Holzhausen, start to finish, My third attempt at it

Well, it's not finished yet, I just started it this afternoon but I intend to post some pictures as I go along. My wood is mostly Black Locust and this batch is very green and heavy from a live tree. I figured I wouldn't be burning it for at least 2 to 3 years so, decided to make another Holzhausen.

I though I would show it start to finish, just for the heck of it. Obviously, there are several ways to start/build one of these and wood shape and consistency will definitely play into it. My wood is all over the map on size and shape, and probably a little short in length to make a pretty round stack, not to mention my abilities at building one of these. So, needless to say, I am not trying to tell anyone how to do one of these, this is only the third one I have ever done, and I have started out differently on every one of them. As long as they don't fall down, I will be happy. I just thought I would post some pictures of my progress as I go along.

This is the first picture, just getting started. I had some left over sheet iron scraps, left over from a project, so that's what I am using for the ground cover. This thing is about 3 ax handles in diameter, maybe slightly bigger, so it's about 9 to 10 ft in diameter.

 

Here's my second and last picture for today. I will post more later as I go along, and we will see if this thing will stand up. My side by side hauls about a half a rick (half a face cord) at a time. And I have three loads in it now. So, about a 1-1/2 ricks, roughly 1/2 cord. I will try to keep count, so we will see how much wood this thing holds. My guess right now is it will hold 2.5 to 3 cords when I get done. 3 cords is usually all I will burn in a winter, sometimes maybe 4 cords in a really bad winter.

 

Looking good, I’m hoping to build one myself this spring. Looking forward to the progress

 

Gonna be keeping an eye on your progress as I have been wanting to try one myself.

 

I've have actually had people pull up in the alley behind my house to take pictures of mine. They think I'm some sort of genius for building one of these.

 

I have 2 of them and people ask about them all the time.

 

Looks good. Ive never built one. Ive considered it, but in most cases im lucky the wood even gets stacked!

 

Are you going to cut the edges off the sheet metal? Thinking about water collecting on those edges and then running under the wood.

Sca

 

I will probably zip cut the edges, later on. But I am not too worried about it as the tin has valleys and is not level, so any water that gets on the tin sheets will run out/off anyway.

One of my Holzhausens has a tarp under it, that one bothers me more, but it can't collect much water, and at least it will keep the wood from going down into the dirt. Actually, in the past, the main issue I have had is the bottom layer sinking into the earth and rotting when I didn't put anything down. I don't have any pallets so have been using the sheet iron under most all of my wood stacks, this year.

 

Darn it was such a pretty day the other day when I started this new Holzhausen but that didn't last long, rained all day yesterday and snow on the ground today, so I worked in my shop instead. I built a rocket stove, since I had been thinking about it for a while, just in case I needed it.

 

Be glad when it drys up a little bit, so I can start hauling wood again.

 

Whoa, from HH to rocket stoves. Cool thread!

 

Yep, It had been in the back of my mind, slow day, and I had to get out of the house. But I had kind of wanted one, just for another cooking option if the power went off and stayed off for a while. We were out of power for 11 days, a few years ago, and my house is pretty much all electric except for the furnace and it's propane but requires electricity to operate. Of course I do have the wood stove.

 

Back in the saddle again; well sort of, I did haul and stack a little more wood in this latest Holzhausen. I have hauled another 1.5 face cords of mixed oak and Black Locust, but it got dark on me, before I took the picture. So, I have basically a full cord stacked in the Holzhausen, give or take a little.

I have learned one thing: I find it a lot easier to keep the circle going, without having to fight it, with the bigger circle. My other two Holzhausen's in the back ground of this picture are smaller diameter, probably 7 ft. This one is probably 10 ft or better in diameter. And the wood stacks better with the larger diameter. So, going forward, any Holzhausen's I build will be this larger diameter.

 

Hauled more wood today. Here's a picture with another face cord added.

 

Looking good

 

Then later on, after adding another face cord and half, bad luck struck! Part of my wall fell down and I heard it crash from 100 yards away, as I was loading another load. I guess I had let the wall drift out some and then I threw a load in the middle and possibly bumped it too hard with a few sticks, I don't know.

I sure hate stacking wood twice in the same day.

 

Ok, not so good

 

Got it re-stacked, making sure to keep drifting in a little as I went, this time, and added my last load for the day. I now have an estimated 2 cords of wood in this stack.

 

Yep, a little set back. These things are a little sensitive at this stage. If I do another one, I have an idea to cut some long poles that will span the circle and add one once in a while to kind of tie everything together, sort of crisscrossed. But I would have to be careful not to bang them up, when throwing wood into the middle.