Curing wood. Which option?

My son-in-law has 2 dump truck loads of chunked up wood to bring me.

Option 1: Split and store in my barn. The barn has an E/W orientation and the prevailing winds come from the west. I would be running my stacks E/W. Different stacks for different species.
Advantages: No effect from rain and easier to get to each stack
Disadvantage: Not able to get a good air circulation. No sun

Option 2: Same as option 1 except stacking N/S.
Advantage; Taking advantage of the prevailing wind to cure the wood.
Disadvantage: Ease of getting to the various stacks and not being able to make stacks according to curing times of the wood.

Options 3: Stack outside like I have been doing.

I am attempting to get a 3 year plan in effect. Maybe down the road selling some of the wood as a retirement income. My son-in-law works for a land clearing company, so I get the wood at little to no cost, plus I love running the splitter. What option would you choose?

 

If you ask me, option 1 and 2 are one and the same. I have never done meter checks, but never see s noticeable difference on 90 degrees of angle under the same cover. Are you top covering outdoors? If not option 3 would not make sense. If you can top cover and get both wind and sun, that would be ideal.

 

Outside, top covered, 1-2 rows wide, move inside after 2-3 years. If you're thinking about selling some, consider separating out the uglies and burn those yourself. Also if you can get your son in law to cut to uniform lengths (like 16") it will be more desirable to discerning customers. Clean, uniform, dry wood will get you repeat customers and could help fetch a premium for what you sell.

This one has been posted before but always worth watching again, or posting again for the newbies.

 

Between option one and two, I would definitely choose one. I store in my barn and the biggest lesson learned the first year was that access is critical. You really don't want to box yourself out of access to the wood, especially early on in developing a three year plan. Separating by species early on is helpful to achieving dry wood because the species dry at different rates. You want to be able to get at the dry wood.

 

For what it's worth, I stack outside for 2 years then it gets moved to the shed for the next years burning. It works for me, but if you are going to be selling you want to keep your labor to a minimum. If you had to move stacks your labor would be better spent cutting and splitting more for your side business.
Sounds like you'll be able to get plenty of wood from your son-in-law. That's a sweet deal! You'll be at 3 years plus before you know it!!
I totally agree with bert the turtle . Until you get ahead, keep your fast drying wood separate from the rest. You sure won't want to be digging through stacks to find suitable MC wood.