stacking advice....

[sblat]

Just split about 5-6 cords over last week, now have to work on stacking it. Any advice on box stacking the wood? One end will but up against my garage, but the other end is open. I have seen great stacks by a lot of people on here, just looking for advice so the stacks are sturdy, and won't fall over, and how to box stack well. Thanks

 

[CTYank]

The pieces will shrink in thickness once the MC gets down around or below 20%, until which time any stack is subject to random collapse. DAMHIKT.

Do stack the wood off the ground, however you can manage it. Cross-stacking a "pillar" at the end of a stack can provide a stable, vertical end.

 

[okotoks guy]

I just worked on my 1st pallet tonight for stacking and transport purposes. I picked up
a bunch of 2X4 8's and cut them to 48". I formed a box with them and allowed 1 board
width between each 2X4 which will allow lots of airflow while still containing the wood.
For the final side,I will just leave it wide open for adding the wood and screw in a half
sheet of plywood when I need to transport. They will hold 1/2 cord since they are 4X4X4.

Of course I screwed it up the first time and put 2X4's on the outside which made total width
51'' which is too wide to get between the wheel wells! LOL Such a rookie!

 

[Shari]

Stack on pallets to keep it off the ground. Put one pallet vertical on the end of your row and attach the vertical pallet with braces to the bottom pallet. Equates rock solid stacking without cross stacking (which takes up too much room in my humble opinion).

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The pieces will shrink in thickness once the MC gets down around or below 20%, until which time any stack is subject to random collapse. DAMHIKT.

Do stack the wood off the ground, however you can manage it. Cross-stacking a "pillar" at the end of a stack can provide a stable, vertical end.

Not so CTYank! I do not recall any of our stacks falling over. We stack at 4.5' high which will shrink down to 4' or less and they become even more sturdy.

The stacks in this picture had been there for 7 years when the picture was taken.

This picture was taken shortly after the stacking was completed.

Same stack, just taken later that year.

From last year. You can see by these that I am sometimes a very sloppy stacker.....but they do not fall over.

Hauling in another load. Notice the stacks don't even fall off the truck! But it is all kindling anyway.

 

[Shari]

BS, Your stacks look so nice and solid but you do split much larger than I do. I'm splitting narrower splits due to attempting to get ahead in the seasoning game. Maybe when I'm a good 3 yrs. ahead I can keep splits as large as yours.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Shari, most of those are not very big at all, but size is not the important thing. Small stuff stacks just as well as the bigger stuff. I do split some larger ones sometimes for the ends and also try to split them in rectangles or squares as that just makes the ends a bit more solid.

And to think, I started splitting much smaller when we got the Fireview as it is a smaller stove than we had before so I thought all of ours were small splits. lol

 

[billb3]

practice

the nice square splits ( at least parallel sides) have less tendency to shift than the triangle or curved surface ones.
Watch the height, too.



I don't have the patience for it usually and use a pole or pallet of some sort.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We do not worry about the rain. It just runs off. We do cover the tops of the stacks though before snow falls. First summer though, no cover. quads never covers his wood at all and does just fine.

 

[Flatbedford]

I stack on pallets. Three rows on the pallets and about 5 feet high. For the ends I stand up a pallet and drive fence posts through it. This has worked fine for a couple years. I have had no collapses.

I only cover my wood if there is snow or ice in the forecast, and then I only cover the next week or so. I keep 1 1/2 weeks of wood on the covered front porch through the burn season.

 

[gregbesia]

my woodshed

 

[tfdchief]

I have found that if I stack the ends leaning slightly in, as opposed to vertically plumb, it eliminates the chance of the ends failing. I am not able to cut as straight and uniform splitting wood as some, and so the irregular qualities of my splits require a little more care in order to keep them stable. Until I started doing this, rarely but occasionally, I would have an end stack fail.

 

[Remmy122]

my woodshed

could you get a shot of how you attached the vert. pallets and how they are braced?

I like it, and may try to mimic it.

 

[CTYank]

The pieces will shrink in thickness once the MC gets down around or below 20%, until which time any stack is subject to random collapse. DAMHIKT.

Do stack the wood off the ground, however you can manage it. Cross-stacking a "pillar" at the end of a stack can provide a stable, vertical end.

Not so CTYank! I do not recall any of our stacks falling over. We stack at 4.5' high which will shrink down to 4' or less and they become even more sturdy.

Okay, Dennis, let's see if I follow this. Your stacks are probably stable, with your local parameters (species, length, cross-section). Therefore all are stable.

I found that to be definitely not so, with one local species unknown to me, twice, inside an "open shed." Murphy is out there, you know!

Consider that, for a smaller stove like mine I prepare substantially shorter splits than your locomotive fuel. (With a side benefit that it's hard to use 2 cords for a full season.) So they're less like Lego blocks. Many different individual situations out there.

Yes so, Sav.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I box stack. Box stack the straightest, flattest pieces as you go. Make sure the pieces on the outside are at least the diameter of the inner ones- I mean to say that you don't want the boxed end leaning away from the middle. Branched ones, crotches, uglies, etc can be thrown in the middle. As you go you'll see that pieces are complementary to each other- they fit together well if you turn it around so that thicker ends are opposite each other.

 

[NCPABill]

I stack two rows together, with cross sticks from the outside edge of one row to the outside edge of the other. Seems to help substantially. I think the drying time is almost just as good as single rows, but with more stability! I stack on a sloped hill, 4' at the top and 8' at the bottom, maybe 24' long rows.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The pieces will shrink in thickness once the MC gets down around or below 20%, until which time any stack is subject to random collapse. DAMHIKT.

Do stack the wood off the ground, however you can manage it. Cross-stacking a "pillar" at the end of a stack can provide a stable, vertical end.

Not so CTYank! I do not recall any of our stacks falling over. We stack at 4.5' high which will shrink down to 4' or less and they become even more sturdy.

Okay, Dennis, let's see if I follow this. Your stacks are probably stable, with your local parameters (species, length, cross-section). Therefore all are stable.

I found that to be definitely not so, with one local species unknown to me, twice, inside an "open shed." Murphy is out there, you know!

Consider that, for a smaller stove like mine I prepare substantially shorter splits than your locomotive fuel. (With a side benefit that it's hard to use 2 cords for a full season.) So they're less like Lego blocks. Many different individual situations out there.

Yes so, Sav.

Ha! Murphy is all over the place no matte what you do and we seem to have lots of run-ins whit him.

Not sure what type of wood you have but about the toughest wood I've ever stacked was some elm that was cut when green and that splits terrible. I addition to that, there were lots of knots.

Well, at 16" length these are not long for sure. We used to have longer wood for our older stoves but this one likes 16" best. I also do not think we split large. I had just brought some wood to the porch so I went and measured some of the splits. The largest one measures 3" x 4".

Your wood may be shorter than ours for sure but not necessarily more difficult. Rather than a problem, I'd rather look at it as a challenge and then conquer it. Good luck.

 

[trailmaker]

Just split about 5-6 cords over last week, now have to work on stacking it. Any advice on box stacking the wood? One end will but up against my garage, but the other end is open. I have seen great stacks by a lot of people on here, just looking for advice so the stacks are sturdy, and won't fall over, and how to box stack well. Thanks

When it comes to sturdiness, a tapered holtz miete can't be beat. I built this one a couple of months ago and it is solid as a rock, won't budge a centimeter if I push on it with all my strength.

 

[fireview2788]

I wanted to pass along a thanks for this thread! I have a couple stacks going and one was leaning bad so I spent some time shoring things up with twin and wood so it should be good. My biggest problem is the wood, left by previous owner, is cut is every thinkable length and thickness. :-S . Although I've got about two cords set to go.

We'll be bringing down a big tree soon and I'll be sure to take the time to cut and split it the SAME. The pics have really helped give me ideas on the best way to stack and dry.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You will love that Fireview stove. Only having 2 cord ready to go though might be a challenge for this coming winter. I always recommend people get 2-3 years wood supply on hand. Some woods need that time to dry properly and others don't. But the big thing is, if something unexpected comes up, say, an injury and you can't cut wood one winter, you will still have good dry wood to burn. Good luck.

 

[fireview2788]

Thanks and we can't wait to get it in. We are bringing down a dead tree in a couple of weeks and then a few live trees to start seasoning. I know I'll be needing more but I've been training for a 1/2 Marathon and that's been taking all my time. Turkey season is next but I'll be hitting the woods, for firewood, soon after that.