, sometimes 30+ miles away.
It will. My neighbor (where i cut) decided he would cut up a hickory after i told him it was down and I'd get it. Wish he'd just left it alone. I started marking my cuts because it stacks on my skids easily. Now that ive been doing that, i try to measure everything.
That's so cool! I use those metal brackets from Northern tool. I never thought to put brackets on the top, with more 2x4s! That must make the filled rack more stable, allow for increased height, and would provide level supports for covers. What a great idea!
I haven't used the top bracing as of yet and rely on the cribbing, however I've been thinking about modifying my stacks. If I use the side and top bracing, my cribbing doesn't have to be quite as good (it definitely slows the stacking process down) and I can set the height at five feet so I'll know when I reach 1.25 cords (without having to measure). While the stacks won't look as good, they will be better supported and as you pointed out, will have a premade platform to put a tarp over. If you end up going this route, post pictures!
I don't crib on racks, the brackets keep the 2x4s stable enough. I've had wood fall off a rack a couple times, probably because I kept stacking canted to the front the higher I went. (I'm short.) I have a couple cords of maple and ash to split, as a winter project, so I'll try your idea and post pics.
Trying harder, and getting Lefty to do the same, it cut at 16" and end up with a chunk, versus just cutting a piece in half and end up with two say 12"-14". Hard to break old habits.
