# How do you stack?



## Berner (Jan 7, 2013)

Just curious how everyone has their splits stacked.   I'm new to the wood burning in fact I'm still in the process of getting my stove setup but the more I read the more it suggests that you guys stack your wood according to species.  I seem to read a lot about shoulder season wood and then tapping into oak or locust during the cold snaps.  

I got my grapple load last year bucked it, split it and stacked it in no particular order.  As I said I am a newbie but where did you guys learn your wood identification skills?  I can barely determine the type of wood when it's in log form.  Now that all the splits are mixed in together it makes it nearly impossible.  Anyone have any suggestions for upping my wood identification IQ?

So I ask how do you stack your wood?

A) chronologically. 

B). By species. 

C). Any other methods.


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## Pallet Pete (Jan 7, 2013)

It all goes in bins the Pine, Soft Maple and other softwoods have there own bin the rest goes together ( Medium and Hardwood ). The only exception is Oak when I find some it goes to the back of a bin for a few years.

Pete


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## eclecticcottage (Jan 7, 2013)

We just stack as we split, whatever we have at the time.  It's mixed.  Although we pretty much only get softwoods when we scrounge so I don't know that it would matter.  We do plan to buy a few face cord of hardwood delivered because it's pretty cheap from one supplier, and that will be stacked separately because we'll stack it after we get it.


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## osagebow (Jan 7, 2013)

Mixing in some easy to light stuff like maple and sass in the locust stacks I'm doing now. Currently burning 18 mo. CSS locust that burns great but it's hard to get going.


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## DexterDay (Jan 7, 2013)

Most of my stacks are separated by species. If there is more than one species, its still separated (one species on top, other on bottom).

I had a Log load delivered this past spring and it was 90% Ash. The 10% that wasn't (Some Hickory and 1 Walnut) didnt go in the Main stack. So this large stack is all ash. As is a lot of my wood behind my garage.


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## Hearth Mistress (Jan 7, 2013)

Wow! I stack it as I get it, I don't know any of it, I barely can I identify them when they are standing with leaves! Since almost everything around here is ash, that's most of it. We have some cherry and one sort of walnut too someone gave us but there is something sort of reddish (not cedar) and something that the bark peels off in a thin layer but couldn't tell ya'. It ain't oak, that's for sure but it's all wood to me and eventually burns up  I don't worry about it, I just CSS since I don't know one from the other and even really trying to learn makes my head hurt, I just can't get it to sink in. It's 80 in my living room, I'm happy


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## BrotherBart (Jan 7, 2013)

After bar coding the splits for species, weight, date cut, date split and date stacked I enter the info for each split into a spreadsheet.


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## tfdchief (Jan 7, 2013)

I just stack.  The species get mixed.  I like it that way.  As for date, I do date each stack.


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## swagler85 (Jan 7, 2013)

I use these pallet racks and move them around with the tractor. Stuff I'm burning now is all mixed but after the next 3 cord it's all separated by species in pallets 1/3 cord each. This also helps me be able to rotate wood without having to handle it.


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## bboulier (Jan 7, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> After bar coding the splits for species, weight, date cut, date split and date stacked I enter the info for each split into a spreadsheet.


 
And FIFO - first in, first out.


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## BrotherBart (Jan 7, 2013)

bboulier said:


> And FIFO - first in, first out.


 
Except for shoulder seasons. GIGO - Garbage in, garbage out.


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## bogydave (Jan 8, 2013)

Easy for me, 2 types, birch & spruce.
Birch & spruce stacked separate. Stacked  by when cut, birch will be 2 to 3 years CSS when burned.
Spruce shoulder season & when temps above 30° during he day, 1 yr+ CSS.


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## PapaDave (Jan 8, 2013)

Pretty easy here too.
I got 95% oak log loads and did all that together.
This past late fall/early winter, I c/s/s a few maple, so all that went together. In between that, I did about 2 cord of oak.
I've got some pine that's all together, because it was what I was working on at the time....2/3 cord of that next to the shed in case of need this spring (doubtful).
I know when it's all cut, so that I can know when to use it. I wouldn't try to use the oak cut this past fall next year, but the maple might be ready. Might.
Don't need either for another couple years anyway.....no worries.
Wait til you see the ones that have maps of where all their wood is and when it was cut....oh, and the guys (I won't mention names) who date the stacks.
Good times.
A: yes
B: yes
C: yes
Post pics of what you've got, some here are expert at tree id......literally.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 8, 2013)

You must have way to much time on your hands in the US producing all these nice stacks. All we do is process direct into IBC containers and then with pallet forks on the tractor load into the solar kiln where it stays until we need to use it.


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## firefighterjake (Jan 8, 2013)

Double row on pallets . . . a "generous" cord in each stack . . . all mixed in wood. I do however admit that I attach a cedar shingle to each stack and write on the date that the wood was split/stacked.


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## jatoxico (Jan 8, 2013)

BBart I would think by now you would know it's not worth keeping track of date cut.


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## TradEddie (Jan 8, 2013)

Haphazardly, mostly chronologically, but with fresh splits in Spring going on top of older wood to fill racks.  It used to not matter with my old slammer, but with the new EPA insert, I realize that I will need to be more organized in future. I am considering tracking on a spreadsheet so I can remember where everything went. I have everything from ash to red oak on my property, so in future I will stack by species.

TE


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## wishlist (Jan 8, 2013)

bogydave said:


> Easy for me, 2 types, birch & spruce.
> Birch & spruce stacked separate. Stacked  by when cut, birch will be 2 to 3 years CSS when burned.
> Spruce shoulder season & when temps above 30° during he day, 1 yr+ CSS.



I feel for Dave, if you ever seen pics of some of his stacks there 2nd to none! 
At least until mother nature " shakes" then not so much!


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## Wood Duck (Jan 8, 2013)

I stack chronologically. Whatever I get, I stack in the holz hausen (round stack) that is currently under construction. I burn one stack, then move on to the next. The exception is that if I come across some slightly punky wood I stack it separately, cover it, and burn it next year. I don't want to stack punky wood with solid wood because the punky stuff keeps getting punkier in my uncovered stacks. The solid wood stays nice and solid despite being uncovered.

Think the way to learn firewood ID is to learn one species at a time. Collecting your own firewood is the way to do this. When you get a downed tree or even a branch, ID the tree based on leaves, twigs, and other features that are shown in tree ID books. Then when you cut the wood you can learn what the wood looks like. Focus on bark, the color and thickness of sapwood (the lighter wood under the barks) and heartwood (center of the trunk or lrage branch). It takes a while but I find I cannot learn ID of trees, plants, birds, or anything else by doing it all at once. One tree at a time is the way to go.


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## jharkin (Jan 8, 2013)

I stack it as I get it and work through the stacks by age.  I used to stack single row because I was burning stuff the same year, or 1 year old at most - but now that I am into a 2 year ahead rythm I'm stacking in double rows to fit more wood.


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## ScotO (Jan 8, 2013)

I'm with Jeremy for the most part.  I am three skids wide on my stacks with an airspace between them.  I put all the dense hardwoods on one of those sides (white and red oak, black and honey locust, beech, hickory, hard maple), while the other side gets the softer woods (silver and red maple, ash, walnut, etc).  Since my wood has over 3 years to season I am good to go just picking from either the dense wood side or softer wood side, depending on what my needs are.


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## Ralphie Boy (Jan 8, 2013)

By date split and species. Oak and hickory together soft maple sometimes with ash but mostly ash alone.


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## PapaDave (Jan 8, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> You must have way to much time on your hands in the US producing all these nice stacks. All we do is process direct into IBC containers and then with pallet forks on the tractor load into the solar kiln where it stays until we need to use it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice setup John. Is this your business, or home?
I don't suppose it took much time to acquire all that equipment, eh?
Independently wealthy? Or, you had to spend time to make the money to purchase. Hmmm.
Just a thought.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 8, 2013)

PapaDave said:


> Nice setup John. Is this your business, or home?
> I don't suppose it took much time to acquire all that equipment, eh?
> Independently wealthy? Or, you had to spend time to make the money to purchase. Hmmm.
> Just a thought.


Part of our Biomass power generation business. Fortunately we had a government grant for the log processor to go on our old farm tractor


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## mustash29 (Jan 8, 2013)

Historically I have been a little behind the 8 ball every season, but trying to get 2+ seasons ahead.

I scored 72 FREE pallets from a local printing business last fall.  I'll probably burn the crappy ones and save the good ones for stacking.






Processing / storage area in the back corner of the yard.  Still trying to decide what to do back there.  We may build a large shed with storage all around it.






My neighbor has a 50' right of way for his driveway and allows my deliveries to use it to stuff the sticks onto the corner of my lot.






I usually pull them off the pile with the Warm M-8000 on the front of the truck.  A few years ago when my back was giving me fits I had a strap and snatch block hanging in a 12" pine that I was using as a "get it off the ground to cut" hoist. 






2-5 cord goes under the deck before the snow flies.


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## Beer Belly (Jan 8, 2013)

I got a load in, and the Wife wanted it cut up and moved






then it looked like this.....





I moved it to the back of the yard, and now it's all mixed, not sure of what is what....so I'm just gonna split it and let it season for at least 2 years to play it safe. This was on top of 2 Ash, and 2 Maples I had dropped (see a little in the pics) at about the same time....those I'm sure of and hopefully be ready for next winter (2013-14), then the mixed batch will hopefully be ready for 2015-16


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## Beer Belly (Jan 8, 2013)

OOOPS !!....How do I stack....








believe me....it doesn't look this neat at the moment


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## Blue2ndaries (Jan 8, 2013)

I try to keep the oak separated from everything else (ash, maple, cherry, doug fir).  After that it's just stacked to backfill wood taken out FIFO.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 8, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> You must have way to much time on your hands in the US producing all these nice stacks. All we do is process direct into IBC containers and then with pallet forks on the tractor load into the solar kiln where it stays until we need to use it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 With wood that size it would take me forever to load it! i would have to put like 50 pieces into my stove at the time!!


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## clemsonfor (Jan 8, 2013)

T


Wood Duck said:


> I stack chronologically. Whatever I get, I stack in the holz hausen (round stack) that is currently under construction. I burn one stack, then move on to the next. The exception is that if I come across some slightly punky wood I stack it separately, cover it, and burn it next year. I don't want to stack punky wood with solid wood because the punky stuff keeps getting punkier in my uncovered stacks. The solid wood stays nice and solid despite being uncovered.
> 
> Think the way to learn firewood ID is to learn one species at a time. Collecting your own firewood is the way to do this. When you get a downed tree or even a branch, ID the tree based on leaves, twigs, and other features that are shown in tree ID books. Then when you cut the wood you can learn what the wood looks like. Focus on bark, the color and thickness of sapwood (the lighter wood under the barks) and heartwood (center of the trunk or lrage branch). It takes a while but I find I cannot learn ID of trees, plants, birds, or anything else by doing it all at once. One tree at a time is the way to go.


 This is exacltly how you do it when your taught in school. I am a forester, in Dendrology in school, you learn 1 tree at the time 15-20 trees a week till your through. In all i think we had something like 120-150 species of trees. I still know most of them, western firs and things that i only saw in the arboritum, NO, the smaller tiny trees that are more like tree shrubs that grow wild here, not so much, but every commercial species that grows in this state i can and should be able to identify.  Some of the scrub oaks i have forgotten but there not usually commercial and i dont really mess with them much except to clearcut them or run them over! Scrub oaks do make good firewood, there so slow growing and dense there some of the best oak you will burn!

Oh that was latin name (family, genus and species) as well as common names.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jan 8, 2013)

Try to separate hardwood from softwood, then it's HH's- chronologically and alphabetic by height


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## renewablejohn (Jan 8, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> With wood that size it would take me forever to load it! i would have to put like 50 pieces into my stove at the time!!


 
Thats the difference of solar kiln dried logs. We only need to put a couple of logs on to get high heat output. Standard length is 8 inch although we do get requests for granny logs for small stoves which are 6 inch long.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 8, 2013)

Berner said:


> Just curious how everyone has their splits stacked. I'm new to the wood burning in fact I'm still in the process of getting my stove setup but the more I read the more it suggests that you guys stack your wood according to species. I seem to read a lot about shoulder season wood and then tapping into oak or locust during the cold snaps.
> 
> I got my grapple load last year bucked it, split it and stacked it in no particular order. As I said I am a newbie but where did you guys learn your wood identification skills? I can barely determine the type of wood when it's in log form. Now that all the splits are mixed in together it makes it nearly impossible. Anyone have any suggestions for upping my wood identification IQ?
> 
> ...


 

Each year get stacked in a different spot, or at least most years do. Sometimes I'll stack right by the last year's wood. I do tend most times to stack the oak separately from the rest because we burn that only during the coldest part of winter.

As for tree ID, take it slow and easy. Learn 1 and learn it well. Then learn another. If you get 3 or 4 new ones every year you can ID many trees after a few years. Then maybe as you age, you start mixing them up again and have to start all over.


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## Berner (Jan 8, 2013)

Wow thanks for all the responses.  As usual there are a lot of great ideas here.  I think once I install my stove and see how this split burns different than that split I'm going to want some separation of species.  I live on a smaller lot so this might be a little challenging but it should prove worthy. 

Keep those awesome photo's coming I'm very impressed with all the wood processing!


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## DexterDay (Jan 8, 2013)

In this 30' x 14' area (shed not included). I have 8 racks. I have LOTS of room, but the Wife wanted the area to look good. So some landscaping timbers and some River rock, and we away I went. Each rack has over a 1/2 cord (4.5' x 12' x 18" splits) 

With each rack over 5/8 cord, there is a shade over 5 cord in that area. I could have went taller on the stacks, or longer, or made the rows closer. I have 6 other racks  I plan to incorporate this Summer. I will likely go on the other side of the shed, or run perpendicular to the other stacks. 

These were pics when I constructed it in Summer of 2011. 



Berner said:


> Wow thanks for all the responses.  As usual there are a lot of great ideas here.  I think once I install my stove and see how this split burns different than that split I'm going to want some separation of species.  I live on a smaller lot so this might be a little challenging but it should prove worthy.
> 
> Keep those awesome photo's coming I'm very impressed with all the wood processing!


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## Berner (Jan 8, 2013)

DexterDay said:


> In this 30' x 14' area (shed not included). I have 8 racks. I have LOTS of room, but the Wife wanted the area to look good. So some landscaping timbers and some River rock, and we away I went. Each rack has over a 1/2 cord (4.5' x 12' x 18" splits)
> 
> With each rack over 5/8 cord, there is a shade over 5 cord in that area. I could have went taller on the stacks, or longer, or made the rows closer. I have 6 other racks I plan to incorporate this Summer. I will likely go on the other side of the shed, or run perpendicular to the other stacks.
> 
> ...


 

Looks like some well used space.  I like the landscaping idea it does add to the view.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 8, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> Thats the difference of solar kiln dried logs. We only need to put a couple of logs on to get high heat output. Standard length is 8 inch although we do get requests for granny logs for small stoves which are 6 inch long.


 There is no difference in the end in solar kiln, kiln and air dried wood. 20% is 20% so your wood at 12% is no drier or burns better than my 12% wood.  SO yes I would still need like 50 of your pieces of wood to fill my  stove. Your kiln wood does not increase the BTU's in oak????


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## Pallet Pete (Jan 8, 2013)

Adios Pantalones said:


> Try to separate hardwood from softwood, then it's HH's- chronologically and alphabetic by height


 
How many cord is that Adios ? What size are those ?

Pete


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## Adios Pantalones (Jan 8, 2013)

Pallet Pete said:


> How many cord is that Adios ? What size are those ?
> 
> Pete


3 big ones are 2 cords each, 2 little ones are 1 cord each, so 2x3+ 1x2= about 35?

I have another 2 cords to stack, but it's covered in snow


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## Ozzie33 (Jan 8, 2013)

I stack out side so it can air dry for a year or two.  Then I split it up and put it in the wood shed.  The wood shed will hold six rows and I burn about one row per month.  First two rows are pine mix, next two are the good stuff - larch and red fir,last two rows are a pine mix.  I stack so I have the most BTU's per armload of wood in the dead of winter.


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## jatoxico (Jan 8, 2013)

Adios Pantalones said:


> 3 big ones are 2 cords each, 2 little ones are 1 cord each, so *2x3+ 1x2= about 35?*
> 
> I have another 2 cords to stack, but it's covered in snow


 
Huh?


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## fossil (Jan 8, 2013)

jatoxico said:


> Huh?


 
Give him a break, his Doctorate is in Chemistry, not Math.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 8, 2013)

Wood stacked in the rounds does not dry very well.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 8, 2013)

jatoxico said:


> Huh?


 maybe that cubic feet??


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## billb3 (Jan 9, 2013)

Pine (and hemlock ) way over there. ( points north ) Oak just over there. ( points northeast )
Everything else mixed together over there, ( points west , and that pile of logs behind that is white oak that needs cutting and splitting ) except for some white birch I wanted to see how it burns if it didn't rot first and some yellow birch because I never burnt any before . ( points east )


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## renewablejohn (Jan 9, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> There is no difference in the end in solar kiln, kiln and air dried wood. 20% is 20% so your wood at 12% is no drier or burns better than my 12% wood. SO yes I would still need like 50 of your pieces of wood to fill my stove. Your kiln wood does not increase the BTU's in oak????


 
What I am saying is that if your having to put that amount of wood on your stove either your stove is very inefficient or your kidding yourself on how dry your timber actually is. Looking at the billets in these stacks the length looks to be about 24 inches so 3 of my logs to one of your billets. So when you stoke up your fire you use 16 billets. Thats one awfully big stove.


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## Gasifier (Jan 9, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> You must have way to much time on your hands in the US producing all these nice stacks. All we do is process direct into IBC containers and then with pallet forks on the tractor load into the solar kiln where it stays until we need to use it.


 
It is a good way that you do it renewablejohn. It would be tough to stack those short little splits you have there to any height without them falling over.  Why so short on them? How long do you cut them? What do you burn them in? I like the bins and the machinery. Nice.


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## Gasifier (Jan 9, 2013)

I use pallets to make bins. Two rows on the pallets with a good size space in between the rows usually about 2-4 inches depending on size of wood.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 9, 2013)

Gasifier said:


> It is a good way that you do it renewablejohn. It would be tough to stack those short little splits you have there to any height without them falling over.  Why so short on them? How long do you cut them? What do you burn them in? I like the bins and the machinery. Nice.


In UK insulation is cheap (subsidised by government) and wood is expensive hence in a well insulated house a 15kw stove is considered large and 5kw the norm. I run a 15kw Dunsley Yorkshire boiler which heats an old 1650 built stone farmhouse and runs the central heating. We have an Esse  wood fired cooking range which does all the cooking and hot water and a Dunsley Highlander 5kw to keep the snug toastie. 
Standard split log size is 8 inch but the smaller 5kw stoves quite often use smaller logs at 6 inch which we nickname granny logs


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## clemsonfor (Jan 9, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> What I am saying is that if your having to put that amount of wood on your stove either your stove is very inefficient or your kidding yourself on how dry your timber actually is. Looking at the billets in these stacks the length looks to be about 24 inches so 3 of my logs to one of your billets. So when you stoke up your fire you use 16 billets. Thats one awfully big stove.


 OK i did exadurate a bit but i kind of did the math. My wood, that i cut is between 16-18"s. I thought you said it was 6"s long, if it were 6"s i seriously could fit 30 or more pieces in my stove.  With it being 8"s your correct i could fit more like 15 or more in there my gut tells me i could still fit close to 17 or 18 because of the smaller pieces i could manuer them better and therefore fill the stove more completly.

As for my stove i have a 3.5cuft model Highvalley 2500. It is a CAT stove and, its been awhile but on the EPA list i think they list all CAT stoves like 90% effecient?  Its somewhere in that range, at least 85% id say.  I have very little insulation in my home but on a day where the high may be in the 50s and night in the 40s  i can load up a good load and it will burn those 17 pieces of your wood and put out heat for say 26ish hours and still restart a fire on those coals. If i am pushing the stove as the nights dip in the 30s and upper 20sF i will load 2x a day MAX. 

I do have a moisture meter, so i can tell you within the margin of error the MC of my wood. I have been useing oak on cold nights that is  less than 20% maybe more like 15%. I also have been burning pine (i know about half the BTU of oak) that is 12% or less. I can still get 18 or so hours out of a full load of pine, the heat is just not as much.

Not trying to pick and argument i just dont agree that just because you have solar Kiln wood (which i am not saying does not work) that i can burn half the amount of it and get the same heat. Like i said BTU's are BTU's. I also understand my less primo wood in the 25% range is not getting all the BTUs that i can out of it due to moisture.


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## westkywood (Jan 9, 2013)

I stack with all wood separated by species.  I label it with the date it was stacked and by species.  For one, I like to see how different woods perform. Two, I want to know if I'm grabbing a chunk of hardwood or softwood. Three, I want to know how long that split has been there seasoning. I aint anal bout much, but when it comes to my farwood , I reckon I am.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 9, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> OK i did exadurate a bit but i kind of did the math. My wood, that i cut is between 16-18"s. I thought you said it was 6"s long, if it were 6"s i seriously could fit 30 or more pieces in my stove. With it being 8"s your correct i could fit more like 15 or more in there my gut tells me i could still fit close to 17 or 18 because of the smaller pieces i could manuer them better and therefore fill the stove more completly.
> 
> As for my stove i have a 3.5cuft model Highvalley 2500. It is a CAT stove and, its been awhile but on the EPA list i think they list all CAT stoves like 90% effecient? Its somewhere in that range, at least 85% id say. I have very little insulation in my home but on a day where the high may be in the 50s and night in the 40s i can load up a good load and it will burn those 17 pieces of your wood and put out heat for say 26ish hours and still restart a fire on those coals. If i am pushing the stove as the nights dip in the 30s and upper 20sF i will load 2x a day MAX.
> 
> ...


 
Looking on the Highvalley site they quote 72% efficient so maybe not as efficient as you thought.

http://www.highvalleystoves.com/woodstoves.php

I think insulation must be the big difference as that amount of wood would last use at least 2 days on the 15 kw stove and 3 days on the 5kw.  We normally start a fire at 4pm and the last log goes on at 8 pm. The house then retains the heat for the rest of the day.


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## katwillny (Jan 9, 2013)

Berner said:


> Wow thanks for all the responses. As usual there are a lot of great ideas here. I think once I install my stove and see how this split burns different than that split I'm going to want some separation of species.


Bragging about our wood and showing it off is what we boys do best. More than one specie of wood at times.


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## swagler85 (Jan 9, 2013)

Thats pretty impressive if you can only run a fire half the day and keep the heat in the house the rest of the day. How long after the 8pm loading is your stove still putting out heat?


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## clemsonfor (Jan 9, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> Looking on the Highvalley site they quote 72% efficient so maybe not as efficient as you thought.
> 
> http://www.highvalleystoves.com/woodstoves.php
> 
> I think insulation must be the big difference as that amount of wood would last use at least 2 days on the 15 kw stove and 3 days on the 5kw. We normally start a fire at 4pm and the last log goes on at 8 pm. The house then retains the heat for the rest of the day.


 keep in mind I am heating 2500sqft with this stove some times.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 9, 2013)

ur right I looked it up 72% I thought it was closer to 80% but did think that I saw the list of all stoves and non cats were like 80 and cats were 90?  Oh well shows my memory


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## MasterMech (Jan 10, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> Thats the difference of solar kiln dried logs. We only need to put a couple of logs on to get high heat output. Standard length is 8 inch although we do get requests for granny logs for small stoves which are 6 inch long.


 16" is the "standard" length here in the US.  Of course if you cut your own wood, you can cut at whatever length fits in the stove. 6" or 8" lengths in a kiln, yeah, that'll get pretty dry in a hurry.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 10, 2013)

swagler85 said:


> Thats pretty impressive if you can only run a fire half the day and keep the heat in the house the rest of the day. How long after the 8pm loading is your stove still putting out heat?


 
Fire normally stays in overnight and then we dont bother to mend it in the morning. Being an old stone house the stove is surrounded by a floor to ceiling stone fireplace which acts like a masonry stove retaining heat and giving it off all day.


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## tsquini (Jan 10, 2013)

This my first season stacking by Btu output. Hard woods 21-30 btu goes in one pile. 16 -20 btu go in another pile. Guess I could also say it is organized by dry time. I'm not sure it is useful. I'll find out in a few years.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 10, 2013)

tsquini said:


> This my first season stacking by Btu output. Hard woods 21-30 btu goes in one pile. 16 -20 btu go in another pile. Guess I could also say it is organized by dry time. I'm not sure it is useful. I'll find out in a few years.


 huh u mean "21-30" MC? or 16-20MC?


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## tsquini (Jan 10, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> huh u mean "21-30" MC? or 16-20MC?


By btu/heat content of wood by the chord. I base it on the chart on chimney sweeps BTU chart 

http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm


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## hobbyheater (Jan 11, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> You must have way to much time on your hands in the US producing all these nice stacks. All we do is process direct into IBC containers and then with pallet forks on the tractor load into the solar kiln where it stays until we need to use it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 That I like!


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## Flatbedford (Jan 12, 2013)

I stack three rows deep, about 4.5'-5' high and overall about 95' long on pallets. The wood id stacked chronologically with usually ends up being by species as well because that's the way the  scrounges come. I'm a wood snob, so there is no "shoulder wood" to keep separate, and being three years ahead now, species isn't that important either.


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## chazcarr (Jan 12, 2013)

my answer is: poorly...

Oops.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 12, 2013)

ive had some of those spills!


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## Beer Belly (Jan 12, 2013)

Yup...been there


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## Billybonfire (Jan 13, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> With wood that size it would take me forever to load it! i would have to put like 50 pieces into my stove at the time!!


 
Guess some guys are sensitve about the size of their wood .


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## LLigetfa (Jan 13, 2013)

I buy my wood by the grapple truckload and as it is 100% Ash, no worries about sorting by species.  12 cord fits in my shed and what doesn't fit, gets stacked on pallets outside only to be moved to the shed later.

I take from one side of the shed at a time, so the wood on one side could be from a different year or the same year only to have spent more time outdoors waiting to get laid up.


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## Beer Belly (Jan 13, 2013)

Billybonfire said:


> Guess some guys are sensitve about the size of their wood .


My Wife preffers shorter wood.....has a hard time loading bigger stuff.....she's got some thing about "the wood is'nt supposed to touch the firebrick"


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## tfdchief (Jan 13, 2013)

Beer Belly said:


> My Wife preffers shorter wood.....has a hard time loading bigger stuff.....she's got some thing about "the wood is'nt supposed to touch the firebrick"


I would be cutting it short then


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## clemsonfor (Jan 13, 2013)

Beer Belly said:


> My Wife preffers shorter wood.....has a hard time loading bigger stuff.....she's got some thing about "the wood is'nt supposed to touch the firebrick"


 
HAHA I could say some things!!

But what does touching the firebrick mean? It has to sit on it and then touch the walls?


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## LLigetfa (Jan 13, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> It has to sit on it and then touch the walls?


My wife thinks it shouldn't touch the walls either.  I cut the wood 2 inches shorter.

As for sitting on it, there is a bed of ashes.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 13, 2013)

haha!


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## renewablejohn (Jan 14, 2013)

Billybonfire said:


> Guess some guys are sensitve about the size of their wood .


 
The added benefit of shorter splits is that drying times can be drastically reduced. With the use of our solar kilns the timber is below 20% MC within 3-6 months depending on time of year. It also allows drying of wet timbers like willow and poplar without it going mouldy.


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## Billybonfire (Jan 14, 2013)

John,
by solar kiln, do you mean a greenhouse or polytunnel ?.

Billy.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 14, 2013)

Billybonfire said:


> John,
> by solar kiln, do you mean a greenhouse or polytunnel ?.
> 
> Billy.


 
Purpose built polytunnel orientated 90 degree to prevailing wind with no doors either end and sloping roof for ventilation of moist air without fans. Wood stored in IBC containers either 100 or 150 containers per tunnel depending on whether normal D shaped tunnel or straight sided.


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## raprude (Jan 14, 2013)

loose for drying, tight for buying.  Thats my motto.  I stack on pressure treated 4X4 s laid parallel on the ground. I have gotten away from pallets as they seem to rot down. I point my rows east-west to allow even sun baking as well as air circulation.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jan 14, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> Purpose built polytunnel orientated 90 degree to prevailing wind with no doors either end and sloping roof for ventilation of moist air without fans. Wood stored in IBC containers either 100 or 150 containers per tunnel depending on whether normal D shaped tunnel or straight sided.


 
I thought that these passive solar arrangements were proven to not speed wood drying as compared with outdoor stacks. The tradeoff of temperature vs. lots of air flow is, supposedly, not a good one. I would assume that it might make things dry a bit in the winter, but not in the summer.


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## Billybonfire (Jan 14, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> Purpose built polytunnel orientated 90 degree to prevailing wind with no doors either end and sloping roof for ventilation of moist air without fans. Wood stored in IBC containers either 100 or 150 containers per tunnel depending on whether normal D shaped tunnel or straight sided.


 
Dry wood is dry wood I guess however it is achieved, personally I would rather stack outside and let the wind do its job.
I think it would dry better in a greenhouse with proper adjustable ventilation than a polytunnel with no ends, after all water cannot escape through plastic and air flow is surely restricted by 100-150 crates of wood stacked inside.
I dont see how a polytunnel could be described as a kiln, but do see that some may pay more for the end product.

Billy.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jan 14, 2013)

Real solar kilns (used for lumber drying) have fans to force circulation. They also require some low openings- air will not carry away moisture if it's not moving. Look at the design of those- lumber people have tried it all.

There have been studies done with passive solar kilns. Unless something new has come along, they have not been shown to be worth the effort.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 14, 2013)

Adios Pantalones said:


> I thought that these passive solar arrangements were proven to not speed wood drying as compared with outdoor stacks. The tradeoff of temperature vs. lots of air flow is, supposedly, not a good one. I would assume that it might make things dry a bit in the winter, but not in the summer.


Dont know where you got that idea from. Being a commercial operation we know it works. Having no doors at either end of the polytunnel makes the structure a wind tunnel and with logs being lose fill in IBC crates gives a saleable product less than 20%MC within 3-6 months. These polytunnels are dry tunnels not humid tunnels associated with growing plants.


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## velvetfoot (Jan 14, 2013)

I got the picture now.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jan 14, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> Dont know where you got that idea from. Being a commercial operation we know it works. Having no doors at either end of the polytunnel makes the structure a wind tunnel and with logs being lose fill in IBC crates gives a saleable product less than 20%MC within 3-6 months. These polytunnels are dry tunnels not humid tunnels associated with growing plants.


Oh- no doors, as in "open". Assumed that meant no openings.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 14, 2013)

Billybonfire said:


> Dry wood is dry wood I guess however it is achieved, personally I would rather stack outside and let the wind do its job.
> I think it would dry better in a greenhouse with proper adjustable ventilation than a polytunnel with no ends, after all water cannot escape through plastic and air flow is surely restricted by 100-150 crates of wood stacked inside.
> I dont see how a polytunnel could be described as a kiln, but do see that some may pay more for the end product.
> 
> Billy.


 
Its described as a kiln as in our cold summer climate max 20C with the occasional day above while the polytunnel is in the range 35C- 45C. Crates are stacked in lines 1 high 2 high 1 high so wind tunnel flows down the length of the tunnel. Water escapes by hot air rising along roof slope (ie roof not horizontal) Whatever you do dont use a greenhouse if the glass breaks on the wood your timber is worthless.


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## Stegman (Jan 14, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> After bar coding the splits for species, weight, date cut, date split and date stacked I enter the info for each split into a spreadsheet.


 
This literally made me laugh out loud. Well, chuckle anyway.


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## clemsonfor (Jan 14, 2013)

renewablejohn said:


> Its described as a kiln as in our cold summer climate max 20C with the occasional day above while the polytunnel is in the range 35C- 45C. Crates are stacked in lines 1 high 2 high 1 high so wind tunnel flows down the length of the tunnel. Water escapes by hot air rising along roof slope (ie roof not horizontal) Whatever you do dont use a greenhouse if the glass breaks on the wood your timber is worthless.


 Why? is that?  Big deal if some glass is on it, just empty and restack it.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 14, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> Why? is that? Big deal if some glass is on it, just empty and restack it.


Dont think any customer of mine would appreciate wood with added slivers of glass. Greenhouse glass especially splinters with sharp edges


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