Hey All, I’m still fairly new FHC, the website layout, finding my way around and have been searching for a thread to cover this topic to the extent I’m looking for, but to my surprise I haven’t been able to find anything. So, if this topic has already been covered then I apologize and the mods can remove this post. I also apologize if this is too long for some people. As a relatively new wood burner (<5yrs) with mild OCD, looking to significantly grow his hoard I’ve been struggling with how to scale my wood piles. I currently have random piles sitting on pallets near where they were processed at our farm, which is about a 15 minute drive and unsupervised. This winter I quit splitting and stacking the wood at the farm and began just bucking trees into either 44” or 66” (ish) sections, my stove recommends 22” logs, then putting them on a trailer and bringing them home to cut to proper length, split and stack over spring/summer. This way I should be able to significantly increase the amount of wood I’m getting processed before spring hits, the briars, poison ivy and snakes start showing up at the farm and my selection of trees becomes extremely limited. With this new method I’m quickly realizing I need to have a better system in place to stack and track my wood. Currently, I’ve just had a stack large enough to get me through the winter sitting outside my basement door, near the wood stove. It’s also only been red oak, so I haven’t had the issue of organizing multiple species. The thought of trying to organize, track and stack multiple species and years processed, all without having to move piles more than twice (once to a seasoning pile then a second time to the use pile outside the basement door) is overwhelming to someone who thrives with proper organization. Also, trying to have multiple piles at my house (1+ acre yard surrounded by trees, south side of mountain) that aren’t in the way, get adequate sun/wind exposure and don’t look too unsightly is another challenge I can’t quite visualize yet. So to all the experienced folks out there, who have been doing this much longer than I, how do you have your piles setup? What has worked best for you and what things haven’t worked and should be avoided? Are you creating individual piles by species and year processed? Do you have one main pile where you put your new stuff into the space of what you just used and it’s just ever rotating? How do you deal with multiple dry times? Do you have a place for tress the have just been bucked and are awaiting to be cut to length and split? I think you get the idea, so I’ll stop with the questions for now and see what everyone’s thoughts are. I’m sure most people will say I’m overthinking the entire thing but this is how my brain works and I avoid having to redo things more than once at all possible costs, so I’d like to get it right the first time. So please, any pictures or even crude drawings of your setups and design ideas are VERY MUCH appreciated. Thank you all in advance for any and all help provided. Sincerely, An over thinking and overwhelmed hoarder UC
Forget tracking, just process and stack. Separating by btu or species is fine. You'll have plenty if you keep at it. A face cord here and a wheelbarrow load there adds up fast. I have been burning wood my whole life and I'm still getting organized. I think I have about 40 cord (just an estimate) spread around the place in various forms (logs, rounds, splits). Still need to build some wood sheds and a solar kiln. My brother is coming over today to help css a trailer load of wood (about 4 cord on the trailer). We have to split and stack several cord of oak and various other species first, so he can get the trailer in there, so it'll be fun. I will try to snap spme pictures for you to show my (lack of) organizing, lol.
I used to stack wherever I split and realized I would run out of space. Multiple stacked rows would take longer to dry. Covering was difficult and water would drain between tarps causing some wood to rot that didn’t receive sun, or wind exposure. Switched to stacking 2 rows on pallets so all wood would have better wind exposure and it was easier to keep wood drier and dried quicker if it got wet.
Welcome to the club UncleCub. I have been here for going on five years now I think. And my storage and processing has been a constantly evolving process. I am always trying to become more efficient in the number of times I have to handle the wood. And my storage area is far less unsightly than it was when I started. I’m still working onNew wood shed buildAnd hoping to get the roof on an extension done in the next couple months. I don’t worry about tracking anything, I Tend to keep certain species in their own pile without a lot of mixing, but sometimes it happens. I have definitely never been accused of having OCD. For me, it’s just a constantly evolving process every time I see a new idea posted on here and want to try it. That’s half the fun learning and trying new things.
You want to get on the 3yr plan. Burn no wood unless it's been cut, split, and stacked 3yrs. Some species do dry quicker, but 3yrs it'll be safe. I have a number of 8ft racks that I stack 16" splits on, to a height of 4ft. IE: 1/3 cord. I'll date the wood on any given rack with the stack date. My woodyard had grown organically. As such, my oldest stacks are all over the woodyard, not in just one place. Works for me! Mire info and pics can be found here - This person's woodyard nirvana...kinda....sorta
I used to be a hardliner about separating species, but with the nature of my scrounging (a little here, a little there) it makes sense to just stack species together that have similar drying times. Having mixed piles also jives with my preference to burn mixed loads in the stove. I will have a few piles of 100% this or that in instances where I scored a lot of one particular thing in a short period of time though. My piles get stored long-term in the backyard, some in my wood shed, some outside of it but tarped. It'll stay there until I'm ready to burn it, at which point it goes under my deck. Ultimately it gets stacked a third time indoors on my hearth wood rack before getting burned. To simplify things, I could eliminate the stack under the deck, but then I'd be hauling wood constantly (and around here the ground is muddy for the majority of the winter)
Eventually all of my wood ends up in my pole barn. I have made separate bins (that is what I call them), each about 8 feet square and piled around 5 to 6 feet high. I have 5 of them and I simply go in a clockwise direction for use. Makes keeping track of what gets used next easy. The barn holds around 3 years worth of wood.
I am still working to get to the 3 year plan because I fell behind after my twin girls were born. Because I'm not there yet I do separate species somewhat. I keep oak isolated to its own row. Anything that takes 2 years to dry has a row. Everything else gets mixed together. Here are some pictures that will help explain. Plus we all like pictures.... This is where the wood that will be burned this season ends up. I have been going through anywhere from 3 to 3.25 cord/year. This is likely to go down though as I've discovered I have an overdraft and have begun using my pipe damper but that's another story. I'm just over halfway due to the mild winter we've had. Here my storage area. I stack 2 rows/pallet and go 5 pallets in length. I estimate there to be 1.5 cord or so per each 5 pallet row. I need another truckload to finish up the row on the left. That is all for next year. These rows are longer drying woods. The row that is covered is all oak that will go through its 3rd drying summer this year. The uncovered row is a mix of hickory, black locust and a little bit of oak that was left over from the other stack. The rounds that were pictured will be split and stacked for winter 25/26. Once I complete the 3 year plan I won't separate anymore. Oak will go right in the row with everything else.
UncleCub what part of PA are you from? I'm not far from Greenwood Furnace State Park if you know where that is.
Good post UncleCub. You'll find many ideas from the guys and each one tends to just do what is best for him. I've cut and burned wood most of my life (I am 81) and in a few different locations. I tried different things but mostly have used most of the practices we did when I was young. The general way we have handled the wood is to cut in winter but rather than split and stack where we cut we usually stack where we plan on splitting and stacking the wood later. The picture below shows what I mean by stacking right after it is cut. Then come spring out comes the splitter to do all the splitting which usually takes a few days (I work slow). Also the reason for doing all the splitting in the spring is that during a normal winter the splitter can be difficult to start when the oil gets too stiff. Also it does save time rather than getting the splitter out each time you cut wood. Another thing is it is easier to grab the wood to put on the splitter. However, I have a terrible back and joints and hate having to bend and pick up wood to be split. After all the wood is split, then the stacking happens. Many seem to hate this part but to me it is just part of the whole process and really does not take that long. This was taken when that pile was just about finished. Splitting done! A different stack shown in winter. You will notice I use old galvanized roofing to top cover. This has worked out well. In recent years I also use a few of these: Overall I do not feel the totes are the best yet a few of these can work out handy. It does prove to be more work getting the wood out. Good luck.
The logs and rounds you have laying around, are they on the ground or do you have them on pallets or some other way of keeping them from pulling moisture until you get them split and stacked? I’ve been debating clearing an area next to my driveway, putting some stone down and using that as a “staging area” for wood I gather over the winter that will be split come spring time.
Welcome to the club UC! I’ve been burning since 2010, found FHC a couple years after. Learned of the 3 year plan and that really helped my wood burning experience. I noticed a significant reduction in what came out of my chimney after sweeps. I stack two splits side by side on plastic pallets, running north/south, and the row gets very good sun and excellent wind exposure. Those 2 go up about 5-6’, then I stack one row in the middle for another 12-16”, so my top cover doesn’t hold water. It took me till a few years ago to learn to crib splits to separate specific wood scores, or basically sections that will get used per season. So I can remove what I need to burn that year w/o the pile partially falling. Hopefully you can see what I mean in the pics. This stack is over 70’ long but sectioned out with the cribbed ends. This allows me to take wood without disrupting the rest. I started out w/ T posts on the ends, and tied rope at the tops from end to end to keep posts from bending. That worked for many years till I found a better way. The cribbing also allows me to section out a different species of I get enough to do so. Which I have. All that wood is chestnut oak except a 2.5 cord section of honey locust and a 1 cord section of black locust. I bring wood home in rounds and stack in a staging area, then when I split, wood gets thrown into a trailer to be taken to stacks as it's filled.
Thank you for the reply and the link to your New Wood Shed Build, that thing is a work of art. Seeing you take the time to do it right the first time is exactly the inspiration I’m looking for and the added benefit of a “privacy fence” is something I’ve been thinking about incorporating but was leery to do so because of being at the edge of the property and prone to theft, so the fence on the back is genius! As far keeping different species in different piles, do you separate them within that pile as far as the year they were cut to know when they should be seasoned? I’m an opportunistic scavenger and go for the wood with the easiest access, so there’s years I may only have a face cord of a species but the following year I may come across 2 cords. I apologize if this was covered in your thread, I haven’t had a chance to go through the whole thing yet but plan to do so this evening when I get back from another day of scrounging. But do you have a “bay” in your shed for (species) then separate them within that “bay” by the year they were cut and stacked?
Mike, thank you for your input and the link to Nirvana! The “simplistic” approach is something I tend to overthink and in the end, make more work for myself. So being able to see your setup well designed with simple dates and species ID on the logs will definitely be something I “borrow” if you don’t mind? Haha
Eric, thank you for sharing what works for you. I have a deck that faces south and receives abundant sun and wind exposure, so I have thought about stacking underneath it as well. My biggest concern going that route is inviting snakes closer to the house and one of the dogs getting bit, have you had any issues with snakes in the piles under your deck? I’d also be interested in seeing some pictures, if you have some and don’t mind sharing?
Okay, I’m jealous and wish I could have a setup like that! I like that you have 3 years worth under roof and keep it simple by rotating in one direction. Thanks for sharing as I now have something to work towards. In all seriousness though, you have a great setup there and I’d very much love to have something like that one day.
Most of us use Dennis Backwoods Savage as our roll model for firewood. I was doing well with the 3-year plan until I just got overwhelmed with work and life. After last season I had less than a tote of wood here at the house. So this has been a get off my ash year to get back in the groove of things. All this is here at the house plus I am splitting addition for my best friend Bunny to burn as well as trying to have some for her to sell for a little spending cash.
