What are the best methods to stack short 12" lengths of firewood when that will be ALL your pieces? This would be the lengths that I could get in my insert when loading front-to-back, by far the best way to load my small insert. If I chopped up 10 cords this way, how do you stack all this? If I had a tractor with forks I would use large metal baskets that I could stack and shuffle around but nogo on that. Space is not exactly at a premium but important.
Stacking short firewood as main source
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I have stacked 12" splits and it's not fun - as compared to 17" or so.
You need to stay fairly low as I can tell (...) that 6-7 ft stacks are not very stable. I have crossing branches to connect neighboring stacks.
Also it's hard to stabilize the ends; can't do the 90 deg rotating orientation very well with short pieces. So you need side supports.
I have no experience with "piles" (in totes or otherwise contained), though maybe holzenhausen (?) might be an option; circular so supporting each other better. Just something that popped in my head.
You need to stay fairly low as I can tell (...) that 6-7 ft stacks are not very stable. I have crossing branches to connect neighboring stacks.
Also it's hard to stabilize the ends; can't do the 90 deg rotating orientation very well with short pieces. So you need side supports.
I have no experience with "piles" (in totes or otherwise contained), though maybe holzenhausen (?) might be an option; circular so supporting each other better. Just something that popped in my head.
Caw
Minister of Fire
I make homemade cheap storage baskets to store all my uglies and firepit wood...they might work for you in the:
I take a standard sized pallet up on bricks and then hammer in 4 metal fencing posts at the corners. Then I go around with heavy duty metal deer fencing from Home Depot, it's pretty cheap and reinforce the post connections with zip ties. Once it's full I just cover it with plywood and/or a tarp depending on what I have. Each one is 4 x 4 x 4+ ish so they hold about half a cord.
I realize 1/2 a cord bins aren't super helpful for 10 cords but this could be one way to keep some ready stuff close by. Or you could expand on the idea. What about a pallet style shed? Make a pallet island then surround 3 sides with vertical pallets for walls. You could make bay walls if you wanted to also but optional. Then to cover either plywood/pallets/tarps, anything you have laying around, or any combination. It's going to win any beauty contests but it would work!
Something like this with pallets or fencing etc. You'll need walls as @stoveliker said for sturdiness.
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I take a standard sized pallet up on bricks and then hammer in 4 metal fencing posts at the corners. Then I go around with heavy duty metal deer fencing from Home Depot, it's pretty cheap and reinforce the post connections with zip ties. Once it's full I just cover it with plywood and/or a tarp depending on what I have. Each one is 4 x 4 x 4+ ish so they hold about half a cord.
I realize 1/2 a cord bins aren't super helpful for 10 cords but this could be one way to keep some ready stuff close by. Or you could expand on the idea. What about a pallet style shed? Make a pallet island then surround 3 sides with vertical pallets for walls. You could make bay walls if you wanted to also but optional. Then to cover either plywood/pallets/tarps, anything you have laying around, or any combination. It's going to win any beauty contests but it would work!
Something like this with pallets or fencing etc. You'll need walls as @stoveliker said for sturdiness.
Holzhausen. Experiment with different diameters and heights. I have settled on 7' diameter and 5.5' high. Cover with 8mil UV resistant black sheets.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Caw
Minister of Fire
IBC totes are great but have issues for most people: a) getting them and b) moving them.
I just have to say, I recently sold several of these metal totes in used condition at my work that look identical to what Ashful just posted. Most were bought by people using them to stack firewood! They also had tractors with forks and were stacking them. We use them for moving bulk metal parts around during manufacturing and storing inventory. They are just so heavy. I could stack two empty totes high by hand which would be just under 7ft tall, but loading and unloading the back of the tote on top would require a step ladder and I'm 6'2" and skinny with long arms. The beauty of these, if you have a forklift, is the ability to stack them 4 high and move them around. This lets you rotate seasoned and green wood around easily in bulk while maximizing on the height. Getting in and out of them, unless they are not stacked, just sucks. The holzhausen sounds like the way to go, I could stack a lot higher than traditional without worrying about collapse and can choose the diameter to fit the space I have. Thanks all for the ideas!
Ashful
Minister of Fire
You're looking at it all wrong, stoveliker. I just gave him a good reason to buy a new tractor.
DuaeGuttae
Minister of Fire
Member @Tron posted a thread with a less common method of firewood storage a while back. He wasn’t suggesting it as a solution for short pieces, but reading this thread brought it to my mind. I thought you might want to read it over.
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Firewood drying and storage in cheap silos
All, As this storage method seems largely unknown here, I'd like to introduce it. It's really cheap and dries wood perfectly. You just need a sheet of construction remesh (heavy duty, size can vary but I used 8*20'), some nylon rope and a tarp. The remesh is rolled into a tube and tied close...
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