Stacking between trees - safety questions

[Moddoo]

I have a row of pine trees in tha back yard that I will be stacking wood between.
I would like to stack it 5+ feet to create a bit of a privacy fence at the same time.

The neighbors have a couple small kids, and I want to make sure the stacks stay safe.

2 of the gaps are 15 - 20 feet.

Any tricks to making sure they won't fall over?

 

[clearance]

Make the stacks wide, like a pyramid. So then if they climb up and cause pieces to fall they won't be hurt very much, nothing can fall very far. Takes some wood, way over a couple of cords to make 20 feet like this.

 

[WRW]

I've had bad luck stacking between trees. The swaying in the wind action would knock the pile over every time. This was stacking between hardwoods...I can only imagine pines as being worse about that.

 

[Basso]

WRW is absolutely correct about having bad luck with stacking wood between trees. I had the same trouble with the stacks falling over because the trees move too much. I wouldn't waste my time ever doing that again. Just thought I would respond and maybe save you a lot of wasted work.

Basso

 

[DWittenbreder]

stacking

yeah, I agree....After wood starts to dry out it shrinks, coupled with the trees swaying some will fall. But if you try the pyramid thing it should work just keep the wood away from the trees at the 3ft. mark.

 

[WRW]

yeah, I agree....After wood starts to dry out it shrinks, coupled with the trees swaying some will fall. But if you try the pyramid thing it should work just keep the wood away from the trees at the 3ft. mark.

Hmmm. What's the chance of leaving the lower rows at twice or three times the final length of your firewood? They would dry slower than the upper rows, but you don't take wood off the bottom of the pile anyway. It would leave some cutting to do as you reached the lower levels. Just a thought.

 

[kevinj]

I would not stack between trees either.
Especially if kids may be playing nearby.
Get yourself a couple pallets, or any thing to keep the wood off the ground.
Decide the distance, Then pound some metal or iron fence posts on the outside of each end. start stacking between those stakes.
When you get about 36" up. Take 2 pcs.aprox. 60" of electrical wire.
and tie one end of each wire around a 3" pc. log. So now you have 2 wires with a log attached at each end. Place one log near the center of the stack.
Tie the end of that wire to the post. Do the same on the other side. When you continue to stak more wood, make sure these two logs are tight.
This will help prevent fallover.
Or just cover everything. And post a sign " STAY AWAY"

Hope you get the idea...

 

[turnkey4099]

Years ago (over 20) I set RR ties about 8-12 ft apart (depended on what I had for cross bar) with a timber between. Use scrap 2x4 leaned against that crossbar to hold up the ends of my ricks. Ricks are 12' long x about 7' high (as high as I can reach comfortably.

I made a mistake by setting the 2x4 vertically - as the stacks settled, they pushed the ties out of plumb. Since then I set them at a goodly angle in at the top toward the pile.

Harry K

 

[Moddoo]

Thanks for the replies everyone.
I stacked most of it before I read any of them.
I tried to stack carefully.
I layed down some boards on the ground for a foundation, and stacked the pieces tightly.
The trees are about 16" diameter, and we had 20 - 30 mph winds last night.
Everything is fine so far. The trees were moving very little at the top of my stacks.
However, I believe you guys when you say you have had problems, I am a little worried about the larger gap. It looks to be about 15 feet. (I only had enough wood to fill one of the large gaps) 3 smaller gaps are only about 8 feet each. They seem pretty safe.

It looks like about 1.5 cords so far. It would not be too much work to restack it. I was thinking of adding some diagonal braces for the larger stacks, in the center.
The thing is, I don't have much property, and need to put my wood somewhere.

Thanks again,
open to any more ideas anyone has.

 

[IndyIan]

I would add a few braces every 6' or so, I had one pile start to lean pretty badly but adding a few braces kept it up until winter. If you have little kids potentially running around, I wouldn't stack to high, 4' would be pretty safe for most incidents I'd guess.

 

[ktm250rider]

Its too bad you cant just rely on the parents realizing that the pile of wood is dangerous and that they would keep the kids away. Today, someone else is always to blame.
Not that Im an expert but Ive always stacked my wood between trees. Im lazy and cheap. I do however, cut my pieces around 30 inches long which adds to some stability.