First Attempt at Boxed Ends

[mudbug250]

OK, I finally got around to posting pics of my first attempt at boxing the ends of one row.

 

[schlot]

Cool...no t-posts required

 

[Thistle]

*thumbs up*

 

[onetracker]

looks like a beautiful place you have there mudbug.

 

[gzecc]

Not too bad with what you have to work with. You really need longer pieces especially for the bottom sections. The longer and thinner the more stable it will be. It also helps if the are similar size.

 

[mudbug250]

gzecc..yeah I had already cut the wood to my 16" lengths before I knew I would be boxing the ends. I just tried to ere on the ends leaning in towards to the row instead of leaning out.

onetrack.....Thanks. yeah I like the place pretty well. We have a 2600 sq. foot single story house on a 7 acre lot, with about 4 of those acres being lawn. The house was built in 2004 and added on to in 2011 after we had our twins. 4 kids total. Then our families have probably 750 acres that we have access to. We are blessed!

 

[jackofalltrades]

That is a good looking stack mudbug. I see you are in central MS. What part? I am in North MS just south of Tupelo. I knew the wood in that stack looked really familar.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Looks good to me, I do it all the time and no need for any racks or t-posts. On a long run I do it every two pallets and fill in the section. That way when I take a section a part it will not effect the next section, and I can just fill in 1 cord at a time.

 

[certified106]

Looks Great! I wish I had the patience to do that, lol

 

[thewoodlands]

Looks good mudbug250, what in the hell are t-post!

zap

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Looks good mudbug250, what in the hell are t-post!

zap

Funny Zap, you probably keep the tpost manufacturers in business.

 

[mudbug250]

JackofAll.....I am from Forest. Halfway between Jackson and Meridian on I-20.
Zap....T-posts are the metal fence posts that we use for barbed wire fences.

 

[jeff_t]

Not too bad with what you have to work with. You really need longer pieces especially for the bottom sections. The longer and thinner the more stable it will be. It also helps if the are similar size.

Square pieces from the middle of bigger rounds are best. Nice, straight 8"ish rounds split in half are my second choice. And don't stack so that there is much leaning on the cross stacks. To me, they should just finish off a stack. I can remove my cross stacks, and only have a few splits fall to the ground.

 

[Blue Vomit]

Nice mudbug... If it doesn't fall, you did good. Keep it going!

 

[bogydave]

Better than my first attempt, the second time I stacked it it stayed up longer, 3rd time it stayed up until move it to the shed.

Off the ground, in a sunny area with good air flow. Perfect!

Are you going to cover it before Isaac gets to you?
I don't think I would, what ever you cover it with might end up a few miles away.
BE safe, good luck.

 

[mudbug250]

I don't cover as of yet. I just load up a couple of days worth of seasoned wood in the Mule and keep it in the garage. That set up has been working pretty good for me. But I am looking to build a storage building for all my toys and will include a firewood area when I do build it.

 

[rdust]

Square pieces from the middle of bigger rounds are best. Nice, straight 8"ish rounds split in half are my second choice. And don't stack so that there is much leaning on the cross stacks. To me, they should just finish off a stack. I can remove my cross stacks, and only have a few splits fall to the ground.

x2

 

[red oak]

Nice mudbug... If it doesn't fall, you did good. Keep it going!

This is the first and really only rule of stacking wood!

 

[mudbug250]

Back when I was a kid, I was the firewood stacker. i just did tapering rows back then, but I never had a row to tip. And that was with unregular lengths.

 

[Dave_B]

Also did alot of stacking delivering firewood. When dump trucking season was over, we sold firewood in winter. Many people wanted wood stacked in yard where trucks couldn't get so whellbarrow and had to criss cross ends. Never heard that a stack fell!

I think one reason people wanted wood stacked in open was to guage if it was really a cord. I stacked loose and with many rabbit holes!

 

[Nixon]

OK, I finally got around to posting pics of my first attempt at boxing the ends of one row.
View attachment 72714View attachment 72715

Looks real good ! When I first started doing it , I thought it was a major PIA. But now, I won't consider doing it any other way .
A small hint.... When you are splitting, select athe fairly straight splits , and throw them to either end of your pallets . That way you dont have to fish around when you are building your cross stacks .

 

[ScotO]

Looks good to me. After getting used to building them, you will know what pieces to pick out of your pile for your ends when you are stacking. When splitting my wood at home, I make a habit out of taking the really big rounds and splitting them into "square" splits, and I toss those splits to a side pile when splitting. I use those square splits (along with others) to make my crosshatched stack ends. Makes it easy as pie, and they are very sturdy. I've never had one collapse yet (knocks on wood). Here's some pics of a big norway maple I C/S/S-ed a couple months ago....

 

[Gark]

Those ends look fine to me, too. Ya done good. +2 on the ideas to reserve the half-rounds and square splits for the towers.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Looks good mudbug250, what in the hell are t-post!

zap

Those are the things you need to throw away zap!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Mudbug, that is good for your first attempt. Congratulations on that. You no doubt will learn much from this first stack. One of the biggest is what pieces to choose for the ends. For example, look at the first picture on the right hand side. The first two layers give you a big hint as to what is going to happen, and it did. Notice that the end of the second layer is way far out from where the first layer is. Now notice that very bottom layer. Look closely at the two splits you used and you will see they are not laying flat. They have rolled a bit (and this also caused some of that problem with the second layer). Look also at the 9th layer and you will see one of the splits has tried to roll.

As Scott stated, choosing the right pieces for the ends will really be the biggest thing you can do for the stacking. A lot of my ends are built using square or rectangular splits (see picture below). Like Scott, when splitting and I get a nice piece that will be used for the ends, I throw those into their own pile. Then as I'm building the stacks, I build the ends at the same time as the rest of the stack. Some will build the entire ends before filling in the center but I like to do it level all the way up.



All in all, you did a great job for your first try. You will amaze yourself after building 3 or 4 more and you will also then notice that it gets easier.