which way to stack?

[iceman]

In the summer the sun is mostly to my south... I do have some tree cover .. do I stack my rows left to right or north to south.
I do know if I was doing 1 row go left to right... But if I do 6 rows will it cause the rows to shadow each other?
I will only be able to get about 1.5 feet between each row...????

Clueless and trying to maximize sunshine

 

[Shari]

I don't go by the sun direction - if that helps any. I go by prevailing wind direction.

Winds here prevail out of the west. My stacks are lined up N/S so the wind can blow through them.

As far as not 'getting sun', my stacks still get the advantage of ambient summer heat so I don't worry about sun rays.

Yeah, I was confused/concerned initially but then when I figure out we can get wind 24 hrs. per day during the summer but we only have summer sun around 12 hours a day I chose wind direction as my preference.

That's my story & I sticking to it!

A friend of mine who is also a die-hard wood burner lives around 10 miles south of me but about 40 miles west. His 'prevailing' wind is from the south - therefore he stacks E/W.

You have to determine are you going for 12 hrs. daily sunlight or a possible 24 hrs. daily wind to season your wood.

 

[nate379]

I just stack the wood wherever there is room. it's going to dry just fine however which way.... Lots of better chit to worry about!

 

[bogydave]

trying to maximize sunshine

To "maximize sunshine. Remove any shade trees (good for more firewood)
Single rows, off the ground, 5' apart, 4' high, N/S so each side gets sun daily.
If you can't make that happen, do like Shari does.
Space between rows best you can, where a breeze or wind will help.

Most of use don't have the area to do it perfect, I started seasoning for 2 years & have better/drier wood.
I've thought about a giant spinning "lazy susan" turntable, but figured seasoning it for 2 years was more do-able.

We each have to use the conditions & area we have.
One year on pallets & space between rows, some sun some wind some rain & snow,
best I can do, then to the wood shed for a year.

 

[Jack Straw]

I started stacking my wood east to west for convenience. It got plenty of sun on one side and very little wind. It dried out unevenly, tipped toward the sun, and fell over. I now stack north/south. It gets plenty of wind and sun and dries more evenly.

 

[firefighterjake]

I just stack the wood wherever there is room. it's going to dry just fine however which way.... Lots of better chit to worry about!

+1 . . . I stack 'em so I can get my wheelbarrow in between 'em. No consulting with the compass, GPS receiver, weather reports, etc. . . . and things seem to dry out fine.

 

[mecreature]

rows run east to west facing south. about 3 ft apart. April the sun can hit all stacks if spaced 3 ft apart.
the wind blows out of the west and runs down each row. We have a good stiff wind all the time. I keep it off the ground pretty high too

 

[smokinj]

I have both just the way it work out. The Oak is running east west and everything else is north south.

 

[JrCRXHF]

Stack the only place i can without that much room between them but this is all you can do when you have a city lot so i put a dark tarp on just the top and hope the sun heats it up some and cause air flow that way.

 

[iod0816]

I stack them covered on rainy days, open on sunny (unless summer) on a 4x6 pallet and stack to 5.5 feet to 6 feet high... city lot, don't have much room. Splits are facing all over the place but it's the sunniest side of the yard with an ability to walk between all the pallets... and for raking!

 

[Flatbedford]

I stack wherever I have room on my 1/4 acre. I go three rows deep and 4'-5' on pallets uncovered. Ash and Cherry has dried in one year this way. My Red Oak will get three summers. I don't even know what the prevailing wind is at my house. It seems to blow in all directions.

 

[PapaDave]

rows run east to west facing south. about 3 ft apart. April the sun can hit all stacks if spaced 3 ft apart.
the wind blows out of the west and runs down each row. We have a good stiff wind all the time. I keep it off the ground pretty high too

Same, except the stacks (2 of 'em) are closer to 5' apart. The bottom few inches of the north stack doesn't get sun in the middle of winter.
Wind is mostly from the west, but this is a circularly cleared gas well field and the wind can come (and does) from anywhere.
Once I got this system setup, two years later, the oak is very nicely dried. Been doing it since the summer of '08.

 

[Blue Vomit]

I just stack the wood wherever there is room. it's going to dry just fine however which way.... Lots of better chit to worry about!

+1 . . . I stack 'em so I can get my wheelbarrow in between 'em. No consulting with the compass, GPS receiver, weather reports, etc. . . . and things seem to dry out fine.

+2. I used to think about stuff like that, then I would get a headache, then I would drink to get rid of the headache, then I would be hung over, then I just stopped worrying about which way to stack my wood. If I keep going on this way I'm just going to throw my wood in one big pile. :blank:

 

[fossil]

...Clueless and trying to maximize sunshine

Move to somewhere on or very near the Equator. %-P

 

[Wood Duck]

Even if you know which direction the wind is going to blow, how would you choose which alignment for the stacks - perpendiculr to wind direction? parallel to the wind direction? Diagonal? I stack in round stack because I couldn't decide.

 

[iceman]

My problem is simple..... I can't stack wood all over my yard not with neighbors...
I burn mostly red oak so to get 2 yrs ahead is like having 8+ cord all the time...
But its stacked tight to fit... Which means it needs more than 2 yrs ... I would like to find a way to burn in a year
I will split smaller and try to stack differently so my wood will season better/faster ...
I have all my wood in a corner then have to move this years wood up closer to the house ... To much work... To have it sizzle lol
So if there is a way to season faster I have to "remodel" LOL

 

[Backwoods Savage]

In the summer the sun is mostly to my south... I do have some tree cover .. do I stack my rows left to right or north to south.
I do know if I was doing 1 row go left to right... But if I do 6 rows will it cause the rows to shadow each other?
I will only be able to get about 1.5 feet between each row...????

Clueless and trying to maximize sunshine

Simple. For drying wood, wind is much more important than sunshine. Sun is good for sure but wind will dry the wood. We get lots of SW wind so stack mostly in a SE to NW or a S to N stack.

 

[cptoneleg]

Wow I draw the line here, im not going that far, I stack down a fence line, between trees down 0ne side of the driveway, between fence post at top, from down hill to up hill, so anyway the wind blows it's gonna hit my wood somewhere.

 

[nate379]

Can see one of the stacks in the background. It's 3 deep, around 30 ft long, 5ft tall. I have 3 of them light that, the other 2 are to the left. It's where I have room and not in the way... no sense in scattering stacks all over my yard.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/388676_320467097982601_100000579410319_1177007_1389850797_n.jpg

 

[bogydave]

Wow I draw the line here, im not going that far, I stack down a fence line, between trees down 0ne side of the driveway, between fence post at top, from down hill to up hill, so anyway the wind blows it's gonna hit my wood somewhere.

+1 Stack where it best fits your property.
I stack down property line, 2 rows on pallets with some space between,one side gets the N wind, the other side gets the sun.

 

[firefighterjake]

Holy crap Nate . . . your dog looks like Little Orphan Annie's dog with those eyes.

 

[ColdNH]

I have a 3.6 acre lot, but had really only one good spot to stack my wood that was a. close to my stove, b. got alot of sun and wind and c. looked good in the yard. i have about 3.5 cord stacked here, mostly 2 rows deep, in some spots 3 rows deep.

 

[iod0816]

My problem is simple..... I can't stack wood all over my yard not with neighbors...
I burn mostly red oak so to get 2 yrs ahead is like having 8+ cord all the time...
But its stacked tight to fit... Which means it needs more than 2 yrs ... I would like to find a way to burn in a year
I will split smaller and try to stack differently so my wood will season better/faster ...
I have all my wood in a corner then have to move this years wood up closer to the house ... To much work... To have it sizzle lol
So if there is a way to season faster I have to "remodel" LOL

Live in the same town you do so we prolly have the same size lot... I've got 17 pallets of wood neatly stacked 4x6x6 or 5 plus about 3 or 4 in rounds neatly stacked to about 5 by 10 feet high by 10 or so. It's roughly 1/3 of my yard. The wife doesn't mind it and the neighbors don't mind and would do it themselves cept they don't have the want. During the Oct snow storm and week of no power I was feeding them wood. Got a lot of beer from it hahaha. They don't mind and I'm sure its a different situation from you but it can be done nice and neat. Most wood I'm burning his year I had cut split and stacked this time last year. My key is not burning oak. Don't have the space, time or patience. I have a cord aka one pallet of red oak and that's it. I stick with sugar maple, both white and black birch, red maple and lots of hickory. Fast drying wood is key I got about 2 cord of locust too so I really pick and choose my wood.


Oh and I don't worry bout sun. It's he space between that matters. Wind will get in on its own.

 

[iceman]

My problem is simple..... I can't stack wood all over my yard not with neighbors...
I burn mostly red oak so to get 2 yrs ahead is like having 8+ cord all the time...
But its stacked tight to fit... Which means it needs more than 2 yrs ... I would like to find a way to burn in a year
I will split smaller and try to stack differently so my wood will season better/faster ...
I have all my wood in a corner then have to move this years wood up closer to the house ... To much work... To have it sizzle lol
So if there is a way to season faster I have to "remodel" LOL

Live in the same town you do so we prolly have the same size lot... I've got 17 pallets of wood neatly stacked 4x6x6 or 5 plus about 3 or 4 in rounds neatly stacked to about 5 by 10 feet high by 10 or so. It's roughly 1/3 of my yard. The wife doesn't mind it and the neighbors don't mind and would do it themselves cept they don't have the want. During the Oct snow storm and week of no power I was feeding them wood. Got a lot of beer from it hahaha. They don't mind and I'm sure its a different situation from you but it can be done nice and neat. Most wood I'm burning his year I had cut split and stacked this time last year. My key is not burning oak. Don't have the space, time or patience. I have a cord aka one pallet of red oak and that's it. I stick with sugar maple, both white and black birch, red maple and lots of hickory. Fast drying wood is key I got about 2 cord of locust too so I really pick and choose my wood.


Oh and I don't worry bout sun. It's he space between that matters. Wind will get in on its own.

Once I am done its neat lol but the processing period isn't pretty... I usually burn 3.5-4-5 cord depending... But I do have a lot of oak .. if I can ever get rid of it I will start buying the barkless wood from rockys .. I believe it will dry faster, and much less mess and bugs!