Rotating seasoned and green wood

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RoseRedHoofbeats

Feeling the Heat
Oct 7, 2010
374
San Antonio, TX
Right now I've got a good four cords of wood in my woodshed (8x6x16), bought it last year, didn't burn much my first year, but hope to use it mostly up this year. It's a mix of about 50/50 soft and hardwoods. It's REALLY good and seasoned now.

I'm hoping to get some green wood in the round delivered to start splitting for next year, and stack that up against the fence to season, then move it into my shed. Trying to think of how to best rotate it so that the stuff I have leftover of this year's doesn't end up on the bottom of the shed that doesn't involve moving it out and restacking it. Or building a second woodshed.

~Rose
 
If the new stuff will be seasoned and ready for next year, you don't need to worry about the leftovers. It'll be even more seasoned. It should all burn quite nicely...

So, don't move a twig.

Nancy
 
The problem I'd like to avoid is using up oh, say, 3.75 cords and having a quarter of dry wood left in the shed, with seasoned stuff outside on the fence, and then it starts to snow and I need to move the seasoned stuff inside. What do I do with the wood left in it?

Now it sounds like some kind of SAT math problem. =P

~Rose
 
I hate restacking. If I were you I wouldnt move it. See how long you can go without burning it. Let us know in 5 or 6 years of you still have it.
 
How is the shed laid out? This should always be a be consideration with a wood shed, you always want to make sure you can load new wood in without trapping the old stuff.

Post a picture of the shed, maybe we'll be able to give you an idea even if it means doing some re-stacking this time around.
 
It's up against the side of my trailer. This is a pic of it from the side, empty:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/RoseRedHoofbeats/housepics/fd901c7e.jpg

I stack the wood about 6 feet deep, leaving about two feet for walkspace, and all the way up to the rafters. In case you're wondering, no, a lot of thought didn't go into this portion of the woodshed planning, but it's kind of already there, and stuffed with wood, so.

Do you pick evenly from the stacks, or just from one side of the shed, and clear that section out first?

~Rose

(Stupid img code!)
 
Rose, this really shouldn't be much of a problem. Next winter, you'll have the shed refilled already, and can pull from the other end of the stack first. Left, right,.....then right, left.
 
RoseRedHoofbeats said:
It's up against the side of my trailer. This is a pic of it from the side, empty:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/RoseRedHoofbeats/housepics/fd901c7e.jpg

I stack the wood about 6 feet deep, leaving about two feet for walkspace, and all the way up to the rafters. In case you're wondering, no, a lot of thought didn't go into this portion of the woodshed planning, but it's kind of already there, and stuffed with wood, so.

Do you pick evenly from the stacks, or just from one side of the shed, and clear that section out first?

~Rose

(Stupid img code!)

Nice shelter Rosie!

Ray
 
Rose,

If you empty one side then the other, it will be taken care of without restacking. Since you (your shed not you) are taller on the left start there, if you empty it out you can then pull from the rear of the right side, any left over will be in the front right side, refill it next season and start from the front right side, and you will burn the oldest first. I try not to handle my splits anymore than I have to. Restacking is just a big NO-NO to me personally.

Shawn
 
RoseRedHoofbeats said:
Or building a second woodshed. ~Rose

Go on, build a second woodshed, you know you really want to..... ;-)
 
Take from one side till its empty. Fill it with your new/greenest wood. Top off with whats left from this year. Take from and burn in reverse next winter. If you have green left with seasoned youre gonna have to work a little more and re-stack some. Thats the way it is sometimes.
 
I have a similar problem. The wife didnt want the wood stacks all over the yard last year - so I stacked a little over 3 cords of ash into a 5 cord shed - spaced out the rows - leaving about a foot of airspace between each row. Well - the wood dried just fine (sides open on shed, ash dries fast anyway), but now its fall, and I want ALL my wood in the shed - and I'm NOT about to remove the stacks from the shed and re-stack them in there. Lesson learned - I will NEVER do that again. This summer , I built a new staging/ drying area in the yard.... 8 half cord racks, side by side, with about 2 feet between each rack for adequite air circulation
 
To avoid this problem of having my well seasoned wood buried behind or under the newer wood I tend to stack in rows front to back instead of side to side . . . and I mark my wood stacks in the shed with the year I put them in . . . I've been using this method for the past two years or so and it works pretty well as it means I can always access my oldest, best seasoned wood first.
 
Clearly the solution is that I need another stove to use my wood up faster, y/y? =P

Though lord knows where I'd PUT the thing...

Thank you for the compliment, Ray! Me and my dad built it last summer, right before he was diagnosed with cancer. I'm insanely proud of it. We used landscape timbers for the posts, and cedar fencing pickets for the siding.

~Rose
 
RoseRedHoofbeats said:
Clearly the solution is that I need another stove to use my wood up faster, y/y? =P

Though lord knows where I'd PUT the thing...

Thank you for the compliment, Ray! Me and my dad built it last summer, right before he was diagnosed with cancer. I'm insanely proud of it. We used landscape timbers for the posts, and cedar fencing pickets for the siding.

~Rose

Be proud Rosie you done well.. How is dad doing? Sorry to hear he is ill..

Ray
 
RoseRedHoofbeats said:
He actually passed away in March. He was only 64. Thank you for your concern.

~Rose

Sorry to hear that Rose that is too young ..
 
That's far too young, cancer cheats you of life.

Bet you look at that wood shed every day you pass by and think of him, I know I would if my dad had helped build me one.....
 
You bet it does. He worked as a carpenter for most of his life- his dad owned a construction business and that's how he put himself through college. Half the things in the house I grew up in, he bulit- bedframes, cabinets, dining room table, bookshelves. I started helping him when I was just a little toddler. The woodshed was the last thing he ever built. I'm taking that thing with me to my grave. They can build my coffin out of it. It's got his writing all over it, from making notes and figuring out dimensions and stuff. I love it.

~Rose
 
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