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What is the best way to stack firewood?

Stack wood in a single row, out of the shade, with enough space between the pieces to allow air to pass through. This exposes more wood to sunlight and breeze, which helps dry it out faster. When stacking, use a crisscross pattern to make pillars at each end for stability.

popularmechanics.com - How to Stack Firewood - Find, Store, and Improve Your Fire Logs
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Stacking firewood is pleasant work. It’s quiet and even contemplative. The hard and sometimes dangerous work of felling trees and bucking them with a chainsaw is done. The laborious splitting by hand or machine is complete. Now comes the easy and satisfying part. You stack the firewood and let the sun, wind, and time convert it from moisture-laden material to fuel. You just take each stick and fit it with another while enjoying the wood’s pungent, earthy smell and the way its freshly split surface reflects sunlight. Take your time, and enjoy the process. You earned it. We show three simple stacks below. But because we love firewood and want to help you move and handle it with utmost efficiency, we’ve included recommendations for carts and plans for a wood shed and a rack. And we threw in some more tips that will help you in your firewood gathering and burning.

Happy stacking.

More From Popular Mechanics

Three Simple Stacks

There are two goals in stacking firewood. The first is to dry it to about 20 percent moisture content by weight. Research has found that you don’t need to get wood much drier than that. Wood releases most of its moisture through its end grain, so stacking wood to expose the end grain helps capitalize on the heat of the sun and desiccating breezes. The second goal is to keep the wood as accessible as possible. It needs to be moved from the stack to the inside of the house. So stack the wood so that it’s relatively easy to get at while the stack gets as much sunlight and air movement as possible. Of course, if your time and budget permits, an open-faced woodshed is the ideal arrangement because it gets the wood off the ground, keeps moisture off its top, and allows sufficient sun and air to dry it as quickly as possible. (We have plans for a wood shed, which has served us well for more than a decade, if you prefer to construct your own.)

The End Pillar

One of the most time-tested stacks is known as the end pillar. Its strong suit is that it’s simple. At each end, you build either a single pillar or two pillars stacked side by side. You can build the end pillars and then stack the firewood between them or you can build the end pillar, start stacking wood against it, then add the other end pillar and finish stacking the wood. Both methods work. The end pillar stack requires that the supporting pillars be built out of uniformly sized and tightly stacked wood. If the pillar isn’t strongly built, it won’t support the wood leaning against it. George Retseck

The Round

The Round is also a reasonably simple stack, but it takes some experience to build properly since, until you’ve built one of these, it’s hard to say how much wood it will take. Use a center stake, a string, and a stick to mark out the circle’s circumference and then stack wood along the perimeter three or four logs high. Stack the firewood in the center of the circle loosely, with plenty of air space, and position the sticks vertically, allowing water to drain off each piece. Then stack up the perimeter another three or four logs high, add some more wood as before to the center. Keep going until the round is complete. The Round is a simple firewood stack, and it’s attractive. It’s built in stages until you run out of wood. The perimeter is stacked tightly enough so that it’s sturdy, but not so tightly as to prevent air from entering the pile. The inside logs are very loosely piled and arranged vertically, both to allow moisture drainage and permit air flow. George Retseck

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Holz Haus

The Holz Haus is a German design (the term means “log house” or “wood house”) and is nearly the same as the round, with one important difference. The perimeter is very tightly stacked, and wood is tightly piled on the inside. When you get to the top of the circumference, you very tightly arrange a sloping cover of wood that acts as a roof to allow rain and snow melt to drain off. The German Holz Haus is probably the prettiest wood stack method, but it also requires the most experience to do properly. Since the wood is so tightly stacked, it’s important that you build it in a sunny location. In theory, the sun warms the large stack of wood, heating it from the outside in. The hot sun beating down on the Holz Haus creates a convection air current inside it, slowly driving moisture out of the split wood. Courtesy

Moving Wood

Firewood needs to be moved. If you split it in the woods, you still need to move it to the truck or trailer. Once home, you need to get it out of the truck and to the woodpile. If your splitting area is close to where you stack the wood, you may not need to move it much. But you still have to get the wood into the house. Look for a wagon, garden cart, wheelbarrow, or even a to assist in the process. And if you’ve been using a wobbly, light-duty homeowner wheelbarrow, now is the time to consider . As for the indoor stack, sure, you could toss the kindling in a 5-gallon bucket and dump the firewood in a corner. But if you want to extend the order and aesthetics of the exterior stack into your living room or den, try building this firewood rack. It’s great looking and simple to build.

Bonus: Build Some Log Seats

While you’ve got that chainsaw out, and especially if you’ve got a hankering to do a little rustic woodworking, try your hand at building some log benches. They’re the perfect seat for the backyard, especially to sit around a fire pit. Halve the Logs We halved two logs lengthwise by driving several wood-splitting wedges into them. While we did this, we dropped a large pinch-point digging bar into the crack, holding the log in position and using the bar as a lever to complete the split. Lajos Geenen Plane the Surface Then we leveled and smoothed the flat surfaces using a Bosch planer, making a series of 1⁄16-inch-deep diagonal passes and then going straight down the log. You could do this with a large belt sander and the coarsest-grit belt you can get. Lajos Geenen Notch the Bench Our favorite part of building half-log benches is making the crescent-shaped notch in the base logs. It’s surprisingly easy to do. We placed the seat facedown on the ground and held a base log perpendicular to the curved part of the seat. Lajos Geenen Notch the Base Logs We then chiseled and sawed as necessary, keeping in mind that the crescent doesn’t have to be a perfect fit—just close enough to hold the seat securely. Last, we placed the seats around the pit. Lajos Geenen

6 Signs Your Wood Is Well-Seasoned

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It doesn’t smell like wood. Most of the woody scent you get is caused by moisture. It’s dull in color. Seasoned wood should look gray. It’s not heavy. Water makes up as much as three-quarters of the weight of a green piece of wood. The ends have cracks. As the wood dries out, it becomes more brittle. The bark is missing or comes off easily. When the moisture goes, the bark usually goes with it. It sounds hollow when you hit it against something. (Probably best if that something is another log.)

Firewood BTU

Wood is an incredibly BTU-rich material. Although all wood species have nearly identical BTU per pound, some are much more dense than others; that is, they pack more BTU per volume. Therefore, wood that is denser is a better and more efficient fuel because, per your unit of work input and the area and labor you need to stack it, you get more wood BTU for your work. Here’s a list of common fuel woods and their BTU values. Dry wood in millions BTU per cord (4 x 4 x 8 feet)

Oak: 27.6

Maple: 25.5

Hickory: 24.6

Walnut: 22.2

Birch: 20.8

Elm: 20

Aspen: 18.2

Willow: 17.6

4 Ways To Improve Your Firewood

Stack wood in a single row, in the sun, with enough space between the pieces to allow air to pass through. This exposes more wood to sunlight and breeze, which helps dry it out faster. Before splitting wood on a stump, secure an old tire to the top of the stump. After you split the wood, it will lean against the tire instead of falling to the ground. Cut cords shorter than you think (around 14 inches long), split them smaller than you think (3 to 6 inches wide), and vary the size of the splits. The logs will be easier to carry, and the fire will be easier to build. Check your state’s policies on cutting your own firewood. Many provide licenses for a nominal fee, or even free, that permit people to remove trees from state land.

popularmechanics.com - How to Stack Firewood - Find, Store, and Improve Your Fire Logs
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