Very nice and I have to agree with Sandhillbilly, those are great looking stacks. So currently, you only separate by dry times? Do you have or plan to have another stack for lesser BTU’s to be burned during shoulder months or warmer days? I also noticed your stack makes a “T” which is something I don’t know if I ever saw before (or at least never noticed). Was there a specific reason for this and how does it work for you? It’s interesting and I like the idea to utilize more space at the end of the rows. Also, I do know where Greenwood Furnace State Park is. I’m about an hour and a half from there. If you follow the Susquehanna river straight north I’m in a small town along the east shore.
Welcome to the forum. Having an area to store and process (cut & split) rounds and lengths is a plus if you are not able to get to them right away. Keeps the mess and clutter isolated. Stacks on the edge pf the property out of the way is the norm. I usually double row stack (16" splits) with a space in between. 36" wide pallets are ideal. Pallet bins for shorts and nuggets are popular too. Since i sell most of my wood i size my stacks to hold half cords. Standard stack size is 6' wide, 4' tall double row. Most of my wood is acquired by the PU full and ill stack by species where and when possible. Multi year drying woods (mostly hickory and oak) get stacked separately, but if going for the three year plan it isnt as critical. Important thing is to be sure the wood is off the ground and top covered (not wrapped).
Backwoods Savage, thank you for the compliment and taking the time to share some of your wisdom, you’ve clearly amassed a lot of it and I’m sure have navigated a lot of trial and error situations. Your wood piles and overall setup, which seems to be geared towards working smarter and not harder, is wonderful. I’m excited to incorporate some of these approaches to my own setup and system. Also, thank you for your 2cents on the bins as this is something I’ve been tossing around trying at some point. I can see how getting the wood out may become a time suck and frustrating, especially on freezing cold days when the fingers don’t work as well. Metal roofing is something I’m planning to have over my “burn stack” so I’m happy to hear this has worked well for you. I’m currently working on moving/using that stack so I can level it off better, lay some stone for drainage and build a permanent shed in that spot. I just need to scrounge a few more sheets of metal before it’s ready to be built.
You mentioned hard getting wood out of the totes and also freezing fingers. Here are 2 tool that are worth their weight in gold! The pickeroon comes in handy many times, including getting wood out of totes and I use this more than a cant hook for just rolling logs. The log tongs are a real blessing for picking up wood as they will save your back, make your work easier, save your hands and also you will be amazed how much longer your gloves will last. In addition, when handling cold wood, your hands will not get as cold because you aren't grasping the cold wood.
Various piles in the far back: The wood shed area: Under the deck: So far I have not had any issues with the pile under my deck attracting snakes (I have 2 dogs as well, and understand your concern there) A couple years ago I did get a bee’s nest in there during the summer though. Not a big deal at the time, considering the wood was staying put until the fall.
I like my stuff in a central location on the old barn foundation. Back the truck up and unload. If I have longer limb wood it gets bucked down right off the truck. Come spring the splitter is in its little shed I built for it. Pull it out and split wood. It's a short trip to the stacks from there by wheelbarrow or just throwing it.
My logs/rounds are on the ground right now. I scrounged up about 80 pallets last year, so now I can put the new stuff on them. My split wood is on pallets.
Once I get to hoarding for 3 years and beyond I probably won't separate but we'll see once I get there. As far as shoulder season wood I stack lower btu wood on the ends of my stacks to be burned for this season. The 'T' you see wasn't intentional. I originally stacked from left to right as you can see with the row of oak. This is the first year I changed the orientation of my stacks to take better advantage of the way the wind travels across my property. It's an experiment to see if it helps speed drying time.
Like it was mentioned for most the process is evolving. I only stack black locust and oak into their own stacks. The oak is separate because of dry time, and BL because it's BL. I burn 4-5 cords a year and wood heat is my main heat, I am about 4 years ahead. I keep track of the dates of the stacks by the area they're in, or by pics I took. I have no issue doing a major stack (8'×5'×8') for faster drying species, but most is in cord rows. When I get to logs on the bottom that may have absorbed moisture, I just cut, split and make sure they're stacked in the front of the row, so they get the most sun and wind exposure.
I figured out my disdain for stacking came mainly from trying to make nice end cribs. Since I have abandoned them for the most part, I don't mind stacking as much.
Thank you for taking the time to share your process, I definitely like this one. The long stack with separation of species by cribbing is great, I don’t know if I would have ever thought of that. As far as your wood pile orientation goes, am I understanding you correctly that the entire stack runs north/south? I live in on the south side of a mountain with great sun and wind exposure, my plan was to run the stack west/east so that the “face” of the stack is getting sun and wind all day. Should I be setting it up the other way instead?
That’s quite setup with all those totes! I’d love to be able to get to that point someday but I’m just not able to get there yet. This gives me something to look forward to though, so thank you!
Thank you for sharing! Do you find it’s best to only go one pallet in depth? You mention 2 rows per pallet with 16” splits. If I’m cutting mine around that 20-22” it can be tough finding the right pallets to get a double stack on, so I’ve been going 2 pallets deep with 3 rows. Would I be better off keeping it to one pallet and just making my stack longer? Also, what orientation does your stack run north/south or east/west? Thank you!
