Stacking in the woods

[Bushmans]

What is the consensus on cutting and leaving the wood, in the woods, stacked up until next season. I have lots of wood at home right now but still have a lot left in the woods laying on the ground. Like a 28" Ash and a 24" Cherry. They have been down for 2 years now. I had planned on getting them home but am running out of time. With spring knocking on the door I need to devote my time to other interests but I don't want to leave these beauties on the ground for one more summer.
It's a full canopy wood lot so it would be shaded all summer and I would retrieve it next winter.
Anybody else do this? I suppose if I don't get it out of there it will sit in the shade all summer regardless. I'll just buck it and stack it right where it lies. No cover on the stacks. In fact I might stack it so it makes a nice hunting blind!:hmm3grin2orange:
Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

[oneoldbanjo]

If you need to leave it in the woods - don't buck it up or split it. If you have access to a tractor or something that you can lift the logs with - get it up off the ground and leave it in long pieces as big as you can lift. The woods is a horrible place to store wood - no sun, little air flow, and damp conditions will rot the wood quickly.

 

[Whitespider]

Agreed... stacking wood, in the woods, will result in a pile of mush relatively quickly.

 

[TonyK]

I stack in the woods all the time. Right now I probably have 3-4 cords sitting up the hill waiting for me to get enough motivation to actually go split it and haul it home. I try to take some of the slash to put under the stack but that doesn't always happen. Sure it doesn't start to dry but I figure that it beats leaving it on the ground.

 

[Bushmans]

That's my biggest problem. It's already been down for awhile and I don't want to lose it so I guess I'll just suck it up and get it home. It all has to be loaded into a trailer, towed by a quad, loaded into the truck, driven home, split and stacked.
View attachment 231480

This is the ash. I already brought the top home.

 

[chucker]

What is the consensus on cutting and leaving the wood, in the woods, stacked up until next season. I have lots of wood at home right now but still have a lot left in the woods laying on the ground. Like a 28" Ash and a 24" Cherry. They have been down for 2 years now. I had planned on getting them home but am running out of time. With spring knocking on the door I need to devote my time to other interests but I don't want to leave these beauties on the ground for one more summer.
It's a full canopy wood lot so it would be shaded all summer and I would retrieve it next winter.
Anybody else do this? I suppose if I don't get it out of there it will sit in the shade all summer regardless. I'll just buck it and stack it right where it lies. No cover on the stacks. In fact I might stack it so it makes a nice hunting blind!:hmm3grin2orange:
Thanks in advance for your replies!

you have rather answered your own question at the start... if cut an split already in the woods simpler to just bring it home and stack with time saved and no worry of having to retrieve it later....

 

[Hedgerow]

That's my biggest problem. It's already been down for awhile and I don't want to lose it so I guess I'll just suck it up and get it home. It all has to be loaded into a trailer, towed by a quad, loaded into the truck, driven home, split and stacked.
View attachment 231480

This is the ash. I already brought the top home.

Yep... That's a dandy piece of Ash... Better get it home quick...
:big_smile:

 

[Steve NW WI]

The cherry (and most all fruit woods I've dealt with) will tend to attract mold if it isn't dried well. Even split and loose piled, it will get some nasty white mold growing on the stuff under the pile. Split and stacked in the open, not a problem. Cherry is too nice of firewood to waste it, especially if you put the time and effort into cutting it first.

 

[Chris-PA]

I cut, split and stack on the edge of the woods all the time. I lay a couple of branches down to keep it off the ground, usually up against a tree for support at one end. Sometimes it's not split to final size, but just quartered to open it up. In the center of the woods it won't get enough sun or air, but on the edges it's usually fine. From the picture that ash looks to be in a clearing, but maybe it's just an illusion.

 

[howard270]

I do this all the time, as I can actually get more done while away from everyone and everything. I lay down quite a few long straight limbs about 2 to 3 inches thick to keep the wood off the ground and stack between 2 trees for support. Our soil is mostly sand and w don't get a lot of what you guys call rain, so mold or rot is not an issue.

I don't have to worry about theft due to the very close knit farming community here if an unknown vehicle drives after dark you can see the farmers watching you from their home windows and if an unknown vehicle drives by during the day, they will be followed. Used to be lots of meth heads out to steal anhydrous in our area.

 

[Dale]

A big drawback, for me anyhow, is the fact that you are handling the wood that much more. You have to stck the wood, then you have to tear that stack down to load it, then unload and stack all over again. That's a big NO THANKS for me. :msp_biggrin:

 

[Fred Wright]

The only tree I'll leave lay in the woods is sweet gum. And that's just for a few months, to give it time to lose some weight. Leave it lay a year and it's already starting to rot.

Our woodlot next door is low-lying, flat land and doesn't drain well. Water can stand out there for a couple weeks after the last rain. Leaving logs or rounds is asking for mold, mushrooms and early rot.

 

[goosedowner]

I do most of my cutting in the winter and a lot of the time I can't get a tractor into the woods due to deep snow so I walk in carrying my saw and axe. Sine I don't want to just leave the wood laying on the ground I split and stack it right there. Most of my woods are towards the top on a side hill and they get lots of air movement so i find that my wood dries pretty good. I will still try and get it out in early summer and stack it on out in the open on top of the hill to really get it dry.

 

[Bushmans]

Thanks for all your suggestions/opinions. To clarify, it would not be split. Stacked in rounds. Our weather has turned to ####e this week and it would be a muddy mess getting it outta there. I'm either gonna let it sit until next fall or shoot in once the rain quits and it dries for a spell.
Still liking the deer/turkey blind option though!:msp_w00t:

 

[Guido Salvage]

I cut it and haul it out at the same time, less time spent and I am not repeating a task. More than once I have driven back in the woods to spy a stack of wood that I forgot about that is now too rotted to burn.

 

[greendohn]

Heck, if your all but done for the season get it worked up and stacked between a couple trees with some limb wood under it. You might lose the bottom row and sure your gonna handle it again when you finally bring it home. By then your earlier labors will pay off in that you haven't left it ALL on the ground and it's already bucked plus you'll have your huntin' blind. If theft aint a problem.

 

[cantoo]

We're piling logs in the bush right now because my bil and me have way too much wood at home already. We are stacking them on softwood logs that have fallen down in the bush and a few that I cut down. Lots of dead stuff laying around to use. We both have enough wood cut and piled at home for 2 years, I might even have enough for 3 years. We have enough stacked in logs and limbs in the bush to last maybe 4 years and lots more to move yet. We haven't even started on the 15 standing maples yet, they are all 4' plus across. I'm assuming by the equipment you say you are using that you don't have a tractor to stack them but I would cut some logs into wedge shapes and use a tie down strap or a come along to pull them onto scrap logs and at least get them off the ground. If you only have a few then cut them up and get them out.

 

[CRThomas]

Ash left in the wood

Ash is like a pretty woman you leave it a lone some thing will happen to it and you loose it.