I'd put it in my backyard. . Ya know.. Fer yer testin purposes. . lol (yes. Misspelled words. On purpose) Fill it up and drop it off. Chris can haul it fer ya. As for this thread. We all need to lighten up. Lots of members here are still single year burners. Heck, I went from almost 4 years ahead to barely over 2 years (Sciatica and lost my place to cut). Life happens, Your city has constraints, Work to much (tell me about it. 9 hrs yesterday, 9 today), etc. We all come here for a reason. We all burn "fill in the blank here/wood/pellets/coal". We all like to have fun and talk about it. But there is no right or wrong way. As long as Your SAFE about it. If your burning less than ideal wood? Then it should be checked, your flue should be checked often, and your senses should be on guard for a worse case scenario. No? Ideally, a 3 year plan is best. No questions about your supply or stoves flue. But.. Not everyone is capable of this. So we do what we can.. Bogeydave had a great saying... Who can finish it? You burn what you got...
If I don't follow a three year plan then whatever I am doing it is not as good, not the right way? Why? So if I don't adhere to a 3 year plan like you, and others do, am I not following best practices? What about someone who buys all kiln dries oak from a mill? We both burn 20% or less MC wood, why is having a three year plan the "best" This is what is bothering me. I presented an alternative solution, yet you and others still content that it is not the right way. I say that because for something to be the best then it is the 'right' way to do it, it is better than all other solutions to the problem. I'm not upset, you just perfectly illustrated the point I have been trying to make.
Did you read the entire post? This was in it. . The less than ideal wood wasn't directed at you. It was a general statement. I never said what you are doing is wrong. Just that we do what we have to do in our given situation. I'm sorry for any confusion
I really want a sweet wood shed that holds all my wood. Some day. Cutting down the draft is more important right now. But, at some point, I will have a huge, and glorious wood shed and I will no longer care when it rains and snows.
Also... this was in my post (I'm not even 3 years ahead). So telling you to get 3 years ahead? I am a hypocrite. Which I am not. Please read. If it works? Use it. Period. I can't follow the 3 year plan because of 2 different issues (Sciatica and a lack of land to cut). Again.. Read my post. You took what you wanted out of it. But the facts are there. Everyone has there own thing. If it works? Roll with it.
Before beetle kill insects took over Colorado, our cut zones were a 4 hour round trip. Add that to escalating gas prices to get there and the $ of the permit, thank goodness hubby was so far ahead. He also has sciatica, and ironically blames it on too much wood cutting as a child... Sorry to hear you are now in a similar situation. He moved what wood he could from our home we just sold and we bought wood for last winter. We are at the mercy of the wood sellers word on if its seasoned or not......and we now know one seller not to buy from ! The first 6 cords were good, the last two were not. (2 different sellers) Regardless the circumstances, we will likely continue purchasing wood in the future, as we can't follow the 3 year plan right now either. Bear in mind I have my pellet stove.
If you can budget it, buy your wood in two to three year allotments. Many good sellers will give you a discount on bulk. I'm in a different area, but I get my hardwood for$150 as oppose to the $225-275 you normally find around here. I get pine for $50-70 a cord.
Thats a fantastic price!! You have prompted me to get to know some neighbors better.... Some of them buy the giant logs (telephone pole size) by the semi, I bet I can pool with them. I know and like the immediate neighbors but need to meet the farther ones that buy the semi loads. I met one of the farther neighbors trying to catch some stray goats awhile back
Good plan, you're on the right track. Have fun Cutting I splitting & stacking & it'll add up quicker than you think. Few if any had multi years of wood starting out. Let alone started out burning 3 year seasoned wood. (maybe some but few) Many cut dead standing lodge pole, pretty dry & ready to burn as with some other dead standing wood, some is 20% or less moisture. It takes time & effort to get seasoned wood. You can stack & slow dry, buy kiln dried, buy seasoned wood, you can CSS your own, make a kiln, You gotta find what works for your circumstances. Any reason you can't do both, Racks & a wood shed ? Wood shed for the dry stuff, racks to season with (kiln or time) You are going to "burn what you got , seasoned or not" for this year. Hard to season wood now in Rhode Island, it's time to burn. Clean inspect the chimney monthly, burn your direst stuff, you'll be fine ! You have a good plan, it just will take some time to execute it. Most of use here have been there
The poor op is probably never coming back after this demonstration. He probably thought he had mistakenly logged in to Another Site. Honestly it reminds me why I'm no longer with my ex wife. She could argue about anything and would dissect well intended paragraphs into one or two out of context sentences just to argue some more.
Pallet Pete where do you get those pallets? Those are pretty nice long pallets. Yesterday I was out early cutting and splitting until softball tryouts. I manage our U12 age group for a league I helped form. Normally tryouts are conducted in August, but the person that manages this age group quit mid-fall. As I was stacking the newly cut wood from yesterday morning, I thought about my dilemma. After running through options in my head, I've decided to build the shed. As someone else has suggested, this wood would be the final stage just before going into the house. Here is the design I am using minus the gap between the boards to allow for air flow on the sides and bottom, http://myoutdoorplans.com/shed/woodshed-plans/. This shed will sit on top of cinderblocks to allow air to get underneath. My other plan was to expand the rack I've already built that holds a face cord. The expansion would allow for the end rack to hold a full cord. With some modifications for simplicity. Though after seeing Pallet Pete's Pallet layout, I'd consider that as an option. Just not sure I can find similar sized pallets. The ones that Pallet Pete use are sized nicely to make that plan work. I have an acre of land, and have plenty of space to store my wood. Only problem I face is that my backyard is far from flat. Where I am putting the shed (close to the house), I had to dig down to make a nice flat area and fill in with 6" of compact aggregate to provide a nice stable area for the shed. Right behind the shed is room for three or four more 5'X8' areas for pallet racks. I just need to do the same thing I did for the shed for each area. My backyard is slopped too much to just put something down. I need to read more about the klin dried process. Likely I am not in a position to do this for this winter. That would be something I could do this spring/summer to help get me to a sustainable amount of 3 years of seasoned wood faster. As for scaring me off, I can tell you with three kids that bicker non-stop I more than use to it. Going outside to cut and split wood gives me much needed solitude. I get that people have many different ways to process their wood, and appreciate everyone taking the time to offer many different solutions to my problem. Thank you Jason from RI
Great thread. I like the back and forth of much more experienced wood burners than me. I have tried most of the methods mentioned and will keep trying new ways to me. I wrapped a pile of large rounds in plastic on pallets with the bottom open. I did not check the moisture but could tell by their weight it worked great in one year. I loaded a Shelter logic 10 x10 shed with +-4 chord and it took wood to 15% in six months over the summer. The front door was open but other than that no ventilation. It got to over 140 degrees in the summer months. I mostly stack on pallets three row and top covered. The only failure I've had was just starting out and stacking in the woods/shade years ago before I got educated. That did not go well. Next up for me is a holzhausen. Maybe I'll wrap that baby in plastic with weep holes at the bottom.
Jason I get them from my work. They are 49" by 73" pallets. You can use any pallets actually I have 5 or 6 4' by 4' pallets under the stacks as well.... You can actually stack 2 pallets end to end and bolt them together than stand them up for a wall. Thats how most people do it. Ill look for the links to pallet shed builds for you. There are a lot of guys who build literal mansions out of pallets. It may take me a little while as I am somewhat busy tonight. Don't be afraid to pm me any questions you have! I have built many things out of pallets and would be happy to help where I can! http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/threads/pallet-petes-pallet-possibilities.526/ check the link for some ideas as well.
Nice plan: Same basic design: Section is 10 x16 with on buried concrete pier blocks, pallet floor : Later the added 24" front eve, got 1/2 price damaged roofing at HD, no sides or back link: woodshed/woodport
I love this. Had I put more thought into the amount of wood I'll need to have seasoning at one time, I'd have built something like this. My 1 cord of wood shed will be lacking in the overall scheme. However; not to fear, it will be useful as a final stage before coming into the house. Jason from RI.
You'll be thankful you have the shed even for 1 cord when we got a couple of Nor'easters with a couple feet of snow. I have pallet racks like Pete's to dry my wood but want to build a shed for at least 2-3 cords to keep out of the weather, nothing I hate more than needing wood when its snow turned to rain then back to freezing and your wood's under ice packed tarps. I have the material too just need some time to put it up. I may try the solar kiln to get ahead another year, its a good idea.
