Two things come to mind: 1) Are they all the same species? The brighter pieces don't look to be ash, like most of the pile. 2) I also think that greying is caused more by wood getting re-wetted than by the sun bleaching it. I've noticed it in my stacks where my top covers allow water to run down the face on part of my pile. The pieces that see no rainfall or runoff at all stay bright. The pieces that see water turn grey. Were the bright pieces in your picture somehow protected from water running down the face of the stack?
I know the tarps won't last Clem, but if I get 1 winter out of them I'll be happy. I looked for a source of the black rubber roofing that Scotty uses but no one around here wants to let go of any excess, only offered me new and I may as well build a wood shed. The woodshed is what I would like but always have other projects ahead of that, so it's tarps or nothing at all like I have for years.
I have started using old inner tubes that my logger leave around or I pull out of their trucks. These are for the large skidder/cuttertires. They only cover like 8 feet or so and at best will cover a double row bit iI stack in singles so out works for me. I cut them open and lay on top. They still are bandanna shape and dont lay well so I am thinking g of cutting them into rectangles or squares and leaving g a slight overlap maybe on one of my next ones. But I am waiting on my new shed. I got one of those $700 metal car ports 18x21 it will serve as my large woodshed now!
Occasionally we have some of the roofing blow off but not too much. If it were windier, I'd no doubt use ropes thrown across the stacks and tie buckets of sand or something similar for weights. Or one could drive some stakes in the ground to tie the ropes. I would also probably stack in the other direction if we had lots of high wind.
Most of that stack was elm but there may have been some soft maple or elm mixed in. But looking at the picture blown up in size I believe all of that was ash. And yes, the wood getting wet will cause a lot of discoloration.
I always figured it was the sun bleaching the wood since it seemed to happen on the south side of the stack first (stacks are in the woods, so don't get full sun.) But the south side also probably has more rain blowing into it so now you guys have got me wondering... Must be nice to have that kind of wind. Most of mine is in the woods but I've got five cords stacked in a windy spot this year as an experiment. I've never seen a comparison by anyone of drying time on two stacks, one without much wind and one with a lot. I'm wondering just how dramatic the difference really is. Did you try a billboard company to see if you can get used "flex?" Would t-posts be OK if they aren't used on the ends of the stacks, or forbidden for use as stakes as well? Good idea, stacking with the wind; If you have that much wind, the wood's gonna dry well anyway, I would think.
I've stacked under hemlocks and in the sun and the wood in the sun was just a whiter shade of pale. ----------------------------------------------- A leaky drafty old house or barn passes quite a bit of air through it even on a non - windy day. You'd have to stack firewood pretty darn tight to block even the lightest wind or even just air movement.
There are some folks who use the t-posts and I usually do some kidding about it. T-posts are for building fences, not wood piles. I look at lots of wood piles and wonder why so many dollars are spent making frames or whatever when it can easily be done without adding any costs to the wood. Just lay down a couple poles and start stacking. It does not take a college degree to make a wood pile and it does not take a transit or square to build that woodpile. Just go at it and get it done. Save the dollars for beer or whatever.
Not from swags. I came up with it myself. When I made a post about it is when swags announced his was on order
Just happens great minds think alike. Or all wood hoarders think alike. Makes you feel good that your stacking in a similar structure that the backwoods savage stacks in. Must be thinking right if thats the case. He was thinking like us when he started attacking in a metal shed yrs ago.
