Length Log Delivery in Snow - Buck, Split & Stack ASAP ?

[JoelTrottier]

I've learned so much from this forum over the last year or so, just by searching and browsing other questions.
So thanks to the community for that!

I have a question of my own now.

I'm getting about ~36 face cords worth of length logs delivered (Maple & Birch) this week but my yard is covered in 2 feet of snow.
When I have it delivered, am I ok to leave the logs lying on the snow until spring (or until I can clear the snow to build my rails)?

This delivery wasn't planned but I couldn't pass up the deal. I didn't anticipate it and so I don't have any rails setup to stack my wood once they're split.
I'd like to wait until the snow melts so that I can lay out my setup for the racks, but I don't want my logs to rot in the meantime.

Bonus question: Any tips on a really inexpensive way to dry out so much firewood other than cheap rails built out of 2x4s and stretcher blocks?

Cheers

 

[Tar12]

You have any way to remove that snow?You have any way to move those logs once they are on the ground? If you do I would lay out some logs and stack the rest on top of them and cover them. Or at the very least remove the snow and cut and split into a pile and cover.Myself ...I wouldn't leave them laying in that snow sucking up snow melt. The sooner they are cut and split and stacked the better off you will be in the long run.

 

[Lcback]

Depends on what your end game is. Do you need this wood for next winter? If so yeah split and stack now even in the snow. Do you need it for two years or more from now? I'd wait until I can get at it comfortably. People around a here leave wood piles for
Months on the ground. Wood doesn't rot as fast as people think. All depending on the species of course.


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[johneh]

Lay out a 3 log bunker . Lay the rest of the load across the bunker
The guy running the clam will do this for you . Cut split and stack at your
leisure . Mine is sitting in 3 ft. of snow at the present. I do mine that way every
year just got my first of 2 loads 42 cord in total .
Have never had a log rot yet . This is year 37 of doing it this way . everything
is cut split and stacked by the end of June . I keep 10 cord and sell 32 locally
after it has dried 2 years .

 

[Lcback]

Lay out a 3 log bunker . Lay the rest of the load across the bunker
The guy running the clam will do this for you . Cut split and stack at your
leisure . Mine is sitting in 3 ft. of snow at the present. I do mine that way every
year just got my first of 2 loads 42 cord in total .
Have never had a log rot yet . This is year 37 of doing it this way . everything
is cut split and stacked by the end of June . I keep 10 cord and sell 32 locally
after it has dried 2 years .

I know this isn't my thread. But you sound like someone with experience.
Do you have an idea of how big a trailer equates what cords once it's stacked and split? I met someone who claims he can get me 10cord from a $500 delivery. I need to ask him what size the load is. To see if it's true. I can get cut and split for $120 a cord. So if he is just BSing and it's really only 5 or 6 cords I'm not getting anywhere and doing a lot of work.
That may sound confusing. I'm wondering what size trailer load you get every year and how many cord you get out of that.


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[johneh]

I know this isn't my thread. But you sound like someone with experience.
Do you have an idea of how big a trailer equates what cords once it's stacked and split? I met someone who claims he can get me 10cord from a $500 delivery. I need to ask him what size the load is. To see if it's true. I can get cut and split for $120 a cord. So if he is just BSing and it's really only 5 or 6 cords I'm not getting anywhere and doing a lot of work.
That may sound confusing. I'm wondering what size trailer load you get every year and how many cord you get out of that.

It depends on the truck . most of the guys around here say for a triaxle 9 to 10 cords
it depend on how straight the logs are , length and how well packed on the truck .
I get a triaxle load with a tandem trailer the logs are 24 ft. 10 in in length and truck
and trailer are loaded to the max. This fire wood comes from my own 300 hector bush lot
and is cut by me and my 2 boys . We also sell saw logs . The trucking is done by a friend
and for his service its 50 for fuel and 2 cord of fire wood cut split and delivered . He lives
2 farms down the road . A cord of wood costs 300 to 350 here . I sell to friends for
a whole lot less

 

[peakbagger]

I used to work for a pulpmill. We went through around 1600 tons per day of 8 foot logs. Logs don't rot very quickly they can sit there for quite awhile. They also don't dry until cut to firewood length and split. The one big caveat if the logs are in mud its heck on a chainsaw blade. Ideally if you can get the logs up out of the muck they will not get muddy and in general you can process the wood earlier in the spring and get it properly processed.

 

[JoelTrottier]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I've got enough seasoned maple/beech to last me for another winter after this (so the 2017/18 winter is covered). This current stack of about 16 face cords has been drying since spring 2014.

The logs being delivered will be starting for the 2018/19 winter.

Johneh (Is that like John-eh? If so, kudos. That's awesome):
That sounds like a good idea. I'll ask the guy to lay them out that way.
Do you deliver to Verner, ON ?

 

[johneh]

You got the name right EH also My last name starts with an A
Verner if memory serves that's up around North Bay !
I would but the fuel costs would kill you
I'm about 60 K south west of Ottawa just north of Perth

 

[velvetfoot]

I would make sure they put down stringers first at right angles as a base.
They say birch rots quick if not split and stacked though. Not sure how that applies to stacked logs.

 

[peakbagger]

Oops I missed birch You do need to use your saw and slit the bark lengthwise at least once per log preferably twice as you receive it. Unlike most other hardwood, birch will rot in log length. I would suggest trying to segregate the birch and dealing with it first. There is quite a bit of tension in the rounds with the bark intact, if you slit the bark lengthwise before you buck it up, its easier to split. I usually hand split with my fiskars. Bucking it up is better than nothing but slitting the bark is pretty quick and is as effective as bucking it up. Of course with birch it rots on the stump so it may have already started rotting before it was dropped and then its race to salvage what you can.

 

[JoelTrottier]

You got the name right EH also My last name starts with an A
Verner if memory serves that's up around North Bay !
I would but the fuel costs would kill you
I'm about 60 K south west of Ottawa just north of Perth

Yeah that's a bit of a distance. We're about 35 minutes west of North Bay.

I would make sure they put down stringers first at right angles as a base.
They say birch rots quick if not split and stacked though. Not sure how that applies to stacked logs.

It'll rot within a month or 2 ?
What if I had those logs dropped on the top of the pile?

Oops I missed birch You do need to use your saw and slit the bark lengthwise at least once per log preferably twice as you receive it. Unlike most other hardwood, birch will rot in log length.

I'm not familiar with the technique you're suggesting.
So I just take my chainsaw and run a slit from top to bottom across the bark?
What does that do to prevent rotting?
How deep should the slit be?
(Please excuse my lack of knowledge)

Edit: Just saw your edit. I understand what you mean now. I'm reading it's because birch is so waterproof that it will rot from the inside out once felled correct?
I hope the guy delivering these logs has just felled the trees, otherwise I might be throwing money away.

Edit 2: I also ran into an old post of yours answering my question:
"Not sure about black birch but if you run the saw the length of the trunk about 1/4 inch deep, white or yellow birch wont rot quickly. I have processed logs like this that have sat on the ground for two seasons and it was fine. If the tress are much over 10" I usually score them in two locations. A bonus is the bark peels off in a minute and box of two of birch bark for starting fires is one step away from using kerosene."

 

[peakbagger]

You are correct, its like wrapping a piece of wood up in plastic, vapor works its way to the outer diameter of the log and condenses then starts to rot. I have seen ornamental birch logs in fireplaces where the only thing left was the outer bark. The native americans made waterproof canoes out of birch bark.

There are two layers to white birch bark, the outer sheets which you can peel apart into thing sheets and the inner bark which is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick red in color and bit corky when fresh.