# Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile??



## JRHAWK9 (Mar 23, 2015)

I just got done hauling my stash in from the woods.  I now have to start splitting/stacking.  The pile measures 30'x27' and has a height of ~7' across the top.  The base measures 90' in circumference at the ground.  Photos seem to make it look smaller than it looks in person w/o any frame of reference. 

Side view:




Front view.  Stacked in back are ~18 cords.



My guess is somewhere between 10-15 cord........??


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## Hills Hoard (Mar 23, 2015)

enough to make me really jealous....!


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## Lakeside (Mar 23, 2015)

A lot  !  you lucky dog !


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## claydogg84 (Mar 23, 2015)

I would guess 15-20 unless my math is wrong.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 23, 2015)

Lakeside said:


> A lot  !  you lucky dog !



great photo!!  lol


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 23, 2015)

claydogg84 said:


> I would guess 15-20 unless my math is wrong.



yeah, I did some rough math as well, but I don't have much experience converting randomly thrown piles of wood to split/stacked wood.  I don't think 128 CF of a pile of wood just thrown on the ground equals 128 CF of split/stacked wood.


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## claydogg84 (Mar 23, 2015)

JRHAWK9 said:


> yeah, I did some rough math as well, but I don't have much experience converting randomly thrown piles of wood to split/stacked wood.  I don't think 128 CF of a pile of wood just thrown on the ground equals 128 CF of split/stacked wood.



It doesn't. So I did 27x30x4 (figured 4 to be average height) which is 3240 cu. ft. Divide that by 128 and you get 25 cord which is going to be high because of the rounds not being stacked tightly. I bet you're right around 20 cord there, nice pile for sure. You have a good splitter with a 4 or 6 way?


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 23, 2015)

claydogg84 said:


> It doesn't. So I did 27x30x4 (figured 4 to be average height) which is 3240 cu. ft. Divide that by 128 and you get 25 cord which is going to be high because of the rounds not being stacked tightly. I bet you're right around 20 cord there, nice pile for sure. You have a good splitter with a 4 or 6 way?



I did (27*30/2)/180.  Which gives me right around 15 cord.  I used 180 to factor in the stack vs pile; right, wrong or indifferent.  It's more of a roundish pile, so using the area of a square isn't correct either.  The 27x30 is the exteme limits as well.

I have a 4way for my Speeco, but I actually prefer to use the normal wedge, depending on the wood size.  I can control my size of splits better.  I'll start splitting on/off now until it gets too warm and then I'll pick it up again in fall.  The plan is to have everything s/s by this coming winter.  I have two winters worth of wood stacked in another area not pictured, so I won't get to burning the stuff stacked behind the pile for 3 years.  It will be c/s/s for 4 years when I do get to it.  I also have a few cords of pine/pople which I use in spring/fall.  

When I was hauling this past weekend, I realized something.  At this time last year there was NOTHING in that area pictured above.  It wasn't until April of '14 when a local forum member stopped by and cut down two large oaks which led to the start of stacking wood in this area.


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## iamlucky13 (Mar 23, 2015)

22.3 cords.

What does the person with the closest answer win? Surely you can spare a cord as a prize?


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 23, 2015)

iamlucky13 said:


> 22.3 cords.
> 
> What does the person with the closest answer win? Surely you can spare a cord as a prize?



 

I'm guessing a drive from Washington state to here and back would cost you more in gas than what a cord of wood is worth.


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## Osagebndr (Mar 23, 2015)

I don't know much about figuring cords either but you have about 3x what I had and I got 7 cords out of it CSS so maybe 20-21.by the way I'm jealous also


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## Woody Stover (Mar 23, 2015)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I'll start splitting on/off now until it gets too warm


Hey, I used to live up there in WI. Very seldom will it get too warm; Keep hittin' it 'til it's stacked, then post pics.  If you've got Oak in there, you're in a race against the rotting sapwood as well...


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 24, 2015)

Woody Stover said:


> Hey, I used to live up there in WI. Very seldom will it get too warm; Keep hittin' it 'til it's stacked, then post pics.  If you've got Oak in there, you're in a race against the rotting sapwood as well...



lol...I'm not a fan of heat/humidity....mid 50's is perfect working weather for me.  It's also the mosquitoes.  Last year I let about 10 cord sit in a large pile until fall and everything was fine when I split it.  It's mostly all red/white oak.  Although this year I got off to a very early start, so I may be able to get most of it split before summer.  Last year I was still gathering well into May/June I believe.


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## CenterTree (Mar 24, 2015)

I think I see a lot of ASH in there.   What's the stuff without bark?  Locust?

You got a lot of splittin to do!


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 24, 2015)

CenterTree said:


> I think I see a lot of ASH in there.   What's the stuff without bark?  Locust?
> 
> You got a lot of splittin to do!



that's all oak, at least it looks like oak when I 1/4'd the big stuff up in order to lift them into the ATV trailer.  The bark fell off on some of it when I was splitting the larger pieces by hand.  There is some limited amount of oak that was sitting down for a decent amount of time where the outside got a bit punky, but the heart wood is all good yet (see third photo from last, the trees laying on the ground in the distance).  We have a ton of red/white oak around us.

Below are pics where about half of the wood came from.


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## Ram 1500 with an axe... (Mar 24, 2015)

I'm going to say it's more like 10-12 cords.....but keep us updated. When do you think you will be done splitting and stacking that? Anyways it's a great batch of wood and you obviously have the space to store it....
Congrats....


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## kennyp2339 (Mar 24, 2015)

Wow - that might be what we call the mother load


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 24, 2015)

Ram 1500 with an axe... said:


> I'm going to say it's more like 10-12 cords.....but keep us updated. When do you think you will be done splitting and stacking that? Anyways it's a great batch of wood and you obviously have the space to store it....
> Congrats....



Good question.  I will be starting to chisel away at it soon.


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## brenndatomu (Mar 24, 2015)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I just got done hauling my stash in from the woods.  I now have to start splitting/stacking.  The pile measures 30'x27' and has a height of ~7' across the top.  The base measures 90' in circumference at the ground.  Photos seem to make it look smaller than it looks in person w/o any frame of reference.
> 
> Side view:
> View attachment 156211
> ...


Isn't this about a 10-12 year supply for the Kuuma?!    
How's it do burnin rotten wood?!


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 24, 2015)

brenndatomu said:


> Isn't this about a 10-12 year supply for the Kuuma?!
> How's it do burnin rotten wood?!



lol.....I want to be on the 5-6 year plan.  I currently have 28.5 cords of hardwoods and another few cords of shoulder wood c/s/s.  What's in that pile will add to that.  I plan on burning 5-6 cords a year. 

I seem to have an issue letting downed trees turn into dirt.....I see that as wasted BTU's.  There are still a lot of recently downed/standing dead oaks out where I was cutting.  I plan on saving them until next year though as I have enough to split as it is.


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## Jon_E (Mar 25, 2015)

Worst case:  27' diameter pile (ignore the corners) x average 4' tall across the full width = approx 2300 cubic feet @ 128 cf/cord = roughly 18 cords.  Not bad.  Wish I had that pile sittin' out back my house.


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## Paulywalnut (Mar 25, 2015)

It's too much. You can't hoard that much wood. It will rot on you.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 26, 2015)

Jon_E said:


> Worst case:  27' diameter pile (ignore the corners) x average 4' tall across the full width = approx 2300 cubic feet @ 128 cf/cord = roughly 18 cords.  Not bad.  Wish I had that pile sittin' out back my house.



I guess the absolute worst case would be a volume of a cone, 27' in dia and height of 7'.   This comes out to ~10.5 cords, by volume.  So I'm pretty much guaranteed to have more than 10.5 cord sitting there.

A co-worker mentioned he could come out and topo it for me.  I would then just take those shots and create two surfaces and do a quick volume calc comparing the two surfaces.  This would give me a very accurate volume of the pile.  lol    Although it would be neat to compare calculated cords to actual cords, I told him I'd just wait till it get it all stacked and then see what I have.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 26, 2015)

Paulywalnut said:


> It's too much. You can't hoard that much wood. It will rot on you.



I don't consider it hoarding though, I consider it cleaning up the woods


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## DaveH (Mar 29, 2015)

JRHAWK9 said:


> lol...I'm not a fan of heat/humidity....mid 50's is perfect working weather for me.  It's also the mosquitoes.  Last year I let about 10 cord sit in a large pile until fall and everything was fine when I split it.  It's mostly all red/white oak.  Although this year I got off to a very early start, so I may be able to get most of it split before summer.  Last year I was still gathering well into May/June I believe.



 I also have quite a bit of red oak.  Do you wait a full 3 years for oak like some people swear by on here?  Did you any negative experiences with wood with some higher moisture content this year?  Thanks, I'm trying to fine tune my wood rotation.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 29, 2015)

DaveH said:


> I also have quite a bit of red oak.  Do you wait a full 3 years for oak like some people swear by on here?  Did you any negative experiences with wood with some higher moisture content this year?  Thanks, I'm trying to fine tune my wood rotation.



Well, towards the end of this year I was burning some red oak which had been c/s/s right around two years.  I tested some random pieces and I believe they were 21, 23 and 27%.  The 27% one could have came from the bottom of the pile were they were just stacked on the ground, I don't know.  I then quite burning from that pile.  I have 7.5 cords c/s/s under a lean two on concrete (open on 3 sides) for roughly 4 years but are stacked very close together (before I knew any better).  I thought the stuff stacked in a single row in the open may be a bit better than the stuff stacked tightly under a roof.  I still don't know what moisture level I'm going to find once I get more into the middle of the lean two stash.  This is why I opted to use the stuff in the open.  

As far as burning.  I didn't notice any difference, however this was my first year burning, so I have nothing to compare it too either.  I would think the wetter the wood the more moisture you will be pushing out the back if your burning appliance burns front to back.


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 4, 2015)

7 cord split and stacked so far and it still measures 63' in circumference at the base, down from 90'.  The same 7' max height.  I'm thinking close to 15 cord when said and done.


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## laynes69 (Apr 4, 2015)

Keep it top covered where air can get to it and keep the bottom dry. My uncle had alot of wood rot on him trying to get ahead. Quite the pile you have there.


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 4, 2015)

laynes69 said:


> Keep it top covered where air can get to it and keep the bottom dry. My uncle had alot of wood rot on him trying to get ahead. Quite the pile you have there.



yep, everything is top covered and it's all on pallets off the ground with separation between stacks.


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## JRHAWK9 (May 5, 2015)

I'm hoping to finish it up by this weekend.  So far I have 12 cords split/stacked and looks like I may have 2-3 more to go.  Will be nice to have it all done for the summer.  Then during winter I can work on gathering more.


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## JRHAWK9 (May 17, 2015)

Woody Stover said:


> Hey, I used to live up there in WI. Very seldom will it get too warm; Keep hittin' it 'til it's stacked, then post pics.  If you've got Oak in there, you're in a race against the rotting sapwood as well...




I got it all split and stacked and just got back in from measuring.  The grand total is 16 cords.  Everything you see in the photo below, with exception to the very first row on the left, is from the pile pictured in the first post.  The rows are stacked 5.5' high (excluding pallet thickness) and they average 20" wide with a total 224 linear feet.  There is a total 17.3 cords in the photo.  I have them covered with EPDM rubber roofing.        





There are 35.5 cords stacked below (not including that little stack of small stuff).  Kind of crazy to think there was NOTHING stacked here up until around April of '14 when I started.  I'm now pushing 50 cords in total including what I have stacked elsewhere.      




I realize where I have the wood stacked is not the best, but it's all I have to work with.  We don't have any wide open areas with direct wind/sun exposure.  The most wide open area we have is our asphalt driveway, which is really not that open and I'm not stacking wood on it anyway...lol


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## claydogg84 (May 17, 2015)

50 cord... I wouldn't worry about sun/wind exposure with that amount of wood, as I think it will get plenty of time to season.


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## Woody Stover (May 17, 2015)

Nice!  Came out at the top end of your initial guess. I like the empty wheelbarrow in the pic; That's a lotta wheelbarrows full of wood! Kinda dwarfs the 4-cord stack we've got going at my BIL's so far. A lot of that was small, dead trees (stuff he can burn this fall.) Takes a while for it to amount to much. I won't be working steady at it, but I'll be messing with wood all summer, trying to dodge the real hot weather I hope. Enjoy that gorgeous WI summer...you've earned it.   I, too, am unsure about how the Oak I'm stacking now will dry. I just began stacking 3 rows wide on pallets. I'm way ahead, though, so I'll be OK. Just wondering how much difference in drying speed between the new 3-row blocks and the former 2-rows/pallet with air space between rows. Where did you get the EPDM, did you contact a roofer? How wide/long are the chunks when you get 'em? My covers are about shot and I really should get some new ones on this year...


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## JRHAWK9 (May 17, 2015)

Woody Stover said:


> Nice!  Came out at the top end of your initial guess. I like the empty wheelbarrow in the pic; That's a lotta wheelbarrows full of wood! Kinda dwarfs the 4-cord stack we've got going at my BIL's so far. A lot of that was small, dead trees (stuff he can burn this fall.) Takes a while for it to amount to much. I won't be working steady at it, but I'll be messing with wood all summer, trying to dodge the real hot weather I hope. Enjoy that gorgeous WI summer...you've earned it.   I, too, am unsure about how the Oak I'm stacking now will dry. I just began stacking 3 rows wide on pallets. I'm way ahead, though, so I'll be OK. Just wondering how much difference in drying speed between the new 3-row blocks and the former 2-rows/pallet with air space between rows. Where did you get the EPDM, did you contact a roofer? How wide/long are the chunks when you get 'em? My covers are about shot and I really should get some new ones on this year...




I put the wheelbarrow there just for something to gauge scale with.    I didn't actually use it to haul wood.  I used it after though to clean up all the bark and crap left behind by the pile. 

ugh.....summer.  I'd rather have it stay between 50°-70° the whole summer.  I'm not a fan of heat and even less of a fan of humidity.  

As far as the rubber roof.  Yes, I picked up a trailer load for a very reasonable price.  It's cut in roughly 5'x20'-30' sections.  It works great for me, as I just cut it in half and it's good to go.  I posted a thread on it awhile, it can be found -HERE-.


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## brenndatomu (May 17, 2015)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I'm not a fan of heat and even less of a fan of humidity.


I'm with ya on that brotha!


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## Woody Stover (May 17, 2015)

JRHAWK9 said:


> not a fan of heat and even less of a fan of humidity


I thought WI was kinda humid, then I moved here. When the sky is white instead of blue, it's humid.  So far, I haven't ever gotten a lot done in the winter, which shouldn't be hard here. Luckily I can handle heat OK; I just slow down and drink a lot of water. The only thing that saves me is that it's shady in the woods and the yard where I stack. Hopefully, I get all my burning in-laws 3 yrs. ahead this summer, then I can cruise. I'm just dropping, bucking and hauling the wood for them, they split and stack. For my stove, I've got several years stacked, like you do. It's a good feeling, ain'a?


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## JRHAWK9 (May 17, 2015)

Splitting/stacking is my least favorite part.  I'd rather be bucking and hauling.  

very good feeling.  I refer to it as my outdoor savings account.


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## drz1050 (May 17, 2015)

I don't mind splitting- good workout! ... I hate stacking.  I have a load of log length at my house I've been working on, have just been tossing the splits into a pile for now.. that pile is starting to get a little too big, time to stack, ugh.


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## JRHAWK9 (May 17, 2015)

drz1050 said:


> I don't mind splitting- good workout! ... I hate stacking.  I have a load of log length at my house I've been working on, have just been tossing the splits into a pile for now.. that pile is starting to get a little too big, time to stack, ugh.



I'd also rather split vs stack.  The way I do it is split an ATV trailer full (about 1/3 cord) and then when full drive the load to where I'm stacking and stack that load.  I'd rather pick it out of the ATV trailer within arms reach of the stack than have to bend over, pick them off the ground and carry them to the stack.......or re-load them into a trailer when I could have thrown them into the trailer to begin with instead of on the ground during splitting.  The constant change from splitting to stacking also helps break things up a bit.


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## drz1050 (May 17, 2015)

If I had an ATV and a trailer, I'd like that idea.. all I have for my yard is a few wheelbarrows. I feel like those would get filled up too fast.. when I'm in the splitting groove, that pile grows fast.


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## Auzzie Gumtree (May 19, 2015)

It took a while but i think ~ 16 cords............................


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 10, 2016)

Well, here's this winters haul.  I just got it all out of the woods in time before the warm weather and rain makes the woods a wet/muddy mess.  It's not going to be quite as much as last winter.  It measures roughly 28'x19' the same ~7' tall.  It's 80' in circumference around the bottom at the ground.  I do have a small pile of maple off to the left that I will be putting in my soft wood shoulder season stacks.  I'll be starting splitting/stacking all this soon and plan on having it done by May.  I'm guessing 10-12 cords in total........???


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## Sprinter (Mar 10, 2016)

I missed this one last year, but I think Auzzie's calculation would have been closer if he hadn't over-estimated the value of n.  Easy enough to do.   I loved the post, it shows some great engineering humor (and no, it's always an oxymoron).


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## Toomb (Mar 10, 2016)

I am going with 3-4 cords.........I don't see 18 cords behind that pile.  Am I missing something?


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## claydogg84 (Mar 10, 2016)

Toomb said:


> I am going with 3-4 cords.........I don't see 18 cords behind that pile.  Am I missing something?



You think that pile of rounds is 3 - 4 cords?!? I agree with the 10 - 12 estimate.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 10, 2016)

Toomb said:


> I am going with 3-4 cords.........I don't see 18 cords behind that pile.  Am I missing something?



It's very hard to judge by photos, that's why I give the measurements.  There's definitely more there than 3-4 cords though.

Going of the volume calculation of a spherical cap, V = [(Pi)(h)/6][3(a)(a) + (h)(h] , where where pi = 3.14, h = height of pile, and a = radius of pile and taking 90% of that number I come up with a hair under 11.5 cord.  I did the same calc with last years pile and it gave me a little over 16....so it seems to be fairly close.  

http://www.had2know.com/academics/spherical-cap-volume-surface-area-calculator.html


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## Sprinter (Mar 10, 2016)

I'll venture a rough guess at 10 but only for grins.   A random pile is usually much more air space than a traditional stack.  I can't recall the numbers now, so I'm only going by looks on this one.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 10, 2016)

Sprinter said:


> I'll venture a rough guess at 10 but only for grins.   A random pile is usually much more air space than a traditional stack.  I can't recall the numbers now, so I'm only going by looks on this one.



Just to clarify, 10 for the pics posted in post #42....correct?  The original post, from last year, turned out to be 16.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 10, 2016)

Toomb said:


> I don't see 18 cords behind that pile.  Am I missing something?



There are 17.3 cords in those 13 rows you see behind that pile......I just went out a couple weeks ago and measured for my spreadsheet.


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## Sprinter (Mar 10, 2016)

JRHAWK9 said:


> Just to clarify, 10 for the pics posted in post #42....correct?  The original post, from last year, turned out to be 16.


Yes, #42 is what I was looking at.  I missed the earlier posts, so I probably shouldn't join this one at all


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## Toomb (Mar 10, 2016)

Supposedly there are 18 cords behind that pile.....do you see 18 cords?  I don't see them......not sayin they are not there....i just don't see em.....i don't care what measurements are given for the pile............


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 10, 2016)

Toomb said:


> Supposedly there are 18 cords behind that pile.....do you see 18 cords?  I don't see them......not sayin they are not there....i just don't see em.....i don't care what measurements are given for the pile............



there isn't 18 cord behind, there's 17.3.  

well, considering you think that pile is 3-4 cord, I can see why you don't see 17 behind it.

Like I said though, it's very hard to judge photos and that's why measurements were given.  If ya want to argue against the tape measure, well, then, you may just have a little bit of estrogen in ya!  lol


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## claydogg84 (Mar 11, 2016)

Toomb said:


> Supposedly there are 18 cords behind that pile.....do you see 18 cords?  I don't see them......not sayin they are not there....i just don't see em.....i don't care what measurements are given for the pile............



You don't care about measurements? You sound like a reasonable, intelligent person. Please continue to share your wisdom. 

Back on track, JR, what the hell are you going to do with all this wood? It's going to take years to burn through it.


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## jatoxico (Mar 11, 2016)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I got it all split and stacked and just got back in from measuring.  The grand total is 16 cords.  Everything you see in the photo below, with exception to the very first row on the left, is from the pile pictured in the first post.  The rows are stacked 5.5' high (excluding pallet thickness) and they average 20" wide with a total 224 linear feet.  There is a total 17.3 cords in the photo.  I have them covered with EPDM rubber roofing.
> 
> View attachment 158062
> 
> ...


Just found this thread and that is a beautiful thing. I think there would be many summer nights I'd feel compelled to wander in and around those stacks while sipping a cold one. Not sure why that is.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 11, 2016)

claydogg84 said:


> Back on track, JR, what the hell are you going to do with all this wood? It's going to take years to burn through it.



My plan is to burn it when I get to it.  I'll be starting to burn the stuff in the photo during the '17-'18 heating season, as I have enough under my lean-two for next winter plus some.  Seeing I first started stacking back there in spring of '14, when I start burning it it will have been seasoning for 3.5+ years.  I just wish I had a better/more open area to stack it in, but I don't.  My other half would not like it if I clear cut an area just for wood storage....LOL

I just enjoy going out on the weekends during winter and cutting/hauling wood.  Gives me something to do.


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 10, 2016)

JRHAWK9 said:


> Well, here's this winters haul.  I just got it all out of the woods in time before the warm weather and rain makes the woods a wet/muddy mess.  It's not going to be quite as much as last winter.  It measures roughly 28'x19' the same ~7' tall.  It's 80' in circumference around the bottom at the ground.  I do have a small pile of maple off to the left that I will be putting in my soft wood shoulder season stacks.  I'll be starting splitting/stacking all this soon and plan on having it done by May.  I'm guessing 10-12 cords in total........???
> 
> View attachment 176541
> View attachment 176542




Ended up being probably a little over 10.5 cord.  There's a little over 10 1/4 cords stacked as seen by pic below and then I used some to finish off a previous stack elsewhere.  All stacks are ~20" wide and 5.5' tall.  The first four rows are 19' 7" long and the last four rows are 16'7" long.


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## ptman (Apr 10, 2016)

how do you have the posts at the ends supported?  very nice stash of wood there


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 10, 2016)

ptman said:


> how do you have the posts at the ends supported?  very nice stash of wood there



They are just 6 1/2' t-posts driven into the ground a foot or so.


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