My first wood stack

Hi there. I've been lurking now and again here for about a year. Bought a house two years ago that came with a Vermont Castings Vigilant woodstove and something that passed for a chimney. Last spring I had the chimney rebuilt, and hope to replace the stove as soon as money allows. Didn't have money to buy in wood last year until October, but I guess I got lucky since most of it hovered around 15-25%...after much hissing and spitting I bought a moisture meter and set aside anything over 25% (about a face cord out of five).

Money problems don't seem to go away, so I'm late getting wood this year, but at least I have some time to stack it outside. The guy has some logs from a local furniture place that he splits to order, they read 34-38% on delivery. I still suck at tree ID, so no idea what it is and I forgot to ask :| Anyway, here's my first wood stack!




Two face cords each on either side of a light face I got from the maple I took out with a neighbor this spring (the tarped middle bit). Also got the face from last year in the garage, probably should move that outside for a few months, too. Room in the garage for two cords as I've got it set up right now, which is nice in the middle of winter in upstate NY.

When I was growing up we had a woodstove in the garage and a wood burning dual-fuel in the kitchen, as well as woodstove and fireplace at our family camp. I never realized how much I miss getting out and splitting wood, or the crackle and warmth of a fire when it's below zero. Going into my second season and learning as quick as I can. Hopefully next spring I can finally get a year ahead, maybe get a new efficient stove. Then a shed...then a saw and trailer...

PS: Don't laugh at my poor honeycrisp apple treeling in the 2nd pic foreground - it's already been through two frosts and two de-nudings by deer varmint.

Well, by "my first stack" I might be misleading, I stacked a bajillion cords of wood when I was a kid, both at home and at the camp. It's my first stack as an adult, for my own house and my own stove

I also used to stack freight onto pallets in a warehouse, my hope is I didn't stack it too tight to dry, heh. I'm kind of obsessed with stacking things.

rdust said:

Looks great! That wood may not be ideal when you need to use it but it will have more time then most give their wood.

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That's been my main concern after last season, had a lot of creosote in the new chimney, luckily my sweep is very responsive and kept it safe. Debating on whether to dip into my meager savings to get a little ahead for next year, right now I'm burning pretty light so two cord should do it...then I'm starting to get into the issue the guy with the small lot thread is dealing with. My lot looks like it's in the forest, but I'm actually urban on a great dead end. Great compromise, she's a city girl and I'm a country boy.

Anyway, the other downside to the situation right now is my Vigilant from 1977. I'm pretty sure it's oversized for my house (950sq ft laid out oddly) and wicked inefficient. If you look at the middle face cord that I split myself, it's smaller splits. I've taken to burning smaller, hotter fires and that seems to be working out a little better, but at some point I need to get things straightened out for 24/7 burns.

I got this tree at Ace Hardware, a regional chain. They had three really nice trees, about 5-6' tall and relatively healthy, $30/ea. An old coworker works there now, when she saw me eyeing the honeycrisp she told me to buy all of them that day. I took one, discussed it with the fiancee and went back for the other two and they were gone, haven't seen one since. I plan on pollinating with empire. The more immediate plan is a deer fence around it, then train the branches next spring and hopefully plant the empire.

Already have plenty of bees from my wildflowers and the neighbor's cherry trees...the thought had occurred to me of maybe putting in a couple racks for the bees

Cash Wiley said:

I also used to stack freight onto pallets in a warehouse, my hope is I didn't stack it too tight to dry, heh. I'm kind of obsessed with stacking things.

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Yep, I've been eyeing that stack for exactly that reason. Been too busy this past week (staining and putting up trim in my living room) to tear into it, but I do want to re-split and stack it. Location isn't a problem, I'm keeping the weeds out from behind there and there's a decent wind. I got done stacking, patted myself on the back for such a nice solid wall...then remembered I'm conditioning wood, not building a wall, heh.

I've also decided to dip into my meager savings and put in another order to get a year ahead. I just remember how much I hated dealing with 25%+ MC splits last winter and still worrying about this winter. Fiancee approved once I explained the whole situation, so looking forward to a safer and cleaner winter next year!

If it wasn't horrid conditions right now (90s and humid, I'm a viking), I'd have been out splitting even after spending all day messing with trim inside. I love hand-splitting wood, great zen activity.

Thanks for all the feedback!