Rapid Drying

[hiker88]

I stacked some wood in an area that get's really direct sunlight early this spring.

We went into a stretch of pretty dry and hot weather in late June to early August I noticed something really particular with my wood pile. The front of the pile that got all the direct sunlight dried so fast that it quickly lost much more mass than the back of the pile. The pile began to curve over like a "C". Part of it fell over and I had to try my best to re stack the rest of the oddly shaped wood.

Is this common?

 

[Waulie]

I run into a similiar thing. I stack two rows deep but leave about 6" between the rows. Where I stack is largely shaded but gets solid sun from about 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The stacks are oriented E-W. After a while, the row to the south always ends up leaning towards the sun. The shaded row behind never does. I'm stacking them the same way, so I think you might be on the to something.

 

[mecreature]

I put space between my rows. That way they all fall over.
This way I know when to move the wood to the shed.

 

[Jack Straw]

Oh it happens, I was stacking my wood east/west with one side facing south and I was always having stacks fall over. Now I stack them north/south with better results.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I stacked some wood in an area that get's really direct sunlight early this spring.

We went into a stretch of pretty dry and hot weather in late June to early August I noticed something really particular with my wood pile. The front of the pile that got all the direct sunlight dried so fast that it quickly lost much more mass than the back of the pile. The pile began to curve over like a "C". Part of it fell over and I had to try my best to re stack the rest of the oddly shaped wood.

Is this common?

Direct sunlight is good but in the long run, wind will dry the wood the best. We have never noticed the curve in a pile as you are describing. At present, we have some wood stacked in full sun and some in partial sun. The only thing we notice is the shrinkage. Typically we stack 4 1/2' high (in spring). By fall that stack is usually down to around 4' high.

 

[PapaDave]

I noticed that after the first year.
Happens to me, except mine don't fall.
I started putting a slight northward lean to the stacks, so that they would eventually lean into the sun and sit up straight.
Works pretty well.