First post & first wood stack

[ChrisRphotography]

I have been reading on the forums for a few months and I have learned quite a bit. Just bought a house and it has a wood burning stove insert. So I have been doing my research and searching for wood. Just so happened to drive by a house where a guy was felling a huge walnut tree, stopped to chat and ask him about the wood he said if I helped him cut it up I could have the wood minus the trunk. Here are a few shots of the tree and the wood. Spent the last two days cutting and stacking super excited to start splitting it.

the majority of the tree was dead and nice a dry.

 

[Hogwildz]

Get those large rounds split. Nice score, enjoy.

 

[Auzzie Gumtree]

Welcome - i like the Black and white photo - very artistic keep the photo's coming and you will be a hit on here.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Looks good, but HW is right, you should have split the big rounds before stacking it.

Nice pictures BTW

 

[firefighterjake]

Good looking pile of wood . . . but as others have suggested . . . to get the wood seasoned you will be better off splitting it sooner rather than later as wood left in rounds drys much more slowly.

 

[paul bunion]

It looks like the trunk has some metal in it judging by the stains at the butt end. He might have done you a favor by keeping it. Its no fun finding metal with your chain.

 

[TimJ]

Good start Chris..........even the smaller rounds can take one wack to split to make two smaller splits.

 

[ChrisRphotography]

Thanks for the replies everyone, and I guess ya live and learn I really wanted to get it all cut and off the wet ground I will work on splitting it and restacking.

 

[Craig S.]

Nice score ... not too much walnut around here ... but always looking ... even though I don't have any more room to store it.

 

[PapaDave]

Great score.
Gotta' agree with the above advice re: stacking.
Time spent stacking could have been used splitting. Then, take a little time every day to stack if you can't do it all at once.
Splitting is more important, even if you can't get to stacking for a few days.
Been there, and done it, but never stacked rounds (unless I didn't plan to split 'em).
Can't forget.....Welcome to the Hearth. Stick around a while.
See what I did there? Stick.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks for the replies everyone, and I guess ya live and learn I really wanted to get it all cut and off the wet ground I will work on splitting it and restacking.

Welcome to the forum Chris.

Yes, lesson #1 is to get the wood split ASAP. Then stack it off the ground and try to stack it in the windiest spot on your place. Some sun is good too but the wind will dry the wood faster than the sun. That wood will not be ready to burn until next winter so I hope you have a backup plan for this coming winter.

Also on your cribbing on the ends. It is best to do that with splits because the rounds, well, they will roll sooner or later.

 

[PapaDave]

Everything is reminding me of a song today. Weird.
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Keep those woodstacks rollin'
Keep those rounds a rollin'
Rawwood!
Cut 'em up
Split 'em up
Stack 'em out
Let 'em dry,
Rawwoooooood!

 

[Paulywalnut]

Welcome Chris. Split as much as you can. Even the small rounds will season faster split. Walnut takes 2 years to really get the btu benefit. Work on some soft maple or faster seasoning wood. Good luck getting ready for the winter. Nice black and white. Looks like the 50's.

 

[JOHN BOY]

Great score chris ..walnut is one of my favorites. ! Your gonna like it here ,welcome to the forum

 

[ChrisRphotography]

Well I took y'all's advice and got to swinging

 

[ChrisRphotography]

One quick question I've got a bunch of imperfect pieces left some pretty large and not sure about how to process cut/split them. Any advice would be great. Here are a few pictures for reference.

Imogene the Chihuahua for scale.

 

[pen]

That time swinging will pay you dividends! Well done!

As far as the uglies, split off whatever you can from them. Usually a split off the side of some will be possible, some will even surprise you and do better than you may think if you haven't swung at them yet.

If they fit in the stove once you've removed what you can, then I set them to the side somewhere I can get to them and throw one in when I get a large amount of hot coals built up in the stove and want to burn those down. If they won't fit, enjoy them in the firepit or give them to a friend / neighbor who will. Or, if you are careful, you can take the chainsaw and encourage a few of the side knobs to disappear that way.

Again, well done! The further you get ahead from the start, the easier it is to keep up in the future.

Also, good looking friend / inspector!

pen

 

[save$]

Well I took y'all's advice and got to swinging

You are right on the ball. Hope you get a few more stacks lined up with that one. A big wind and rain, those cinder blocks settle and over she goes!

 

[paul bunion]

You can often bust the outside edge off on the crotches. Then if you have a good supply of wood you use whats left for outdoor fires. If you need the wood for heat you can noodle them with your saw which is laying the wood on its side and cutting with the grain. You'll quickly figure out why it is called noodling.

 

[rideau]

That's a first stack to be proud of!

 

[lazeedan]

Nice stack!

 

[Applesister]

Great pictures!! I was curious to see if once you split your rounds they would still fit in the same area.
Save all that scrap stuff on the ground!!
It makes good kindling.

 

[Hogwildz]

Time for a hydraulic splitter ;-)
Looks good, nice work.

 

[Woody Stover]

I really wanted to get it all cut and off the wet ground I will work on splitting it and restacking.

Welcome, Chris, good-looking stack (and pup.)
I've got a stack right now that I just had to get to a manageable size, bring it home and stack it out of the way, then worry about splitting it to size and stacking it to dry later. You got around to busting yours down a lot faster that I did; Mine is still unsplit. But I did find a Walnut top that's been lying out there twenty years and is ready to burn this fall. It's not split yet either, though.

 

[ChrisRphotography]

That time swinging will pay you dividends! Well done!

As far as the uglies, split off whatever you can from them. Usually a split off the side of some will be possible, some will even surprise you and do better than you may think if you haven't swung at them yet.

If they fit in the stove once you've removed what you can, then I set them to the side somewhere I can get to them and throw one in when I get a large amount of hot coals built up in the stove and want to burn those down. If they won't fit, enjoy them in the firepit or give them to a friend / neighbor who will. Or, if you are careful, you can take the chainsaw and encourage a few of the side knobs to disappear that way.

Again, well done! The further you get ahead from the start, the easier it is to keep up in the future.

Also, good looking friend / inspector!

pen

Thanks that's great advice I will see what I can do with the saw and axe what's left will do nice in my fire pit.

You are right on the ball. Hope you get a few more stacks lined up with that one. A big wind and rain, those cinder blocks settle and over she goes!

I've got another stack that I will start a couple of feet away from this one. Also the area that the stack is on is pretty sturdy and I hope it won't move to much.

You can often bust the outside edge off on the crotches. Then if you have a good supply of wood you use whats left for outdoor fires. If you need the wood for heat you can noodle them with your saw which is laying the wood on its side and cutting with the grain. You'll quickly figure out why it is called noodling.

If I had to guess I'd say the chain pulls long cuts of wood due to cutting with the grain but I'm curious to find out now lol. Thanks for the advice.

That's a first stack to be proud of!

Thanks and it feels great to stand back and look at it.

Time for a hydraulic splitter ;-)
Looks good, nice work.

We shall see I really enjoy swinging the axe, I also made a pickaroon and it makes picking up the splits and moving them so much easier.

Welcome, Chris, good-looking stack (and pup.)
I've got a stack right now that I just had to get to a manageable size, bring it home and stack it out of the way, then worry about splitting it to size and stacking it to dry later. You got around to busting yours down a lot faster that I did; Mine is still unsplit. But I did find a Walnut top that's been lying out there twenty years and is ready to burn this fall. It's not split yet either, though.

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Thanks and I hope your walnut is good and dry after twenty years hell it might be petrified

Thanks a lot everyone and I will make sure to update this thread with progress pics