# "show us your woodpile" photo contest



## MattB (Jul 25, 2008)

Hi folks,

I've been an occasional lurker for the last couple of years. Please forgive the fact that this is my initial post, as it is pseudo-commercial, in that it directs you to my company's website. But I received Craig's blessing, so I guess it's kosher.

I roast coffee with a woodfired machine. As far as I know, there are nine or ten folks in the US using this kind of technology and process. A bit antiquated, and a bit of a pain in the butt, but wood is good, for a number of reasons. Happily, you all know this--I'm preaching to the choir.

Anyhow, I'm running a contest. Basically, I'm looking for photos of woodpiles: large or small, well-stacked or not, with human and critter accompaniment, or without. Whoever submits the best image will receive a grinder or coffee press and free coffee shipped to them for a year.

Details for the contest can be found at www.mattscoffee.com. You're allowed one image via e-mail. (Unlimited submissions via hardcopy/snail mail.) The contest runs through the middle of November.

Any questions, feel free to give me a shout.

Cheers,
Matt
Matt's Wood Roasted Organic Coffee
Waterville and Pownal, ME


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## Adios Pantalones (Jul 25, 2008)

Too cool.  Wood fired coffee roasting- fantastic!


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## WOODBUTCHER (Jul 25, 2008)

WoodButcher is going to have fun with this.......


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## BrotherBart (Jul 25, 2008)

I suspect I should keep looking for Maxwell House coupons in the paper.


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## BrotherBart (Jul 25, 2008)

If Forum member doug60 submits his pic I think it ought to win hands down.


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## begreen (Jul 25, 2008)

Great idea, though there'll be some really tough competition if Alastair Heseltine gets into this. 
http://www.alastairheseltine.com/

http://www.alastairheseltine.com/images/index/a.jpg

Here's some other cool stacks:


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## webbie (Jul 25, 2008)

Wood fired coffee from Maine.....fair trade - organic -----hmm, I'm feeling a little tired........time for a cup.


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## STOVEGUY11 (Jul 25, 2008)

No one in my area does anything fun like that. I did see 2years ago a guy that made a little house in his front yard. I guess I should have taken a picture.


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## Jags (Jul 25, 2008)

Webmaster said:
			
		

> Wood fired coffee from Maine.....fair trade - organic -----hmm, I'm feeling a little tired........time for a cup.



A little "perk" of the business, eh?


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## myzamboni (Jul 26, 2008)

WOODBUTCHER said:
			
		

> WoodButcher is going to have fun with this.......




......by referring ot himself in the 3rd person.


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## MattB (Nov 14, 2008)

Just a reminder that the deadline for this contest is tomorrow. We've had some cool entries.

Cheers,
Matt


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## firefighterjake (Nov 14, 2008)

No photos from me . . . just a boring ol' woodstack covered by a few multi-colored tarps.

However, I did want to give a shout out to MattB since he's just a hop, skip and a jump from where I live . . . best of luck with your business Matt. Now where exactly in Waterville are you located-- not that I drink coffee . . . someday I may grow up and start drinking the stuff though.


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## JustWood (Nov 14, 2008)

Am I allowed to enter the contest?   hehehehe


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## fossil (Nov 14, 2008)

LEES WOOD-CO said:
			
		

> Am I allowed to enter the contest?   hehehehe



I think maybe he's looking for_ quality_, not _quantity_, Lee.      Rick


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## JustWood (Nov 14, 2008)

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ,  fiddle sticks !  I thought I had a slam dunk!


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## fossil (Nov 14, 2008)

LEES WOOD-CO said:
			
		

> AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ,  fiddle sticks !  I thought I had a slam dunk!



Doesn't sound to me like you need any more coffee anyway.   :lol:   Rick


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## smokinj (Nov 14, 2008)

[quote author="LEES WOOD-CO" date="1226688873"]Am I allowed to enter the contest?   hehehehe[/quot
I think you should alot of those pic's i have seen on the net before this site so LETTER YIP


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## Nushagak (Nov 14, 2008)

Wood shed and additional stack.


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## Nushagak (Nov 14, 2008)

Woodshed


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## Nushagak (Nov 14, 2008)

Side view


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## Nushagak (Nov 14, 2008)

2 more woods stacks on property.


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## raybonz (Nov 15, 2008)

Nushagak said:
			
		

> Side view



Nice wood shed! Alaska is a beautiful state.. How bad are the winters where you're located?

Ray


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## Nushagak (Nov 15, 2008)

I'm in Fairbanks, so the winters are cold.  Normally we get very little wind in the winter but we do get some pretty intense cold, -10 to - 20 very common with some -40 and lower temps as well.    Photo is from my drive way -30 of a full moon about 3 pm.


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## raybonz (Nov 16, 2008)

Nushagak said:
			
		

> I'm in Fairbanks, so the winters are cold.  Normally we get very little wind in the winter but we do get some pretty intense cold, -10 to - 20 very common with some -40 and lower temps as well.    Photo is from my drive way -30 of a full moon about 3 pm.




Great pic!! I am using it as my desktop wallpaper 

Thanx,
Ray


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## firefighterjake (Nov 17, 2008)

Nushagak said:
			
		

> I'm in Fairbanks, so the winters are cold.  Normally we get very little wind in the winter but we do get some pretty intense cold, -10 to - 20 very common with some -40 and lower temps as well.    Photo is from my drive way -30 of a full moon about 3 pm.



Well my proverbial hat is off to you . . . a few years back I visited my sister and her husband who live in Portage. At the time I remember thinking that the legendary insects of Alaska were a bunch of hooey and hype . . . until I decided to head north and go to the Arctic Circle (why? just to do the dumb hick Maine thing so I could say I've been to the Arctic Circle  ). 

In any case, I stopped off in your city on the way through as there is a marsh where migrating birds stop by . . . and Lord oh Lord . . . I have never ever seen so many blood-thirsty mosquitoes and other biting bugs (even worse than Maine's legendary blackflies). I saw a few birds (at least I think they were birds -- maybe they were large mosquitoes), but I pretty much ran through the entire area before making my escape.

So what I'm trying to say is being outdoors in middle of Summer (this was a few days before the Summer Equinox) in Fairbanks was pretty bad . . . I can't imagine what it would be like in middle of Winter in Fairbanks.


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## MattB (Dec 26, 2008)

Results are in and up on our website. Check them out. We got some great entries, and will do it again next year.

Cheers,
Matt


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## savageactor7 (Dec 26, 2008)

A low maintainance hasty wood shed.

Doesn't look like much in that zoom photo but that's 2 1/2 - 3 years of wood under that 40x 20 tarp...the wood sits on a 6" gravel pad and is 'piled' 12' +-.


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## raybonz (Dec 26, 2008)

savageactor7 said:
			
		

> A low maintainance hasty wood shed.
> 
> Doesn't look like much in that zoom photo but that's 2 1/2 - 3 years of wood under that 40x 20 tarp...the wood sits on a 6" gravel pad and is 'piled' 12' +-.



Great way to store wood for short money! Very good idea for an inexpensive way of covering up your supply... I think a heavy duty silver tarp would last longer at least with all the wind I get here!

Ray


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## LLigetfa (Dec 26, 2008)

Good idea with the A frame.  I thought of doing something similar but with a rope between two trees but then the trees died from my leaning the wood against the bark.  Thought of leaving the dead trunks like poles but SWMBO vetoed it right quick.  Blue was a BIG NO NO too for aesthetic reasons and eventually even silver fell out of grace.  Was eying up camo netting at one point.


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## savageactor7 (Dec 26, 2008)

Oh thanks guys. Here's the pile we're using this year...it's smaller, the tarp is 20x30, it's about 7-8ft high in the center so you can walk in with a wheelbarror after awhile. Ray is right about the tarps, back in the day I got a good 2 years out of them maybe a 3rd with mending. Now the gromlets fall out after a week... so next year I have to upgrade to heavy duty. I'll do silver, we're out in the sticks so I'm mostly looking for function over looks.


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## myzamboni (Dec 27, 2008)

Savageactor7, you should get some of these for tarps:  http://stores.ebay.com/PointOne-Premiums_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsxQ3asstQQtZkm


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## LLigetfa (Dec 27, 2008)

Here is an old photo of my woodshed and beside it, the remnant of one of my old tarped woodpiles.  I would lay down long skinny logs spaced for airflow and then build a floor out of more skinny 5 footers perpendicular.  the two ends were large stacked rounds with skinny 5 footers cross-piled between them.  I then topped them off with more long skinny logs to form the roof and drape the tarp over it.  In the summer I folded the sides up to let air through and lowered them in winter to keep snow out.  It would hold 3 cords and I had two of them.  The woodshed holds 12 cord.


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## savageactor7 (Dec 27, 2008)

myzamboni said:
			
		

> Savageactor7, you should get some of these for tarps:  http://stores.ebay.com/PointOne-Premiums_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsxQ3asstQQtZkm



well thanks I went in and that's the material I want..."5x stronger than HD tarps" they advertise. Only fly in the ointment is they don't have gromlets...and I've been lashing with gromlets forever and believe it or not they don't have our 2 critical sizes. 30x20 and 40x20. Anyway that link got me thinking about the thickness in mills so it's a step in the right direction.


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## fossil (Dec 27, 2008)

It's easy to install grommets yourself.  You just need the tool.  Punch a hole wherever you want, then position the two halves of a grommet, give the upper part of the die a rap with a hammer, and you're done.  Buy the tool sized for the grommets you'll be using.  Nothin' to it.  I've done it in canvas to re-cover patio chairs.  My dad showed me when I was a kid when he made covers for his boat.  Rick

EDIT:  Here's an example of a decent kit:

http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-2-Inch-Grommet-1260-4/dp/B00004T7VZ


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## LLigetfa (Dec 27, 2008)

There are several products that you can use without making holes in the fabric.  They work like garters for nylon stockings.


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## savageactor7 (Dec 27, 2008)

Rick that tools good for replacing gromlets but to put them in every 20" on a huge tarp could be time consuming but that good to know. LLigetfa's on to something with those tarp holders...hell with them I could even hasty repair my current tarps...never heard of them LLigetfa, thank for the heads up. Next year thicker tarps or tarp like material are in order.

The thing I like about tarps is that they are simple to throw up and relativly inexpensive...but now even buying a half way decent tarp is becoming an effort. I just feel bad for taking tarps for granted all these years...they did a good job and that was that.


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## LLigetfa (Dec 27, 2008)

What I like about the tarp holder is that when you fold a big tarp in half, there are no grommets on one side and the other three sides most of the grommets never line up but it doesn't matter.  The poor mans way is to stick a pebble on one side and tie a string around it from the other side.  It's just too hard to find pebbles under three feet of snow.


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## raybonz (Dec 27, 2008)

savageactor7 said:
			
		

> Rick that tools good for replacing gromlets but to put them in every 20" on a huge tarp could be time consuming but that good to know. LLigetfa's on to something with those tarp holders...hell with them I could even hasty repair my current tarps...never heard of them LLigetfa, thank for the heads up. Next year thicker tarps or tarp like material are in order.
> 
> The thing I like about tarps is that they are simple to throw up and relativly inexpensive...but now even buying a half way decent tarp is becoming an effort. I just feel bad for taking tarps for granted all these years...they did a good job and that was that.



I bought these when I bought my heavy duty silver tarps and I couldn't make them fit with the heavy tarp mat'l.. Maybe they work OK with the lighter tarps...Try before you buy too many..

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93740

Ray


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## savageactor7 (Dec 27, 2008)

Ray do you know what mill strenght your silver tarps are...and did you lose any gromlets yet? And thanks for harbor freight link too earlier I registered on the EZ grabit page but after shopping it refused to recognize my shopping cart. I try again tomorrow...or maybe I'll stop at HD/Lowes.


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## raybonz (Dec 27, 2008)

savageactor7 said:
			
		

> Ray do you know what mill strenght your silver tarps are...and did you lose any gromlets yet? And thanks for harbor freight link too earlier I registered on the EZ grabit page but after shopping it refused to recognize my shopping cart. I try again tomorrow...or maybe I'll stop at HD/Lowes.



I have only one tarp grommet loose so far (not at the corner which are reinforced) and this a tarp suspended 12' and subject to heavy winds.. They are very sturdy and GooseRider mentioned them to me a while back as they are what he uses too.. Here is a link on the tarp specs:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=30871

Here is a link for the NY store locations:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/retail_stores.taf#NY

Ray


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## myzamboni (Dec 28, 2008)

savageactor7 said:
			
		

> Rick that tools good for replacing gromlets but to put them in every 20" on a huge tarp could be time consuming but that good to know. LLigetfa's on to something with those tarp holders...hell with them I could even hasty repair my current tarps...never heard of them LLigetfa, thank for the heads up. Next year thicker tarps or tarp like material are in order.
> 
> The thing I like about tarps is that they are simple to throw up and relativly inexpensive...but now even buying a half way decent tarp is becoming an effort. I just feel bad for taking tarps for granted all these years...they did a good job and that was that.



Actually, if you mark where you are going to put the grommits, you can literally bang out the grommiting very quickly.  what I don't like about the plastic grommit/hook things being posted is plastic gets brittle over time in sunlight.


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