My Five Year Plan - A Few Questions - Suggestions Welcome

the door opening is about 8" wide, so nothing over that. it is a small firebox, but will last a good while.
Mine is a cellar dweller so the long burns are out for me as I am pushing it harder to heat the main level.
otherwise, sherwood is spot on.

 

I think you're off to a great start. I'd cut them small and split them small to speed the drying and make them easily load. It's frustrating when you can't get your wood into the stove and have to set it aside for futher processing to make the pieces fit.

 

You have a great start to getting ahead.

Get next years wood CSS ASAP. Sooner it's split & stacked, sooner it starts to season.

Best for seasoning is off the ground, in a single row in the sun & wind, top covered.
Smaller will dry faster but with it near 20% already, most any wood type should be ready for next burn season.

Great pictures

 

Welcome to FHC first off, a great site with a wealth of knowledge.
As far as being ahead, I think you are well on your way. Late in the summer put a cover on that 20-24% stuff and it will be fine.
I think any of that dead stuff(standing or down) once cut and split should have no problem burning this coming fall.

 

Today I cut up some of the 5 to 6 foot pieces I hauled back with my garden cart. I wanted to try cutting from a sawbuck instead of in the woods; somehow I thought this would be easier on the back. I think this is one of those "good in theory" kind of ideas, but in practice it isn't quite so good as I am handling the logs way too much. I'm going to go see if I can locate a peavey with log stand Monday and use that to do all my cutting in the woods so I am only handing the wood once. I did make a quick sawbuck using my workmate, plans are here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Workmate-Sawbuck/

Also added a new dump cart to my firewood tools collection; as you can see, all my equipment is the high-end stuff.

Had a lot of time to think while splitting wood. Realized that I only cut firewood in September and end of March thru April (need to avoid bow hunters after September and bugs after April). Hard to get too far head with this schedule, so I decided I would order a couple loads of rounds in May and October to keep the stacking going while I am not cutting.

 

Yeah I cut up small polls, a whole bunch at a time on my saw buck type deal, it works out real good but the one you have up on there is, in my opinion a little large to be lifting up onto a Sawbuck.
I tried the log jacks but didn't like them, have to reposition them too often, just cut them three quarter through, and roll them with a Cant hook

 

The owners of both properties I have permission to cut on either bow hunt or have friends that bow hunt the properties. I don't want to interrupt their hunts.

 

Who makes those plastic wagons? I want one!!

 

Split your Elm and Cherry small like you said and stack it loose. Cross stacking with lots of air and you will be in good shape. The White Oak will need time. I would not plan it for the up coming season. I have a pile that was cut over about 1.5 years ago, split over the summer and did not burn well at all when I sampled a few pieces last week. Great wood, but like most great woods, takes time to dry.

 

Tractor Supply has them for about 99 bucks. Gorilla brand I think? Have one myself and like it a lot Like the Kubota more though I also tried the metal garden wagon from the big hardware joints. Ran the wheel bearing and steering couplings right off the piece of junk in two seasons.

 

Yep, TSC: http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/groundworkreg;-heavy-duty-dump-cart-1400-lb-capacity

It is their store brand called GroundWork and is supposed to be rated to 1400 pounds ... don't think I can get that much wood into it and if I could, don't think I could pull it. I don't know how it will hold up, but I prefer to use these to move my wood from splitting area to stacks and from stacks to garage.

 

I NEED one of these! Thanks for the link. It sounds like it could even be used as a trailer behind a tractor or ATV use if driven slowly.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience; I'm still trying to figure out what works best. I do know that cutting old downed trees results in more need for chain sharpening than I would like. Usually, I take a shovel with me and dig out under the logs in a couple places to cut them to a size that will allow me to roll them after cutting the top half. It is still a bit of a struggle to move some of them, not sure if I need a cant hook, or just a pry bar that won't bend easily. I did call some Stihl dealers and found the 48 inch log peavey was about $130 and the log stand was $45; that is a bit more than I wanted to spend.

The sawbuck actually did work pretty good when I used it for logs of a reasonable size; for the bigger logs, I'll just cut them in the woods.

 

Harvestman, I have found a cant hook is a very useful tool while in the woods. Not only can you lift logs up to cut them, but you can use it to free snagged trees when felling them.