I know some folks think I am really fussy with our wood piles but the truth is, I simply throw them together for the most part. I am a bit more fussy with the ends but the stacks seem to turn out okay. In addition, some have questioned our method of stacking claiming the middle of the stacks won't dry. I highly disagree and one point I've made many times is that the stacks do shrink a lot in that first year (we stack in April and top cover in November or December). Yet, every year we have looked and the shrinkage is the same in the middle as it is on the ends. No doubt one key is that I tend to stack a bit loose to give it more air rather than trying to look super neat. Not many will see our wood piles because of where we live and where the wood is stacked. There are a few on this forum who have seen some of our wood piles and one in particular is Pallet Pete. In fact, in the first picture there is even some beech that he kindly brought to me. So, although we tend to stack 3 rows together, I took this picture this morning to show that not always do we stack in 3 rows. Shoot, we even have right now a couple with only 2 rows and one with a single row.
Perhaps I should mention that in both of those pictures there is some red and pin oak scattered through the stacks. I usually separate the oak but these stacks I did not. Still won't be a problem as I've done some this way before.
I've had them stacked 8 rows deep, I never had a problem. Some of our wood for this year is Cherry, it's stacked 5 rows deep x 16 feet long, works out great on the Cherry. Our better hardwood is only two deep, some of it's 4 years old so it could be five deep, most of it is seasoned two to three years before we burn it.
I've got maple, ash, elm and a little cherry in the one I mentioned. The most of it has had two years to season, save for some maple we didn't get split before the snow hit.
Stacks look good to me. My pile only gets air from three sides, and the middle seems to season just fine. Plus my green roof above it gets very hot in the summer and I think adds some temperature, as will your darker sheet metal roof it looks like.
I think this "mini-cube" method you've shown is viable Dennis, especially for folks w/more limited space for stacking/drying. As you mentioned, the key is providing some airspace between the stacks to facilitate airflow. I think there may be some misperceptions from the pieces in the middle of the stacks as those typically will not exhibit as much "greying" as the edge pieces which leads people to think that the wood is not as seasoned. But a quick MC check would likely show differently. I am likely going to have to go w/3 or 4 row stacks on pallets as I am beginning to be cramped for some space with the most recent log load I am working on.
For sure the greying is meaningless. But wood tends to shrink as it dries. Most times when we've measured in April and then again in November we find that our 4 1/2' stacks are down to 4'. That is, all the stacks including those middle rows. As for space, we are not tight for space at all. I just prefer to keep the wood together in one spot as it is less handling and moving.
Ditto that. I have plenty of space, but there are spots around our property that make more sense for processing and transpo to the house, especially during wet, cold winters.
You guys have seen my cube many times......I've got it at around 9 rows deep, counting the "filler"rows. And I've NEVER had a problem with the middle seasoning.....just as Dennis as mentioned, the whole stack (including all those middle rows) shrinks at the same rate. And all of my wood seasons three to four years....... One of the keys to this success is to get that wood up off the ground, with skids or something......air flow UNDER the stack is of utmost importance. It also helps, when "cubing" your firewood, to have a top cover on....at least the final full year of seasoning.
Dennis, I have seen your stacks in pictures many times, on here and the other forum. I know the stacks shrink in the first year, they shrink so bad with my stacks that my rows tend to fall in one direction of the other in the first 5 mos or so. My rows are 12' long and 5' high. I wonder if there is a remedy to keeping the 'drying shift' at bay??
Nice stack Scotty. I assume you left much of the wood you cut down this year as you have a surplus already.
My unproven theory is that the greying is more related to rain/water getting on your wood than anything else. At least that is what I see on my covered stacks. If I don't get the overhang right the spots that get wet start to grey almost instantly. A piece adjacent that stays dry still looks as bright as the day it was cut. Definitely. The more space the better. I get my pallets up on their own stringers. If your pallets start to rot then you have moisture under there. I also think that the soil and drainage in your wood yard will have something to do with it, those with sandy ground will probably fare better than someone with heavy clay who is forced to stack at the low spot in his yard. I've been making 3 row and 6 pack cubes forever. I don't have a yard that I could do otherwise in. They work for me. My question for Scottie and Dennis is; why don't you make the middle of your stacks little higher so you get some slope on your stacks so that your top covers can have a chance to run off instead of puddling?
Things of beauty, great looking stacks by any one's standards I agree, off the ground & top covered is key.
Yes there is. Just lean that outside stack in a bit if you have to. I've done that many times. But it seems to happen mostly when I use really small saplings for stacking on. So I've tended to cut some a bit larger as time goes on. They last a long time so it will take time to replace all of them.
Speaking of greying of the wood. This was all piled at the same time and was the stack furthest to the west and a bit open. Yet, after sitting there drying, there are plenty of splits that did not grey much or at all. The picture does not do it justice but you get the idea. So, why did some of it not grey?
Looking good Sav. I've finally decided to top cover and see how it works out. I tried last year a bit with steel roofing but we get so much wind coming up through the pasture I couldn't keep them on no matter how much weight I put on. The tarps actually seem to stay as the wood keeps them down it the crevises. I think the wind has always helped to make it successful to not top cover though also as it dries out so fast.
Tarps unless really heavy duty won't last 2 seasons. My wood in my are not top covered and if stacked 2 rows next to each other will rot in less than 2 years. Not turn totally bad but some splits will be and others will have lost the sap wood. And you will see a half a dozen color molds and funguses on it.
