My Wood Piles

[sheepdog000]

These are my wood piles. Pic#1 is covered now and all Apple. It's 3 pallets long and about 42" wide. It's waiting until 2012-2013. Pic #2 is the stuff for this year. The stuff on the left is 99% ash. The stuff on the right is mostly BL with some black cherry mixed in and a few pieces of a mystery oak. It was split in late July if my memory serves me correctly. Then it was all criss cross stacked in the sun and wind. Pic #3 is all white oak and black cherry mixed. The front row is a mix of white & red oak, black cherry, and a few pieces of Tamarack. That may sit for a couple of years. The stuff stacked in the front by itself is bl. Pic #4 is all honey locust and the darker stuff on the left is bl. Pic #5 is back row of rounds from several species, and the front row is honey locust. Pic #6 is whats in my garage ready to be burned. It's a mix of 1 year old s/s maple and ash, with some aged red oak mixed in. I have NO IDEA how much wood I have. Maybe some of the creative math whiz's in here could answer that for me in a ball park figure. My buddy that got me into wood burning started calling me a "Wood Whore." :ahhh: :lol: We were driving down the road dog tired from cutting all day when he saw me eyeballing a downed tree on the side of the road and said, "Don't even think about it!"

For my first year burning, I think I'm doing pretty good.

 

[chvymn99]

Aint nuttin' wrong with that setup. Looks like you've got a good assortment of wood in your arsenal. Clean set there too. Congrats...

 

[doogiegh]

Looks really good! Nice stacks, assortment of woods. You're well on your way..

And there isn't a person on this site who's gonna fault ya for being a whore... wood whore, that is.. We *ALL* are.

 

[BlankBlankBlank]

These are my wood piles. Pic#1 is covered now and all Apple. It's 3 pallets long and about 42" wide. It's waiting until 2012-2013. Pic #2 is the stuff for this year. The stuff on the left is 99% ash. The stuff on the right is mostly BL with some black cherry mixed in and a few pieces of a mystery oak. It was split in late July if my memory serves me correctly. Then it was all criss cross stacked in the sun and wind. Pic #3 is all white oak and black cherry mixed. The front row is a mix of white & red oak, black cherry, and a few pieces of Tamarack. That may sit for a couple of years. The stuff stacked in the front by itself is bl. Pic #4 is all honey locust and the darker stuff on the left is bl. Pic #5 is back row of rounds from several species, and the front row is honey locust. Pic #6 is whats in my garage ready to be burned. It's a mix of 1 year old s/s maple and ash, with some aged red oak mixed in. I have NO IDEA how much wood I have. Maybe some of the creative math whiz's in here could answer that for me in a ball park figure. My buddy that got me into wood burning started calling me a "Wood Whore." :ahhh: :lol: We were driving down the road dog tired from cutting all day when he saw me eyeballing a downed tree on the side of the road and said, "Don't even think about it!"

For my first year burning, I think I'm doing pretty good.

I sure like your use of pallets. The wood stacks in the top right picture with the tarps over the top look very nice - neat and near the house.

 

[BlankBlankBlank]

Looks really good! Nice stacks, assortment of woods. You're well on your way..

And there isn't a person on this site who's gonna fault ya for being a whore... wood whore, that is.. We *ALL* are.

I sure know what you mean about "wood whore". My yard has 6.5 cord of assorted woods for this year (2011-12) - elm, pine, oak, maple. For 2012-13 there's about 2.5 cord of cedar for the shoulder and 4-5 cord of maple. For 2013-14, there's about 3 cord of walnut.

Now, in my driveway right now there is about 2.5 cords of maple needing to be split, .3 cord of oak needing to be split, .3 cord of box elder needing to be split, and .3 cord of poplar needing to be split. I've got another trailer load of maple to pick up. I've got oak, cherry, and hickory to cut and haul home.

So with all this, I get a call today from an arborist fella I know. He says he's got a truck load of poplar and do I want it. So, I think for a quick second and say, "sure." So he's on his way within the hour. I look outside. My trailer is full of maple. My driveway is full of wood. My front lawn has a pile of maple splits to be hauled to the back yard. I call him back to cancel. I can't reach him. I leave a message. Then, after leaving the message, I have a minor regret. I sure do want the wood. He shows up cause he didn't get my message. Yay!! So, since there is no room in my driveway, he dumps it between the sidewalk and the street.

I can't seem to say no. I wonder whether this is turning into a "condition" or "disease". LOL.

 

[sheepdog000]

I got the pallet idea right here on these forums. I painted the bottom of the pallets with some used and some old bottle of new motor oil to slow the rotting process. I'd really like to build a nice gazebo type overhead cover early next summer to move the majority of my wood into. I spoke to my neighbors before I did this stuff to be as considerate as possible. One neighbor said looking at the wood stacks reminded him of being "up north" & that he didn't mind it at all. The other neighbor objected and said that he didn't want to look at it. It's OK, he's a moody prick anyway, I really don't care what he wants or thinks. :coolgrin: He's been nothing but a pain in my ass since he moved in.

WoodNStuff, LOL! If I had a truck or a trailer, Id have a helluva lot more wood. :ahhh:

 

[wishlist]

Nice looking setup sheep. I too wonder how much I have but I sure don't loose any sleep over it as long as I stay way ahead. I'm definetly a wood whore constantly looking for more.

 

[BlankBlankBlank]

It's OK, he's a moody prick anyway, I really don't care what he wants or thinks. :coolgrin: He's been nothing but a pain in my ass since he moved in.

I've got one of them kind too!! I like your gazebo idea. Me, I'm going to put in a new fence using 6"x6" green treated posts set 4' on center. I know it's going to be overkill. But, I'm then going to set posts 3' in toward the yard and directly in line with every other fence post. Then a roof will be erected from the fence posts to the posts 3' in toward the yard with an overhang. 4' pallets will be placed under the roof. I'll then have 100' of 4' deep x 6' tall wood storage - about 18 cord. This will leave the center of my yard freed up for gardening.

 

[doogiegh]

Looks really good! Nice stacks, assortment of woods. You're well on your way..

And there isn't a person on this site who's gonna fault ya for being a whore... wood whore, that is.. We *ALL* are.

I sure know what you mean about "wood whore". My yard has 6.5 cord of assorted woods for this year (2011-12) - elm, pine, oak, maple. For 2012-13 there's about 2.5 cord of cedar for the shoulder and 4-5 cord of maple. For 2013-14, there's about 3 cord of walnut.

rI can't seem to say no. I wonder whether this is turning into a "condition" or "disease". LOL.

To WoodNStuff - Only thing I can say is get it cut/split/stacked cause otherwise 1) your neighbors start to think you're running a slop pit of a yard with just shoddy stacks of decomposing wood everywhere and 2) if you don't get it cut and stacked, you wind up with cords of PUNKY rotting wood, which doesn't burn well at all. So what was an awesome "score" turns into a HUGE nightmare of how to get rid of basically 100% junk mush wood.

I also, was completely out of control with piles of rounds all over the place.. I knew exactly where I got each "score".. But I took a vacation week, rented a splitter for a WEEK (I don't own one, yet), and went nuts.. Then spent as many daylight hours as I could stacking everything as nice as possible.. Still have more stacking to do, but I'm close to being done. Good luck keep it nice and saving the stored BTU's!

 

[BlankBlankBlank]

Looks really good! Nice stacks, assortment of woods. You're well on your way..

And there isn't a person on this site who's gonna fault ya for being a whore... wood whore, that is.. We *ALL* are.

I sure know what you mean about "wood whore". My yard has 6.5 cord of assorted woods for this year (2011-12) - elm, pine, oak, maple. For 2012-13 there's about 2.5 cord of cedar for the shoulder and 4-5 cord of maple. For 2013-14, there's about 3 cord of walnut.

rI can't seem to say no. I wonder whether this is turning into a "condition" or "disease". LOL.

To WoodNStuff - Only thing I can say is get it cut/split/stacked cause otherwise 1) your neighbors start to think you're running a slop pit of a yard with just shoddy stacks of decomposing wood everywhere and 2) if you don't get it cut and stacked, you wind up with cords of PUNKY rotting wood, which doesn't burn well at all. So what was an awesome "score" turns into a HUGE nightmare of how to get rid of basically 100% junk mush wood.

I also, was completely out of control with piles of rounds all over the place.. I knew exactly where I got each "score".. But I took a vacation week, rented a splitter for a WEEK (I don't own one, yet), and went nuts.. Then spent as many daylight hours as I could stacking everything as nice as possible.. Still have more stacking to do, but I'm close to being done. Good luck keep it nice and saving the stored BTU's!

Been good about c/s/s. For me, I was waiting for some materials to be delivered from a special order, so I decided to put out the word that I'm looking for more wood. Well, a lot of folks were looking to get rid of a ton of wood. I've been c/s/s but the more I c/s/s, the more that seems to fill up the spot I just emptied.

 

[PapaDave]

Measure all the stacks, including the length of the splits. Multiply each stack LxHxD, then add all together. Divide all that by 128. You'll be pretty close to a valid cord #.
As an example, if I had a stack 24' wide by 4' high, and each split was 16", then the math would be 24x4x1.333 / 128=127.968 cu. ft., which is close enough to a cord to call it.
Very nice variety of wood and good job getting that all together.
Measure everything up, then keep track of usage so you know about what needs to be replaced for next year.
Have fun. :coolsmile:

 

[Bspring]

My buddy that got me into wood burning started calling me a "Wood Whore."

Yea, I get that too. I just wish the wife would use a little more discression when refearing to my "porn site" while in public.

 

[ryanm527]

I like the pallet idea and I'm envious of your stacks!

If I had the time I too would be a wood whore. We had a massive tornado here last spring and there are a few forested areas with down trees left and right just begging to be cut into firewood. I passed a wooded area just east of town today and commented that there is probably 500 cord worth of (mostly) red oak just laying on the ground. Would love to take a week off work and get me a few years worth all in one shot if I could!

 

[bogydave]

Very nice & neat.
Got some that's ready to go, sot some seasoning for the future.
Feels pretty god eh?
"Wood whore" is a compliment here
2013/14 is just around the corner, if CSS now, it will be very good dry wood , I'm just say'n
Good job.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

sheepdog, for your first year you are doing excellent. Can hardly wait to see what you do in your second year!

 

[sheepdog000]

Thanks guys. I'm looking into getting a permit from the state of MI. to get wood off of state land. I don't know how that works. I know that the Road Commission took a couple HUGE BL trees down and left em sitting just off the road. It's on State Property though. Been there a week. I would like to get em this weekend if possible. I want to be all legal like...... One can never have enough wood.

Measuring my piles will be fun as my splits are a huge mix of different sizes.... I need to learn to measure my cuts better.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Sheepdog, stop in at any DNR station and pick up a permit. There is a limit but it is doubtful that anybody is checked. The bad part is they don't want anyone cutting trees. You must take what is already down. It used to be free but now there is a charge. Last I knew it was $10 so minimal. I used to cut on state land when we lived near Gaylord and one time getting a permit the guy asked if I'd be willing to cut some trees. Of course! Turned out it was only about a mile from our house. All maple. Not big trees but enough for a couple years burning.

 

[Gasifier]

Yep sheepdog. You have "the problem" as well. :lol: Since I joined this site last spring, my wood "obsession" has increased, almost on a daily basis. I usually had all my wood c/s/s by spring for the following year. Which worked okay with the Ash and Pine that I burn. Then I found this site. I now have all my wood c/s/s for next year. And this holiday vacation coming up, I will begin on the following year.

But really, nice work man. I am impressed with your wood stacks and how neat they are. Keep it up, and thanks for sharing the pics and story.

 

[bogydave]

Thanks guys. I'm looking into getting a permit from the state of MI. to get wood off of state land. I don't know how that works. I know that the Road Commission took a couple HUGE BL trees down and left em sitting just off the road. It's on State Property though. Been there a week. I would like to get em this weekend if possible. I want to be all legal like...... One can never have enough wood.

Measuring my piles will be fun as my splits are a huge mix of different sizes.... I need to learn to measure my cuts better.

I started using state permit this year. Working out well, getting good wood. We are allowed to use an ATV so that helps allot.
Once you get ahead (3 years worth) 1 batch ready to burn, 2nd batch seasoning & be ready next season &
3rd batch the new stuff on hand that you add to, as you can, to have a years batch, the working batch.
1st year for me being ahead, it was allot easier to get only 1 years worth CSS before the snow hit.
Getting ahead is the hard part, but sure nice when you do. You must be pretty close to being a year ahead or more.