Ever seen this kind of stack?

[zogger]

An Amish stack, not sure even with the description how this is built. Any of ya'all seen these before?

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow#axzz3MDwznIDb

 

[papossefan]

Piles like that are fairly common in these parts, but then again I am in Amish country. In most of the ones I see however, the wood is piled in 5-6 foot lengths. They claim the wood dries out faster when piled this way.

 

[cantoo]

Lots of them around here too but they cut everything 4' long 1st. Usually hand split but some have 48" splitters.

 

[slowp]

I'd seen it somewhere and tried to copy but with 14 inch lengths, it didn't work too well and the slugs and slime still got to the bottom sticks.

 

[XSKIER]

Looks like just a different take on the holzhausen. Aren't Amish like a slang German anyhow?

 

[zogger]

Looks like just a different take on the holzhausen. Aren't Amish like a slang German anyhow?

Well, yes and no, it is a vertical styled stack, put the pieces on a holzhausen are mostly horizontal, these are mostly all vertical. I'd like to see the interior of one, or a series of pics how they build it. I understand just the lean, it is the internal stacking I am not understanding, how they make layers that remain stable. It's probably quite simple though.

 

[Axfarmer]

A young man came to my home to buy some tractor parts a few years ago and he told me he stacks his wood this way. A pole or pipe is driven into the ground in the center and the wood is piled around the center pole. When the stack is completed he marked the pole where the top wood meets the pole. When the wood drops 8-10" from the mark the wood is dry. I don't know if it works, seems there's no airflow in the center.

 

[blacklocst]

Looks interesting, but covering the top only of the pile would be impossible.

 

[chuckwood]

I love cutting firewood and making noise with the saw. I sorta like splitting. I don't like hauling and stacking. So sometimes my wood just sits on the ground until I "get around to it." That can be up to a couple years later when I find small rotten piles of it in the woods that I'd forgotten about. Past few years I've finally disciplined myself with good results using pallets for a base. I pile green wood loosely using the front end loader, last years stash has seasoned nicely, I'm burning it right now. I've had not as good results with seasoning stuff out in the weather in tight stacks and on the ground. Somehow, it seems like the bottom pieces get infected with rot and it travels on up the stack. With the pallets, air flow can come in from the bottom. But my stacks sure don't look very pretty like the Amish stacks.

 

[066blaster]

I see some old school farmers by me stack vertical like that. Various lengths but I seems like they never burn it. I'm wondering if there saving them for fence posts or something. I was taught to never set a round on end.
Unless they are stock piling and then set up the buzz saw on their old tractors to cut to size.

 

[brewmonster]

A young man came to my home to buy some tractor parts a few years ago and he told me he stacks his wood this way. A pole or pipe is driven into the ground in the center and the wood is piled around the center pole. When the stack is completed he marked the pole where the top wood meets the pole. When the wood drops 8-10" from the mark the wood is dry. I don't know if it works, seems there's no airflow in the center.

I can't see how this could happen. As wood dries it shrinks across the grain but not much at all along the length of the grain. If you cut green wood into lumber the thickness and width will shrink but not the length, right?

I'm not crazy about drying wood this way. The picture shows these stacks sitting on the ground. The end grain will draw water up from the ground by capillary action. Likewise, rain water will be drawn down into the end grain that faces upward. And how are the pieces in the middle going to dry out?

 

[Axfarmer]

I agree ,the cut ends are going to absorb moisture, from rain/snow on the top and ground moisture on the bottom. I will not be stacking this way!

 

[philoshop]

They look like pre-made campfires waiting for a match.

 

[Lignator]

still a firm believer in needing to get air under the wood and get it off the ground

 

[zogger]

still a firm believer in needing to get air under the wood and get it off the ground

Me, too! Off the ground! heck, I even stack my stuff waiting to be split off the ground now.

I was just wondering about these tipi looking stacks is all. Looks faster than a regular stack to build, but...seems to me just a generic wood heap mountain would work about as good as those Amish stacks. throw en in a heap, walk away, figure you'll lose the bottom layer.

I guess if you laid out a big enough grid of pallets or stone blocks or railroad ties or whatever, you could just toss them/conveyor them into a mountain, and still get some air underneath plus drainage.

I just like nice straight sorta pretty stacks. And do not want my actual firewood to be touching dirt or rotten wood. I was stacking on pine logs, but geez, you can't get ahead, the pine rots too fast, one year only. Now that I am stacking multiple years out, had to come up with something more permanent. A big shed is out of the question now, so better stacks outside is a compromise for me.

 

[Lignator]

oak pallets have been working really well for me. free from work and the dump takes them when they are at the end of their useful life, they grind them up.

I really want to try the round stacks with the hollow core. It looks so cool and makes sense from an air flow stand point.

 

[cantoo]

I conveyor all mine onto skids. Skids last a long time, well at least until my wife drives on them that is. Only bad thing is it gives the mice lots of space for nests.

 

[Johnskis]

A young man came to my home to buy some tractor parts a few years ago and he told me he stacks his wood this way. A pole or pipe is driven into the ground in the center and the wood is piled around the center pole. When the stack is completed he marked the pole where the top wood meets the pole. When the wood drops 8-10" from the mark the wood is dry. I don't know if it works, seems there's no airflow in the center.

What you are describing sounds like how you build a Holz Hausen a google search will bring you similar directions and i am contemplating using this method myself as i hate long stacks and a full size holz hausen is an extremely efficient way to store wood hold upwards of 2 to 3 cords of wood.

 

[chuckwood]

I conveyor all mine onto skids. Skids last a long time, well at least until my wife drives on them that is. Only bad thing is it gives the mice lots of space for nests.

My piles look just like yours, but limited to how high my front end loader can get 'em up there. The pallets provide air flow coming up from underneath. I soak my pallets in old motor oil, which seems to add a couple years to their service life. I've tried piles before without pallets, and it seems that it's not just the very bottom layer that rots, the rot seems to spread quickly on up the stack, particularly with maple and hackberry. I'm ok with the mice, we got foxes here that need something to eat.

 

[Axfarmer]

What you are describing sounds like how you build a Holz Hausen a google search will bring you similar directions and i am contemplating using this method myself as i hate long stacks and a full size holz hausen is an extremely efficient way to store wood hold upwards of 2 to 3 cords of wood.

John, I have built a Holz Hausen, the only vertical stacking is in the center. This is to allow airflow,so they say. Mine was built in November 2013 with fresh cut green wood. The outer wood has seasoned well. I have not dug into it too deeply to check the inside yet. There is no pole in the center.