Woodstack so far

[WOODBUTCHER]

I've been picking away at my stash for awhile now (split between June 2008 till now). I know some of you guys are ahead by 2+years.
But the Woodbutcher has 75% of his wood stacked and ready for next year. It's a really good mix of Oak, hickory, ash, yellow birch and maple.

Woodbutcher

 

[bears12th]

butcher. How much wood does your setup hold and what are you using under the tarp that sticks out there. Your setup looks exactly like mine except it is the next step of convenience with the end posts bolted on, I still cross stack my ends to hold up my stacks. I am going to hopefully have two 32 foot long 6 feet high stacks side by side with a small gap in between, like yours and am looking for a better way to keep my tarp nice and controlled as you have it. Very nice looking stacks. I am getting excited for my 4 1/2 cords to be stacked and ready for next year.

How long and how high is your set up and what are you using under the tarps, if you don't mind me asking.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

butcher. How much wood does your setup hold and what are you using under the tarp that sticks out there. Your setup looks exactly like mine except it is the next step of convenience with the end posts bolted on, I still cross stack my ends to hold up my stacks. I am going to hopefully have two 32 foot long 6 feet high stacks side by side with a small gap in between, like yours and am looking for a better way to keep my tarp nice and controlled as you have it. Very nice looking stacks. I am getting excited for my 4 1/2 cords to be stacked and ready for next year.

How long and how high is your set up and what are you using under the tarps, if you don't mind me asking.

My rack is 20'L 4'W and I usually try to stack 6' H (just shy of 4 cords). When I moved into my house in 2002 I built it out scrap junk wood the owners left behind ( I really MacGyvered it together). I can't believe almost 7 years later it still can handle the weight of the wood. It was also built to handle 3 rows of 16" splits for my old Russo. But since getting my oslo in 2004 I cut to 20" and throw the twisted splits in between. I use 2 sheets of junk plywood under the tarp and pieces of old wood for the overhang.
It's definatly a "Sandford&Son;rack" to say the least. I'm hoping to build a new one with a roof some day, but for now it works.

WB

 

[Apprentice_GM]

Woodbutcher,
I notice quite a few splits have a bit of orange (paint?) on them. Is that some kind of marking you do to buck to the right length? Also, what is the can used for? (perhaps it is the marking paint or maybe an insect barrier?) If it is orange paint for marking, do you have like a long marked stick you use, and do you mark all logs first or as you go? Also do you cut to 20" and if there is a short length left over so be it, or do you allow slight variation eg 18" - 21" so as to have no left over short lengths in a log? Just curious, I'm not satisifed with my current productivity and all tips accepted.

 

[captainjim04]

Just finished stacking and covering tonite. This pic taken lastnight. Apple, cherry, oak, locust, black gum, red maple, more pics to come.

 

[LLigetfa]

...If it is orange paint for marking, do you have like a long marked stick you use...

I'm surprised you noticed the bit of orange on the wood but not the two measuring sticks he has leaning up against the pile.

I have an 80 inch long measuring stick with notches every 20 inches. I line up a row of 8 foot logs on 8 foot long skids and drop the stick somewhere in the middle and score marks with the nose of the bar. Depending on how short the last chunk might end up, I will often steal an inch off some of the others.

I thought of making a stretchy measuring rope from bungee cord that would evenly divide the log but with my lousy aim, I'd cut it with the saw while marking. Suppose I could use paint but unless I got one of the long handled markers, that would mean more bending over. As it is, I'm due for a new wood stick as it's suffered a few too many nicks.

Anything small enough to easily lift up onto my sawbuck (up to 6 inch), I stack as many as it will hold and buck them all at once. In that case there's no stealing to average out the length and last piece will be what it may.

When I finally lay up the wood in the shed, I set aside the shorter and odd shaped pieces, saving them for the top of the stacks. The stubby little chunks just go into a pile that gets picked over for Fall burning.

 

[Shari]

Nice looking stack there, Woodbutcher!

As far as marking: I carry a fat piece of white chalk in my pocket and have an 18" stake that I spray painted blaze orange. When the log is laying down, I just walk the length of the log with my stake and slash a chalk line every 18". Stake and chalk store inside my chainsaw box. Works for me.

Shari

 

[LLigetfa]

Works for me.

Years ago I did something like that except I used a yellow lumber crayon. Problem was I do much of my processing in Winter and the snow & ice on the wood made it hard to mark. Then there was all that bending too.

I've been thinking of putting two laser pointers on my saw that converge at a point 20 inches away from the nose of the bar.

 

[skinnykid]

I am working on my splitting and stacking a couple hours at a time. I hope to get all of next winters wood done in March and then I have a bunch more felling bucking and splitting of wood i have in different areas around town. I will probably work on it all summer at my convienence.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I simply use an axe to mark.

 

[Jamess67]

I marked my chainsaw bar from the tip back 16 inches and made a line with a paint pen. I put the mark at the end of the log and tip the saw up to make a mark in the bark( hey Im a poet!), then proceed to cut.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

...If it is orange paint for marking, do you have like a long marked stick you use...

I'm surprised you noticed the bit of orange on the wood but not the two measuring sticks he has leaning up against the pile.

I have an 80 inch long measuring stick with notches every 20 inches. I line up a row of 8 foot logs on 8 foot long skids and drop the stick somewhere in the middle and score marks with the nose of the bar. Depending on how short the last chunk might end up, I will often steal an inch off some of the others.

I thought of making a stretchy measuring rope from bungee cord that would evenly divide the log but with my lousy aim, I'd cut it with the saw while marking. Suppose I could use paint but unless I got one of the long handled markers, that would mean more bending over. As it is, I'm due for a new wood stick as it's suffered a few too many nicks.

Anything small enough to easily lift up onto my sawbuck (up to 6 inch), I stack as many as it will hold and buck them all at once. In that case there's no stealing to average out the length and last piece will be what it may.

When I finally lay up the wood in the shed, I set aside the shorter and odd shaped pieces, saving them for the top of the stacks. The stubby little chunks just go into a pile that gets picked over for Fall burning.

You guys have good eyes......Yep thats my 40" and 60" measuring sticks. Our grapple loads average 20 foot trunks. It's real easy to mark 4-5 trunks and then have at it.
Because without marking....you get tired...things end up getting cut at different lengths....and marking them takes no time at all and it's like a wood Massacre with my 5100s and my buddies MS660.

WB

 

[LLigetfa]

I marked my chainsaw bar from the tip back 16 inches and made a line with a paint pen...

When felling and bucking tree length, it's even easier with my saw. It just so happens that the measurement from the handle on the side to the nose of the bar is 20 inches so I just hold the handle to the mark and nick the wood 20 inches away with the spinning chain, move forward to the next mark and repeat.

 

[Jamess67]

I marked my chainsaw bar from the tip back 16 inches and made a line with a paint pen...

When felling and bucking tree length, it's even easier with my saw. It just so happens that the measurement from the handle on the side to the nose of the bar is 20 inches so I just hold the handle to the mark and nick the wood 20 inches away with the spinning chain, move forward to the next mark and repeat.

Pretty slick huh?

 

[Apprentice_GM]

...If it is orange paint for marking, do you have like a long marked stick you use...

I'm surprised you noticed the bit of orange on the wood but not the two measuring sticks he has leaning up against the pile.

Ha Ha!! Yeah, that was a bit of a duffer effort, eh?

Actually, I saw them, but immediately dismissed them. I have extendable long handled pruning shears with little orange plastic bits in the extendable lengths to smooth the extension / contraction, and when extended out and left against my wood pile - as I am often want to do - it looks exactly like WB's measuring sticks :lol: I saw his sticks, noted the angle, assumed they joined in the snow, and was some kind of similar tool.

Some good tips there. I am notoriously bad at estimating 20" along a log as it changes diameter. As a scrounger though I am resigned to scrappy looking wood piles, but it would be nice to get the lengths right / consistent.