to stack or not to stack?

[cnyscapes]

We are planning on some big numbers for firewood this year and I am interested in the process most of you big suppliers use to store the firewood and load it on to the trucks for delivery?
After it is split do you stack it to dry? If you do then I would assume you have to load it by hand on to the truck for delivery? (very labor intensive)
Do you just leave it in big piles to season? If so how do you measure it when loading for delivery?
My loader with a 1 yard bucket holds about a 1/2 face cord, I thought about that for loading but its not real accurate.
Im just looking for a way to decrease labor costs when handling the wood?

So what do you big suppliers do?

 

[STLfirewood]

I'm not a big supplier just a small one. Here is pic of how I stack it. I load with a skid steer and that saves a lot of time. I have to stack at the customers house. I use a dolly measured out to 4sqft the front. I give them 8 dollies for a rank of wood. This is what works the best for me.

Scott

 

[sdt7618]

I'm not a big supplier just a small one. Here is pic of how I stack it. I load with a skid steer and that saves a lot of time. I have to stack at the customers house. I use a dolly measured out to 4sqft the front. I give them 8 dollies for a rank of wood. This is what works the best for me.

Scott

Sorry of topic, but you ever have to deal with people asking why you still have some wood left in the truck?

 

[thejdman04]

Im not a huge seller, but I leave the wood piled until the time of sale, load it into a rack, throw it into the backhoe buckeet and dump it into the dump trailer.

 

[TreePointer]

The two guys I know who deliver here first determined how much their hauler holds by throwing measured cords into it. After a few times, they pretty much know how much their dump/bed holds and they throw on some extra logs just to ensure they aren't cheating customers.

 

[STLfirewood]

Sorry of topic, but you ever have to deal with people asking why you still have some wood left in the truck?

Never. Most don't see the truck and I make more then one stop usually. A normal delivery day for me is 8 ranks of wood. Usually that's 5-7 stops.

Scott

 

[cnyscapes]

So if I leave it just laying in huge piles it will season OK?

 

[willsaw4beer]

So if I leave it just laying in huge piles it will season OK?

Maybe put some pallets down, and get a huge tarp to cover it when it rains.

 

[cnyscapes]

Maybe put some pallets down, and get a huge tarp to cover it when it rains.

Im talking 500 full cords. too big to tarp but Ive heard of putting pallets in the middle or bottom.

 

[willsaw4beer]

Im talking 500 full cords. too big to tarp but Ive heard of putting pallets in the middle or bottom.

Don't know what kind of equipment you have but I always figured if I went bigtime selling firewood I'd get a rugged terrain forklift and band all my wood on pallets so whenever somebody wanted wood I'd just load the pallet on a dumptruck.

 

[cnyscapes]

Banding HMMMM.... I never thought of that. That might work. I would like to try and fit 1 face cord on a pallet.

 

[hoot gibson]

i have not sold wood , but i use alot and cut and split my own . my wood will take three years to season if i dont stack it so the air can get to all of it . but i guess different people have different thoughts on seasond wood . my son bought two cords this year , at different times , they were suposed to be seasond . they were not .i dont think just because the wood has been split for a year means its seasond , seasond wood needs to be dried , not just piled up for a year . im just thinking a wood pile wont season in a year properly . h

 

[willsaw4beer]

Banding HMMMM.... I never thought of that. That might work. I would like to try and fit 1 face cord on a pallet.

Doing it like that you could minimize handling it more than necessary and make it almost like a 'factory.' All I ask is when my idea makes you rich you send me a case of Molson's.

 

[cnyscapes]

Doing it like that you could minimize handling it more than necessary and make it almost like a 'factory.' All I ask is when my idea makes you rich you send me a case of Molson's.

DEAL... And i got a pallet business down the road, i could take all his leftovers, hes usually got a bunch

 

[Ohiowoodguy]

Huge piles of firewood don't season, the wood in the middle and bottom usually molds and rots. I suppose enough pallets (double layer?) under the pile would help, but pallets are a real ankle-breaker to walk on. I stack all mine (300-600 cords/year) to dry. I do deliver just-split dry (ash, dead elm, etc) stuff early in the fall. Type of wood, location, climate are factors that would make a big difference; what works for pine in Arizona won't work for oak in Oregon.

 

[hammerhead 5410]

Take a 4x8 sheet of wire mesh for concrete flat work reenforcement, with a 6" square mesh. Roll it and tie the ends, you now have a cylinder 8' in circumfrence and 4 feet high. Use fence staples to attach it to the pallet. Dump the wood in with your loader and call it done.

5 bucks a sheet on sale.

10 dollar deposit on the pallet container charged to the customer, to get it back.

Load it with forks and deliver it with forks, never even touch the wood, easy as it gets.

Realistically, a face cord is what...30 cubic feet of actual wood, taking into account voids when stacked.

The volume of a cylinder is pie radius squared height. Can someone here help with the math?? 2 foot radius and 4 foot height. The radius is squared.

 

[TreePointer]

Take a 4x8 sheet of wire mesh for concrete flat work reenforcement, with a 6" square mesh. Roll it and tie the ends, you now have a cylinder 8' in circumfrence and 4 feet high. Use fence staples to attach it to the pallet. Dump the wood in with your loader and call it done.

5 bucks a sheet on sale.

10 dollar deposit on the pallet container charged to the customer, to get it back.

Load it with forks and deliver it with forks, never even touch the wood, easy as it gets.

Realistically, a face cord is what...30 cubic feet of actual wood, taking into account voids when stacked.

The volume of a cylinder is pie radius squared height. Can someone here help with the math?? 4 foot radius and 4 foot height. The radius is squared.

Circumference (c) = 2 * Pi * r ...so r = c/(2 * Pi)

8' circumference has 1.273' radius

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V_cylinder = Pi * r^2 * h ...so V_cylinder = 20.37 cu. ft.

V_cord = 128 cu. ft.
V_faceCord = 1/3 * 128 = 42.67 cu. ft. (under one definition of "face cord")

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Anyway, this all assumes that a properly stacked 1/3 cord that is stacked neatly in a rectangular row will stack with the same amount of interstitial space in a cylindrical container. It won't. Maybe make an oversized cylindrical container, put multiple face cords in it (one at a time), always use the same length of wood, mark the height of the average cord on the container and then you're done.

 

[hammerhead 5410]

I got it.....pi x r squared x h. In this instance have a cylinder 4' high and radius of 2', this gives us a volume of 50.26 cubic feet. Fill that up and you should be close.

 

[pacman]

My first year I stacked my wood and it seasoned really well. The second year I place palletes down and piled it up it didnt season well at all. Just the pieces on top were doing good. It also had mold on it. This year im back to stacking again.

This time instead of stacking like on a fence row on pallets. Im going to stack on pallets still ,but 8ft out 4ft high paralle. Hard to explain on here. Im just going to cord it in rows. So I dont have to measure it up like in the piles. Plus if you sell it you know how much is there when its stacked in cords.

 

[hammerhead 5410]

I should have looked up the formula for figuring circumfrence as well!!!

Math was never a strong point of mine.

OK.....NOW I GOT IT:hmm3grin2orange:.....20.37 cu. ft. in my cylinder, not quite half a face cord. It may be hard to get a face cord on a pallet.