Stacking in the shed right after cutting .

[richardg40]

This year because of work i am way behind in my firewood cutting and had to buy 8 ft wood ( Maple ) that i am in the process of cutting into 16 inch long firewood . This will be wood for 2017-2018 burning season .

I have a shed that holds 7 cords .Its 8x16 and i stack 7 feet high . No front door on the shed .

If i stack 5 rows of fresh green wood in there do you think it will be seasoned enough for next year ?

The shed is 8 ft high in the front and 7 ft in the rear .

I sure hope so because soon there will be too much snow around there to get any work done and thats why i am considering piling my wood right away in my shed .

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Soft maple might be burnable by next year if you split small, leave space in between stacks and it gets some wind movement. I doubt it will be optimally dry though. Hard maple, forget it, won't be ready.

 

[richardg40]

It's hard maple . I'm thinking of removing a few boards on the shed on the 3 other sides maybe every 2 feet to get more air flow . The last foot of the 2 long side is already open . Even putting a few hinges on these boards to use again if this situation should repeat itself .

 

[richardg40]

This is my shed the last time i filled it a few years ago . That time with a mix of soft and hard wood .

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Sweet shed. Just think it's a losing battle with hard maple. What's the problem with stacking outside and top covering. will dry much faster that way.

 

[richardg40]

We have long winters here in Canada and i have limited time to enjoy my firewood cutting. We use between 7 to 10 cords of wood every year and i'm just trying to speed up my process without sacrificing quality of firewood .

 

[maple1]

I think outside in spaced stacks & top covered will do a lot better than sandwiched in the shed. Doubt hard maple will be ready for next year either way - or won't be much better than marginal. Doing stacks should speed things up too vs. stacking in the shed.

If you've got a place to stack...

 

[Poindexter]

I dunno know about hard maple. spruce would be iffy as described in the shed pictured and birch, no way.

 

[richardg40]

Most of this wood is already in the shed by now . What about if its in there for 2 years . That should help imo .

 

[maple1]

Bottom line is green wood needs air movement around/through it. That's a real nice shed but I doubt much air moves through it, especially with all the trees around it. Plus if it's stacked tight, the wood on the inside won't get any air. There will likely be some drying, but it will be a very slow pace - years with hard maple. And there might be mold growth & rot starting in the middle of it depending how tight things are stacked.

 

[Bad LP]

Air flow is key and a little sunshine helps too.

I stack in the shed right after splitting however my shed (16X8) is open on all sides

 

[Woodfarmer1]

Where are you located? I cut dead and dying standing, split it and put in my shed, with no sides and it's ready in the fall

 

[Akon]

We have long winters here in Canada and i have limited time to enjoy my firewood cutting. We use between 7 to 10 cords of wood every year and i'm just trying to speed up my process without sacrificing quality of firewood .

To speed up drying: some people will stack it on a pallet and plastic shrink wrap it. Sun heats it up: moisture drips out the bottom. Some put it in greenhouses. Others use solar kilns.
I plan on making a small solar kiln 6'x10' or 12' that will hold a cord or so by Spring when weather/time cooperate. I'll stack and maybe air dry a few weeks, then into the kiln for 1-2 months, which should be enough to dry it to below 20 MC. Then into the shed. Lots of good free info on solar kilns on this and other sites.

 

[richardg40]

I am considering removing most of the boards on all 3 sides and leaving this shed open on all sides . I might jimmy rigg some 4 x8 1/2 inch plywood sheets with hinges to act as partial sides to protect the wood from freezing rain and snow once it has dried .

Thanks for all the comments . BTW i am in New Brunswick Canada .

 

[gerry100]

If you've got room why not just split it,dump it in a pile in front of the shed, leave it out in the elements until October '17 and then stack it in the shed?

I observe people here who just dump truck loads of split wood in the yard and take it right to the stove after a year.

Of course, we're in the tropics of Upstate NY

 

[richardg40]

I like stacking straight in the wood shed . We find in a usual year we handle the firewood enough as it is . 1 - cut the tree 2 - junk it in pieces in the woods and load it on an ATV trailer , take it out of the woods . 3- from the ATV trailer it is then loaded onto a 14 foot trailer and when the trailer is full we bring it home 30 miles and unload it in our yard . It would be nice at this stage to just stack it in the shed until next year . Still have to wheelbarrow it 200 feet to the house .

Not complaining but i ain't getting any younger . Thanks for your comments everyone .

 

[oaksplitter]

Nothing beats hardwood that has been stacked and covered for two summer seasons. Regardless of what you decide this year, maybe think about ordering more wood to get ahead a year in the spring?. It also gives a year off if the back goes out and you can't get the wood in.

 

[richardg40]

Oaksplitter i did order more cords of 8 feet wood than i needed . By the comments of the last supplier of wood its gonna get harder in future years to buy firewood . Reason is lots of houses are getting mini split heat pumps installed . He is thinking of selling his truck and calling it quit .

I removed some boards on all sides of my shed and i think its going to make a big difference in my wood drying situation . Hopefully i will have time next fall to go cut my own firewood in the woods .

 

[Paulywalnut]

Where the shed is in regard to the sun and wind make a huge difference.

 

[English BoB]

If you've got room why not just split it,dump it in a pile in front of the shed, leave it out in the elements until October '17 and then stack it in the shed?

I observe people here who just dump truck loads of split wood in the yard and take it right to the stove after a year.

Of course, we're in the tropics of Upstate NY

Or feed it right into the stove after its dumped. I think a tarp is sometimes thrown over to keep the moisture in.

bob

 

[Seanm]

Hello op. I think you will be disappointed with what you are doing there. Sorry if this ruffles your feathers but you asked..... I could stack birch, double row loosely stacked, top covered and have a hard time being ready in a year. Heck I could stack green lodgepole pine in that shed and it would still be 22%+ come next November. I would unload that shed and open things up like you were saying and loosely stack it. Better yet loosely stack single or double row on pallets top covered only (outside the wood shed) and put only -20%mc wood in the shed. You arent getting any younger but we still want you to be warm. Sun and wind are your friends.

 

[richardg40]

Sean it's very good advice but winter is already in full swing here and because of work commitment i had no spare time to do this .

I'm already on my second cord of wood for this season . My shed is packed full for next year now and i will update next year when i am burning the wood .

It will get some sun and some wind even if i have to cut a few trees around the shed to help things along .

Thanks for the reply

 

[Oldman47]

My grandfather used to heat his home with a wood furnace in the basement of his large farm house and also did all cooking the year around on a large wood stove, over 4 feet long. Living in Quebec with severe winters and lousy home insulation he had an attached wood shed that held about 30 full cords of wood. Heck everyone except guests entered and left the house through that wood shed. In fall it would be near full and by the last load of heat in the spring it would be getting quite low on wood. When it comes to seasoning wood we all knew that he had lots of single row stacks all over the homestead site. Even with all that space in the shed all wood got seasoned in stacks, not in his huge wood shed. I know he never saw a moisture meter or heard of a 3 year plan but he did understand that only dry wood burned well so he used single row stacks maybe 6 feet tall to season his wood. He always had it put up on saplings, not pallets, and the ends were finished off with 2 saplings jammed into the ground at each end of a stack. I never saw a cover on his stacks but did spend some "quality time" helping him bring rounds to his home site from being cut and stacked in the woodlot. He needed a young and eager set of hands to load his tractor drawn wagon for the trip back to the home site. My conclusion from watching a successful wood burner is you season the wood before you bring it into the wood shed.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Learned some good stuff in this one.

Realized my wood wall is packed too tight. It gets air, but obviously need to move the air through it.
This early spring I started jamming the stuff tight as I thought it was more efficient use of space.

Knowing better, the stuff will be loose and gappy now. (Gappy? call Websters, it's a new word.)

 

[gerry100]

loose enough for a mouse to run through it, tight enough so a cat can't follow it