So that is a bummer...

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eujamfh

Member
Dec 5, 2009
199
va
Loading the garage the other day...I get about 3/4 a cord in there at a pop which acts as my shed...and I get into an area of the stack which I thought was oak about three years seasoned. Pre season, when glancing over the piles, I thought I knew what was in each stack and when I cut it. Well, I was wrong...looks like the 2-3 cords of season oak at the end of the current stack I had planned on is pine.

I have about two cords of pine in another stack, and I swear I do not recall splitting the other section which was tacked onto the oak.

Good thing is is will burn...bad thing I may be loosing my mind. Only thing that made me smile...I have five cords of white oak that a guy dumped for me...so I will be lean for this year and a bit next year using soft woods to bridge the gap...but oak is in the future.

Cheers,
Matt
 
eujamfh said:
Loading the garage the other day...I get about 3/4 a cord in there at a pop which acts as my shed...and I get into an area of the stack which I thought was oak about three years seasoned. Pre season, when glancing over the piles, I thought I knew what was in each stack and when I cut it. Well, I was wrong...looks like the 2-3 cords of season oak at the end of the current stack I had planned on is pine.

I have about two cords of pine in another stack, and I swear I do not recall splitting the other section which was tacked onto the oak.

Good thing is is will burn...bad thing I may be loosing my mind. Only thing that made me smile...I have five cords of white oak that a guy dumped for me...so I will be lean for this year and a bit next year using soft woods to bridge the gap...but oak is in the future.

Cheers,
Matt
Pine is not bad! If you had willow I'd feel real sorry for you, I can't even burn the stuff. Good luck, Randy
 
The seasoning stacks area is so scattered and random that I'm tempted to staple a tag onto scores. Yur not alone. The label will have when-C/S/S, where from and maybe species even. And if some cold beverage is owed to the source....
 
Gark said:
The seasoning stacks area is so scattered and random that I'm tempted to staple a tag onto scores.....

You would not be alone if you did tag your wood.

I suspect quite a few of us do, it's not a bad idea at all.

Just takes time at the end of splitting and stacking, the time when we'd all probably rather go indoors and sit by the stove for a while...... ;-)
 
Done that a time or two myself. Burnt my best wood in the shoulder season then realize I was burning the less dense wood when it was cold. Can't remember what dinner was yesterday, it dang sure takes a while for me to remember a stack that has dried for 2 years when all the stacks are grey.
 
I need to make a map...
 
I queue it up with the best dryest fuel closest to the stove. You will have plenty of opportunity to burn the pine in January.
 
I know where you are coming from. My wife makes fun of me because I used to have a schematic of my stacks indicating what species and when it was split. Now I have it set up in four rows, the row I'm working out of now, and one for each of the next three years. Now I only have to remember what order to use the rows in.
 
I had a similar experience with poplar last year. I was splitting about 6 truck loads (2-3 cords) that I thought was all oak. Buried in the stack was about half a load of poplar that I do not remember cutting at all. Super easy to split though! Seeing it ahead of time allowed me to set it aside and burn it in October. I think your pine will be okay, especially for firestarter. If it's dry pine burns really well.
 
Someone here posted that they use a spreadsheet to keep track of their wood stash. I've been just going by my memory but alas, that is starting to fail me and I find myself going back to pictures I took to see the date they were taken. It might be time to enhance my memory with ginkgo biloba.

Anyone remember burning Ginko wood?
399px-Ginkgo_biloba_JPG1a.jpg
 
A map...and tagging the piles. I like it. I was thinking using a marker. I definitely need to do something...I have trouble remembering last week at times let alone 3-4 ears ago!
 
I just pick a different area each year and start stacking. Next fall after we move the wood for 2012-2013 into the barn, I'll then start making a splitting stack in that area. It will be a long ways from the other stacks we have. Most times I'll not stack 2 years close to each other but we don't have that much wood so it is easy to keep track of. Now if we start cutting for the year 2024-2025, I might have a problem as my memory has been failing a bit lately.
 
eujamfh said:
A map...and tagging the piles. I like it. I was thinking using a marker. I definitely need to do something...I have trouble remembering last week at times let alone 3-4 ears ago!


I started using a sharpie to mark the dates on the end of random splits in the stack. I didn't start it till this year but I started finding myself not remembering as well as I used to so figured I'd give it a shot.

Like mentioned above I usually end up looking at the date on pictures to make sure my memory is correct.
 
I was thinking of using a Sharpie. Do you think it would be OK to burn Sharpie ink in my stove?

(my bad, just trolling...)
Just my luck, by the time I get around to burning the wood, the sun/weather would have obscured the ink. Maybe I could put a date die stamp on my splitter to impress into the ends of the splits.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
I just pick a different area each year and start stacking. Next fall after we move the wood for 2012-2013 into the barn, I'll then start making a splitting stack in that area. It will be a long ways from the other stacks we have. Most times I'll not stack 2 years close to each other but we don't have that much wood so it is easy to keep track of. Now if we start cutting for the year 2024-2025, I might have a problem as my memory has been failing a bit lately.

Same here Dennis - I stack 5 cord in four separate areas and just rotate the areas - no problems remembering which area is due for the stove when fall comes! Cheers!
 
Dating your wood . . . that's just plain crazy talk. :)
 

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Guess I am the only one that bar codes the splits and scans'em when I bring then in for the stove.
 
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