My first wood stack

[Cash Wiley]

Hi there. I've been lurking now and again here for about a year. Bought a house two years ago that came with a Vermont Castings Vigilant woodstove and something that passed for a chimney. Last spring I had the chimney rebuilt, and hope to replace the stove as soon as money allows. Didn't have money to buy in wood last year until October, but I guess I got lucky since most of it hovered around 15-25%...after much hissing and spitting I bought a moisture meter and set aside anything over 25% (about a face cord out of five).

Money problems don't seem to go away, so I'm late getting wood this year, but at least I have some time to stack it outside. The guy has some logs from a local furniture place that he splits to order, they read 34-38% on delivery. I still suck at tree ID, so no idea what it is and I forgot to ask :| Anyway, here's my first wood stack!

Two face cords each on either side of a light face I got from the maple I took out with a neighbor this spring (the tarped middle bit). Also got the face from last year in the garage, probably should move that outside for a few months, too. Room in the garage for two cords as I've got it set up right now, which is nice in the middle of winter in upstate NY.

When I was growing up we had a woodstove in the garage and a wood burning dual-fuel in the kitchen, as well as woodstove and fireplace at our family camp. I never realized how much I miss getting out and splitting wood, or the crackle and warmth of a fire when it's below zero. Going into my second season and learning as quick as I can. Hopefully next spring I can finally get a year ahead, maybe get a new efficient stove. Then a shed...then a saw and trailer...

PS: Don't laugh at my poor honeycrisp apple treeling in the 2nd pic foreground - it's already been through two frosts and two de-nudings by deer varmint.

 

[smokinj]

Looks really good!

 

[KYrob]

Looks real good. Mine is starting to lean a bit as it dries. Hopin it don't tip over.

Rob

 

[Cash Wiley]

Well, by "my first stack" I might be misleading, I stacked a bajillion cords of wood when I was a kid, both at home and at the camp. It's my first stack as an adult, for my own house and my own stove

I also used to stack freight onto pallets in a warehouse, my hope is I didn't stack it too tight to dry, heh. I'm kind of obsessed with stacking things.

 

[thewoodlands]

Well, by "my first stack" I might be misleading, I stacked a bajillion cords of wood when I was a kid, both at home and at the camp. It's my first stack as an adult, for my own house and my own stove

I also used to stack freight onto pallets in a warehouse, my hope is I didn't stack it too tight to dry, heh. I'm kind of obsessed with stacking things.

Looks great.

zap

 

[rdust]

Looks great! That wood may not be ideal when you need to use it but it will have more time then most give their wood.

 

[Cash Wiley]

Looks great! That wood may not be ideal when you need to use it but it will have more time then most give their wood.

That's been my main concern after last season, had a lot of creosote in the new chimney, luckily my sweep is very responsive and kept it safe. Debating on whether to dip into my meager savings to get a little ahead for next year, right now I'm burning pretty light so two cord should do it...then I'm starting to get into the issue the guy with the small lot thread is dealing with. My lot looks like it's in the forest, but I'm actually urban on a great dead end. Great compromise, she's a city girl and I'm a country boy.

Anyway, the other downside to the situation right now is my Vigilant from 1977. I'm pretty sure it's oversized for my house (950sq ft laid out oddly) and wicked inefficient. If you look at the middle face cord that I split myself, it's smaller splits. I've taken to burning smaller, hotter fires and that seems to be working out a little better, but at some point I need to get things straightened out for 24/7 burns.

 

[ChrisNJ]

Looks good to me, and I like the idea of those garden posts at the end of the stacks, I need to get a couple of them. Honeycrisp :-O I love them, wish I could find some trees to plant around here as my meager orchard could use a few, unfortunately only places to buy fruit trees that I know of is Walmart,HD and Lowes and have never seen Honeycrisp there :-(

 

[Cash Wiley]

I got this tree at Ace Hardware, a regional chain. They had three really nice trees, about 5-6' tall and relatively healthy, $30/ea. An old coworker works there now, when she saw me eyeing the honeycrisp she told me to buy all of them that day. I took one, discussed it with the fiancee and went back for the other two and they were gone, haven't seen one since. I plan on pollinating with empire. The more immediate plan is a deer fence around it, then train the branches next spring and hopefully plant the empire.

Already have plenty of bees from my wildflowers and the neighbor's cherry trees...the thought had occurred to me of maybe putting in a couple racks for the bees

 

[Capt]

Maybe if you re-split some of those big ones, you could possibly have some wood ready for this season. Those seem to be some mighty big splits. Good job on the stack.

 

[Troutchaser]

I sprayed my apple trees with Deer Away. Stuff smells like complete hell but that's why it works. Of course, it does cost $30 for enough concentrate to make four gallons. My friendly little doe hasn't touched them since.
You can make your own with rotten eggs and garlic. Recipes online.
Great looking stack. I've re-stacked some of my wood since I didn't do it right the first time.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Cash Wiley, that indeed is a nice looking stack of wood. However, to offer up just a little advice, if you are burning that wood this coming winter you might want to in the future consider splitting it a bit smaller. This will help with speeding up the drying process. Also, the tight stacks are beautiful, but loosely stacked wood will dry a bit faster if you need that wood this winter.

It is good that the sun is hitting the stack but wind is even more important than sunshine and with the stack tight against the woods line it might cut down on the air circulation. I'd for sure move the stack (lots of work there...) out into the open a bit if it is needed this coming winter. However, if you can leave it stacked a year or two then it will dry okay. Good luck.

 

[willworkforwood]

Cash Wiley, that indeed is a nice looking stack of wood. However, to offer up just a little advice, if you are burning that wood this coming winter you might want to in the future consider splitting it a bit smaller. This will help with speeding up the drying process. Also, the tight stacks are beautiful, but loosely stacked wood will dry a bit faster if you need that wood this winter.

It is good that the sun is hitting the stack but wind is even more important than sunshine and with the stack tight against the woods line it might cut down on the air circulation. I'd for sure move the stack (lots of work there...) out into the open a bit if it is needed this coming winter. However, if you can leave it stacked a year or two then it will dry okay. Good luck.

Dennis can't post a picture of what he's talking about because he's been 16 years ahead forever, and doesn't need to stack that way :lol: (nice to have the keep smiling back, Dennis). Before getting a couple years ahead, I split and stacked similar to the way he describes above. Here's a pic of some of it, and most definitely +1 on this being extra work. Your current stacks are nicely done, Cash, and will burn ok. But you can get more out of the wood if you invest the extra time now to split the stuff smaller and get it separated.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Well, 16 years might be stretching things a bit. lol

 

[Cash Wiley]

I also used to stack freight onto pallets in a warehouse, my hope is I didn't stack it too tight to dry, heh. I'm kind of obsessed with stacking things.

Yep, I've been eyeing that stack for exactly that reason. Been too busy this past week (staining and putting up trim in my living room) to tear into it, but I do want to re-split and stack it. Location isn't a problem, I'm keeping the weeds out from behind there and there's a decent wind. I got done stacking, patted myself on the back for such a nice solid wall...then remembered I'm conditioning wood, not building a wall, heh.

I've also decided to dip into my meager savings and put in another order to get a year ahead. I just remember how much I hated dealing with 25%+ MC splits last winter and still worrying about this winter. Fiancee approved once I explained the whole situation, so looking forward to a safer and cleaner winter next year!

If it wasn't horrid conditions right now (90s and humid, I'm a viking), I'd have been out splitting even after spending all day messing with trim inside. I love hand-splitting wood, great zen activity.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[Skier76]

Looks great! I too grew up burning wood...then life happened and I got out of it. We bought a weekend place last year and got back in to it. During the week, I look forward to getting up north to something with the firewood....stack, split, use the chainsaw...or just grab a beer and inspect the stacks. :lol:

 

[savageactor7]

Hi Cash that is an excellent looking stack of wood you have there. Just riffing on Backwoods Savage's very good advice I would also trim out some of the brush behind the stack to increase more air circulation. The wind is also your friend when it come to wood seasoning.

I must say as a beginner wood stacker you have greatly surpassed my feeble attempts even when I was in my prime...again well done.