I’m posting two pictures of the same stacks. Second pic is in April just after I finished splitting and stacking. 4 rows 8’ wide by 7’ high (back row only 5’ tall) First pic is in early October of the same stacks. No wood was used but the height of the stacks went down by over a foot. I’m assuming from moisture loss and drying/settling. thoughts?
It looks like your vertical supports have been pushed out a little bit allowing the stack to settle. Do you have two pictures from the same angle that you can compare how close to plumb your vertical supports are?
Yes. This is good though, shows the considerable amount of wood is being dried out quite well. Not a real indicator it’s ready but definitely one showing it’s getting better! Usually I see this more profound with smaller splits... it’s the airspace that seems to show more. Bigger or uneven splits tend to get wobbly in the stacks. Thinking of it like jerky sticks, when they are fresh and ready for dehydration, they are quite plump and juicy. Then after smoke and dehydration, you might see what’s like 20 percent or more in size reduction depending on how much water is taken from them.
That is a lot of shrinkage! We do not normally see that much here but for sure it depends upon what wood you are stacking. For example; oak will shrink more than ash because it starts out so high in moisture.
I thought the same thing. Looks like top 2 "layers" of splits is missing... btw, that still counts as shrinkage...
