The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat

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Impalervlad

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
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Location
Central New Jersey
Friday, on the way to dinner with the family at a great little restaurant, I spotted a Pin Oak that had just been topped and cut up and a good quantity of the wood set at the curb. So, early Saturday I took another drive by and then went to get the pickup at my son's shop. I had to unload some bumpers and stuff out of the back and then went over to get the wood. Filled the bed of the pickup and headed home. There was wood around the tree trunk, which was still standing, but it wasn't on the curb and was on the property where the tree was. There was nobody around to ask permission of so I left the wood that wasn't at the curb.
I got home and started bucking and splitting. I got about half the load processed before I ran out of room on the rack where I was stacking and it had started to rain anyway so I left the rest for later.
I use these iron racks that slide on to two by fours. I set the ends on cinder blocks to raise the wood off the ground. I have seven racks filled so far - all from curb side scrounging. I end up with a rack about sixteen inches deep, five or six feet high and just shy of eight feet long. The racks are spaced two deep.
When I got finished, I just sat there on the back deck with a glass of bourbon and admired the job I had done and considered where I was going to put the wood that still needed to be processed. That was the Thrill of Victory:msp_biggrin:
Later in the night, I heard a sound like a dump truck dropping a load but thought it was down the street where they have been working on the road. When I got up this morning and looked out back, something looked strange. Two racks - the newest stacks - had fallen over. I took a flashlight and checked only to find that one of the cinder blocks had split and forced the back stack to fall into the front stack. The Agony of Defeat :msp_sad::msp_angry:
I couldn't do anything because I had to go to work. But, if it's not raining when I get home or maybe even if it is, I guess I'll be stacking again. Think I'll go with pressure treated 4x4's under the racks instead of the cinderblocks this time. This has happened once or twice before, over a period of about 25 years, with cinderblocks but never with two complete racks of wood at the same time.
I thought I would tell this story here because people on this site would understand and it helps to get it off my mind until I can actually do something about it later - did I mention that I'm a little obsessive compulsive.
 
There is nothing more disheartening than to have a newly stacked pile collapse, you have my full sympathy.
 
I learn years ago that I don't trust blocks on the ground with the ribs running horizontal. I've had to many bust. But stacking is just a chore. Take your time and 2 Aleve you be just fine.
 
I learn years ago that I don't trust blocks on the ground with the ribs running horizontal. I've had to many bust. But stacking is just a chore. Take your time and 2 Aleve you be just fine.

That's exactly how it broke. The ribs were horizontal. I prefer solid cement blocks but I ran out so I scrounged some cinder blocks from somewhere. Like I said, I'm going to try some lengths of 4x4 pressure treated wood. I just took down a grape arbor I had that was about 15 years old and the 4x4's holding part of it up were as solid and rot free as when I put them in the ground. I was going to save them for another project to replace some of my son's fence posts that have rotted at the ground line in the last four years. Makes me wonder if the older posts were treated with better preservative than the new ones.
 
That's exactly how it broke. The ribs were horizontal. I prefer solid cement blocks but I ran out so I scrounged some cinder blocks from somewhere. Like I said, I'm going to try some lengths of 4x4 pressure treated wood. I just took down a grape arbor I had that was about 15 years old and the 4x4's holding part of it up were as solid and rot free as when I put them in the ground. I was going to save them for another project to replace some of my son's fence posts that have rotted at the ground line in the last four years. Makes me wonder if the older posts were treated with better preservative than the new ones.

I think most of what is sold as pressure treated these days is just dipped, there is no pressure driving the preservative in. Last week I cut some new PT for a project and the penetration was less than 1/16" in many places.
 
Would love to see a picture of the metal uprights. Always looking for good ideas. And ya, stacking the second time, no fun at all. If you look at a cinder block you will notice a top and bottom to them. The the middle web is flared for gripping with one hand on the top. How would you like to stack block all day? Just the thought of it makes stacking firewood a breeze.
 
The metal ends are available at Home Depot or Lowes or most fireplace shops. It's a "U" shaped affair with squarish pieces welded onto the open end. These squarish (actually 2"x4") pieces slip over a two by four. So, with two 2x4's and these end peices, you have a rack. I can't give you a clear picture because all of mine have wood on them - either stacked or collapsed on them. They used to be $19.99 for a set but I think the current price is closer to $29.99. Also, they used to be about two inch diameter tubing and now it is closer to 1 1/4". They also decided to make it easier to package by cutting the long end of the "U" in half and having you bolt them together. The first ones I got were made in the USA. The current ones are made where everything else we get is made - China. I started with these when I first got my wood stove and added more when I started to heat with wood. I had racks on the back deck and the front porch then. Now, they are all in the backyard except for one four foot long rack on the back deck. Did I mention, you can customize the length of the rack by sliding the metal ends along the two by four. That's another thing, the early American made racks fit tightly over the 2x4 so you got very little lean on the ends. The Chinese racks have a sloppy fit and need to be shimmed to fit the wood without leaning over when you satck the wood against them. So, I use them because I have them, but I probably wouldn't recommend the current ones to anybody.
If you find any that are American made please let me know - if they are made like the first ones, I would get more and scrap the Chinese variety.
 
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Good to know about those racks...I have a 3/yr old Grandson that likes to clime on my wood piles..
I'm always worried about a billet falling off on him...don't even what to think how bad it would be if an entire stack fell on him..scares me to death just thinking about it..
It's something for people to keep in mind about there wood piles...Are they children Safe??
If most kids are like my Grandson,,they think the wood pile is a jungle gym.
 
The metal ends are available at Home Depot or Lowes or most fireplace shops. It's a "U" shaped affair with squarish pieces welded onto the open end. These squarish (actually 2"x4") pieces slip over a two by four. So, with two 2x4's and these end peices, you have a rack. I can't give you a clear picture because all of mine have wood on them - either stacked or collapsed on them. They used to be $19.99 for a set but I think the current price is closer to $29.99. Also, they used to be about two inch diameter tubing and now it is closer to 1 1/4". They also decided to make it easier to package by cutting the long end of the "U" in half and having you bolt them together. The first ones I got were made in the USA. The current ones are made where everything else we get is made - China. I started with these when I first got my wood stove and added more when I started to heat with wood. I had racks on the back deck and the front porch then. Now, they are all in the backyard except for one four foot long rack on the back deck. Did I mention, you can customize the length of the rack by sliding the metal ends along the two by four. That's another thing, the early American made racks fit tightly over the 2x4 so you got very little lean on the ends. The Chinese racks have a sloppy fit and need to be shimmed to fit the wood without leaning over when you satck the wood against them. So, I use them because I have them, but I probably wouldn't recommend the current ones to anybody.
If you find any that are American made please let me know - if they are made like the first ones, I would get more and scrap the Chinese variety.

I have a set of these plastic brackets someone gave to me, they work, but I really don't trust em. Instead of a steel hoop end like yours, you use 2x4s for uprights as well:

90460_600x600.jpg


I'm currently using a set of these for my "ready rack" next to the stove. They're a little flimsy, but after adding screws in the holes in the brackets, they're pretty solid.

mL_uxH5OiSCPCtLu97t3ifg.jpg


If I were going to use a lot of these, I'd buy a stick of 2x4 3/16" wall steel tubing and commence to cutting and welding my own. 2x4s should fit with little or no trimming inside em. I use fenceposts for my stack ends outside. They might not be practical for someone in town, but they're my best choice. About $4 a piece for 5 1/2" T-posts (U posts are flimsy and I wouldn't use em for firewood), if you have to buy new. Often you can get em for half that or less at farm auctions.
 
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I too get annoyed with stacks that decide to not be stacked any longer, but the way I look at it is, the pile must not have been stacked very well to begin with so one can take the time to restack it right. I'm hoping my stack of honey locust that my son helped me stack, he was splitting and stacking while I was bucking it all, will stay standing until I get enough stacked in front of it before it falls. Since it was not his wood pile & he was only being paid in beer for helping me out, he had no need to be as particular about how the stuff got stacked:( I use standard sized hardwood pallets that I get for free from my wife's employer with metal T-posts at the ends that seems to keep things upright, unless not stacked right or the pile get backed into by a backhoe, as happened just a week ago when my builder was grading my trailer storage area behind my new pole barn:taped:
 
Well, it took about an hour and a half but all 766 pieces of wood are back in the stack.
I couldn't use the 4x4's for the base because they were buried beneath the collapsed wood and I didn't feel like moving everything multiple times. I guess my biggest issue is the squirrels that run up and down the stacks. I have two black walnuts, an English walnut and a huge pin oak in the yard so the squirrels like my place. They also have a nest in a hollow in the English walnut. Matter of fact I think it's about time for baby squirrels to be showing up. Anyway, the squirrels are constantly flipping loose splits off the top of the stack and I keep thinking one of these days they are going to start a wood avalanche, as unlikely as that is.
The plan for tonight is to finish bucking up the rest of the oak and finding a place to stack the wood after it's split. I'm going to look into those "T" posts if I end up stacking on pallets. I ran out of those U shaped stack holders.
 
It's irritating when part or all of a stack topples over. Happened twice my first year and it really ticked me off.

Seems like no matter how carefully the splits are stacked when green, they inevitably change shape and settle as they dry which causes the stack to shift. I started cross stacking, or turrets in the rows. It's helped a lot.
 
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