I'm new at this and just in the process of planning how I'll get on the 3 year plan. I have VA pine and a few bits of red oak. The pine has been dead for a few years and leaning. The bark's all gone and it burns fine... The plan is to load up on pine since it'll dry quickly, and then have a couple of cords of oak for 2015/16 and beyond.
Welcome You have a plan to get some wood CSS (Cut, Split & Stacked) You are on your way. Just cut wood, it starts adding up & it's all BTUs The stacks grow faster & dry a lot quicker if pictures of it a posted here LOL
It's nothing to brag about. I have less than a face cord right now. I'll post pics after I split a little more. There's a truck load (Ranger) that's been on the ground under a tarp from before we got 16" of snow and a fair amount of rain last week. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where the heck I'm gonna stack 3+ cords. The property floods and I'd hate to have to restack wood after it gets spread all around the yard during a flood event. But I suppose that conversation will be for another thread...
Just be careful This wood cutting thing has been known to become addicting. Fun but addicting LOL Flood prevention, Maybe a wood rack up off the ground a foot or what ever height is needed
I was thinking about a lifted rack and figure a foot to foot and a half would do it but I haven't been in the house long enough to know what to REALLY expect. During Sandy, we had water up about a 14-16" on the basement door and the neighbors said we all got lucky. If it's that bad, I figure I'll just deal with wet wood. I've been trying to figure out some modification to the cinderblock and landscape timber rack I have now http://www.instructables.com/id/No-tools-firewood-rack/. Also, I think I'm going use more material to make each rack hold a cord. I've searched the boards and some of you guys have really nice sheds/racks.
Any wood stack is a thing of beauty Perfect stack there, off the ground, good air circulation A top cover & you're good to go for most anything nature throws your way.
black locust beech ash sugar maple silver maple shagbark hickory bitternut hickory black cherry sweet cherry walnut red elm american elm hop hornbeam red oak white oak
Kind of like you, Fanatical1, I buck up whatever falls on the property then scrounge around during the summer for other stuff. Right now I've got: -Black Cherry -Yellow and White Birch -Elm -Poplar -some Ash and some Maple -plus a few old White Cedar fence posts If one of my Pines or Spruce end up falling, I'll buck those up as well - but hate burning softwood.
I have a lot of Snow in my stack this year also. Must be that Snow wilt disease that's getting them all. Where do you live in SW Mi? I use to live in Sister Lakes.
I don't mind burning a bunch of different stuff, and I burn wood campfires as well as burning wood in the stove. Makes it interesting to see how the various woods season and burn. When I bought my first place as a young guy, I had a fireplace and I remember talking with this nice guy who cut, split and sold firewood. I was trying to find the best deal and was insisting in something really hard, like white oak or hickory, and he said son, you will learn that having a mix load of wood will be best because they all burn differently and have their own strengths for what kind of fire your going to have in the evenings. At the time, I thought he was trying to pawn off his soft maple on me, but have now come to understand what he was talking about.
Oh, I agree. Good to start a fire with a bit of the quicker burning woods, then add the more dense wood for longer heat. I've never used a BTU chart (maybe ought to look into that) just have been going by what I've learned growing up. With campfires, I tend to go more softwood - the kids (and now grand-kids) like the "snap, crackle, pop"
Welcome B Williams! Do you have access to pallets? You can find them at Home Depot, lowes or really anywhere with a dock just ask for them and they will probably give you some. If you lay them on the ground and load them up the air gap will keep the wood off the ground and you can even lay gravel below them if you want. I've been doing this for a long time and it makes drying very nice and very simple. We used a lot of face racks made very much like yours for a couple years and the yard was darn near pristine but it was a lot of work and lost space. I'm really just sharing my experience and throwing ideas out. Your ideas of cinder blocks is great!
Yeah. I'm thinking of raised pallets (probably on cinder blocks) to give me a little more space than the face cords and keep the wood dry if we get a bit of water in the yard. I just haven't had time to acquire any. I'm even thinking of a system to wrap the racks in plastic as a solar kiln, but we'll see how that goes.
I'll still stack some wood like that. I have a bunch of cement blocks lying around from a foundation demolition and I have bought two x fours and also just gone in the wood s and cut down pine trees that will substitute for the two by fours. Although I use pallets for the bulk of my oak, I'll still use blocks and rails and rails and T-posts for any type of wood that I have smaller amounts of and want to keep separate or single row for a number of reasons. Sticking things in the ground here is tough due to gravel/glacial till/huge rocks and I don't bother getting the pallets off the ground any more. If/when the bottom rots I just toss 'em in the woods ( no piles) and they finish rotting there on the ground in a year or two. The nails might take a little longer but not much from what I've seen.
White ash Birch More white ash Rowan (mountain ash) Maple More white ash A few pieces of oak, but not much White spruce
