Holzhousen seasoning

I doubt it would be as quick as single row

I have built a couple - they look cool but they certainly will not season as fast a single row stack

I prefer them for a couple reasons.
1. They look nicer than rows. Again my opinion
2. It's circular so you benefit from wind in any direction
3. Its self supporting. No need for racks or side posts. Also I dont worry about the stack tipping over.

I am utilizing round piles and find that my wood dries very quickly. I live on a hill side, and do get some nice warm winds most of the day. Additionally, I live in an extremely dry environment. The thing to do would be one of each, then do a moisture test each week and chart it.
We are down into the 20's now....my guess is that single digits are just a couple weeks out.

The consensus on here has been that single rows will dry faster but I would love to try the Holz Hausens one day. They look awesome and I would love to build one that stays up!

I have built 2 since august they look great, don't know if they work better than straight stacks but I had no room left. Neighbors who see them ask what are those I say they are my bomb shelters lol.

More fall than stay standing.

Instead of putting wood,inside I put pallets to keep,standing.

I remember reading a report from Australia(?) about this, somewhere on this forum, single-row stacked was the best. Maybe build a dome solar kiln around it? :D

I am busy building my 4th one now.

The base is 2 meters in diameter (6.5') and my walls are not vertical. I have found with my shorter than normal splits that the holz will bulge easily from the inside wood pushing outwards. On the 1st pic you will notice that I have to run a wire around the very first one I built with the walls more vertical. The slight taper keeps it more stable.

I have fitted some of them with chimneys at the top and will wrap them in clear plastic soon to try and create a kiln effect. Our summer in Africa is about to start.

I do it mostly since it looks neater and is more stable than my single row stacks. I also have plenty of single rows so if the drying time is more, I don't mind too much.

I do it for some of the reasons already mentioned,

They are more stable than rows. I disagree with the statement that more fall over than not. If you build it correctly it will be very stable.

I can stack higher that rows which is a big help when I'm space limited.

Personally I think they look better. And I get a lot of good comments from people who stop over, or even the UPS man.

As for drying time, I can't really comment. Most of my wood is either ash or silver maple, and I'm 3 years out with just that wood so if I get into any oak or sugar maple it will have plenty of time to dry. As long as you aren't tossing huge rounds in the center, I don't think it would make a huge difference if you stack in rows or a holzhausen as far as drying time though.

gzecc said:

Has it been definitively determined that holtshousen seasoning is as fast as single row stacking?

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No

gzecc said:

I'm thinking of doing it in one area, but don't want to slow down the process.

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Then don't do it

Not sure about seasoning time, but my concern with them is stacking time.

While they look fantastic, it seems to me they would take a lot longer than traditional stacking. Especially, restacking them if they fall!

It's on my bucket list to try it at least one time though!

BillLion said:

Not sure about seasoning time, but my concern with them is stacking time.

While they look fantastic, it seems to me they would take a lot longer than traditional stacking. Especially, restacking them if they fall!

It's on my bucket list to try it at least one time though!

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I found that they took a little bit longer . . . but not a huge amount of time . . . especially after you build one or two.

Never had any of them fall over.

That said, they didn't really do much for me in terms of seasoning . . . it was more decorative. Most of my stacks are now traditional two-rows on pallets.

firefighterjake said:

I found that they took a little bit longer . . . but not a huge amount of time . . . especially after you build one or two.

Never had any of them fall over.

That said, they didn't really do much for me in terms of seasoning . . . it was more decorative. Most of my stacks are now traditional two-rows on pallets.

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That's helpful, thanks. Yeah, mine are are all 2-rows on pallets as well. I just don't have the space for single rows...

They really are not that difficult. I lay down four pallets, in a square and stack them 5-6' tall. Never had one fall. I'm cutting standing dead spruce and birch. They are so dry I don't think it matters how you stack. I've stacked a few all over my property. The moose would knock down my rows...they don't seem to bother the Holz Hausens. And, my wife loves them

With the type of wood that I work with, I end up with lots of uglies/unrulies, so the HH helps me to hide them out of sight.

SawdustSA said:

With the type of wood that I work with, I end up with lots of uglies/unrulies, so the HH helps me to hide them out of sight.

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That's HUGE benefit of using Holzhausens! Crotches, knots, bent logs, and even smaller logs left round don't stack very well. So I can use just the split pieces to build a solid perimeter circle, and everything else get's tossed in the center, out of sight.

SawdustSA said:

With the type of wood that I work with, I end up with lots of uglies/unrulies, so the HH helps me to hide them out of sight.

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I definitely agree, and not only do they keep the uglies out of sight, but they keep the uglies from ruining the stability of a perfectly good stack. I see the HH as a complement to a nice stack. It's purpose is to keep/hide the inevitable portion of uglies.

You can see my 10 foot diameter one in my avatar. It was a conversation piece, not any faster on drying, but no one ever talks about all my other stacks. It was just cool.