woodhounder
ArboristSite Operative
I don't think there is a better way to season wood than the hot summer sun beating down on it. It seems to me the quickest way to season wood.
been discussed many times here - Im no ol pro, but I would think it'd be relative.....For example
ex1 - 2 or 3 years ago we had a dang drought almost in the summer - no wood covering would've been needed then.
ex2 - This year - it's been rain every damned day almost plus 50-60 mph winds - covering would be highly desired I'd think.
So imagine if someone reported their "findings" based on year ex1 only or if their geopgraphic location mimics this weather pattern. Imagine the same thing on ex2.
IMO it's very relative to your amount of rain and your amount of wind/ sun exposure. Again, my opinoin only, not fact.
Full disclosure my pallets are lined N to S, uncovered, but with our monsoons here lately, I'll be getting metal to cover them this week rather than waiting until the fall rains come.
Fabulous post. My suspicions are confirmed. Another point: wasps love to build nests under tarps.
I use cement blocks or the biggest rocks I can lift to hold the steel down. Now and again we'll get a 50-60 mph wind and it'll take flight....but then again so would about any kind of covering.
Take a trip up through NH and Maine, look behind the old farms and weather-worn houses...the true New England Yankee either puts his wood in a barn/shed or he covers it with steel roofing.
You can always tell when a person is "from away", they have blue tarps over the wood.
Were not very anal around here. we cut our white ash in the summer and burn it the same winter.
The only way it sits for 2 years around here is if we get an over abundance of wood then we stack it anywhere we can to keep the thief’s from steeling it, if that calls for 3 times or more then fine 3 times or more it is.
Depending on the year some times were are far too busy to even cut wood in the spring or summer so we cut it in the fall and winter shooting for the tops of dead standing elm and white ash, when that happens we don’t even stack it we just pile it up and burn it as fast as we get it….
2 years really seems kind of anal to me unless you have a lot of wood and cant get to it.
That split pile of wood you see on top will sit there until I get time but this year it will grow to about 10 or 15 cords of ash and some silver birch Im clearing 7 or 8 lots to plant some nice blues....
no pun,,,,, my wood goes from the split pile to a stack just to save space when the kids are helping it goes from the chopping block to a row stack and thats where it sits until it finds it way into the fire, be it covered or not depends on the space I have at the time..
But if all I have is green elm it gets stacked and covered on top and when the rains come I cover the sides and uncover for the sun. It all depends on the need but waiting analy for 2 years seems to be over kill just a wewe bit.
SNIP
Who the H has the time to do more than get the firewood a year ahead. We harvest firewood and other all winter ONLY.
I don't think I'm the only one. I agree that cutting in the summer blows, but I haul when I can and pile rounds, then split and stack a little each morning while it's cool until the rounds are gone. Next thing you know, you're a couple of years ahead. In my climate, oak and locust simply burns better the second winter.
Jack
Now thats what I want! What did you use for the roof? I want the same thing and think the best roof would be corrogated clear pvc panels, allows the light in while keeping the wood dry.
Tin Metal roof. Wind is important. Sun not so much really. My shed is built with 6x6 , metal roof and chain link fence. It works.
Tin Metal roof. Wind is important. Sun not so much really. My shed is built with 6x6 , metal roof and chain link fence. It works.
yea, you don't want to pay taxes on a woodshed
yea, you don't want to pay taxes on a woodshed
If I wanted your opinion, I'd have asked.
I started out with tarps but ended up with white mildew on a lot of my wood, along with a lot of undesireables like bugs, squirrels and an oppossum. I found some steel panels on CL and they are perfect when tied down on top, as Oldtimer stated. I stack my wood on pallets placed end to end and then run a rope from one pallet up the end of the pile, over the steel roofing, down the other end, through the pallet and back up and over all the way back to the original pallet. Haven't had any blow off yet, though we don't get many gales here. I also had two piles in the full sun and two piles in complete shade. I watched them closely watching for checking on the ends and lifting to feel weight loss, not exactly scientific but it convinced me. They both seasoned at the same rate so I stack all of mine in the shade now so I dont have to trim grass or weeds around them. Stacks in the shade are less conspicuous as well. My two cents.
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