Managing the woodpiles

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Cearbhaill

Cearbhaill

Feeling the Heat
Nov 15, 2007
356
The deep end
I must be doing something terribly wrong, and I'm sure it's another inevitable newbie mistake so I'm hoping the seasoned pros have some suggestions...

I am forever rearranging my woodpiles.
I have a stack of the really good stuff I'm saving for the dead of winter, a stack of small rounds, a stack of decent to good for current burning, a stack of really well seasoned stuff that got left out in the rain, a stack of the maple I just took down, another huge pile of a red oak I just took down, a stack of stuff that's too long and needs to be trimmed.... and so on.
Which would be easy enough, except that I always want the good stuff nearest the door, so that pallet is always near empty and needs filling up. So then I rotate the next best and the rest in sequence like musical chairs. So far this year I have done a complete top to bottom rearrangement twice and need to do it again.

I have an excellent 20x30 carport facing south and west right outside the door to my burning room as well as nearly unlimited room beyond that (uncovered) for next years stuff, so lack of room is not the problem. Lack of organization is.
I accept that a certain amount of moving is necessary- summer in the sun and winter covered- but feel like there has to be a better way than what I have devised so far.

So either I am too OCD about keeping my stacks in order (which is very likely) or am missing out on some simple principle not included in my "Woodburners 101" manual.
Which is it, do we think??
Is it unreasonable to want to step outside and be able to choose from three or four different stacks of the various sizes of wood?
Is there a way to minimize the constant empty pallet by the door and the good wood always all way down at the other end?

The only saving grace to the whole issue is that I gets lots of exercise :lol:

And of course the next part to this question is stacking efficiently with hand split (and therefore non similarly sized splits) wood. My stacks have a tendency to lean...

I suspect it is just experience that will work out the bugs in my system, but I'd still enjoy hearing any hints.
 
I don't know that there is any magic solution. I keep everything in one area which is all equally far from the house. I have a rack near the back door which will hold several weeks of wood, and a space inside which holds a couple of days worth.

As I get wood, cut it and split it, it goes on the main stack. When we get a streak of good weather, or I'm up for a little outside work , I move wood to the rack outside the door. Then every couple of days, I bring wood in for the fire. When moving wood up to the back door and inside, I kind of size up the expected weather and the mix of wood I currently have, then adjust accordingly. ie - if it tends to be a little warmer, I'll bring up smaller splits and some of the 'junk' wood I've scavenged. If it looks like long cold nights, I'll be bringing up the big chunks of hedge and oak.
 
In all these years I have been about as entertained by shuffling wood stacks as I care to be. Mine comes out of the woods, through the splitter and onto the stacks 15 feet outside the back door. The next time it moves is into the stove. Whatever goes in the stove is whatever is next in line. I live in the middle of the woods. If termites are gonna find this house it won't be because the piles are too close to the house.
 
Wow. The past couple years I have just piled our wood in one place by the barn, making sure to put the leftover wood from the year before on whatever end I planned to start grabbing from, and just grab from the end and work my way down. All that wood shuffling seems like too much work.
 
I work off the Holz stack . Usually have enough different size of splits to have whats needed as cozy heat mentioned above. I move 1/3 cord which fits under the deck just outside the sliding doors from the stove room. Keeps outta rain, snow etc. When weather is good I replenish deck supply from holz via wheelbarrow trips. About 30 yards from deck area.
 
I go for the burn it as it comes off the stack, carry it the ten steps to the door and then the ten steps to the woodbox that will hold 3-5 days worth depending on weather. Sort it just a bit as it goes from woodbox to stove keeping smaller stuff for day bigger stuff for night. Wood box heapped right up with snow on the way and tarp on the stack.
 
I have two different stacks with 3 cord each. One for this season, and one for next. Also have an extra cord stashed away next to my shed just incase. They are both along the side of my garage, so I use a large wheel barrow to bring in a couple loads into my walkout basement and into a rack that's next to my stove, which lasts me anywhere from 3-5 days.
 
I think what everyone is trying to say is you are putting waaaaaay too much into it. There is almost no thought what so ever to my stacks, I think thats why I enjoy doing it so much, no thinking. Since your just getting started just split this years wood in various random sizes and shapes and stack them no particular order just stack them so they stay put. When you go to use it there is always enough variety to suit you needs. Through out the day you'll burn the smaller stuff and pick past the larger stuff. Then at the end of the day when you want an all nighter she's probably already uncovered and waiting for you right on top. Magic : )
 
Todd said:
I have two different stacks with 3 cord each. One for this season, and one for next. Also have an extra cord stashed away next to my shed just incase. They are both along the side of my garage, so I use a large wheel barrow to bring in a couple loads into my walkout basement and into a rack that's next to my stove, which lasts me anywhere from 3-5 days.
Click to expand...

3 cord a season I jealous. And in Wisconsin to boot. I'm already down 3 cord.
 
I'm down my odds and about 1 1/2 face cords from the main wood. I had a lot of odds this year. I just stack. It all seems to work out, but
I'm thinking of splitting smaller next year as my wife seems determined to find the largest spit she can find and tries to start the fire with it. *sigh*

Matt
 
My "good stuff" is in my woodshed by the driveway. It's easy to get to in the worst of weather when I'll likely need it the most. My everyday wood is a mix of all sorts of stuff stacked in the woods at various distances from the house. Every morning my "pack" (the dogs) and I go for a W A L K. I can't say that word or the pack will get to excited. "We" take a wheelbarrow if weather allows, and bring back the days wood. If it's warm, I'm taking the small stuff and the lesser BTU stuff like hemlock, red maple; if its cold, the oak and black birch that got left behind in the warm weather is now right on top. If the snow prevents the wheelbarrow out in the woods routine, the "good stuff" in the wood shed by the drive is in order. In other words, I've somewhat thought out my stacks and where I need what ahead of time...somewhat. If you mix it all up somewhat, you can choose what you need when you need it.
 
I have 3 rows that got soaked, I am managing wet & dry piles at the moment.
I don't want to find my self stuck with all wet.
Also splitting the larger pieces of both wet & dry.
I'm running out of room in my house...
 
Girl said:
I have 3 rows that got soaked, I am managing wet & dry piles at the moment.
I don't want to find my self stuck with all wet.
Also splitting the larger pieces of both wet & dry.
I'm running out of room in my house...
Click to expand...
Like you, I prefer to leave split perhaps a little too large since I can always split them one more time just before I burn them. LOL, you need the BF to make you a wood shed or else go to Home Cheapo and buy a good heavy duty tarp.
 
jpl1nh said:
Girl said:
I have 3 rows that got soaked, I am managing wet & dry piles at the moment.
I don't want to find my self stuck with all wet.
Also splitting the larger pieces of both wet & dry.
I'm running out of room in my house...
Click to expand...
Like you, I prefer to leave split perhaps a little too large since I can always split them one more time just before I burn them. LOL, you need the BF to make you a wood shed or else go to Home Cheapo and buy a good heavy duty tarp.
Click to expand...

I found some nice holes in my tarp I obviously didn't see before (DOUH!), taking a trip tomorrow to my home away from home!
BF is the same guy who watches me bring in wheel barrows full of wood & stack.
It's not happening, lol.
He had a honey do list last weekend, I am sure he is glad to be back at his place!
 
I have similar issues; I've got 6 separate stacks around and behind my house. My "main pile" holds about 2.5 cords right by my basement door, but the ends of the 5 rows face the door so it's hard to pull a lot from any but the outside row. Unfortunately that's currently pine I'm saving for burning off coal beds, so instead I pull from the ends until I can't reach more, then I have to get in there and redistribute. Once that stack starts to get low I want to start filling it up with wood from the other stacks, because they aren't covered and it's been raining here a lot. Also my other stacks aren't as convenient to pull from. So then I have to redistribute the main stack some more to make room for that wood. Once the season is over and my main stacking area is mostly empty, I'll have to decide whether to refill it from the other piles or with green wood. It's a choice between less total stacking and having my driest wood nearest the house.
 
i got my stacks about 30 feet from the house. i got a rack on the back porch that holds about 10 days worth of wood. I move by wheelbarrow from the stacks to the porch rack however it comes off the stacks.

HOWEVER, I have a small pile of heavy white oak splits I keep off to the side on the porch so I can use 'em if it's real cold at night/overnight burns....

Oh, I have a 55 gal. plastic barrell on the porch by the back door and throw chunks, end cuts, short pieces, gnarly stuff etc. in there and burn that during the days.
 
When you get old & tired enough, you learn to handle the wood as little as possible. I have one wood pile inside the basement in the cold part of the basement . I transfer wood from there in 5 gal buckets to warm around the stove & into the firebox it goes the same day.
Outside 15 ft away is my seconsary drying woodshed. Wood goes in there to dry & only comes out to replentish my basement pile, about 1 day in 2 weeks. About 100 ft away is my first drying shed, wood comes off the grass or outside pile & stays in there until I transfer it to the 15 ft away drying shed, about once every 60 days.

The system seems to supply me with fairly seasoned & dried wood. Once in a while,I get a high moisture piece, probably something I picked up & threw in while walking my property.

I dont sort by spiecies of wood, I can't tell the difference & my stove don't seem to care, anyways. All my stove cares about is wet=cold fire or dry=hot fire & mixed = mediocre fire.

If you guys think too much, it will give you a headache!!!!!
I like to keep things simple.
I don't believe in tarps, where I live, wood is either inside & dry or outside & soaked, as it seems to rain 2- 4 times a week. Between rains, if your lucky, maybe you can find a dry day to sneak some wood thats only 1/2 soaked, inside.
 
You seem to be thinking that having the wood on the nearest pallet makes it easier for you, but clearly it is making more work. Just stop moving the piles around! Bring the wood in from whatever pile when you need it brought in. Once our wood is in a pile it stays there until it gets moved to the front porch (holds about 4 days) or into the house (about 3 days storage under and near the hearth.) We like having the week's supply close and protected just because we get a lot of snow and sometimes icy rain here. Tarps on the top of the pile only do so much when you have snow almost ever other day.

Some piles are closer than others, and some have better wood in them. One pile is mostly willow and light woods, that pile is almost depleted. The most dubious wood pile was burned first (the wood with ants in it, the slightly punky stuff, etc., the stuff you really want to get rid of.) The stacks are arranged somewhat randomly near each other, and some are a little more conveniently located than others, but I wouldn't move the wood just to be closer. I only rearrange my wood piles when they fall over. ;-) And even then, we take it as a sign to bring the fallen wood into the house and avoid restacking it. (I have decided to always have double stacks, it is pretty windy where I live and the single stacks can blow over. We had 50 mph winds last week, most of our tarps blew off, although no piles went over.)
 
So I am micro-managing my woodpiles :) and need to stop.

I will be doing a total rearrangement as soon as this burning season is over and would just like next years plan to work a bit smoother than this years. It's just that I would really, really like to walk out and be faced with perfect rows of perfect sizes, all in their neat catagories, labeled and ready to grab.

hey- it's something to aspire to ;-P
 
Wow... I'm just not wound that tight.

I'm fussy about a lot of things, and want them done right, but one of my favorite phrases has always been:

"The lazy people I admire most are the ones that work hard to find easier ways to do things."

-SF
 
SlyFerret said:
Wow... I'm just not wound that tight.
Click to expand...
Just call me Mrs. Monk :)

To be honest I think it stems mostly from "first year burner's blues" with regard to not enough well seasoned wood in each size. I am forever going out there and picking through piles in order to find just the right (driest) piece.

Next year things will be much better organized so I'm sure it will be less of an issue for me.
 
Yeah, this year I'm going to be playing that game too. I'll be using wood that is ALMOST ready, but not quite. It makes it a little harder to start, but once it gets going, it burns OK. Only a couple have had any hissing that I've noticed when burning my fireplace, so they should be passable.

-SF

(BTW, I love that show.)
 
for starters if you want a cheaters way (according to the purists) of keeping your stacks up use cattle panels on sides with metal posts and make 1 long stack I have one that is about 12 16' panels long they do not restrict air flow and are great only draw back is they are about $15 a piece plus it also helps with guessing how much wood you have example if you cut your wood to 17" then every 1.5 panels is a little over a cord as the panel is 5' tall so when my stack is full I have over 8 cords which works for me as i burn about 3.5-4 a year. just start burning the other end next year. and I burn it as it comes off the stack might sort it a little as it goes in the stove but not much as I split it all about as big as i can I only use kindling about 3 times a year and can split it as i need it. I can hold 3 days worth in the house when the wood in the house gets low I bring in some more once it is stacked it moves only 2 more times in to the house then in to the stove.
 
I stack ours on the edge of the woods. Its about 50 feet away. When I need wood, I fire up the tractor and get a load of wood in the trailer. Open the bilco doors and down the basement it goes. Usually lasts us about 2 weeks at a time.
 
wow, I must say that I must be a lucky man! All of my seasoned wood I put on my screened in patio for the winter. It will hold 5 full cord. I also stack another 2 cord on pallets about 5' from the patio and use that first during early - mid fall etc. Once that is all gone (still isnt all gone yet) I goto the stuff on the patio..I basically load my inside wood ring using my slippers!
 
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