Would this work for a log store?

[mr_magicfingers]

I'm about to start felling and clearing some trees on the farm that we've just bought, and need a place to store and season them for the woodburner. There's going to be quite a lot of this in the years to come as we also have 7 acres of woodland in need of thinning and a stand of spruce to clearfell, so I want to set up a decent sized log store for the future. Rather than build something from scratch, I'm thinking of using a section of the open barn we have, as not much is stored in there other than the tractor and some trailers and miscellaneous farm stuff.

 

It's open on two sides so I think I'd get a decent flow of air through. I'm thinking that the back wall in this shot

 

 

which is the right wall in this shot

 

 

would make a suitable place. Plan is to put some pallets down on the dry earth floor and make dividers using fence posts and some boards across them so that there's separated sections. Then it's either stack split logs neatly into each section or just throw/pile them in, depending how ocd I'm feeling on the day

 

Being in the barn it gives me a dry space to set up a homemade oregon sawhorse and a chopping block to swing an axe when the weather's wet, there's also a saw bench for mounting on the pto of the tractor we bought with the farm though that scares me way more than my new chainsaw.

 

Main question is, will stacking along that wall give enough airflow for drying if the walls themselves are solid (corrugated steel)? Anything you'd do differently in the situation?

 

Cheers.

[Woodworks]

Gut feeling is would be OK if you make sure there is room to let air circulate all around each section. I would not stack them touching the end wall but might work with a pallet divider. My experience is that even in soggy Devon good air circulation and occasional wetting dries them better than a roof and poor circulation.

[easy-lift guy]

I agree with wood works. Reads like a plan,your the man with the same!. Looking forward to your progress.

easy-lift guy

[treequip]

If stacked against a wall the middle of the pile can get a but mouldy, you can get around it by building some drainage tube in to encourage air flow

[mr_magicfingers]

Thanks very much for the advice. I wasn't sure how well a stack would dry as it gets larger. Woodworks, your avatar shows a well packed store but I've always wondered how dry the inner logs are going to get given that there's quite a depth to that and not a huge amount of air circulation through the side boards. Do you just add extra time once the outer logs are dry?

[Woodworks]

The logs in the avatar are stacked but with 6" gaps between the rows front to back. I have but slats both sides of the uprights to aid air getting into the middle rows. The ones in the middle do take longer than the front but faster drying species like ash and sycamore will be dry in one season but oak and beech take 2 except the front row which is dry in one. I also dry logs in IBC crates with lids and these dry everything in about 6 months (weather dependent) I put this down to good air circulation. It certainly wasn't the warmth of last year

[mr_magicfingers]

Good to know, cheers. Interesting idea using IBC crates, is that just the metal exterior that you use I take it? Even with a lid I'd have thought you'd get a lot of water coming in sideways when it rains, which is why I've always been puzzled by small stacks of wood outdoors, just figured the rain would blow in sideways and soak everything again.

[Woodworks]

Here is a picture of the IBCs with their lids.

 

Your in our part of the world so if you want to come and have a look and discuss smallholdings as well you are more than welcome just PM me if this would help.

[mr_magicfingers]

Woodworks, thanks for the replies, very helpful. I'm near Great Torrington and would very much like to take you up on your offer, I'll PM you with details.

[sandspider]

Nice little tractor. Can I ask what it is?