Help to estimate firewood quantity..

[Gav73]

3 minutes ago, Andrew L said:

Very nice : looks like this lot was stacked "05/20" from chalk on log on extreme left hand bay?  I keep meaning to date mine, get distracted and then cannot remember when I got them under cover.  Chalk on log is a great idea.

A

Correct. I date each bay when it’s full 

using a markal paint stick - better than chalk as it doesn’t wash off. I had the same problem of remembering when I split and stacked, but the dating really helps. 

[Mark lanark]

1 hour ago, Gav73 said:

All of this is arb waste, The trick is to put the “unstable” and odd shaped bits at the back and use the more uniform pieces at the front to stabilise the stack. It doesn’t take long to do

Very neat! Agree about chalking  stacking date, great idea ! Cheers 

[neiln]

It's not a matter of how many stoves you have, it's how big is the house you are heating? How insulated is it? And how is your weather?

 

In suburban South London I heat a medium sized 3 bed semi that is a 1930s build and not amazingly insulated. WFH this winter I've heated the place solely with wood in two stoves, even through the snow the house was comfortable. I had an 8-10 day break and used the c/h at the end of January as I was fed up of hauling wood in, but otherwise it's been purely wood heat.  I've burnt ~9m³ since October, give our take 1/2 a cube.  I expect I'll burn another 2.5-3 before the weather finally warms up, usually my last evening burn is around May BH.

 

Mines all ARB waste too.  As said, try and use the longer uniform pieces at the ends/sides of the stack.  A lot of mine is stacked 4' wide and 4' high along my garden fence.  I crib stack (criss&cross) 2 rows at the end and intersperse acrib stack row every 8' ish.  It's not fallen over yet and been doing this for 5-6 years.  I do check it when ever I'm in the garden, especially for the first few months after stacking, and bash any bulges back in with the poll of the axe.  The occasional long length left in the stack also helps tie it together.

[neiln]

Also, Norwegian wood is a good read but Dudley cook's the ax book has more practical tips and Vincent thurkettle's wood fire handbook too possibly (I've just started on this).

Best tips I could give.... Get more wood than you think you need, soft wood CSS by Easter should be good to burn in winter but hardwood I like to dry for 2 summers. Stack off the ground on pallets.

[Stubby]

If any body posts a poem or rhyme I am going to die .  Just saying ...

[topchippyles]

7 minutes ago, Stubby said:

If any body posts a poem or rhyme I am going to die .  Just saying ...

Been watch old series of axemen and couple of old guys with a wicked tache. You could have been a movie star stubby if they did a uk version.

[Andrew L]

Roses are red

Violets are blue

My woodpile is bigger than yours

All hardwood too!

 

 

😜🤣😘

 

[Mark lanark]

Thanks for all the advice, I totally agree I’m best off having a lot more then I think il need, I stopped building the crates after the 4th and went and bought a roll of stock fencing mesh and made some cages on top of pallets. Filled one this eve. Should be a lot more airflow through these than the pallet sides!! Il put a roof over top of each stack to keep the worst of the rain off. We get really strong winds here so shouldn’t have a problem with airflow now. 

[Ontario Firewood Resource]

On 27/02/2021 at 17:02, Mark lanark said:

Thanks for the advice, new to this so still working out the best way of doing things. I have a good few surplus pallets, Do you think I’d be better building cubes out of pallets and storing the logs in them with a cover over top? Thanks, mark 

That wood looks pretty tight in there but loosely thrown in gets more air than stacked. The more humid your climate is, the more that wood will rot. You will need way more wood than that with 5 stoves and I say that coming from a colder climate than yours. Like Dan Maynard said, use that area for what you burn, not what you are seasoning. If you use pallets, reingorce well, wood is heavy. If you're standing up pallets for side and rear walls, you should put a board across the front, maybe more pallets on top to stop the walls from blowing out

[Rob_the_Sparky]

When you get more time, you can use 3" fence posts that are being thrown away to make good sized log racks, lots of supply out there.  The 6' above the soil is generally in good condition and long enough to make a nice tall log rack.  Pallet wood for the slats on the sides and back, material of your choice for the roof and costs are some wood preservative, screws nails and roofing (I have made a roof of pallet wood but think clear plastic is better).  I don't have a lot of room so need to make the stacks taller and this worked out fine