Sorting your wood...

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Vikestand

Vikestand

Feeling the Heat
Oct 29, 2014
292
Missurah
How do you guys normally handle the varieties of wood you have? We burn a couple cords a year so I normally have that much or more seasoned by the following winter. I get industrial pallets from the local mining company that are 4 x 4. (8) of these will have wood split and stacked ends facing east/west to dry for next season.

I started finally downing trees on our property this year rather than scrounging from my FIL's unlimited supply after building a house on a wooded lot. Right now I have about a cord of Ash split and piled. Do you guys wait to get a variety of wood(I have some oak and hickory to cut) before stacking? Seems like I'd want to mix some of the other varieties in as I go?

I'm wanting to get a few years ahead this winter with another kid on the way next summer.
 
I don't pay one ounce of attention to the variety I am stacking. I may be slightly selective when I am picking out a load to go in the stove. But I am guessing that my methods may be different than yours. I don't stack until I am done splitting. That has a tendency to give things a good mix.
 
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Yup, started doing this a couple years ago. Before, everything was mixed together on the stacks. Got tired of that ~ needed oak for the day and it was mostly under a ton of maple or vice versa.

Now we sort and stack similar BTU wood together with cross stacking at each end in the rows. It's easy and convenient to pick what we want at a given time.
 
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Jags said:
I don't pay one ounce of attention to the variety I am stacking. I may be slightly selective when I am picking out a load to go in the stove. But I am guessing that my methods may be different than yours. I don't stack until I am done splitting. That has a tendency to give things a good mix.
Click to expand...

I always stacked when I got done splitting the wood on hand. But with the amount of 4 cords I am wanting to cut and split this year, I am thinking it might be better to stack after ALL of it is split. This way I can have a good variety throughtout my piles, instead of running into all of my best wood in one spot.

This stuff is maddening!
 
Vikestand said:
This stuff is maddening!
Click to expand...
Naaaa....you just can't treat it as a job. Its like fishing...I love to fish but would not want to make it a job like a tournament fisherman. Once you get it in your head that you HAVE to do it, it takes a little of the fun away.
 
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I'm not really worried about a mix of species or anything like that. I just want to know that all the wood in any given stack is dry. So my stacks are either "Oak" or "Not oak".

Once it is all dry, you can pick what you want based on the weather. If it is relatively warm, pick something that is light. If it is colder, pick wood that is heavier. Either that, or control it by air (when it's warm, throttle down the air...when it is cold, let in more air).

I enjoy cutting wood and all that, but yeah...I'm not going to sort wood by species. That's too much work and I'd have too many half-finished piles scattered around the yard.
 
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I keep oak separate from all other. Takes forever to season.
 
Jags said:
Naaaa....you just can't treat it as a job. Its like fishing...I love to fish but would not want to make it a job like a tournament fisherman. Once you get it in your head that you HAVE to do it, it takes a little of the fun away.
Click to expand...

Ha, I live in an old farm house. We went one december without a woodstove waiting on our quadrafire to show up. When you see your electric bill x3, then you know you HAVE to do it. It's only fun when I am caught up haha.
 
ElmBurner said:
I'm not really worried about a mix of species or anything like that. I just want to know that all the wood in any given stack is dry. So my stacks are either "Oak" or "Not oak".

Once it is all dry, you can pick what you want based on the weather. If it is relatively warm, pick something that is light. If it is colder, pick wood that is heavier. Either that, or control it by air (when it's warm, throttle down the air...when it is cold, let in more air).

I enjoy cutting wood and all that, but yeah...I'm not going to sort wood by species. That's too much work and I'd have too many half-finished piles scattered around the yard.
Click to expand...

Kinda why i was leaning towards having my oak/hickory/ash and some soft maple all mixed together. But I want it mixed evenly. I think I just made up my own mind.
 
I process blow downs so I keep the species separated, I do my "blending" when I fill the rack in the garage.
 
Mine is mixed in the stacks, which works out well because I like a mix when I burn it. Even when I am burning 24/7 sometimes I want a shorter fire so I'll burn lighter stuff like Red Maple or Pine, and maybe the next load is for overnight so I want oak. A mix works well for me.
 
Like others the only thing I try to keep separated is the oak . . . partly due to the longer drying time and partly because once dry it's the cat's meow for long burns on a cold, winter's night. Everything else, including softwood, is stacked together -- I'm all about wood equality.
 
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I do the same as most. It all gets mixed up, apart from Oak. I only have a small amount of Oak, about 1/3 a cord. It's been seasoning for two years now, I checked and it's at 18%. I'm going to give it one more year then on the coldest nights I'll enjoy it. Apart from that all wood gets mixed together, pine mixed in with hardwood. When I'm loading the stove I may be a little picky but that's about it.
 
Vikestand said:
How do you guys normally handle the varieties of wood you have? We burn a couple cords a year so I normally have that much or more seasoned by the following winter. I get industrial pallets from the local mining company that are 4 x 4. (8) of these will have wood split and stacked ends facing east/west to dry for next season.

I started finally downing trees on our property this year rather than scrounging from my FIL's unlimited supply after building a house on a wooded lot. Right now I have about a cord of Ash split and piled. Do you guys wait to get a variety of wood(I have some oak and hickory to cut) before stacking? Seems like I'd want to mix some of the other varieties in as I go?

I'm wanting to get a few years ahead this winter with another kid on the way next summer.
Click to expand...
Vikestand said:
How do you guys normally handle the varieties of wood you have? We burn a couple cords a year so I normally have that much or more seasoned by the following winter. I get industrial pallets from the local mining company that are 4 x 4. (8) of these will have wood split and stacked ends facing east/west to dry for next season.

I started finally downing trees on our property this year rather than scrounging from my FIL's unlimited supply after building a house on a wooded lot. Right now I have about a cord of Ash split and piled. Do you guys wait to get a variety of wood(I have some oak and hickory to cut) before stacking? Seems like I'd want to mix some of the other varieties in as I go?

I'm wanting to get a few years ahead this winter with another kid on the way next summer.
Click to expand...

Stack North / South. You will get more sun on each side.

bob
 
Jags said:
I don't pay one ounce of attention to the variety I am stacking. I may be slightly selective when I am picking out a load to go in the stove. But I am guessing that my methods may be different than yours. I don't stack until I am done splitting. That has a tendency to give things a good mix.
Click to expand...
Ditto. I split it and stack it (and burn it) as it comes. This is why I usually only bring home oak, ash, and hickory. I don't want to waste my time sorting piles, and moving select wood around for "shoulder season" versus real winter burning.
 
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I do stacks in oak/not oak and not pine/pine
 
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I seperate it by species usually. But i will combine species with similar heat and drying characteristics
 
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bholler said:
I seperate it by species usually. But i will combine species with similar heat and drying characteristics
Click to expand...

I'd suspect a pile of 100% oak is going to dry slower than if you interleaved some faster drying woods with those oak splits.
 
Ashful said:
I'd suspect a pile of 100% oak is going to dry slower than if you interleaved some faster drying woods with those oak splits.
Click to expand...
Now were just getting down to the nitty gritty.
 
I too keep all oak separate. I do stack maybe locust with oak, or hedge. Never cherry with oak. Out of 26 stacks maybe 3 are even mixed out of species. I know I'm crazy.
 
Vikestand said:
Now were just getting down to the nitty gritty.
Click to expand...
Yeah... but what else are you going to debate at 10pm on a Thursday night?

Just thinking, the faster-drying woods may have some desiccant effect.
 
I bar code the splits with date, species, split size and weight. So I can scan the splits as I put them in the stove.
 
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