If it weren't dark out I'd get you that photo right now. Sun rises tomorrow morning at around 7:30 a.m. (stupid time change). So hang tight...
I have a set of rules I follow when stacking and so far so good. I have stuff stacked since 2016 and have not had anything fall over yet. I have a few leaners in my 2017 stuff (6.5 cord) that were partially from pallets sinking/disintegrating unevenly and me trying to correct alignment of the rows by curving the rows.....a BIG no-no! I just placed a large tarp over the whole area years ago when I noticed it in order to keep the stuff on the bottom dry and from rotting from exposure. I started to stack 5'5" on top of double pallets in 2019 in order to help with that issue and I haven't had much for leaners since. Most all of the ~63 cords I have stacked on double pallets since 2019 are remaining pretty darn true.
Don't you worry, I am extraordinarily careful. Did I tell you about the time I limbed an oak with a 40 foot extension ladder and a 61cc saw? Seriously though, thanks for the concern.
By double pallets do you mean two pallets wide? Or one on top of another? Wide stacks (like mine) are easy peasy. It's the tall skinny ones that are hard to keep vertical. I tried to go 10' tall once in a single row and it was a disaster. Fell over 2 or 3 times before I adopted a new strategy.
One on top of another..... I stack two rows on the 48" pallet width and put an air gap in between them. So all of my rows are individual with air gaps in between them. I only use 48" wide pallets. I cut to ~21" long and leave the ends hang over the edge of the pallet by an inch or so. This leaves ~8" in between the two rows on the pallet.
Makes sense. I've done something similar, but I used the gap in the middle to drop in the short and uglies so they didn't mess up the outside stacks. Keeping funny shaped splits out of the main stacks goes a long ways towards keeping them upright.
yep! I keep all irregular pieces and rounds at the top. If I have any shorter pieces I also place them towards the top but then I place the longer rounds on top of them in order for them to "bridge" the rubber roofing so it keeps the full width of the stack covered. If I placed the shorter ones right at the top, that would allow the rubber roofing to drape down quicker potentially exposing the pile below. Rounds vs splits is like fractured rock vs round rock. There's a BIG difference in stability of the two and the ability to "lock" together. Rounds don't while splits will.
I just finishing splitting my current stock of rounds -- including a bunch of super straight grained hackberry. If that stuff had a few more btus, or was a little more rot resistant, it would be great firewood. As it, it's decent but not great. In any event, I'll toss the rest of the splits onto the stack, and if the wind dies down, I'll take a photo of me pretending to be a mountain goat. I think it's around 13' high at this point.
The greatest danger was my wife seeing me. She would have been furious. She thinks proper use of the chainsaw is dangerous enough. This was back when I only had a Dolmar ps-6100 and a Makita battery powered saw (before I developed a saw-acquiring sickness). The Makita was the lighter option, but there's something to be said for having the power to make the cut and get down quickly. I was actually an OSHA safety trainer for utility companies back in college -- so about 20 years ago. Does that mean I should be even more ashamed of my behavior?
Agreed, Some charts put it at the exact same btu's as silver maple. I'd go for Silver maple over hackberry any day. Splits easier and seasons much faster.
