Holzhausen, start to finish, My third attempt at it

Last picture of the day. Top view showing that I still have a ways to go, to just get the inside wood level with the walls. I said it in the beginning, and I really do think that I will very likely get 3 cords in this stack, by the time fill the middle and might go a little taller and round off the top.

 

Of the three hh I made, all 3 I didnt pitch the inner end down far enough. Once they started drying, the sides started bulging out. One way or another, the logs on the outter wall need to be pitched in. I used supplemental horizontal pieces (thin slivers really) to over a gap or when the logs became too horizontal.

I too cut poles at 8' and put two in each HH. I filled the middle around the poles. 'Course, if the middle and the outter wall shrink at different rates, that might cause issues!

I thought the logs inside should be vertical...to facilitate drying. But unless one gets someone inside, stacking them vertical after the first level, is impossible from the outside.

When I put plastic.down, the very first log ring, the one to create the first pitch, covered the edge of the plastic. There was no plastic visible on the ground outside the pile.I think i folded an 8x8 bit of plastic in quarters, then cut the corner off (do it with a piece or square paper to see what you're up against).

I also used a 4' level held vertically on the outside of the wall, to make sure my walls didnt migrate outwards as I built.

At 8' diameter, and 5' tall, is 2 cord IIRC.
4x4x8=128 cu ft/1cord. x2=256 cu ft/2cord
Volume of cylinder 8ft wide by 5ft tall is 3.14x4x4x5=251 cu ft.

Sca

 

Yes, the 4ft level is a good idea. Being a fabricator and pretty good framing carpenter, I considered using one, I just hated to get that technical on a pile of wood, but I just might do that in the future. Yep, I need to measure my diameter, I know it's in the 10 ft range or a little bigger, and that would tell the story on the amount of wood. What I call a cord may actually be a little light, as my wood lengths tend to run a little short of 16" (but I am all over the map on wood lengths) So, in reality a rick of my wood would be a little short of a true face cord. I am figuring off of the fact that I know that two loads of wood from my side by side almost always stacks up to a full rick of wood, but it's probably not a full face cord, with my wood not always being a full 16" long.
No one sells wood by the cord in Arkansas, we always sell or figure by the rick, which is 4ft high and 8ft long by however long your splits are. So, a rick can be different things to different people depending on the length of fire wood one wants for their stove. When I get done I will try to actually measure it out, and give a true cord count. Right now, what I have in the stack is a good solid 6 ricks of wood, which technically is 6 face cords.

I have considered maybe wrapping my Holzhausen's with wire to help avoid the possibility of a collapse. I have some light twisted, clothes line type wire, that I could easily give it a few wraps of and may do that, when I get done.

 

I filled up the middle today, with my last load of Black Locust. I ran out of locust that I had cut already. So, I hauled a load of Osage Orange, I had cut and split and threw most of that in the middle with a few pieces ending up on the outer wall. And then I hauled a load of red cedar and threw that in the middle. So, I have a mix, now. Which won't hurt anything, as I will try to time it where I can put all of this on the porch, when I move it, and I like to have a little of everything available. Tally for today; I only hauled another 1.5 ricks = probably 1.5 face cords, maybe a little less, in true face cords.

I tied a couple of rounds of wire on the outside wall, to insure that I don't end up with another collapse in the future. The stack is very solid now. I haven't decide how much higher I will go on the wall before starting the cap. I might take it up another foot, but probably not much more then that. I have a bunch of Red Cedar cut, that would probably finish this Holzhausen out, but I haven't decided if that's what I want to do or wait and cut some more Black Locust or even Hackberry.

 

I actually measured this stack out tonight, and its kind of an oval, but averaged out to 9 ft diameter and I am 5 ft tall basically right now and more or less level across the middle. So, that's 3.14 x 4.5 x 4.5 = 63.585 x 5ft tall = 317.925 sq ft divided by 128 = 2.48 cords so far, but of course the middle splits are not stacked tightly, so there is some lose there.

But interestingly, my estimates figured by the side by side loads is basically right on the money, because I said each load was about a half a face cord, taking 6 loads to equal a cord, and I have hauled 15 loads so far. That tallies out to be 2.5 cords. However, if everything was tightly stacked, I would no doubt be a little shy of that, but it's not that far off for rough figuring. We will have to see how many more loads I end up stacking. Just for the heck of it, I am going to attempt to add 4 loads, but will have to take the sides up some to do that. We'll see.

If I only take it up another foot and level, that would be 2.98 cords on paper, then slope up pretty good to make a point in the center, and I should be 3 cords with the extra on top to sort of compensate for space lost from just piling it in the middle.

At any rate, I have not totaled all of my wood up that I have stacked everywhere, but I think I am over 3 years worth and might be 4 years. I guess I will know in the spring, after I burn this winter.

 

Nice....the holzen looks pretty good.too.
The first one I built, began to colapse. I lewrned a few things, tore it down, and rebuilt it a few feet away, and added more wood. I had the outside wall up to 7', maybe a hair more. Then peaked the middle. Same as you, prolly 2.5 cord when done.

I didnt use the level to plumb it as much as to keep the walls straight....I have the tendency to build oblong as well. They all exceeded 8' but the walls were relatively vertical.

I really like your idea of going with 9 or 10 feet diamater. With the wall at 7' tall thats 4.29 cord. And, I'd like to find a small window frame.or two to add, maybe a door as well.

Sca

 

Cool! While I’ll more than likely never do one of these, it was fun to follow along so far.

 

Yeah, they are kind of fun to build and look at. Because a lot of my wood is irregular and has lots of ugly's, I kind of like them, since it's easy to just throw those in the middle.

 

A door and window frame would look kind of cool for sure.

 

I raised it other foot and leveled out the center. It's basically 6 ft tall, now.

 

I finally got it done! Whew! That was a bit of a chore, and took more wood then I thought it would. I threw the rest of the oak I cut, yesterday and split, and I was still short. So, I hauled in the Red Cedar I had cut and finished it out with that. In a previous post, I said I was going to try to add 4 more loads of wood to it. Well, I ended hauling and stacking 7 more loads, total. I was shooting for 4 loads which would have been basically one load over 3 cords total. I was shooting for that extra load to cover any loss, and to guarantee that I actually had 3 full cords. The extra 3 loads would have been another face cord and a half, and that's still not including the one extra load.

So, basically, I have more or less a solid 3.5 cords in this stack, total. It's 10 ft plus tall, over all. That's a year's worth or better for me in that one stack!

 

So, as far as space goes to stack, I think the Holzhausen makes pretty good use of available space, if you go tall enough, not that I am personally hurting for space, but there would have been 10-1/2 ricks (face cords) of wood which stacked 4ft high would have been over 80 running feet. Of course I usually stack about 5 ft high so it would have been less lineal feet in my case, but I always stack it against my steel pipe fence and wire to it, so it won't fall over or blow over in a strong wind. I never stack free standing, it would just turn into a mess for me to re-stack, eventually. So, 10 plus ricks stacked in 10 ft x 10 ft of ground space; that's not bad use of space, really.

 

Good job bud

 

That is awesome. I am totally curious how that will fare as it dries and settles. In some places, they add a pole up the center. They paint a line on the pole and know when it's dry by how far below that line it is a year out.

Will be interested in pics and how you manage that HH.

Sca

 

Yes, it will be interesting to see. A lot of the wood in this stack is greener then most of my other wood stacks, so I intend to let this stack season for 2 years min. However, I believe it will be 3 years before I burn it. Or shall I say 3 winters from now. So, I am thinking the winter of 2023-2024 will be the winter it gets burned. The Red Cedar obviously could be burned next year, and the Black Locust the following year. But unless I sell or give away some wood, I won't even get to it, before then.

I am not going to try to cover it up or anything. I believe most rains will not get the inside wood wet to speak of. And I live on a windswept mountain where there is almost always a breeze so it should season OK. We will see. I probably won't even get to burn the two smaller Holzhausen's before 2022-2023, and I doubt if all of my other traditionally ricked up wood will be burnt next year.

Since I don't cover any of my wood, except the wood on the front porch, I am starting to wonder how much more wood I should horde at this time. I do have some more Black locust and Hackberry to cut pretty soon, because I need to clear an area. And The Hackberry will burn in a one year. The lighter wood on the left in the picture below is Hackberry, to be burnt next year, the two tiers on the far right side of the porch is Black Locust cut this last August and will probably still be there when spring comes, but I will burn it if I have to, this year. So, I am starting to wonder if I am overdoing it on my hording.

 

Nothing wrong with a 5 or even 6 year plan

 

Yep, I will probably continue to add to the horde, but may slow down some. I am a little worried about wood like the oaks, rotting in the stack at some point. Black Locust will probably not rot much. Red Cedar will last. I don't know about Hackberry.

 

I have no experience with oak and locust, but I know the cedar will keep if it is the same kind I have (actually a juniper I’ve learned). The hackberry is kinda new to me in any quantity, split and stacked off the ground I think it will keep pretty good. Standing dead or dead and down, or in logs or rounds is a different story I think.

 

Nice work and great looking property!!

 

I would think if you top covered your stacks you wouldn't have to worry about rot. Not sure though cause I haven't had wood around for 6 years.