(Pic) Put away 4 cord this weekend...

...of primarily locust, oak and beech with the help of my father-in-law and a rented 40-ton splitter. Yeah, that made my mind up that I need to buy a splitter. I did my previous 4 cord by hand last year.

Each course is 16" deep, 4' high and in 8 foot (face cord) runs. So, I can figure usage and what we have stored at a glance. We're top covering with the old plastic green shed roof panels from some bygone outbuilding on the old farm property.

Stacked on these cheesy foam-core 2'x4' imitation concrete "slabs" that I found stacked under our porch when we moved in...lightbulb finally went off when I realized I could use these and easily level. We'll see if there's a trade-off compared to pallets like I have been in terms of air circulation on the bottom...the issue with the pallets was that all the grapevine and multifloral rose (invasive) was growing up around them and into the piles.

Anyway, all of this has been in rounds since last winter but will probably get another 18-24 months of dry time before I need it. Rows are spaced wide on-purpose based on research to the forum suggesting the more air-space/sun-exposure the better and, maybe even more important, because this way I can drive the ATV and cart right in-between the racks.

Ok, here's what you came for you wood addicts:

Thanks all. Walked the dogs through the back 9 of our woods today and identified a cluster of dead standing black cherry that I'll probably take down and add to the stacks. Would love to hit my goal of 10 cord split and stacked by the new year.

7acres said:

Handsome stacks. I would like to copy what you've done. Is there a name for the T-shaped stakes you have between each face cord?

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Well, thanks.

Actually, you're halfway there - it's called a T-post. You can get them at Tractor Supply or Lowe's/HD - I do 6' ones. 2' in the ground, 4' above seems to do the trick.

Dix said:

Nice !

Go for the cherry, it's my favorite firewood ! Snag it when ever I can

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I agree - definitely one of my favorites. Looks great, smells great, splits easy - also seems to grow like weeds on the former farm fields on the south end of our property.

I did find one black cherry that has to be 50-60" in DIAMETER - it is a monster but also super healthy. Probably seeded half my wood lot itself.

jb6l6gc said:

just got to 9.5 myself, its a bit of a grind to get there but worth it.

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Agreed. When we finished after two days of splitting and I added up our total I was actually surprised we had only added 4.