Starting a thread to track some of my scores and the ebbs and flows of the woodpile. This being my first winter burning it will be helpful to track how quickly I get through piles. Please feel free to jump in with pictures of your setup or input on my system. Its great inspiration. Pictures of the stacks to follow. For now the pile of apple and birch I picked up by scrounging from back alleys near home.
Good idea. As systems change and memory fades I often find myself resorting to pictures to keep track of what I’ve done at what time. When the brain totally farts I resort to Google Earth LOL Welcome to the forum and the zany world of wood hoarding.
Alright here are the current piles. I'm starting to stretch the limits of a suburban backyard. The stacks are looking good for next year but I suspect I may run low this year. ~1/6 cord of poplar c/s/s early 2021, dry and ready to burn this winter. ~1/5 cord mixed maple, birch, misc others, also for 2022/2023 <1/2 cord, mostly spruce, some white birch and a bit of ash and cherry - featuring the the foothillsfire dog. All c/s/s spring 2022, maybe to be burned 2024 1/3 cord ash - c/s/s summer 2022 to be burned during the 2023/2024 season. To the right is a couple pieces of birch, likely dry enough to burn winter 2022. In front is a small stack of ugly apple and birch chunks. Split and stacked Fall 2022. 1/5 cord mostly poplar with some apple, c/s/s spring 2022, burn 2023/2024 Unfinished pallet stack. Left row is spruce, middle row lodgepole pine, right row misc. hardwoods (more on that later). c/s/s fall 2022. Ugly pallet of willow and other unknown old splits, to be used to supplement 2022/2023 burning as needed. Dry birch visible on the left.
Ongoing projects October 2022: 1. Finish stacking misc. hardwoods (mostly Manitoba maple I think, feel free to weigh in) on right side of pallet (with spruce and lodgepole), c/s/s Fall 2022 Lots of chunks and uglies in there, but in the spirit of Canadian thanksgiving I just thank God for free hardwood.
2. Finish splitting poplar rounds cut Oct. 2022. Stack on pallet East side of yard. 3. Figure out winter covers for all stacks. Snow will fly soon, lucky it hasn't yet. 4. Pick up more rails or other material for stacks. Pallets are working okay but I prefer the long single row rails. 5. Find bin or other storage for chunks and uglies. Preferably with a divider to allow for different drying times. 6. Pick up indoor wood rack (ideally with kindling storage), fire tools and welder's glove.
Looking good there foothillsfire. My wood yard is a work in progress that changes year to year. Most of what I have is lined up in parallel rows, but I still have random piles here and there oriented in different directions. My main focus this year was to consolidate everything to one side of my yard, which I’ve just about accomplished. My unfinished wood shed. There’s mostly red oak, sugar maple and elm in there. The two Holzhausens are a mix of white pine, spruce and hemlock. A little more than a face cord of sugar maple from June. Hickory and Mulberry from August-September. Behind it under cover is a mix of red oak, ash, hickory skinnies, sugar maple, red maple, black cherry and white oak.
Nice stacks! I really like that rack in your last picture, would love to build one eventually. Seems like you have a nice mix of species on hand. Any particular reason you are holding onto so much spruce, pine and hemlock? Did you have to noodle a bunch of that sugar maple, or are the splits just deceivingly straight?
Thanks. I originally had about a cord of spruce from a buddy’s house when he took down a row of trees along his property line. I also scrounged a couple truck loads of hemlock that year just to try it out. Then about 6 months later I joined ChipDrop, and I (somewhat foolishly) didn’t specify NO CONIFER. Lo and behold I ended up with a couple cords of pine logs dropped in my driveway That small sugar maple pile is partly noodled because at the time I didn’t have my splitter with me. Whatever I couldn’t hand split got chainsawed apart. It was a yard tree so it wasn’t particularly easy to process. The forest grown maples have better timber form and split both easier and much straighter. Yes, here in southern New England we have a nice variety of hardwoods and softwoods. Red maple and red oak have to be the two most common species, but we have plenty of hickories, several birch species, various oaks, etc.
One of the things I do for keeping track of my stacks is to write the date on them when they were done. I use a black ink marker. It will stay on there for quite awhile then I have to redo them. That way I know I am burning the oldest stack of wood first.
Ink normally fades away, pretty quickly in the sun. I learned this the hard way, several times. I was surprised to find that good old lead (graphite) pencil, from a carpenters pencil or just a regular dull pencil (makes a thicker mark), lasts practically forever, definitely doesn't fade in the sun like ink.
I honestly don't have enough stacks to warrant it anyways. So far keeping a notebook and some pictures has worked! First project crossed of the list, hardwood is stacked. I think its all maple but interested to hear other thoughts. Stack turned out super ugly with all of those short pieces though. In the bottom right corner you can see all the bits and pieces that need a bin.
foothillsfire, nice looking stacks. You've done well finding every available space! About how much do you burn through in a season?
Thanks Sirchopsalot, still a bit more space to fill up, but its getting tight. This is our first season burning (just installed a PE Neo 1,6) so I have yet to find out. Wife and I both work full time so I expect it won't be too much, maybe less than a cord? Hopefully not too much because I don't have too much seasoned and ready. Lots for next year though! I've got a small load of apple to pick up tonight.
I still have an active account on there, but haven’t requested any more drops yet. I’m far enough ahead and have lucked out scrounging the last couple years to where I don’t need to roll the dice with them anytime soon. Maybe at some point I will though. It’s nice to have stuff delivered in bulk rather than a little at a time using my daily driver.
Great thread FHF! Storing firewood in a small yard sure has its challenges. Looking forward to watching it grow and go. I build pallets bins for my shorts and nuggets. Four sided "cube" with open front and top. Stack longer shorties in front and back fill with others. Filled half cord bin 4x4x4' inside dimensions. Built out of scrap wood and a couple pallets. Partly filled one cord capacity bin
Thanks for dropping by Brad. I always enjoy your posts, especially in WinonaRail's thread (that was partial inspiration for this thread). Great idea on the three sided pallet box, I may give that a try.
Thanks! Didnt know i had a fan club! You can join by sending $19.99 annual dues USD to me. Hoard on and cut safe!
