“Don’t worry, the ashes all come out the same. “ That’s what my father in law used to tell me when I spent to much time trying to make even/ neat piles.
I definitely take pride in the stacking part. The woodshed is the first thing you see when turning into my driveway and I don't want it to look like crap. I've also learned over the years how to stack the uglies properly so they don't screw up the pile. The very worst of them get thrown aside and put on the very top of each row. There's some real nice piles in this thread and my top vote for neatest goes to Sarge.
I have to say buZZsaw BRAD is the winner!! hahaha. All kidding aside I think the most important part is to find a way that suits your land, your body, your weather, and your time. However you do it has to work for you and maybe you will pick up some tips and tricks by looking at how others do it and adapt it to your situation. My cop friend said to me the other day "Oh well I always just stack on the ground and I'm willing to waste that bottom row of wood to moisture......" and I said "Well, that's one reason to keep your wood off the ground but that's not the main reason - when you stack on the ground you don't provide enough airflow *underneath* your stacks so you're not only ruining that first row but the rest of the wood as well. Stacked splits need to breathe more than they need sun so your argument is invalid." He said "I never thought of that." Everyone knows how I stack. Here are just a few pics of my holz hausens. And let's not forget kindling storage too!! Heh heh. I have 5 of those 275 gallon IBC totes filled with hatchet made kindling. These are all older pics. The first two are from Feb-2020 when I was a few months into chopping wood. Half of the stacks you see have already been replenished and the other half isn't ready to burn yet. I've learned that I don't need to keep the pallets butted right up against each other and can make them bigger by just giving about 8-10" of gap in between them. Also very important to keep that downward angle towards the center of the stack so it is stable. I've had 3 stacks collapse, 2 of which were due to the plywood pallets that disintegrated (won't be using those anymore and am transitioning to plastic pallets). One collapsed because I didn't maintain the angle and it was on a slight slope.
A couple of pictures from a few years back before I built a woodshed. Never had a stack fall over. To this day, every stack that does not go into the shed is on a pallet with old bricks underneath to keep them off the ground. While I am not a huge fan of tarps, they can do the job. Just do not last.
Yup. Walnut was free so could not refuse it. Makes a lot of ash and not tons of heat, but the price was right.
Nice score! It's funny neighbors think I'm crazy for my "neat" stackage and I'm always like "You have no idea where some people take it - I'm a complete slob compared to them!!!" I bow down to you!
Thanks for your kind words, but I'm no where near y'alls perfection. I do take a lot of pride in our stacks, but most of ours is stacked in sheds. Only cribbing I've done was in the big shed with the hickory. I can't hold a stick to some of y'all. A few pics of our sheds... 1 cord shed Top of the 8' tall stacks in the big shed, about 5 cords of split hickory on the right, mixed hardwood rounds/splits on the left Front of the hickory in the big shed A 5x10 shed we keep limb rounds in... 1.25 cords in this shed I guess we cheat a little. We made that backer panel, it fits all the smaller sheds. Stack the first row against it, helps keep it straight. Front of the 7x14 shed, I confess, we also have a sectional panel that goes across the front for the first couple rows. My hunny does most of the stacking now. She stacked these 2 trailer loads...
Let's face it, we have some very good stackers on this forum. Isn't it about time we heard from our friend, metalcuttr
X2 EODMSgt they really look great! Excellent job, thing of beauty!! I take pride in it all looking presentable, neat and organized as much as possible. That goes for just about in everything I do! Sometimes the wood I get isn't perfect and has many irregularities so when it's split, it's not as level or uniform as one would want when stacking. I don't discriminate, it gets stacked and burned with the rest. Real uglies go in another area but I try to burn it all, it's heat! Also many times I don't always have the splitter. I share with my bro in law so I hand spilt much for years and do it occasionally for exercise. Many of the hand splits are not as pretty like when using a log splitter. I don't mind stacking, I hate cribbing (I only got past level 2 in tetris) I am just not good at it, find myself taking unnecessary time to find splits that work right which is kinda why I adopted a lot o these type racks, dummy proof! All the cinder blocks where on the property, I spent no money on them. Wood pallets don't last 6 months, termites eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and wood is on the floor. I bought a bunch of PT 2x4's years back warped and marked down from HD. I also secured a bunch of 4x4's folks through out while ripping down old fences or decks. Eventually built a small wood shed I pull from during winter. I also use a bay in the pole barn to store wood now as well, mostly oak!
