When I first started burning in 2009 at a previous 1/4 acre suburban property, I stacked wood (single split depth) along the entire length of the 6’ chainlink fence in the backyard which I thought looked cool, provided privacy and facilitated seasoning. Part of that row is in my avatar picture. I also had some pallet racks like Eric. On a side note, snow shovels work really well at cleaning up splitter/saw debris from driveways.
So your first year! that's awesome! I bet you'll burn everything you got, and wish for more. Especially as energy prices rise. Last year was our first full season burning. Learned a lot, and hopefully can make some changes this year. You might look at the round stacks like Eric W pictured. You could get the wood off that fence (for airflow) and build high. An 8' diameter stack 5' tall is a couple cord, so you could build a little more upwards. Best SCA
I've been thinking about round stacking, but think I may run into challenges both in terms of space in my backyard and in split length. Because I pick up most of my wood from tree services lengths tend to be somewhat variable.
Lots of work to do this weekend. Picked up a big load of apple plus some other random rounds late last night. Lots of cutting and splitting to do! . Can't wait to smell that apple burning though.
Looking good Foothillsfire! I’m a bit old school. I just split it and stack it about 6 feet high - usually several rows deep. Since we don’t have much humidity here, seasoning in big stacks has never been a problem for me. I just mix all of my wood types together. I burn left to right. The stacks on the left are burn now. The stacks on the right are burn later. Once the left stacks are gone, I’ll start over. Plus I’ve got a handful of other 1-2 cord stacks randomly around the property. I’ve probably got 10+ cords stacked right now. It’s not terribly pretty, but I have the acreage to do it this way. I’ve got a little bit of every city hardwood imaginable. But most of my firewood is various Pines and Douglas Fir.
I've found ways to get more wood into our space. The latest is cuting longer splits (I used to cut to 18" now 20" & 22") and getting 3 rows on a row of pallets, stacking 6' tall. It will shrink as it dries. Next, I'll be doing a double row of pallets, and going for 5 20" rows, seperated by a row of pallets upright betwixt the middle rows. Both take up slightly more footprint, but much more wood. Sca
Work has really delayed the project list. Still have some cutting and splitting of the applewood to do. Then back to splitting and stacking the poplar, and covering everything. Just need the boss to stop calling for a couple days.
Apple and others from the last load are finally split and stacked, 5'x5'x15" for just about 1/4 cord. Apple is on the right, ash plus some spruce are on the left. My moisture metre should be arriving tomorrow so I'll test those splits but I suspect they won't need long. Its stacked close to the backdoor in case we resort to it later this winter.
Its good seeing you get into so much apple since its a high btu wood. I have a small amount of it and some of it I use in my smoker as smoke wood. I havent burned any significant amounts of it in my stove for a number of years. I like to dry it and give fist sized chunks to friends as gifts for their smokers.
Picked up a really nice load of elm, all quite straight and at least 14 inches. I was first at the pile so got my pick! I did one test split with the Fiskar and have to say it is not as bad as y’all made it out to be. Now the question is can elm sit in rounds over the winter or will it rot like birch? I ask because I don’t have anywhere to stack the splits at the moment and may put off splitting until next spring.
That looks like Siberian elm to me, and although I haven’t scored that particular variety yet, top covered and up off the ground is a good rule of thumb as Brad said.
Awesome, thanks guys. Big pile left after my pickup, I’m tempted to go for more but space is tight so I’ll pass for now. Don’t have experience with elm to know whether I should be rushing for more.
The elm is almost all split and stacked on top of the poplar pallet. Now that pallet is almost half a cord, half elm and half poplar.
