Still learning about stacking~ not so tight

[fireview2788]

Last night I started moving this winter's wood up to the house. I started with hickory that was c/s/s November 2011 (so almost 2 full years). The wood was very dull grey, very light, and almost felt like it would suck the moisture out of your skin....until I got to the bottom.

As I grabbed a few of the splits on the bottom the first thing I noticed was clean crisp color of the split and then how heavy it was . Sooooo, I took an ax to it and then the moisture meter which read 23%. As I compared (yes, always trying to learn from my mistakes) the way I stacked the bottom compared to the top I found that these logs were very tight which meant no airflow. Ended up being about six splits that went onto next years stacks so not too bad.

Lesson learned, airflow=dry.


fv

 

[clemsonfor]

Yea I use to stack as much as I could in am area, ie as right as possible in a stack. Now I stack a bit looser, but not as loose as possible.

 

[Tinder]

The stuff near the bottom just never dries as well as what's near the top.

My latest system has been to season for over a year, then start removing the best of the best from the top, but leave the stack sit and season longer. After the stuff in the middle is prime, it comes off and then the lowest portions spends a little more time. If I start soon enough in the middle of the second summer, I can typically get the whole stack moved by the end of the year. It's not that the lower portions didn't season - they just didn't do it as quickly.

 

[gzecc]

I've learned to stack the smallest splits on the bottom and the biggest on top. Its counter intuitive but it works the best. I also keep my rows below 4' so they don't topple.

 

[Coal Reaper]

Also guilty of tight stacks. Cant seem to help it. Dont know how bad this hurts if you are looking 3+ years out which is where i just got to. My idea recently was to stack a few layers of locust across the bottom. One side of my double stacks gets more sun so the oak goes to the side. Rest of mixed hardwoods on the other side, mostly black birch, a little ash, some maple, and will be adding hickory into stacks from now on. Ill let you know how this works in three years! Oh yeah and top cover forme!

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I was a victim of the same thing. My solution was cinder blocks and 4x6 beams 12' long. I have my stacks on top of this framework. It keeps the splits about 10" off the ground and it allows the air to move more freely under the stacks. I still get occasional sections where the rain water like to drip on regulary, but same thing happens. Those splits go to next years pile.

 

[privatejoker75]

my method seems to work well. Split wood and then toss it into a giant pyramid style pile. it was born out of laziness but seems to work well for drying as well

 

[clemsonfor]

It do sent dry in the middle very well like that and around here the middle will be wetter and moldier and rotted a year or 2 later unless on concrete if on concrete it will be wet as a wet rag.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The only time I've ever had the bottom not as dry as the top is when I stacked the wood right on the ground. Then it was a simple matter of taking those pieces and putting them on top of another pile so they'd dry. Very little work but I still don't advise doing it this way.

We stack a bit loosely too in order to get good air flow. We do not necessarily stack so there is a huge air pocket below the wood (see picture) and just do not have a problem. Yes, we've checked some stacks after a year and after 2 years and didn't find any appreciable difference. However, we aren't very scientific as I've never owned a moisture meter nor do I ever plan on having one. We simply do not need them and many times are a bit mistrusting of them.

So here are a few of our stacks. Notice they are not stacked tight nor is there a big air space at the bottom of the stacks. For those who wonder, we usually stack in the spring (April) and then top cover in late November or early December.

 

[Paulywalnut]

I don't sell my wood so I don't care about measurement. I like to cross my ends for extra air flow. Pretty loose I guess.

 

[bogydave]

I notice some splash zone near the bottom & the wood is darker colored.
Usually dry when I get down to it.

2 years & still wet, must have been stacked really tight.

 

[bryan]

I've been pondering the tightly stacked issue for a while now. I live in surburia (0.33 acres) and have limited space to store wood so do I stack tightly so I can fit as much as possible hoping that in 3 years the wood will dry even if tightly stacked, or do I stack less wood more loosely knowing it will dry faster and only be 1-2 ahead? I scrounge and never know when/where the next score will be so I am thinking of putting 3 rows next to each other like Backwoods shows rather than leaving a walking size space between each row.

 

[oldspark]

Never any problems with the bottom rows here either, I stack on RR ties or poles and just stack so the rows do not fall over.

 

[Slow1]

I too am in a tight situation - very little space to stack. However, putting a bit more air around the stacks and between splits has been a good investment it seems. If I can get the wood to dry faster I don't need as much space to get farther ahead - i.e. if I did 3 rows deep then the middle row won't dry nearly as fast and thus may need 3-4 years intead of 2-3 years to be ready. Do that with all my piles and I'll need enough space to stack another year's wood.

I have always stacked pretty tight - I am concerned that making them too loose may result in stacks falling over more often. I've only had a couple fall and those were from my experimental loose stacked single rows placed about 6" apart (in 2 rows). I found this to not be a very good solution due to the space between being large enough to allow a lot of mulch (we have trees everywhere) to pile up in there but no way for wind (or my rake) to pull it out.

I also have started (as of last year) stapling a tarp on the top of the stack. It seems to have made a significant difference in drying the wood. The 2 cords I stacked this way last year (hitting the one year mark now) appear to have really dried up quite well - no sign of rot, no "mulch" on top from leaves falling etc either. When I get to burning this wood the winter after next I'll know for sure how well it did, but I'm convinced that it won't hurt anything and is worth the investment.

If I can get to the point that oak is ready reliably after 2 winters stacked then I may be able to reduce my hoard a bit and save even more space...

 

[bryan]

Slow, how far apart are you spacing your stacks then if 6" isn't enough? A foot, two feet?

 

[gzecc]

I've been pondering the tightly stacked issue for a while now. I live in surburia (0.33 acres) and have limited space to store wood so do I stack tightly so I can fit as much as possible hoping that in 3 years the wood will dry even if tightly stacked, or do I stack less wood more loosely knowing it will dry faster and only be 1-2 ahead? I scrounge and never know when/where the next score will be so I am thinking of putting 3 rows next to each other like Backwoods shows rather than leaving a walking size space between each row.

IMO oak will not be dry after 3 years of tight stacking.

 

[oldspark]

IMO oak will not be dry after 3 years of tight stacking.

Are you talking single rows or multiple rows, I belive Scotty says his Oak dries in 3 years in multiple rows.

 

[Slow1]

Slow, how far apart are you spacing your stacks then if 6" isn't enough? A foot, two feet?

Well - the fastest drying that I have had was a single row with nothing else near it. I don't have the luxury of enough space to single row stack all my wood.

My attempt was to get the best of both worlds by having air space between but still only have one row of pallets used for two rows of wood. I've abandoned this for the time being for the reasons stated.

What I do now is have two rows stacked touching and this allows me to stack much higher (I get up to 6') and maintain sufficient stability to expect them to stay up for 2-3 years. Top covering from the beginning may make up for the lack of space between rows.

IF I were to put space between the rows I'd like to have enough space to walk through (and pull a small rake to pull out the junk).

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I've been pondering the tightly stacked issue for a while now. I live in surburia (0.33 acres) and have limited space to store wood so do I stack tightly so I can fit as much as possible hoping that in 3 years the wood will dry even if tightly stacked, or do I stack less wood more loosely knowing it will dry faster and only be 1-2 ahead? I scrounge and never know when/where the next score will be so I am thinking of putting 3 rows next to each other like Backwoods shows rather than leaving a walking size space between each row.

I too am in a tight situation - very little space to stack. However, putting a bit more air around the stacks and between splits has been a good investment it seems. If I can get the wood to dry faster I don't need as much space to get farther ahead - i.e. if I did 3 rows deep then the middle row won't dry nearly as fast and thus may need 3-4 years intead of 2-3 years to be ready. Do that with all my piles and I'll need enough space to stack another year's wood.

I have always stacked pretty tight - I am concerned that making them too loose may result in stacks falling over more often. I've only had a couple fall and those were from my experimental loose stacked single rows placed about 6" apart (in 2 rows). I found this to not be a very good solution due to the space between being large enough to allow a lot of mulch (we have trees everywhere) to pile up in there but no way for wind (or my rake) to pull it out.

I also have started (as of last year) stapling a tarp on the top of the stack. It seems to have made a significant difference in drying the wood. The 2 cords I stacked this way last year (hitting the one year mark now) appear to have really dried up quite well - no sign of rot, no "mulch" on top from leaves falling etc either. When I get to burning this wood the winter after next I'll know for sure how well it did, but I'm convinced that it won't hurt anything and is worth the investment.

If I can get to the point that oak is ready reliably after 2 winters stacked then I may be able to reduce my hoard a bit and save even more space...

Go for it Bryan. I can stack oak like that and in 3 years time it is ready to burn.

I keep seeing where folks have a problem or think it may be a problem stacking like we do. Yet, as we all know, the wood stacks will shrink as the wood dries. I contend that if that center row did not dry, then in a short period of time, that middle row would be taller than the outer rows. Yet, we have always noticed that our rows all tend to shrink at the same rate, even if we stack more than our normal 3 rows together. So, if they shrink at the same rate and are the same type of wood, they all should be about the same in moisture.

 

[fireview2788]

The next two stacks that I've moved have been perfectly fine.

fv