Let's Talk Stacking!!!

[CRThomas]

I added some pics to the previous post. And you are right, storing the assembled pallet is a pain. Not handling and re-handling the firewood is a joy.

Used to be by the time I tossed a split piece of wood on the fire, I felt like I recognized and remembered that piece.  A "goodbye 'ol pal" feeling.

I bag my firewood it is better that way for me the bags hold a rank tossed in so I can keep count of what I have on hand. Each bag has the same wood in it and labeled. If a customer wants a shoot cherry in her bundle or apple I wrap her ash with two sticks of fruit wood. But it's what works for you. I have bags of F/W that are two years old. I use untreated bean bags I get free from local farmers. Got to go to work.

[zopi]

The holtshausen works well, but it is a pain to stack...I took to simply driving a steel stake into the ground and stacking a circle around the pole, then just chucking wood into the hole..not as efficient as far as space goes, but then, , alot more efficient as time goes...think I will nail up some half cord pallet racks....I really do not like moving wood twice.
Thing I have done this year is, I blew seventy five bucks on an old peanut cart used to dry peanuts...modified the body to open a rear door, and just chucked it full of wood....the bottoms of the cart are perf metal, so water drains away, and air flows through the whole stack...thinking of an air plenum attached to a farmboybilt wood furnace to force hot air through a couple of these carts...oughta be able to dry four or five cords in a week or so like that....
As soon as my goonta catches up to my wanta, that is...

[shelbycharger400]

for years, ive done 12 to 18 ft long rows, 5 ft high, 7 to 8 rows deep, although i have staked as much as 10 rows to a pile ( we cleaned up a 3 acre site from a tornado and ran out of places to put it).

here i have abandoned the fence post at get go.. and stack so its kinda dome like on the sides, about 15 ft long rows, 7 to 8 rows per pile. about 6 ft high.  Uncovered,    You let it sit 2 years, its dry
I cover the pile with the cheapy blue tarp just to keep the snow off of it.
I dont waste my time with pallets ect,  the first 4 inches or so is always frozen to the ground in winter,   in the spring, it gets restacked to an outside row on another pile.

[Ron Scott]

For the innovative stackers.

http://gowood.blogspot.com/2012/12/real-firewood-stacking.html

[tcsmpsi]

Firewood stacking.   ;D



 



 

[doctorb]

Looks like the greener wood is on top of your stacks.  Is the lighter colored wood already seasoned or are you going to be pulling a cured piece of firewood from the bottom of that stack? ;)

[blackfoot griz]

I stack mine on pallets. These are 3 rows of 16's:

 

Then put it on a heavy duty dolly where I can roll 1/2 cord around the garage


 

Then wheel it in on the home-made firewood packer:

  

 [img]

I made a forklift attachment that works both on my front end loader and 3 point hitch.  In the winter, I have to take the loader and put the snowplow on.  Being able to use the 3 point makes it a snap to go grab another pallet of firewood.  My wife can easily roll 1/2 cord of firewood around the garage once it's on the dolly.

[Piston]

Nice setup Griz,
I like the palletized firewood idea and forklift attachement.  How do you support the vertical pieces from bowing out from the weight of the splits? 

[blackfoot griz]

 

 

I also built a firewood bundler.  I ran some of my small diameter logs through my processor and made up some kindling and bake oven bundles. These bundles are stacked on a mini dolly that can be moved around with a finger. If I'm out of town, it's easy for my wife to keep the home fire burning. ;D

Nice setup Griz,
I like the palletized firewood idea and forklift attachement.  How do you support the vertical pieces from bowing out from the weight of the splits? 

I tie the tops of the vertical stays off with a pc of balor twine.  Once the firewood is stacked on the pallet, I wrap the whole bundle with some lightweight mesh netting (the pictures of the pallets in the hayshed are all wrapped). I have wrapped 35 or so pallets with one roll and I think it cost $25/roll and there's still 1/3 of it left.  It holds the whole thing togeather but still allows air to easily get through. Seems to work well even hitting bumps etc when moving it around.

I was able to get a full cord on my pickup by putting 2- 4' pallets loaded up to 4'. I hauled thrm 150 miles to a friends place. Fortunately, he had a skid steer w/forks at his place. A few minutes to load, a few minutes to unload without touching a pc of wood.

[Holmes]

Blackfoot That is a nice heater. Did you buy a kit ,build it yourself, or have someone build it for you?  It looks great.

[Ivan49]

 

I also built a firewood bundler.  I ran some of my small diameter logs through my processor and made up some kindling and bake oven bundles. These bundles are stacked on a mini dolly that can be moved around with a finger. If I'm out of town, it's easy for my wife to keep the home fire burning. ;D

Nice setup Griz,
I like the palletized firewood idea and forklift attachement.  How do you support the vertical pieces from bowing out from the weight of the splits? 

I tie the tops of the vertical stays off with a pc of balor twine.  Once the firewood is stacked on the pallet, I wrap the whole bundle with some lightweight mesh netting (the pictures of the pallets in the hayshed are all wrapped). I have wrapped 35 or so pallets with one roll and I think it cost $25/roll and there's still 1/3 of it left.  It holds the whole thing togeather but still allows air to easily get through. Seems to work well even hitting bumps etc when moving it around.

I was able to get a full cord on my pickup by putting 2- 4' pallets loaded up to 4'. I hauled thrm 150 miles to a friends place. Fortunately, he had a skid steer w/forks at his place. A few minutes to load, a few minutes to unload without touching a pc of wood.

What size pallets do you use and do you know the appox weight after loaded? Thanks

[blackfoot griz]

Blackfoot That is a nice heater. Did you buy a kit ,build it yourself, or have someone build it for you?  It looks great.

It is a "Tulikivi" made of soapstone.  It comes from Finland. We had it installed when we built the house.  We love it.  Not only does it heat....it also cooks. What's weird about this thing is that the top does not get hot.  There is a live plant on the top of the unit that has been there for 5 years...

 

The above shows the main firebox heating things up.  This thing only burns around 3 hours out of 24.  Build a big fire--let it rip than shut it down.  The heat mass stays warm for a long time.

It also cooks.  build a secondary fire in the bake oven:



 

Depending on what you're cooking, you can adjust the needed temp by stoking the fire longer.  Once this bake oven is up to temp, it holds the heat for an incredible length of time.  We have cooked 14 pizzas off the radiant heat from the oven.
This was tonights dinner...baked encheladas from home made enchelada sauce, garden peppers/onions and flank steak.


 

 

I also built a firewood bundler.  I ran some of my small diameter logs through my processor and made up some kindling and bake oven bundles. These bundles are stacked on a mini dolly that can be moved around with a finger. If I'm out of town, it's easy for my wife to keep the home fire burning. ;D

Nice setup Griz,
I like the palletized firewood idea and forklift attachement.  How do you support the vertical pieces from bowing out from the weight of the splits? 

I tie the tops of the vertical stays off with a pc of balor twine.  Once the firewood is stacked on the pallet, I wrap the whole bundle with some lightweight mesh netting (the pictures of the pallets in the hayshed are all wrapped). I have wrapped 35 or so pallets with one roll and I think it cost $25/roll and there's still 1/3 of it left.  It holds the whole thing togeather but still allows air to easily get through. Seems to work well even hitting bumps etc when moving it around.

I was able to get a full cord on my pickup by putting 2- 4' pallets loaded up to 4'. I hauled thrm 150 miles to a friends place. Fortunately, he had a skid steer w/forks at his place. A few minutes to load, a few minutes to unload without touching a pc of wood.

What size pallets do you use and do you know the appox weight after loaded? Thanks

For my own use, I don't really care what size the pallet is.  I typically cut 16" firewood. If I'm selling firewood, it's pretty easy to calculate what you have.  3 rows of 16" lengths stached 48"=1/2 cord.  Lots of pallets are only 42" wide. You can still get 3 rows of 16 inchers on a 42" pallet without troubles--just stack it  higher and you're good to go. As far as the weight goes, I really don't know.  I burn Lodgepole pine whch, even green. it going to weigh less than most hardwoods.  I am guessing that a 1/2 cord pallet of dryish Lodgepole pine would weigh around 800 lbs....just a guess though

[tcsmpsi]

Looks like the greener wood is on top of your stacks.  Is the lighter colored wood already seasoned or are you going to be pulling a cured piece of firewood from the bottom of that stack? ;)

It's all cured, Doc.  That second stack is smaller trees that died during the drought, worthy yet of firewood, but not logs.  The far right top quadrant is all sasafrass, used in the 'fireplace' on the front deck.   

[johnjbc]

Trying my veriation of skids this year. stand up 3x3 on each corner of a skid. The bottom board starts halfway up the skid and overlaps the 3x3 holding it in place. The current model only has 2 boards on the end to make it easier to reach in. The roof is another skid with tin screwed to it and held on with binder twine.
I load a skid on the forks and drive it into the woods so I only have to stack the wood once.
Thinking about replacing the cement blocks with a mini pole shed made out of locust post, and sized 1 skid high, and deep, so I don't have to move the tin.


    

[beenthere]

johnjbc

I do the limb wood similar to your pallet boxes.
The split wood, I stack on a bare pallet as I find it is so much easier to remove the wood.

After two to three years of drying with rubber roofing covers, I then stage the pallets for the winter on the drive where they don't freeze down and are easy to pick up with the forks on the 3 ph.

Staged 20 pallets yesterday for the winter - if it ever comes.  ;D



 

Stored for drying two high.


 

Moving pallet to house


 

[Ivan49]

johnjbc

I do the limb wood similar to your pallet boxes.
The split wood, I stack on a bare pallet as I find it is so much easier to remove the wood.

Do you split all your wood and do you like moving it using you 3 point over the forks on your loader?
After two to three years of drying with rubber roofing covers, I then stage the pallets for the winter on the drive where they don't freeze down and are easy to pick up with the forks on the 3 ph.

Staged 20 pallets yesterday for the winter - if it ever comes.  ;D



 

Stored for drying two high.


 

Moving pallet to house


 

[drobertson]

Absolutley amazing examples of stacking firewood!  I will not post a pic due to the fact I am behind the times in every respect.  All I know is dry(not only seasoned) will burn so much better in our stove. Wet from rain or snow will dry out in my stove just takes a lil longer and not as much heat, so more wood has to be added which increases the amount used for the season.  I see nothing wrong with covering a stack with anything that prevents the elements from penetrating the wood.  And there has always been discussions around these parts about cutting firewood from timber after the sap has dropped.  Although allot of wood salvaged from storms and the like come at all times of the year, so stack it, let it dry out and burn it.

[ohsoloco]

The wood I am currently splitting I will leave unstacked until the fall.  After a nice dry spell in September I cover the stack with a tarp, and partially down the sides.  I use 20" wood so it's only stacked two wide 5-6ft high on pallets.  Wood is left another year covered up before I burn it inside.  Been working great so far.

[Piston]

I did a little splitting/stacking the other day for next winter. 

I split a couple piles of rounds that I've had laying around for a year or so, and are long overdue to be split.  I use a 3pt hitch mounted log splitter, which is not my preference, but it's what I have and is a whole lot easier than hand splitting  :D
My dad helped me the first day, and I stacked the second day.  Still have a small pile to stack but most of it is on pallets. 

Here are a couple of the piles we split.  There was one more a bit smaller than these two, that I didn't take a pic of. 
 

  

 

After splitting, I pick up the firewood with the grapple, and haul it over to the stacking area.  Sometimes I'll just drive into the pile and grab a grapple full, but I find I can get a lot more on the grapple if I stack it on there by hand, it does take longer that way though.  If I'm carrying it any distance, it's worth it to stack the grapple high and make less trips, but if it's only a short distance, I scoop some firewood up and make more trips.
 

 

I take the wood over to the pallets I'm stacking on, and stack right from the grapple to the pallets.  I WAS dumping the firewood on the ground, then picking it up to stack it, but realized I was bending over far more than I would if I just stack from the grapple, much easier on the back.  (I'm too young to have back issues....but I do) >:(

 

 
 


You can see my bucket in these pics, I leave that next to my piles and throw the really short, or really irregular splits in there, then I hook the bucket up when I'm done, and put those in a separate pile.  I either use them for a "campfire" or squeeze them in the stove when there isn't enough room for a full split.
 

  

 
I took a grapple load down to my house, to stack outside my door.  (we do the splitting and stacking at my dad's, up the street).  I had to drive down the road backwards because I couldn't see the road in front of me, with all the wood piled up.   :D
 

 

One of these YEARS I hope to be as neat and organized as some of you!  But for now, I'm just happy I'm getting a year ahead!  :D :D

[thecfarm]

Piston,Just so you don't feel bad.I did not comment about stacking because I have not stacked wood for years. My winter wood is still in the rounds. BIG rounds.But at least it's 2 feet long this year. Last winter I cut down dead trees all winter. I just started to split it the other day. I use my splitter and throw the wood into the bucket of my tractor and dump it by the furnace. No wood shed here either,but I really should have one. In the summer I'm kinda busy doing what I want with my land. When the ground is frozen than I have time to work on my wood.

[beenthere]

Piston
Where was the "SMV" sign on that load as you drove in reverse? Just sayin... ;)

Save your back some more by stacking on pallets right off the splitter. Then after that, no stacking. Just moving pallets with your forks that you should have.  ;)

[Piston]

Piston
Where was the "SMV" sign on that load as you drove in reverse? Just sayin... ;)

Oh don't worry, it was there  ;D

Actually the pallet system you mention is definitely my preference.  I'm still working on getting a good 'system' down for it.  I tried stacking directly on pallets earlier this year, for the exact reason you stated, only handling the wood once.  My problem was I stacked on pretty week pallets, and maybe I stacked too high or not careful enough?  When I went to lift the pallet, it was really wobbly, and I was worried it was going to fall over as I drove it down the road (dead end road, no traffic)

How do you guys keep your pallets of firewood stable enough so you can move them from one place to another? 


 

[beenthere]

I stack 7 'layers' on each pallet, and I split the bolts almost like sawing out boards. Parallel splits that are somewhat uniform in thickness that stack well, and criss-cross the corners. My splits are not pie-shaped.

After 7 layers, then throw on another pallet. About 1/5 cord to a pallet, or one weeks worth of firewood to heat the house.  Stack two pallets for drying 2 years.

The split "planks" are somewhat visible in this pic

[doctorb]

"Every man looks upon his wood-pile with a kind of affection......"

Henry David Thoreau

[thecfarm]

Here's my stacking  :D



 

           
and one more to show the size,note the yard stick and hat
                                               

 

This is all cut offs from logs to make a better saw log. Mostly white pine,but some hemlock is in there too.