Underestimating how much was in the pile

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mywaynow

Minister of Fire
Dec 13, 2010
1,369
Northeast
Getting the pile stacked so I can make room for the last runs for logs before Summer. I have a couple trees I can drive to that will be making their way onto my trailer this weekend. I needed to make room so I started stacking the split pile. My early guess of cors appears to be way off. I beleived 4-5 cords were hiding in there, but so far there have been 4.5 stacked and the pile still stands tall. I may have 40% of the pile left. Now I have to find more pallets/wood to stack on top of.
 

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its amazing how much wood is actually there. I cant help but wonder if "something magical" happens in the nighttime hours.


Jeff
 
Its better to under-estimate and have more than you need- thean to over-estimate and be caught short. Good for you. :)
 
mywaynow said:
Getting the pile stacked so I can make room for the last runs for logs before Summer. I have a couple trees I can drive to that will be making their way onto my trailer this weekend. I needed to make room so I started stacking the split pile. My early guess of cors appears to be way off. I beleived 4-5 cords were hiding in there, but so far there have been 4.5 stacked and the pile still stands tall. I may have 40% of the pile left. Now I have to find more pallets/wood to stack on top of.

Why do you need pallets/wood to stack on top?

Good for you for getting ahead.
 
I stack the piles on top of whatever I can get my hands on. There is alot of treated lumber, galvanized posts and now pallets under the stacks. I am going to retrieve some 3 x 3 ft sections of industrial galvanized siding from a job, hopefully today. It is left over from a project and I have permission to take what I want. It should get me about 2 1/2 inches of clearance. The way I figure it, the wood being stacked now is cord 19 or 20 away. Maybe burning 5/yr, so I need the stuff off the ground for 5 years. I keep a tarp on the pile year round and have 2 1/2 years minumum dry time on what will be used per season. My current wood source has been nothing short of fantastic. Started with a monster Red Oak that fell into an Ash and American Walnut. Got that bucked and 60% removed before the thaw put an end to access of the pile. Now I have been wandering into the other areas I can scrounge in, and yesterday took 2 Cherries around 12 inch diameter, and a Black Walnut around 15 inches. I have not had the opportunity to take any Walnut up to this source, and I am thrilled to find these. I have 2 other confirmed Walnuts and 3 Red Oaks as well as an unknown 60' tree to play with. Best part is that the location is 3/8 mile from my wood stacks. Gotta go get the saw in my hands, the pulse is picking up as I type!
 
Foolish me, I read your post wrong. I read it as having the pallets on top.... Just read it wrong. Sorry about that.

I can certainly agree with you on the getting ahead on the wood supply. That takes care of most problems. And once you get ahead, then it is sort of like the old pitcher pumps. You had too pump like crazy some times to get the water coming but once you had water, then it was just keeping an easy steady pressure on the handle and you had lots of water. So once you get ahead on the wood, just cut a little each year from then on.
 
mywaynow said:
I stack the piles on top of whatever I can get my hands on. There is alot of treated lumber, galvanized posts and now pallets under the stacks. I am going to retrieve some 3 x 3 ft sections of industrial galvanized siding from a job, hopefully today. It is left over from a project and I have permission to take what I want. It should get me about 2 1/2 inches of clearance. The way I figure it, the wood being stacked now is cord 19 or 20 away. Maybe burning 5/yr, so I need the stuff off the ground for 5 years. I keep a tarp on the pile year round and have 2 1/2 years minumum dry time on what will be used per season. My current wood source has been nothing short of fantastic. Started with a monster Red Oak that fell into an Ash and American Walnut. Got that bucked and 60% removed before the thaw put an end to access of the pile. Now I have been wandering into the other areas I can scrounge in, and yesterday took 2 Cherries around 12 inch diameter, and a Black Walnut around 15 inches. I have not had the opportunity to take any Walnut up to this source, and I am thrilled to find these. I have 2 other confirmed Walnuts and 3 Red Oaks as well as an unknown 60' tree to play with. Best part is that the location is 3/8 mile from my wood stacks. Gotta go get the saw in my hands, the pulse is picking up as I type!

Fun post to read....read like I wrote it myself. The enthusiasm of having a steady stream of scrounging lined up and having 3-4 years worth already stacked. I get it!!!
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Foolish me, I read your post wrong. I read it as having the pallets on top....

I've never done it before, but I was thinking of trying to stack pallets on top of my wood stacks this time. I have 4x8 pallets for the bottom. I've got two rows of 17-18" wood stacked on the outside with shorts and uglies tossed between the two rows. I was thinking of putting 4x3+ pallets (pellet companies have tons (lol) of this size pallet) on top with plastic sheeting stapled to them. The pallets on top would keep things more stable. The plastic would keep the rain and snow off, but I'd have 6" of air flow below the plastic. I could easily remove the snow covered 'tarp' 3' at a time instead of wrestling with large sections.

So what's the down side to stacking pallets on top?
 
That would work Karl especially if you have some double or triple rows. If single rows it might be a bit unsteady especially when the wind blows hard.
 
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