Was thinking... maybe I should quote my price as "$120 for a half cord" or whatever price I use, with the emphasis that I am quoting a half cord. Because that is what I can comfortably haul with my truck and trailer. Of course, if they want a cord (which most do), it could be double that price or maybe a discount for buying a full cord. But... as for racks... I have some face cord racks, a rick. This is 8' x 4' x 16". (I cut to 16".) But if you're making your own racks, you can make the uprights to be whatever. The whatever question is... what about 6ft tall? Do you think carefully stacked racks of wood 6 ft tall will stand and not fall? Because that would mean that one 8ft long rack would hold one-half cord. Point to that rack over there and say, "That's a half cord, $120." I have a customer that has a very long rack, it's awesome, made of welded steel pipe. I think I measured that it holds one cord. But the other unique thing is that it is 6ft tall. And I stack the wood and it doesn't fall. I think she said it did fall one time but that was before I sold to her and now, I am the stacker! Another thing I thought of is that hers doesn't fall but the vertical pipes are totally rigid, there is zero movement. If I were to use my 2x4's, they might need to be braced with holding wire or something. If you could make your racks 50% taller, your yard will hold more wood! EDIT: The racks I wrote about would have only one row, so, no support by other wood.
I stack 8' tall in my wood shed I'll say that it does present a few opportunities for wood to fall over. You have to do a few things to prevent that from happening.
For the stacks I have seasoning, I tend to go 4 or 5 feet high (1st pic). However, these are double rows with no uprights at the ends (just cribbing). They are cut to 16" and the rows are 12' long so at 4' high it's 1 cord and at 5' high it's 1.25 cords. The stacks hold up well even with snow load and high winds. For an 8' long single-row stacked 6' high, I think a lot would depend on where it is (even with rigid uprights on the ends). Would it be up against a wall or just freestanding in the yard? If it's up against a wall, I don't see why it wouldn't work. If it's freestanding, I think at 6' it could work however there would probably be some instability towards the center. What if you used some cross pieces on the top (such as in the 2nd pic)? Another thing to take into consideration is that if the wood is green and shrinkage occurs, a 6' high single row will get pretty unstable.
I stack to about 4.5 ft. Higher than that, and the wobble factor comes into play. I prefer to minimize any wobble in my stacks
The best thing to do would be to do what you do, lol. For one thing... simpler to "build." You don't really have racks, you just have 'platforms.' Your 12'x4'x16"x2rows = 1 cord... those are awesome stacks, cribbed at the ends. What do you have under your stacks on top of the cinder blocks? Your way... 6'x4'x16"x2rows = 1/2 cord. At 4ft tall, it removes most topple risk. One thing I have thought about is just discarding odd shaped pieces and put them elsewhere and only stack uniformly-shaped pieces. Square and rectangular pieces can be used on cribbed ends.
I use three 2x10x12 PT boards on top of the cinder blocks for the base (pic 1). I agree that keeping odd-sized pieces out of the stack reinforces rigidity. I use pallet bins for the uglies (pic 2).
Most of my stacks are on 8-ft landscaping timbers. I try to angle the sides in a little. I have never had a stack fall. I usually put the shorties and knotty pieces on the tops of the stacks. Each one of these stacks is approximately 6.5 feet tall.
Thanks mat60. Stacking is my least favorite part of firewood processing, but a necessary one for sure. Splitting is my favorite part of working with firewood.
You can make a stack 4'x12' which is a half cord. Ive made half cord racks that are 10' x 5'. Making sure the rack is on solid level ground. You can prop one up on longer 4x4 outriggers/sleepers. Helps air flow too. Pic of 5x10' racks (inside dimensions) made from 2x4/2x6.
I think I’ve gone back to the drawing board more times than I can remember on this due to fallen stacks. I HATE restacking wood and well this is what I’ve come up with. Double rows, Cinder block bases with two 2x4’s on top of the cinder blocks. Stacked 60” high. Top covered with metal roofing. So far two years stable, a record for me. Length for me was a function of the roofing I had - 12-16 feet. I’ve got 4 of these, some a bit over one cord of wood, some a bit under one cord. See pic:
These are just fun to look at! Nice cribbing, angles ends, manicured lawn between. Must be bittersweet when you actually have to disassemble it to burn
No. I see that with some other sellers but not often. I never really understood how you could deliver wood and just throw it out in a pile. Well, you could, but that seems kind of odd. There might be somebody around here who has a dump trailer but I haven't seen him/her. If you had a dump trailer, you could easily dump it and that could be part of your pitch... x-price for me to deliver it and "for only x-price more I will stack it. The customers I have, most are not the type to be stacking wood. They have other plans, lol.
Thanks Haftacut ! I appreciate the comments. Believe it or not, some people have accused me of being OCD... It actually is kinda bittersweet to disassemble them! I have a friend who has a small plane he flies around central Pennsylvania. He says he uses my stacks as a landmark when he flies over this area. He says that you can see them from miles away from up high.
I echo Haftacut above, your stacks are awesome. Do you have any idea how much is in each stack? Just curious.
Thank you Yawner , I appreciate that. I did some rough math. Each stack is approximately 8' x 8' x 6.5'. So the volume of a stack is about 416 cubic feet. Divide that by the volume of a cord, 128 cubic feet, and get 3.25 cords. But since the wood in the stacks is not packed tightly, I figure that each stack contains about 2.5 cords. I purposely stack in such a way that the wind can blow through the stacks to really dry the wood.
Remember that a cord is allowed to have a certain amount of void due to irregularities in the shape of wood. I hear 20% void space is acceptable. I don't think your stacks are any bit close to 20% void space.
You may be on to something there. Maybe this could be a new way to measure our hoards....see it from the road Pretty sweet that he can see it from his plane! Can’t be too many stacks with that kind of claim to fame
