This may be somewhere else already so feel free to slide it over! I have my stacks under the overhang of the barn. It is about 100/150’ from the house. In the house in the mud room I have a rack that holds a heaping wheelbarrow load. (Empty at the moment and doubles as a place I throw my cold weather clothes) Outside on the porch I have a rack that holds about 1/2 a face cord. Generally I use the tractor and the 3pt. Lift box to bring up splits from the main stacks to the house and put them on the porch rack and the mud room rack. Generally refill like this every couple weeks. Unless I don’t have the time then it’s a wheelbarrow load from the barn to the mud room rack for a couple days to hold us over. It works, but when the yard is wet I sure make a mess!! What’s everyone else’s process? Always looking to learn something new or better.
I have a 2 cord rack outside my front door that I pull from to fill a rack next to the stove that holds about 4 big canvas bags of wood. The funny thing is if I can avoid emptying the rack I keep retrieving one bag at a time, so I don’t have to make several trips to refill the rack The basement I refill at least once a week. In the basement I have a face cord rack that I try to avoid using and refill 2 wheelbarrow size racks beside the insert. I also roll in the wheelbarrow full of wood. The big rack won’t get used until March, or I get stuck at work doing snow removal. Whichever comes first.
You may think it’s a funny thing, but i do the same thing!! I’ll bring an armload or wheelbarrow load up from the barn instead of using the stuff on the rack! Can’t figure why, but it’s just how it seems to happen.
I bring in about a two week supply every couple of weeks to the basement. That's this time of year. Shoulder season i only bring in a couple of days worth.
I have a very similar system to yours except no big tractor to move large amounts in one shot, just a lawn tractor and small yard trailer. My backyard stacks are about 30-75ft from the house. Firewood stays out back until it’s ready and needed. I bring it in under my deck to a rack that holds a little more than a face cord. From there it goes in the house, to sit in another rack near the hearth for a day or two tops. As far as optimizing, I don’t have the yard to warrant a large tractor. I suppose I could install a dumbwaiter at some point so I don’t have to lug firewood up the deck stairs and into my stove room
My buddy and I have about 20 face cords currently on his land (off premises). The amount there fluctuates and has been as high as 40 f.c. I've got about 6 face cords in the back yard and on the side of my house (on premises). In September I stack on my front porch and the space holds about 2.5-3 face cords. From September - November I stack another 1.5 face cord of odds and ends in the garage; this is what we burn to begin the season. This season I didn't touch anything on the front porch until mid December. I can re-stock it at any time. My front porch during the season: Various on premises stacks: Some off premise storage photos:
Log it, buck it, split it, stack it in the shed next to the boiler, or in the stacks just the other side of the boiler. Rotate where I pull from as it dries. Keeps about 10-12 cord within 20-30 feet of the boiler at all times. Only hitch in this process is four really lousy winters in a row with no real cold or frozen ground to log. I've bought about 30 cord of logs to keep the process moving. I move most everything with hydraulics to save time and my back. If the racks fill up I have other areas to stack, but that means moving it again.
Is that a motorcycle with straight pipes in the first pic? A scrambler? More info please! I love this thread so far. I have too small and too stupid of a system to add value to this conversation. I really appreciate the contributions so far, and I hope others add to it.
In the beginning of the burn season I bring down splits from the stacks via quad and cart and it gets stacked, (a cord) on pallets on our patio. I also have a shed right behind the house that holds almost 2 cords. This is filled with higher BTU wood. Though this year there is a mix row of black cherry and box elder in the back. I also stacked a 1/2 a cord next to the shed. A first. I refill the patio stacks about 1/3. and pull from this when I don't feel like bringing wood up from the shed. The shed will get refilled at some point during the season. In the house we have a wood box that holds about 2 days worth of splits. I never empty it. I just keep refilling it and there's a metal kettle that hi holds splits that sits next to the stove.
I load wood at the score, bring it home and unload in a staging area. Then split into a trailer and haul to stacks (about 40 yds away). Then load small trailer to haul to basement doors, throw splits down into well area, then carry them over to furnace section of basement and stack. I can keep about 2.5 cords down there.
I burn exclusively junk wood in my owb. They go in the bladders of my ibc totes and get loaded on my pickup with the tractor. Drive to my house and unload onto 6 plastic pallets next to the owb. Each morning/evening open the door and toss in. Refill at home when needed.
From stack to stove is simple. I keep a wood rack on the porch. Just a couple steps from stove to wood rack. To get wood to porch I use the tractor. I also have a couple totes. One usually has shorties and uglies while others have oak. I typically have the totes for when snow or ice makes moving wood difficult or unpleasant.
My wood is delivered in 10 foot logs about a cord at a time. I have been processing then throwing on the ground. I need to get better about putting it directly into a trailer. It’s then stacked for a a bit. In late summer the slide goes up and the seasons worth of wood is loaded in the basement. The stove is just out of the picture.
Sure wish I had a loader tractor….. and some frozen ground! I’d be able set the bucket right up on the porch to fill the racks. Backwoods Savage is that a 3901?
Lotsa neat setups, equipment and methods here! Dennis, good pics there. I've split all my wood this year off site, just bring it home and stack it off the trailer. or make a pile of splits and take a couple hours stacking later. Since our stacks are more than walking distance from the house, I don't like to pull wood out of them once snow flies. Even with 4x4 on the truck. So, we bring a years' wood up by the trailer load out of seasoned stacks. We stack it a few steps from the doors in the fall. So, if I am incapacitated, dead, busy, away from home, wood can easily be brought in by whoever is here. If we're both sick for a few days (almost 2 weeks with covid a year ago), no 0ne will be hiking across the yard with armloads of wood. If we get snowed in, with regular snow, and no thaw between (that happened 11 years ago), we won't be out there rushing to bring what we think we need for a few weeks up to the house. We stock about a days' supply inside and room for a couple more if needed. There is a mud room closet that holds another couple days worth. When I'm an old man, if the hardest move with the wood I have to do is moving it from stack to house, that will buy us time before throwing in the towel. 'course, living in a much smaller space would be a good idea too.
Joe, it is a 3301. I intended to get the 3901 until I dug in and found it is the identical tractor! Seems the were able to get a few more hp out of the engine but it is only 37.5 rather than 39. So, for a few thousand less I settled for the 3301. Yes, that bucket helps a lot!! The unfrozen ground doesn't bother here but I wish it was frozen and a bit of snow so i could skid some out of a neighbor's woods. How did you fare in the big blizzard?
I carry one stick at a time by the long route to the basement near the furnace where I have 3-7 days of wood inventory depending on the temperature, obviously 2-3 times per week. No rack just low stacks near the furnace. All the health news articles promote "10,000 steps" per day and I either hike (while looking for downed trees for firewood) or carry firewood since I hate gyms and do not have a treadmill. 10,000 steps works out to 3-4 miles per day and we hiked 19,000 steps today. If you walk fast then only 5,000 steps per day are needed but I hate hurrying.
We ended up with probably a 24” snowfall, but the 48 hours of 40mph wind with gusts around 70 had 3” some places and drifts over 5’ at home. Depending on the surroundings there were places with 15’ high drifts and it was hard packed! Also the temps dropped and the wind chill was easily -30. I ended up spending the night at work for two nights and working from Friday morning through until the following Wednesday night. Worked in Buffalo for the last two days of it and let me tell you quite a messy and sad situation for many people who lost their lives. Luckily my wife and kids were safe and warm with plenty of wood and the stove going! This was Christmas morning…My bulldozer sitting in the driveway. Looking out the front window of the house. Here’s a picture my Dad sent me Christmas Eve from his garage looking out toward the road. This is after things had calmed down a little.
