Happiness is large piles

[British Red]

...stacked to season


2015 free logs logpile by British Red, on Flickr

 

[Goatboy]

That's a satisfying looking pile Red. How long you reckon on that lasting?
I do find a large pile of cut wood.satisfying. It's a bit like looking at gathered crops in a field/barn; know you're safe for another year.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[British Red]

About four months I reckon Colin

 

[sandbender]

Ooo thats a nice looking pile.

 

[Goatboy]

Excellent. Do you take wood as you get it or do you seek it out en mass at certain types of the year to fit into your holdings schedule?
Nice double bit by the way. Stirs things in me.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[GGTBod]

Looking good Red, do you sit back and relax regarding wood until the pile is dwindling or is it a case of constantly topping up and using the oldest as you go?

I really enjoy that feeling when you are camping out and you have gathered and sorted a mighty fine pile of wood but my little piles don't come nowhere near that collection

 

[milius2]

It's looking good! My new savings is going to get me a shredder so I can benefit from the last bit of branches I get! And there is plenty of it to be cleared away.

 

[Mesquite]

Nice pile ghere Hugh

How long will you season it for, a couple years before you split it down?

 

[British Red]

I take it when its available Colin, occasionally bung a tree surgeon mate for a seven tonner full, but Id rather gather it from people for whom its a nuisance with my buddy and our wives.

Ggtbod, I'll keep grabbing till I run out of room. I stop when we have thirty odd cubic metres cut, split and stacked.

Steve, I tend to wait till I have a good pile then cut, split and stack. It seasons better split, since it has more surface area. We season for at least two summers. It does mean we need a bit of space mind you!

 

[rik_uk3]

Read the title and there was me thinking Hemorrhoids

 

[spandit]

I was delighted to run out of space to store logs last week, with a lot left to cut and split (and we've had some leylandii taken down which will provide quite a few more). I can build more storage space, by adding another level but good to know we have this winter and next winter in hand already!

That's a nice pile, BR, although not off the ground at the bottom. Get them cut to length, wood seasons along the grain so that helps more than splitting them

 

[British Red]

Thats just the wood yard pile chap, it'll all get put into either bins

Next years logs by British Red, on Flickr

or the log shed

full log shed by British Red, on Flickr

Although I suspect this lot may wind up on pallets for a few months as space is short

 

[spandit]

Here's Log Store Alpha:

need to add another layer around the back to allow space for these:

(mainly cherry, apple and Scots pine)

and these:

(mainly leylandii and sycamore, but with some more cherry, apple and Scots pine)

and these!:

(yet more cherry, apple, Scots pine)

and these!:

(leylandii and lime)

These are some of the remainder in Log Store Beta Once I put two layers on here I'll have about 10 cubes worth of space.

(mostly birch and willow)

going to hire a hydraulic splitter to get them all processed in a day as tend to end up with more consistent results than with a splitting axe (and doubt I could split all these in a day). Some of the leylandii logs are being cut into Swedish torches. Hopefully I can end up with a nice mixture of hard and soft woods so we don't end up with log baskets full of oak that takes ages to get going, or leylandii that burns too quickly

 

[GGTBod]

To stick with the theme of the innuendo in the title i now have wood envy

 

[British Red]

Good pallet use there spandit! All from your own land or are you a fellow wood scrounger?

 

[slowworm]

...stacked to season

Not very neatly.

Do you find it easier to cut to logs after the wood has seasoned in cord lengths?

 

[British Red]

Not really, but we are short of space! So we pile it up as we scrounge it { which also has the advantage that its all to hand for processing). When there is enough I saw it up and split the bigger stuff as it seasons better when processed. I must confess I'd rather do it in Autumn or Winter as its warm work

 

[slowworm]

I need to carefully plan a good log store and sort out a good log processing plan. I've done things the other way round to most, purchased a few acres of woodland but I don't have a log burner!

That's going to change soon as we're moving to somewhere with a log burner and plan to install a wood fired range. It also has a few acres of more mature woodland so no shortage of wood.

 

[spandit]

Good pallet use there spandit! All from your own land or are you a fellow wood scrounger?

Our pallet trees haven't reached maturity yet

The birch and some of the willow and leylandii is from our land. The rest is scrounged - I've let tree surgeons dump wood chip here in exchange for some free logs. Haven't paid for wood for years - there's always stuff around if you're prepared to put the work in to process it!

 

[spandit]

I need to carefully plan a good log store and sort out a good log processing plan. I've done things the other way round to most, purchased a few acres of woodland but I don't have a log burner!

That's going to change soon as we're moving to somewhere with a log burner and plan to install a wood fired range. It also has a few acres of more mature woodland so no shortage of wood.

You can just cut a couple of sacrificial trees and lay them on the ground to keep the rest elevated. Just hope you don't have log fairies around...