Mix it up, that way your cut and split wood will go farther. That's why I started doing it. One year I was short on cut and split wood and made it through the winter with the skids.
Naw just have had that saw for over 20 years, the only one that I kept from cutting for a living . Good saw hella lot of power and not to heavy used for firewood and actually fell a lot with it as well. Everything was on 4x4 so had some space between the ground and the oak. I tried quite a few ways to cut them including stacking in stacks but to much binding and kicking laying them out on dunnage worked the best .
Haa ! Hey Bud mostly in Boston on a cast in place concrete job now I work as a high rise construction Superintendent but some buildings go composite slab (Steel metal decking) instead of cast in place. I actually was to busy to cut this year so I had to buy a pellet stove,next day Iron worker came back to my job from another and told me they just tossed 900 of these in dumpsters 4x4x8' !! I wanted to cry. They are so easy to process and burn hot and long .
I need to look at the pallet pile at work more often. I'm sure there's at least some burning wood or maybe even pallets that could be used to make wood shed/ stacking materials.
Pallets like that are nearly instant wood racks. Just get a top cover on it and it's set. Some steel roofing would be perfect.
I bought 3 loads of oak pallet wood earlier this winter cheap. The guy I bought them from pulls all the nails to keep for scrap and cuts boards with a miter saw. Pretty neat setup, can really pack stove full with square boards on the really cold nights.
Opened this one back up i see, I find myself searching a lot more for the square wood because I find a good lot of it. Some of it is cut to perfect squares already for burning. 4x4 to 8x8 inch blocks. So plentiful. Then I got my Jenga blocks. When I get a skid that is oak, its that big 4x8, I like just cutting the slats via Stihl 026 and then I turn that over and cut the basewood which just keeps it off the ground. This makes it really nice since its like sacrificial wood, poplar it seems to be a lot. Here's one that i havent cut yet but will be done soon. My stack overfloweth... Then it just becomes 12-14 inch blocks perfect for those nights where I might wanna just set it and forget it awhile. Might be nice when I gotta stay home. Ive got pretty good MC's in these lately. 13-15%. So I got my share for this year. The skids just dont serve much of a stacking purpose to me as they do burning. The spaces in between are too wide and its just easier cutting them rather than buying the wood to make them for stacking. Although I may change my mind if I find more.
I also wanted to find more on how many people burn wood with nails in them and know about it within reason. Helps when I can relate since I have now stopped using so much in the pit since it gets tough to pull them out. I do have a magnet but im gonna learn how to just keep it in one place and eliminate a danger. Some of these pallet nails are just scary to look at too.
I dump the stove ashes in a couple different spots on the property, so I prefer to not have nails in it. Don't want the dogs steppin' on one.....or me.
Probably concerned about OSHA slapping their wrists on a surprise visit. Even if you wearing all the approved forestry safety gear.
I dump ashes in the garden through a screen. Any burnable bits go back in the stove. I don't get too many nails and screws but I do get a bit of horse fence galvanized wire. It goes in the recycle bin.
Thats my philosophy about the pit. If I can avoid nails now i can try to spread the ashes around later. Stove stuff would be just eliminating one extra process
