Bark up or bare wood up when stacking splits?

I generally don't pay attention to whether or not the bark is up or down, just stack however it fits. On the piles outside of the shed I would usually get the top couple of rows bark up, but I'm not sure if that ever really made much of a difference.

Same here.

I usually don't pay any attention to whether it's up or down, I just stack to make it fit best for stability.

That's what I do to. Stack it so that it's a nice tight pile.

I usually stack mine bark all down. It just seems that the splits are more stable that way, and having all the splits lying more or less like pieces of pie with the point sticking up allows the stack to form a nice loose pile with lots of airflow and both sides of the split open to the air as well.

Corey

Bark up always in the Great Northwest.
Thomas

Always stack bark up, looks to much like a water trap the other way.

I can see that both in the NW & NE. Here in the high desert not so much.

I'd like to see some photos of all-up or all-down stacks. I don't see how it is practical to maintain some fixed orientation for a whole stack, especially bark-up. The logs just don't fit that way for me. Or are we just talking about the top few layers?

My problem is that I often lapse into "Perfect Stack" syndrome, where I spend far too much time trying to get the tightest and sturdiest fit for individual logs. A trace of OCD perhaps. Stacking is probably my least favorite part of the process.

Bark over wood protects the living tree and helps keep the water in it.

"Rounds" are bark covered smaller diameter logs 2 -3 inches or less that many feel are not desirable for bothering with since they don't burn well (aren't dry enough). "No darn rounds" is popular when ordering and paying for delivered cordwood. They take a long time to dry favorable for burning.

Bark falls off many cut pieces of wood as it shrinks in diameter and dries. Once this happens, with end checking, most wood is considered "well seasoned".

Therefore, it seems that stacking split green wood bark side down with split side up would help drying since, stacked in the sun and breeze, warmer air would rise being blown through the stack aiding evaporation and drying. If the bark was on the top of the stacked pieces, it would seem to interefere and, at least partially, block this process.

Bark side up make sense on the top layer or so, unless the stack is covered with a tarp, to protect those layers from rain /snow.

To some, this may be a simple preference, like holding the fork with the right or left hand to put the food in the pie hole. The end result, if the pie is tasty or the wood is dry, makes no difference.

Aye,
Marty

most of the moisture leaves through the end grain, so toss it in there however you see fit!

I read somewhere (sorry, don't remember where) that positioning the bark upwards inhibits the exit of water vapor upwards (even though I read somewhere else that most drying occurs through the ends, although my experience with my wood tells me different), so for a while I stacked with the bark down. I have a lot of red oak in my stacks, and the bark takes a longer time than many species to dry itself free from the wood.

What I noticed in my wood is a pooling of water from rain (or sloppy watering in summer) that was being contained by the downward facing white oak bark that had dryed itself free of the wood, like the bark was a bowl. Moist red oak bark seems to remain moist for abnormally long periods of time, and also remains attached to the wood for what seems like forever. From that, I surmised that ideally [I should put the bark up] in my situation with my wood.

In practice, I don't approach the ideal and I stack things for my convenience. With the holz hausen the primary concern is fitting pieces for stability, so they go on the pile which ever way makes them fit better. The top is covered with white oak bark, which acts as a great rain proofing, almost like tile shingles alternating the curved bark orientation up and down for adjacent pieces to create troughs.

I noticed once that the Wood Man stacked a delivery I ordered with all the bark down, nearly every piece having the same orientation. After looking at the stack for awhile, I realized this configuration allowed for a whole lot of excess air space between the splits. Great for air movement and thus drying, but not so great for amount of wood per volume, or in this case, per dollar. I suspect he knew that. Live and learn.

I stack bark up.
I don't know why...I just have it in my head that's the way your supposed to do it.

Don't be a "bark-downer"! I'ts a government conspiracy! What's next? Women voting?!?

:bug:

I normally stack bark up, or try to. However my top priority is to get a reasonably tight stack, so I more commonly end up with a bunch of splits with the bark on the side, then more splits fitting into the "sawteeth" created that way with the bark up, to flatten the surface back up a bit, then repeat. I guess the closest would be a series of semi-circles with the bark sideways, then up then sideways the other direction, etc. I don't end up with it facing down that often.

I also don't have that much of my bark falling off. Sometimes it comes off when I'm splitting, but mostly I like it to stay on just because I figure it's that many more burnable BTU's. Even the bark that comes off tends to go into either my kindling pile or my buckets of chips that I use as first level firestarter. I burn just about everything...

Gooserider

Just don't "Bark Up" the wrong wood pile......

Sorry, couldn't resist

However it fits best here.

My kids do most of the stacking. Daughter makes a really pretty wood pile. Boys are still working on it. bark up/down isn't something I give much worry to. I'm more concerned as to wether their stacks will stay stacked or fall down.

I read several books about wood stoves and cutting and splitting wood and so on in the past year+. The ones that mentioned it said to stack it with the bark up. That is to keep the rain and snow from being sucked into the split part of the wood so much. More likely to just run off the bark, or at least the bark keeps it away from the part of the tree that would really suck it in. I try to do that, but haven't been a wood burner long enough to positive that it helps.

Of course, one guy in a book also said that wood splits easiest when green, and that contradicts my experience completely.