I have searched and not found a recommended solution. And that is, storing a large number of large diameter hardwood rounds in a pasture for processing later. Plenty of sunlight and wind in this spot. The pasture being grass but mostly weeds! I have mowed it down. The dirt is sandy, so, that is good. Processing 'later' being months to a year or so. There will be so many of them, I can't envision spending money on anything. I guess the best thing I can come up with is free pallets. But some of these rounds are so big, they are difficult to move at all. Rolling them up on a pallet, not sure how that would go. I suppose we can split them with a maul. Or noodle. Other than that, thought of cutting some sweetgum saplings. Might have to stake the sweetgum sapling logs to keep them from moving when you put a big round atop. Whatever the solution, stack more rounds atop those on bottom, so, splitting them in halves or even quarters will be necessary. It would be better if these hardwoods were hauled out of the woods in log form but I don't have the equipment for that. Yet! Any ideas, I am sure some of you store rounds.
I stacked up a bunch of rounds once and they didn't dry down any quicker than leaving them in a pile. If I did it again, I would noodle them into halves or quarters. My current operation allows me to split 30+ inch rounds or just stack logs until needed. If you use wood pallets in your pasture, remember even the best pallets will leave nails behind. If you have the opportunity, why not just leave them in the timber and move your splitter to them when needed. You won't be moving them twice.
Just get them off the ground. Use pallets or locust saplings or whatever you have. They won't really season but if you keep them off ground they won't rot as fast.
this picture was taken in March of ‘21. It’s all just cottonwood that was easy so I’m not worried if some goes bad before I get back to it. Green and wet some of them was all I wanted to lift onto the stack. I got some elm at the house that was taken alive and had to noodle some of it into quarters to get it stacked.
No problems in storing in rounds form. Hoard on and get all ya can while the gettin' is good! As mentioned, I always keep wood off the ground in some fashion. Significantly delays decay.
Going out on a limb here..... You do know that stacking them on the ground is not the best idea? And stacking them so that they are more stable with the diameter cut on the bottom is ..... again ....not the best idea? And you do know what a cant hook is and how to use it? And after re-reading your post about the third time, you are aware of the benefits of creating a pile off of the ground-by using free pallets......... You may have to split some of them to be used in order to stop the "rolling of the rounds" at the ends of each stack. Just messing with ya! Yawner it is obvious that you already know what you have to do. Good luck and be careful. So.... just what is it you're asking again?
I’m thinking that down south and in a humid/moist environment, you will experience more rapid wood decay/destruction by fungi and wood boring insects. That said, the longer it sits, the greater the loss. You will have to determine how much is an acceptable loss. If you are doing the cutting,. You may be better off storing in log form on top of a couple sleepers to reduce loss and wasted effort. If they are in round form, put them on pallets or something else that will elevate them.
Oh yeah.....one more thing I thought of. If this is going to be stored on Carl's land, leave it in log form, as stuckinthemuck recommended, or else you'll be making it real convenient for someone else to "re-locate".
Keep air between the stacks. I once stored about five cord of red oak rounds, halves and quarters in a stacked but tight pile,,,,on the ground. Thought they would be there for three months. Turned into three years. They were sopping wet in the middle of the pile when I finally got to them. A few pieces of black birch buried in there we’re totally mush. Some air would have changed everything.
Yawner - If you can, kill two birds with one stone - debark those rounds, and use the bark to loft the rounds off the ground, even if it is an inch or two. Some woods have bark that can easily be persuaded off with a small axe, others not so much. Getting the bark off also allows the moisture to run off better and takes away the bugs favorite place. Sandhillbilly - We know Nebraska's dry, but there is no wood in the America's that rots as fast as cottonwood if it is in contact with the ground you will loose it. Here is a stack of my fir, 99% debarked, and I'm using cedar bark just enough to lift the bottom layer off the drain cloth. (Yeah, looks like concrete but it's the drain cloth used around horse paddocks.) And yes, I am anal and like my stuff orderly, but even just flopping the bark off and piling it up would be better than the dirt. Also keep a good space between stacks for air to circulate.
I usually don’t bother with Spongewood, AKA Cottonwood, but if it is going to be exposed to the weather, it is just a waste of time, and fuel to mess with. Cottonwood will rot so fast if exposed to the weather that you are just running your saws for Fun. It’s your time and fuel, but if you’re leaving it exposed, don’t expect many BTU’s out of it Doug
Depends on your climate I guess. Here in the rainforests of northeast PA if you leave stuff sitting around on the ground unsplit you could call yourself a mushroom farmer before long.
Roll the big rounds onto sleepers and chock as needed to prevent rolling. Sometimes a knot or gnarl for the end log stops the roll factor too. Sectioning them with a maul or noodling helps make easier to handle. Stack smaller rounds on top Mostly and round over 16" ill at least half to save my back and ease handling.
I stacked red oak rounds, a few years ago. I stacked them instead of splitting, because I needed them moved. I stacked them on 2 parallel sticks, to get them a bit off the ground. Obviously, I split some to be able to lift them. I didn't start the 3yr clock when I stacked them. The clock started after they were stove size. Here's the thread from a few years ago - Oaks to come down...hopefully
We have different strategies. I like small on bottom and big on top so when I split I don’t have to lift the heavies from the ground. And I don’t store rounds vertically (like these ends) for very long. They draw moisture much faster that way. This stack will be processed soon.
What! No noodling of the bigguns? You surprised me Jason. Nope none on ends here either unless short term or its a gnarly one holding the stack of rounds. The only time ill store rounds on the end is in the warmer weather if i hand split. The wet end splits a lot easier than the dry, checked end IME.
Those are the ones dad and I were able to roll up on his truck from the ground. Figured it was faster to not noodle and usually we can just roll the rounds to the splitter so not much lifting at all. Them suckers had to be well over 200#!
While split wood dries better, I am never reluctant to store firewood as rounds. Years ago, my neighbor logged twenty acres adjacent to us and we hauled out more wood than we could store. I cut 40" ricks and built a series of cribs, individual crisscross stacks, as tall as possible with only two large oak pieces in the bottom row. I burn 20" sticks and processed the cribs two years later with only minor losses. I cribbed the most rot resistant wood (oak, red elm, ash) and processed the wood which rots fast (maple).
...seems like you have to lift the big rounds up high either now (to the top of the pile), or later ( to get them onto the splitter) Also, what is "noodling"? I see that mentioned here often, but not sure what it means. Thanks.
