Nope, No uncovered control pallets. That's my next project. Need a big green hardwood. Enough to fill 3 palletts. One uncovered. Other two wrapped with diff plastic. Plan on weighting a dozen or so splits in each pallett.
This whole idea is pretty intriguing, especially since I have limited space to store wood and definitely don't have the space for 3+ years of wood. Would you guys do it again? For someone trying to get wood dry quickly, is it worth the extra effort? Or would time spent wrapping and fiddling with plastic be better spent splitting smaller or gathering more wood?
I think if you have limited space this is ideal. It definitely helps getting the moisture content down quicker. The fiddling is just some of us with a constant need to tinker and refine the process. It really only takes 30 seconds to a minute to shrink wrap a pallet. I had temperatures as high as 165 in mine over the summer. That's definitely drying out the wood.
I would think no shrink wrap on bottom be best. Allow water to roll down the sides to ground and not sit in it. And as long as it was low enough and few enough holes in the top to slow the chimney effect you will keep your heat.
If you are limited in storage and intend to burn wood for the long run you might be better served by a hoop greenhouse type of woodshed arrangement. Wrapping dome pallets once to get ahead, yes. With more than one or two pallets worth, maintaining the plastic might get old.
If I were looking for wood to burn this year I would look for standing dead trees with bark falling off. We have the ash borer beetle here that is giving lots of people a good supply of standing dead
I think I'm good for this year with 2 cord of black locust that's been sitting for a couple years. My issue is potential flooding. I lost some wood last year. I doubt a hoop house is doable. Secured, wrapped pallets might actually be better than my current solution... I'm just not sure.
I guess I wrap for a couple of reasons. I got behind on my wood as we were building this house. Wrapping really helps hold full pallets together as I move them around my hilly terrain. Very little of my 10 acres is flat....even though I am in Nebraska! I want to handle my wood as little as possible. Keeps my wood dry as I do not have a shed. Really has accelerated the drying time. You never can have too much dry wood. Stretch wrap has been a pain at times ( hail in August in Nebraska. Never saw it coming!) Will try heaver shrink wrap next with UV protection.
