Intheswamp's wood "getting"....it's getting too hot to get wood!!!

Howdy Nic. Yelp, a little progress along the way. I wonder sometimes, though, if I have a clue as to what I'm doing.

I wasn't so concerned with wind but rather my stacking skills and the settling/drying of the wood. I'm strongly thinking about placing one end of a 2x4 at the bottom of each block either side of the center ones and then lean the other end of the 2x4 up against it's neighboring stack. Looking down between each pair of stacks there would be two "X's". They should be easily moved when I decide to mow between the stacks or whatever....unless the stack is leaning against them, of course! Now that you've mentioned it, though, some of our thunderstorms and the occasional hurricane could definitely cause some problems. Yeah, I think I'll be going with the cross bracing for sure. Thanks for the encouragement!

Best wishes,
Ed

I got to thinking about my wood stacks and the "specs" of the stack structure, location, etc.,. The structure design definitely isn't my design or idea and rdust and his stacks was definitely a deciding factor on me doing it this way...of course his is a little more intensive than mine.

I'm using 8x8x16 blocks and pt 2"x4"x12' (check the cull racks at the lumber yard). I go to a little trouble to get the 2by/block foundations fairly level from end to end...I think the more important leveling is from side to side (16" narrow dimension).

I begin by starting a crib (maybe 1.5'-2.0' tall) on each end for end support and then start stacking in the center of the stack so that the stack "falls in" against itself thus taking some of the pressure off of the end cribs. You can see by the picture that the stack gets fairly high before it touched the cribs at the end of the stacks. This idea of stacking in the center came from somewhere here on hearth.com or elsewhere, it was definitely not an original idea by me, but it certainly appears to work in helping stack stability! .

Anyhow, the stacks are 12' long and designed for a 4' height. The first stack (left rear stack with the mix of green and seasoned wood in it) is a bit over this, more like 5' tall but it will be lowered a bit for stability reasons. At 12' long and 4' tall each stack will hold a half of cord of green wood.

The wood I'm stacking is water oak and I'm figuring a green weight of 4886 pounds. This figures to be close to 490# loaded on each block. I was a bit concerned about the blocks being able to hold this much weight laying on their sides as they are but they appear to be handling it well...and as evidenced by other folks use they seem to work ok in this orientation. As time goes by the wood's weight will decrease as it dries...using a weight of 3550# for red oak dried down to 20% MC this would reduce the loads on each block to around 355 pounds. Here is an interesting wood weight / moisture content webpage that you might want to check out... Wood Species - Weight at various Moisture Contents

Stacks are oriented north/south with the prevailing wind coming from the southwest. Each stack is "set back" north by about a foot from it's eastern neighboring stack...I figured this might give each easterly stack just a little extra "sail" to catch any wind passing by. Stacks are roughly 68" apart (room for the mower) and the ends of the stacks that are inline with each other are about that far apart, also. There is at least 6" of ventilation under the stacks (some blocks were dug into the ground to level things up). During the summer these stacks will be exposed to sun basically from ~7am till ~6pm...wintertime from about 9am till 4pm.

We had some 40mph winds the other day and the stacks held fine. I'm not sure how they'll do as they dry...or when the next hurricane comes through. :bug: I'm considering some cross-bracing where one end of a pole or 2by is placed against a block of one stack with the other end against the neighboring stack...probably four poles bracing each stack (2 to the side). That might be aggravating in regards to mowing the grass but restacking a half cord of wood might be rather aggravating, too! We'll see how it goes.

I've also got some old tin I'm considering putting on top of the stacks. I figure I can set a few splits on top of the stacks to elevate the tin above the stacks a few inches. That will probably be a summer project.

Anyhow, for whatever reason...there's some details on my wood stacks.
Ed

You're using 16 inch blocks and your 2 x 4 runners, as well as your splits appear flush with the blocks so I'm assuming you buck to 16 inches. All looks very good to me. This would still work with longer splits - They'd just overhang the 2x4 runners a wee bit. No problem with that.
Seems like you could space them a little closer together and still get good air circulation unless you're wanting to pull a five or six foot wide shredder or finish mower between them.

How far is this from the house?

I think your stacks are looking good. Primo exposure for seasoning. Rather than messing with cross-bracing I'd just keep stack height a little lower since you have plenty of room to play with. It looks like you're already doing that after the first stack or 2.
Don't overthink it!
Oh, and it sounds like you've found a couple good suppliers getting you good wood, cutting to spec'd length, looking to make sure you're happy... Well done.

Yelp, 16" wood. It shouldn't be a problem using this for longer splits, I'm sure there are folks doing just that. Being as you'd have longer splits the center of gravity would be lower for a 1/2 cord volume which would make the stacks even more stable.

I got'em spaced for my 54" JD mower with a couple of inches for wiggle room...about the same distance between the ends of the stacks that are end-to-end. I figure I want the air movement under the stacks, too, so I'm figuring on keeping the grass mowed (maybe not as regularly as the yard, but...).

Now if I could just find a honeyhole of oak like you have. ;-)

Ed

Thanks for the comments.

That tall stack was the first load that I got the second seller...I tried to get it all on one stack. When I get my last load stacked up I'm going to move some of the first stack onto the last one...this should give me a good idea of how much wood I actually got from this seller...it's looking pretty close to 1/2 cord per load at $70 a load. I'm shooting for 4' high on all the stacks. The first load from this seller was a little short in length. I had told him I needed 16" wood and that I had a new stove. He intentionally cut it a grunt short thinking I had told him what the max size was for the stove...I explained that it was rated at 18" but that most folks recommended 16"...he caught on quick and the subsequent loads were cut pretty doggone close.

The first seller was not good...basically about 1/4 cord for $75. Bad thing is he's cutting off of our local sheriff's property (sheriff's a good friend) and I called myself helping the guy out (been in jail, drugs, etc., but appears to be getting his life (and family) back together. I mentioned the short amount of wood, etc., to the guy and he was going to bring me some more wood to make up the shortage...been month or so and haven't seen him. I don't mind helping somebody out but... I haven't bought anymore of his wood.

Yeah, I'm probably putting to much thought into it all, but I'm hoping to have this water oak ready by next season (11/12). We'll see how that goes. I'm hoping that I can start cutting my own wood, these purchases were to get ahead some so I won't feel so pressured. I'm hoping that what I have on hand at the moment is a 2 year supply for me figuring a little over a cord per year.

One more stack to go and then I'll start "hunting". Weather and time hasn't cooperated the last week or so....but weather-wise nothing like ya'll have had up your way!

Take care,
Ed

Kenster, I overlooked your question regarding the distance from the house...my apologies. The wood is about a minute's walk from the house. My plans are to simply load ~1/4 of a face cord in my trailer and pull it around to the front porch to be stacked there. This will probably be several days worth of wood for my F3CB. Of course, these plans are subject to change without notice. ;-)

Ed

Well, I went up to some a friends property that was clear cut about a year ago but found a locked gate on the part that I really wanted to go to to work on some oak tops that I had spotted out a few months ago. Looks like I'm gonna have to hit him up for a key. But...being as I was there and there was some of the clear-cut that wasn't behind the gate I decided to grab a little bit of what I could. I had some saw trouble but I ended up with probably 1/4 of a cord. I did find that my limit is 12-16 inch rounds.<groan>

Some wood ID's would be nice if somebody wants to give it a shot. All of the wood *seems* to be pretty dry. All of it basically had bark simply surrounding the wood...could knock it off pretty easily....cracking/checking along the grain in several of the smaller pieces. I'm kind of wondering about splitting this...busted up a little of one big round while I was there, that sucker was tough I might have to save up my rounds and rent a splitter later, we'll see.

Today's scrounge. 2x4's are 12' long, canthook is 4.5' long....


These are the big rounds (seen on the left side of the group picture)....


Bark of the big rounds....


Grain of a split from one of the big rounds....


Wood chips of the big rounds....


There are the next largest rounds(seen on the right side of the group picture)....


Bark of the next largest rounds....


Wood chips of the next largest rounds....


Anyhow, that killed a few hours today for me...now if I can just get me a key. ;-)

Ed

P.S. I like the cant hook!

I went back up to the clear-cut again today (after picking up my new Huskee 22ton splitter ). For me, I got a pretty fair load. I've got a couple of wood ID's I need but I'll have to get some pictures of the rounds tomorrow. I really want to get my old Cherokee squared away so I can start using it and my 5x10 trailer...it'll make it a LOT easier loading.

Here's a couple of shots of the area I was working in.

I got both of these logs except for the forks and crotches...red oaks of some kind...very possibly water oak but the bark looks "rougher" than most water oak that I've seen. 16" butts. I couldn't have gotten them nearly as easy as I did if it hadn't been for the cant hook.


Here's a shot just to the right of those two logs...the log on the right is the one on the left in previous picture. There are three logs propped up on a snag. I got probably 8-10' of both of the first two logs. The third one looked like cedar to me. Also, the two smaller logs laying on the ground in front of these were cut up.


The red line designates where I got my bar pinched...a felling wedge and a 4 pound short handled sledge sure comes in handy


...and I'm tired.

Ed

I'm tired too Ed. You need to learn to undercut those types, especially when they have another log laying on them. On that one I would do the complete cut by undercutting and never put the saw at the top except for a light cut. The light cut at the top then put the bar under the log and keep cutting until it falls, hopefully not on your foot.

I hear you on the undercut and understand it. I can't really remember how I did the cut, but seems like I thought at that moment that it wasn't right....probably was cutting straight down.<duh> Compression and tension...definitely had some of that to deal with. I'm learning. What was interesting is that even though those three logs appear to be resting solidly against that snag that they only dropped maybe a foot and ended up being suspended...basically top cut all the way down.

Cutting in that stuff definitely makes you consider foot, leg, body placement. Just got back from church, gonna eat dinner then unload the truck. Some of the smaller stuff I'm not sure about...might've got some sweet gum... :roll:

Ed

The next time you go to church Ed, please pray that Spring returns to the north country... Our Fireview is still hot and staying that way for some time.

I certainly will, Dennis. I'll be going back to church this evening.

I hate to say this, but it's currently 84F outside here. Yesterday when I started cutting (around 3:30pm) I almost started to get too hot. I could tell as it got later in the afternoon it got cooler and much more pleasant to tote wood.

Ed

OH Ed. You should be sharing that warm air....

It really seems strange to think other places in the lower 48 are still having cold to frigid temperatures. A friend of mine was looking at a job in North Dakota...he checked the current weather (Saturday, I think) and it was 9F He opted not to pursue that one for now.

Ed

Ok, here's some of the wood I need ID'ing... Thanks!

Bark #1...white oak maybe?

End grain #1...


Bark #2 (looks about like #1 but something seems different)...maple, maybe?

End grain #2


Bark #3 (very smooth barked, lightweight wood)...I don't have a guess on this one...

End grain #3


I know this one is oak, but the bark seems very rough for water oak compared to other water oaks I've dealt with, is it some other type of oak?...


Thanks for any ID help
Ed

I'm not really sure on these Ed. I don't like to guess so usually only post if I know for sure. You definitely have some different trees down there from what we have around here. Shoot, I can go into different areas of the state here and wonder what I am looking at. I recall not that many years ago finding burr oak. I'd never even heard of it at the time and this was only about 50 miles from us!

Yelp, things are different across the creek, Dennis. I've had occasion over the past few months to ride both up into north Georgia and up to Birmingham, Alabama. It interesting to watch the change in the tree species or tree species densities change as you go north. Down here we have little stone, mostly limestone if anything, but once above Montgomery the hard stone and rock starts coming into play and you can note a definite higher density of hardwoods densely growing straight up. Around here we're more apt to have big oaks but more scattered...or so it seems. Of course it could be that all of our large hardwood forests have been decimated by the paper companies and replanted in hybrid pines. Riding in north Georgia made me wish I could buy five acres of that timberland and somehow transport it down here. Ah well, we all burn what we got, eh?

Ed

Ok, I think I see something wrong in the picture of the #1 wood. It looks like the round on top of the stack is something different from those underneath it. I'd say the bottom rounds are white oak but I'm not sure what the top round is. The bark is different with the bottom rounds having longer, flatter looking bark pieces while the top piece has smaller bark pieces that appear more "round edged". The end grain looks different, too, but something that really stands out to me now is that that top round (when looking at the end of the round) has more pronounced ridges in the bark.

I beleive that top round in wood #1's pictures should be grouped with the #2 wood.

Ed

Okay, nobody else is chiming in here so here I go. Possibly some ironwood or something similar for the first. Fifth picture looks like some sort of beech and the one below that looks like a soft maple. Can't really see the bark on that one but just looking at the ends it appears to be the soft maple like we have here. If so, it will split very easy and makes excellent kindling. The others we'll hope someone else come in on those.

1st and 2nd photo are same wood. 3rd and 4th...same wood. 5th and 6th...same-o same-o. 7th picture is, well the 7th picture.

You know something, when a guy (or gal) decide they want to start burning wood at that point they really haven't realized that they will be getting an education in the different trees. I'm going to be much more observant this summer ...and also lookout for p*ss elm.

Ed

Here's a better shot of bark #3...these trees seem to grow tall and slender...

I'd love to have some of that in 5/4 board for my wood shop!

Geeze, that looks similar to sycamore and very well might be. Try splitting some of it. Sycamore is not known for easy splitting but will burn decently.