Honey Locust logs waiting to be converted to next winters' fire wood
No matter how your fire wood stacks up, it must be dry when cold weather swoops down from the north. Whether you are a newbie or grizzled veteran of wood processing wars, your wood must still be split, stacked and stored so that it will be dry enough for next winters' heating. It is in the fall, winter and spring that wood must be processed for the next cold season. This article outlines several splitting, stacking and storage methods and also clearly defines common wood quantities/volumes. Last winter we saved about $1500 in heating costs by heating with wood. Economics and good exercise are just two of many good reasons to heat with wood - being the best heat available is the chief one.
Instructions
1. You can purchase fire wood or split your own. Tree felling techniques and chain saw use is not discussed here. Fire wood can be hand split or by using a hydraulic or other type of mechanical splitter. When splitting by hand - that is with a splitting maul ( a heavy headed ax in effect) - it is some times necessary to first break down large diameter pieces with steel wedges and a sledge hammer. After busting these in halves and then quarters, the splitting maul can be used. Purchasing fire wood is another option over spltting your own, but there are cautions to observe. Refer to tips and warnings.
2. Splitting wood by hand can be made much easier by using an old tire to contain the pieces being split. Get a large "cookie" of wood that is 30 or more inches in diameter and about 2ft in length. Place an old tire on top of the wood base and then set a length of wood that needs to be split inside the tire. As you split it into pieces the tire will contain the wood and keep you from having to chase it "all over creation". The wood base will keep you from having to bend over as you split and handle wood. Honey Locust, like that in the photo, is also relatively easy to split, splits clean and has a high btu rating for heat.
3. A hydraulic wood splitter is the most common mechanical method of splitting fire wood. These units can cost from a few hundred dollars up to several thousand. They come in wheeled units that can be towed like a trailer or semi portable models. The net has many major manufacturers sites' with photos and pricing. The one in this photo is a home made tractor mounted model. A splitter will remove 90 percent of the hard work from wood splitting. If you're in it for the excercise then by all means do it by hand.
4. Splitting wood ranges from very difficult to relatively easy, depending on the wood species. This White Ash splits straight and without many interconnecting fibers trying to keep the pieces together. The splitting effort required is not nearly so much as for Hickory which is one of the hardest woods to split. Red Oak is easier to split than White Oak and some of the other Oak species.
5. Shed or other under roof storage. Stacking your fire wood under a roof or designated wood shed will speed up the drying process by protecting it from the rain. Though it be under a roof it is still necessary to get the wood above the ground by stacking it on old pallets or wood runners of some type. If you have a large porch or equipment shed or shop the wood can be placed there. Openings in an enclosed structure for some air flow will help carry away moisture on warm days. A wood shed is best left open on the sides.
6. Out of doors storage, but not under a roof. Fire wood can be stacked in a single width with or without a covering or heaped and piled up without benefit of roof or cover. But a covering over the top is better. It is not necessary to cover the sides of the stack. The covering can be sheets of barn tin, folded tarps or pieces of scrap lumber. Covers must be weighed or tied down to keep the wind from blowing them away. Stack the wood against posts that have been set in the ground. Using steel fence posts drive them into the earth with a post driver or sledge hammer. If you use wood posts then just use a post hole digger to make holes. Place two 2 x 4 runners under the wood to keep it off the ground. This keeps insect, mold and rot damage to a minimum.
Wood stacked 4 feet high between posts set 8ft apart makes a face cord or "rick". If you want to place wood in a longer stack then set the posts at some multiple of 8 feet. This will assist in estimating the stack quantity. If you don't want to set posts then the ends only of the stack can be crisscrossed log cabin style to add rigidity to the stack. Unless you wood stack is extremely well assembled it will need some lateral support to keep high winds from blowing part or all of it over. Use lengths of 2 x 4s or cut saplings and wedge one end against the top of the pile and the other end into the ground. Place these about 4ft. spacings and on each side of the stack. This is much easier than restacking all of that blown over wood.
7. Orientation of your wood stack. By orienting your wood stacks east and west - as shown in the attached sketch - the sun can shine on your fibrous assets from dawn until dark. This is of course only if you have not stacked your wood in a shady area. Try and locate your wood stacks in the open where the sun can hit it and air can flow around and through it.
8. Piled wood. Fire wood that is heaped or piled up without benefit of a roof or cover, such as the one in the photo, dry more slowly and ground contact will cause mold and rot at an accelerated rate over that stacked clear of the ground. If you are going to pile up the wood then place it on a tarp that will separate it from the earth and place the pile on sloping ground so water will run off. This will reduce damage by insect pests.
9. Using the German "Holzhaufen" as a storage method. This method of storing wood is pretty labor intensive but is great if you have the time and energy. It consists of setting a pole into the ground and stacking the wood around it in a prescribed way. The holzhaufen (wood pile or wood house depending on whose definition you believe) is described and referenced links at the end of this article. These will direct you to videos and text descriptions of this old world method of fire wood storage. The chief disadvantage is that a lot of the effort to make one of these is that it must be done from a ladder. This extra effort is probably why more of them are not seen.
10. What is a cord of wood? A cord of wood is a rectangular solid that has dimensions of 4ft. wide x 4ft. high x 8 ft. in length. This makes a volume of 128 cubic feet. A green cord or wood may be estimated to weigh about 5000 lbs, regardless of species.
11. What is a "face cord" of wood? A face cord or rick of wood is a stack of wood that is 4ft. high x 8ft. long with the wood pieces being anywhere from 12in. to 24in. in length. A wood length of 16 inches in the most common. You can see that a face cord/rick of wood is one third of a cord.
12. Separation of stored woods by type. It may be to your advantage to separate wood by species when making your stacks. Ash - Green or White species - dries quickly and in fact can furnish very good heat right after being felled and split. The old rhyme "Ash wet or Ash dry a king can dry his slippers by" is a good and true one. Red Oak should not be left in contact with the ground for long but White Oak is very rot resistant. The old adage "Red Oak, don't lay it down, White Oak you can put it in the ground" is true to the characteristics of the wood. Hickory, which makes a very hot fire, may be stacked on its' own. By keeping wood species separated you can choose the wood for your fire. Ash makes a good fire but will burn up much faster than Hickory or one of the Oaks.
13. Dry wood is necessary to have a good hot fire, Wood that is dry, or is well on the way to being dry will exhibit splits and cracks in the ends. These cracks indicate that moisture is evaporating.
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