Well I guess I'm done (vid)

[Bster13]

I am going to tidy up a little bit more and cover some more of my stacks, but in terms of collecting wood I'm done for the season. I sensed some tenseness with the neighbors and the wife is always wary, but I think I squeezed as much in that space as I could. Next year I'm not going to leave any space in between the stacks, and just do one solid block of wood to cram in as much as possible. From my research it's more about exposing the wood to heat as opposed to wind, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[BrotherBart]

Excellent video and a lot of great wood. You have been busy.

 

[McKeznak]

HAHAHAH "One of us didn't want it in the yard"

 

[red oak]

I am going to tidy up a little bit more and cover some more of my stacks, but in terms of collecting wood I'm done for the season. I sensed some tenseness with the neighbors and the wife is always wary, but I think I squeezed as much in that space as I could. Next year I'm not going to leave any space in between the stacks, and just do one solid block of wood to cram in as much as possible. From my research it's more about exposing the wood to heat as opposed to wind, so we'll see how that goes.

The veterans on here say it's more about wind, and good air circulation. And I do not understand this word "done"

 

[mattjm1017]

Is it possible to be done? If so I need to find out how to do that

 

[burrman]

Is it possible to be done? If so I need to find out how to do that

never..lol

 

[BrotherBart]

Done till Spring methinks.

 

[Bster13]

I will gather wood as these current stacks get depleted but I promised the wife I would not take up more volume than this. I guess I can live with this. I have an efficient stove and id love it if I had three years worth here but unsurewith the new house and how well it is insulated.

 

[BrotherBart]

You are gonna be fine. And if you find out that you have three year's worth there a block will do fine. Put sheet plastic under it to keep ground moisture from keeping it wet coming up through the stack.

 

[Auzzie Gumtree]

i would advise against stacking in one big solid stacks. I tried this and have had mixed results. Mine is stacked on a slope with the wind coming in from the top of the slope - the wood at the front (where the wind hits first) seasoned well - but the wood at the bottom of the slope didn't. I have re stacked into 3 rows to a pallet but with wheelbarrow sized gaps between and now all 'seems' good. i will find out next year. If you do go one big stack make sure you top cover. You can see from the pics that leaves etc... was getting between the stacks and not getting out causing mold. Here's the start of my re-stack. In a week the mold was gone and the wood 'looked' much drier.

 

[SolarAndWood]

You can't put too dry of wood in the BK. I'd get as far ahead as space allows.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

You can't put too dry of wood in the BK. I'd get as far ahead as space allows.

What happens if the wood is TOO dry? Stove goes nuclear?

 

[SolarAndWood]

What happens if the wood is TOO dry? Stove goes nuclear?

In the BK, there is no such thing as too dry. I can't speak to other modern stoves as I don't have any experience with them.

 

[Bster13]

Good point about the leaves causing mold, but how long was it stacked in a large block to dry?

i would advise against stacking in one big solid stacks. I tried this and have had mixed results. Mine is stacked on a slope with the wind coming in from the top of the slope - the wood at the front (where the wind hits first) seasoned well - but the wood at the bottom of the slope didn't. I have re stacked into 3 rows to a pallet but with wheelbarrow sized gaps between and now all 'seems' good. i will find out next year. If you do go one big stack make sure you top cover. You can see from the pics that leaves etc... was getting between the stacks and not getting out causing mold. Here's the start of my re-stack. In a week the mold was gone and the wood 'looked' much drier.

View attachment 113101 View attachment 113102 View attachment 113103

 

[Auzzie Gumtree]

Good point about the leaves causing mold, but how long was it stacked in a large block to dry?

That was there for 18 months - i'm a newbie so not sure how long this type of wood normally takes to dry as there aren't many Aussies on here to compare. But i have had some good results with 12 month (from the same stack) but also some very bad. I guess if you get 3 years ahead it wont make much difference as long as you can rotate - fifo (First in First out) the way i will work next year is to burn the stuff i have re-stacked first which will be ~ 3 cords and then use the big stack to make any shortfall. Then the year after everything will be 3 years so hopefully all will be good.....

 

[Bster13]

Yeah when I started in November of 2012, my strategy was to have as much air exposed to the stacks as possible, so single rows and criss-cross the entire stack. But I read that drying is more about temperature than wind, and I have been contemplating going with a strategy to store as much wood as possible, and with the same usage rate, I would have my wood exposed to more high temp days than right now, and thus drier wood and more of it.

 

[rdust]

That wood would dry much better in that wide open back yard. Time to man up and flex some muscle. It doesn't look like it's being used for anything else.

I didn't have luck seasoning my wood all bunch up like that. After 3 seasons it was hardly better than the day I stacked it. All my stacks except two have at least 3' between now. Others don't seem to have any issue so who knows!

 

[Beer Belly]

Great vid....you could always move the fencing back, and still keep the wood out of the yard