Should I dump my stacks on the gravel tomorrow?

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area_man

area_man

Burning Hunk
Feb 12, 2013
124
Oregon City, OR
Tomorrow it's going to be 97 and full blown sun. My stacks are measly, lots of stuff that was stored damp and got a little mildew on it, and some rounds I really should have split today. Other responsibilities kept me from doing that, so here we are. I can topple my stacks over and have all the wood exposed to sunlight all day tomorrow. I still have to split it and restack anyway.

What do you think, is it worth it for the sun exposure to just dump it all over first thing in the morning so I can get as much of the mildew killed as possible? I'm sure one day isn't going to make the wood THAT much better, but it's not like I have to pay somebody to push it over.
 
area_man said:
I'm sure one day isn't going to make the wood THAT much better,
Click to expand...

I agree.

Just get on doing what you know needs to be done.
 
If you have a dry gravel lot to dump the wood, I'd go ahead and topple it. More time in the sun means drier wood, even tho it may be just a little drier.
 
But wood in a pile stays more moist than when exposed to the wind. Only the ends sticking up in the sun would benifit IMHO, the rest would be worse off.

Split it and stack it where it'll get the most sun and wind, while you still have some of the calendar on your side :)
 
Well, it's too late to take advantage of the steaming heat, so I'm just going to split it all and get it up on pallets tomorrow. I got most of the crotches and knotty trunk sections busted out, which is nice, so I got that going for me.

It helped a lot to bury my Fiskars X25 in a round and pound it in with a 4lb hammer, and then work a Home Depot wedge in behind it and whack the Fiskars in on another angle. It helps to blow out the integrity of the connective fibers throughout the chunk.
 
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area_man said:
Well, it's too late to take advantage of the steaming heat, so I'm just going to split it all and get it up on pallets tomorrow. I got most of the crotches and knotty trunk sections busted out, which is nice, so I got that going for me.

It helped a lot to bury my Fiskars X25 in a round and pound it in with a 4lb hammer, and then work a Home Depot wedge in behind it and whack the Fiskars in on another angle. It helps to blow out the integrity of the connective fibers throughout the chunk.
Click to expand...

I like to split the knots right in half; leaves "nicer shaped" pieces IMO. This is usually easier if the "underside" of the knot is close to the end I'm whacking on. But if it takes more than about 10 swings, I'll saw right down through it with the chainsaw. Wedge and sledge can do the trick too, but that's much higher impact on my shoulder and elbow. Had to take a couple weeks off earlier this summer after a few ash crotches left me pretty sore.
 
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