Stacking Shorter Logs

[WarmGuy]

I'm going to have a lot of pieces of wood that are only nine or so inches long. It will be hard to stack them very high. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

Last year this worked pretty well: I stacked longer pieces in a row (in my shed), and then had two "rows" of shorter pieces that were just thrown in, followed by another row of longer pieces.

 

[Machria]

I just left about 2 cords of bucked 25" perfect red oak, because it was all bucked to 10" or 12". I loaded the truck with anything 16" or longer, and left the rest which was most. Shame, because it was really nice wood, but stacking, carrying and burning those short peices is a PITA.

 

[bogydave]

Make a few bins & throw them in

pallets might work tomake a few 4' X 4' bins. Still get some air circ. that way

 

[billb3]

I just use two end to end to fill the spot where a 16" split would be.
Don't have a lot of them so a few here and there is no big deal.

 

[tigeroak]

I built a bin 4 foot x 4 foot x 5 foot tall. Built it out of treated with a metal roof. We get a lot of our wood from a tree man here in town and we get a lot of short cut offs and we put them in there to burn in stove or to use to cook out with.

The ones you are stacking put on the top rows of your stacks, 9 inches long should stack just fine on top row or rows.

 

[nate379]

I throw them in a bin and use for campfires.

 

[Mr A]

I figured out using longer pieces to cross stack on the ends, and throwing the shorts and irregulars in between, works rather well.

 

[firefighterjake]

I usually throw 'em on top or in between the stacks . . . or toss them aside for camp fires.

 

[paul bunion]

Some go on top to give the pile a bit of a domed shape and help with water run off. Others get worked into the stack. The pieces appropriate for the smoker get put on the smoke wood shelf in the shed. I agree that getting wood that was cut into short sections does lead to a large amount of odd sized pieces.

 

[schlot]

Real short ones go in with my box full of uglies

 

[scooby074]

I throw them on the top couple rows. Anywheres but the bottom where they would create stability problems.

 

[BobUrban]

Depending on how far ahead you are.. as in, how quickly you need them ready to burn - I would build my stacks in squares and fill the center with the split shorts. It all burns and it is oak?? Other opinions will vary.

 

[Got Wood]

I stack on a row of 40"x48" pallets, with the width being 40". My splits vary in length from about 10" to 20". I put 2 rows of splits on a pallet which usually leaves room in the middle. To handle the shorties I either use them to fill the gap in the middle or I go with 3 of them across if they fit in the 40" width. I have had circumstance where I had a significant amount of shorties from huge rounds cut from the bottom of oak trees. I went 3 wide and cross stacked. If you look at this picture, on the left side there is a partial cross stack at the bottom next to the end. This goes 3 shorties across and cross stacked.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

How about stacking your regular size wood up to 3' height and then going up from there with the short stuff? I'd stop at 4 1/2' for height.

 

[Hills Hoard]

i agree with all that said put them aside for outside/camp/bon fire...!!

 

[loadstarken]

I have started to accumulate a bunch of odd ball sized stuff and I really don't want it in my stacks!

I was driving around a week or so ago and I noticed a big retaining wall that had rectangle cages full of crushed rock and thought those cages would be perfect!
Now I just need to see where I can get ahold of some of them.

 

[nate379]

You don't want to know the price of those...

 

[loadstarken]

Now I'm scared to ask. . . .

 

[USMC80]

You don't want to know the price of those...

Gabions? They are pricey depending on size

 

[WarmGuy]

You don't want to know the price of those...

I'll bet you could make something that would work using chicken wire.

 

[red oak]

I think you could make a container, but I really wouldn't. Some pieces like this I work into the stack, either in between or on top, or I use two pieces to equal a longer piece. If it's really a lot of those pieces, I make a separate stack for all of them. Between that, and the campfire pile, I can find a place for all of them.

 

[Flame On]

I screwed some old 3 foot pieces of 2 x 4 onto the corners of a pallet and then wrapped some left over wire fencing from Depot around it.
Instant bin for my uglies and shorties.

 

[HDRock]

I just work shorts in the stack, uglies and chunks go in bin

 

[westkywood]

Yep. Make a bin out of pallets, hardware cloth ect....

 

[dailygrind]

I kept my eye out on Craigslist for a while and came across two 6x3x3 gabions that a landscaper had left over from a job for pretty cheap ($40 for both). I went with gabions as I have a tiny wood stove for a small cabin, and therefore always have to have short splits (unlike others who just come across odd sized bucked logs occasionally). While certainly not as cheap as a bin made out of pallets, its a nice long term fix. I slapped a scrap metal roof in it and called it a day.

If any of you have come across it, there is a great program called IFTT, that lets you set up a craigslist search, and it automatically runs it once an hour and emails you when it gets a hit. It's a nice way to keep an eye out for tools, free wood, whatever, without having to search everyday.