I'd love to build one sometime this spring, but I think I'll fill the center with wood that's already dry. The good part of building them (besides the aesthetics) is that they hold a lot of wood. Maybe that's what I'll do with all the pine, spruce and hemlock I have. It would definitely save space in my backyard.
The footprint of a holz hausen can be smaller than conventional stacks because you can go higher. The pic of mine is just under 3 cords, believe it or not. It's 8 feet tall. I could never go that high with a regular stack.
Why not? If you are good enough to stack a cylinder 8’ tall you are good enough to stack a square 8’ tall.
A 5’x5’ square stack holds more volume than a 5’x5’ diameter cylinder. Go square and you can stack more wood. The corners of the footprint of a cylinder go the waste.
I'd be interested to see how well supported that could be. The housen in my profile pic actually fell, because as the wood settled it pushed outwards on the walls. I rebuilt it with the "rings" that cant the wood inward a bit. And when I say conventional stacks, I mean a single row. I don't think a single row would be stable enough if it were stacked 8 feet high. But what do I know?
You can construct it in that same exact manner as a square as you can a circle. You can cant the wood inward in a square just like you can in a circle. I am not talking about a cylinder vs a single row. I am talking about a cylinder vs a cube going up.
I recall someone on here measuring MC on a large mound of splits that were never stacked and the core pieces dried fine. I'll look for the thread. I remember because I was very skeptical. Hausens intrigue me due to the aesthetics. That pic rainking posted with shingles is awesome. Well done sir! Maybe I'll have to give this a go soon, for the fun of it.
It would look like the Washington monument! (Ok, maybe not as tall) Maybe next spring when I can cut more wood.
Holz Hausens work or else they'd have never become a long standing tradition. But I will say (as I have yet to build one myself) that they're not a "year to year" stack (meaning you don't build one and let the wood season one year and use), I think they're more a "multi year" (2 to 3 year before use) way of storing wood for the wood to season optimally. Many here have seen my massive stack (it's 11' wide, 5.5' tall and around 80' long), so I'd say it's more of a "holzlager" (that's wood warehouse, in German...lol). I DO top-cover it (another whole debate here, but I can assure you IT WORKS IN MY APPLICATION), my wood seasons an average of 5 to 6 years as I'm almost 7 years ahead, and, for the space I have available, it does the trick marvelously. In fact, I just tapped into some NINE YEAR seasoned beech this week and I gotta tell ya, it's amazing.... Anyhow, the holz hausen DOES work in the proper setting. I've got plans on building one this summer in a spot that's been occupied with leftover soil from our patio.....
Can you define what you mean by it “works”? Works as in stores and seasons wood? Then yes of course it does. Looks cool? Yup, that too. Works as in “takes up less space”. Ah, no.
my stack would take almost double the space if I didn't stack it tight together. I've got to maximize the space I have.
Then go angular. You have wasted space on the corners. You will be able to store even more wood on the same footprint. The cylinder fits inside the cube not vis versa.
Well, there ya go. Heard from both sides on this one. So, which way are you going to choose to stack your wood? Or was this just a thread to stir up the ashes a bit?
