A cord of firewood,

[maulhead]

1 cord is 4x4x8 = 128 cubic feet

I have been getting these over sized and oddball sized pallets from a local tractor & equipment dealer for free. I have not wanted to take the time to take them apart and make them so they are exact 4x4x8 inside dimensions. So I have been assembling them pretty much as I get them. by screwing some ends to the bottoms. A few I have had to mod a little bit though, but not much. I am trying to make each one hold as close to 1 full cord as I can.

I have made some nice firewood racks out of them, for nothing more then a little of my time and little bit of money for screws or nails to put them together. The INSIDE dimensions of this one pictured is 7' 4" long 6' tall and 3' wide, so if I am doing my math right that would be 133.2 cubic feet of wood once full to the top of the rack, 5.2 cubic feet more then 1 cord of wood.

View attachment 313296

 

[CTYank]

1 cord is 4x4x8 = 128 cubic feet

I have been getting these over sized and oddball sized pallets from a local tractor & equipment dealer for free. I have not wanted to take the time to take them apart and make them so they are exact 4x4x8 inside dimensions. So I have been assembling them pretty much as I get them. by screwing some ends to the bottoms. A few I have had to mod a little bit though, but not much. I am trying to make each one hold as close to 1 full cord as I can.

I have made some nice firewood racks out of them, for nothing more then a little of my time and little bit of money for screws or nails to put them together. The INSIDE dimensions of this one pictured is 7' 4" long 6' tall and 3' wide, so if I am doing my math right that would be 133.2 cubic feet of wood once full to the top of the rack, 5.2 cubic feet more then 1 cord of wood.

View attachment 313296

There's nothing magic about the 4' or 8' dimensions, at all. However you're going to stack the sticks lengthwise, that dimension should be close (or a tad longer) to an integer multiple of the length you're bucking the wood to. (You know, 1X, 2X, 3X ... .)

Meaning: if you're bucking to 16", the width dimension would best be a bit longer than 16" or 32" or 48". (Multiple rows makes AIR-drying problematic.) Then use whatever's practical for length and height to get a desired volume.

The only reason I could see to target a volume of 128 ft^3 would be for sales, either to make it easy for buyer to see purchase to be delivered, or to load her own. Mind you, if you fill a bin with a stacked cord of freshly cut & split wood, you'll lose ~10% to shrinkage on air-drying.

Given that, how about 1.1 cord bin? Then you'd have a cord later. Couple extra sticks can't hurt, either.

How big is a stack (of compactly placed wood, of course)? Easy, multiply average width x average length x average height, in SAME units of measurement, to get volume. Divide by volume of cord, which would be 128 ft^3 or 128 x 1728 in^3 or 128/27 yd^3. E.g. 4.74 yd^3 would be one cord. Couple seconds with calculator.

Just make sure your forklift can't split the dimension lumber.

 

[maulhead]

understood there is nothing magical about numbers,, number are numbers, I will make the bins 1.1 cord (now) so I have a true honest 1 CORD (dry) later.

I am more or less trying to figure out how many cords of wood I will burn over the winter and I am trying (without putting to much time into them) to get each rack to hold ONE cord of wood +/- a cubic, here and there, so at the end of the season. I can say yeah I burnt ABOUT 6 cords this year, or well I burnt JUST over 8 cords this year,,, etc,, I dont sell my wood.

Even though you cant see it in the picture there is about 2-3" of gap between the two stacks on the rack to try and help and NOT hinder air flow. It has been in the high 90's here the last few months with several weeks (off and on) of triple digits, and a southwest breeze 15-20 MPH most days. So I am not real worried about them drying (by the time I need to burn them they will be under 25% MC or even less) I live in a pretty dry climate with little to no rain. We get a average of 13" here every year, and the last few have been less then 8"-9" of rain. Firewood (elm) dries here pretty fast especially when cut when it is already dead.

I will be careful with the forklift not to split the dimensional lumber. I only have to go a few yards from the cut, split, stack area to the place where I park the racks, before they get carried into the house to burn.

 

[CTYank]

Sounds like you've got things well under control there.

One little thing I'd suggest is to fit some small tarps over each rack to keep the snow off. Keeping the sides open to airflow.

You'll probably notice over the first few years heating with wood that you burn progressively less per year. Seems that's just the way it works out for most. Stay warm.

 

[Timster2]

After you fill your pallets and move them to your storage area make sure to put the pallets up on something. If they are left in contact with the ground they will freeze to the ground and become stuck or break when you try to lift them. Happened to me the first year I started stacking my wood on pallets

 

[zogger]

Those are nice racks!

I started putting my pallets on top of old rail road ties, I think it makes a big difference on getting air up and through the stacks. Can't prove it, but just checking status of drying wood it appears to be working.

 

[Warfarin]

Sounds like you've got things well under control there.

One little thing I'd suggest is to fit some small tarps over each rack to keep the snow off. Keeping the sides open to airflow.

You'll probably notice over the first few years heating with wood that you burn progressively less per year. Seems that's just the way it works out for most. Stay warm.

How do you burn less each year?

 

[Rattler05.5]

Whereabouts in CO are you at? Just curious. If you are not comfortable sharing, no biggie.

Are you splitting all that wood by hand? What are you burning it in?

 

[maulhead]

thanks for the tips and ideas. I tired to cover the tops of the wood last year and the year before with some canvas tarps from a army surplus store but the canvas still let the snow/water through after sitting on it. so the tops still got wet. I have some old corrugated barn tin here I dont have any real use for I might try to use this year.

Problem though is most the storms we get here come sideways, not down from the sky, we might get 4-5" of snow but it usually comes with a north wind (so it comes sideways not down) of about 50-60 mph. Last year the wood stacks sides got covered and not the tops. Last year I had most of the wood and racks on the east side of the garage, with racks going east to west with the exposed or open side north, the sides of the stacks got nailed most the time we got snow, lots of broom work ;(( This year the racks & stacks are going north, south on the east side of the garage. I also have some racks & stacks on the south side of the garage, so I should be in a lot better shape this year keeping the snow off of them.

Rattler05.5, I live in the extreme northeast corner of Colorado, on the high plains a few miles from the Nebraska border. Land of the high winds land of the sideways snow storms ) I split everything by hand (no splitter) 99% of the firewood I have is Elm, I have a small amount of spruce, and little bit of cedar. I would LOVE to have some of that beetle kill pine from the mountains to mix in with my hard splitting Elm. We go camping in the mountains a few times in the summer and I gather up a bunch of big rounds, that pine with a axe in hand (not a Maul) is like a hot knife through butter. It is like a dream to me!! My stove is a older late 70's early 80's model earth stove. It is like this one in the pic. I am going to try and nurse it by the next year or two, it still does the job but could be better. Eats a lot of wood.

View attachment 313548

 

[CTYank]

Sounds like you've got things well under control there.

One little thing I'd suggest is to fit some small tarps over each rack to keep the snow off. Keeping the sides open to airflow.



How do you burn less each year?

Seems to be normal human behavior while deciphering stove behavior.

While you're experimentally learning how many sticks of which wood, and how much air to feed the stove in a given situation, it can take a while to fine-tune your guesstimations. In the meanwhile, you might be opening windows now and then in Jan. Better than curling paint.

Right now, thanks to Irene, Sandy et al. i've another reason to ramp up the burn rate a bit. Largest inventory ever of wood here. With a small percent of it, I want to watch some of the borers in it pop like popcorn. Gotta have some fun for all that work! :msp_wink: