Why stack Rounds?

[basswidow]

I've seen alot of posts lately where guys have neatly stacked rows of rounds. Don't you have to take them out of these neat stacks to split them and then stack again? Isn't this an extra step and alot of hard work? Is this part of the compulsion? OCD neatness in your work area maybe?

From the truck - mine go right into a pile. When I have done enough scrounging, I split and then stack.

I just can't see stacking the rounds and then stacking the splits. Seems like double work. The ground won't hurt those rounds for the short time they are piled up. IMO

Looks nice though. I carry each piece of wood enough already. 1) from the woods to the truck 2) from the truck to the pile 3) to the stacks after split 4) to the garage for the winter 5) to the stove RIP. Any time I can save in the process?

 

[gzecc]

I agree. I have learned to touch the wood as little as possible. Its laborious enough with out adding another step. I guess if I received so many rounds that I just couldn't process them I would also stack them.

 

[weatherguy]

Some people like to touch their wood

 

[fahmahbob]

I figure it's one of two things:

1) small property, trying to keep happy neighbors/wife
2) OCD

I have lots of land, so I hide my piles of rounds.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I'm on the minimize touches plan and like the waterfall method. Off the trailer over the bank onto the splitting terrace. Splits and toss again down below onto the heap. Push heap around with tractor to rotate stock. Stack under a roof only when I am worried about them getting buried in snow or it is a long term investment for January wood.

 

[gzecc]

Mine goes from rounds on trailer, to pile next to stack, then split, then stack at same location.
Occasionally, I split from the trailer pile, then load in a garden trailer and then stack at a remote location, near the front of the house.
Its still too much work. I can't imagine then stacking into a wood shed after a year or two of seasoning.

 

[Thistle]

About 2 cords here cut over the past 7-8 weeks that needs split/stacked. Yesterday I dropped a 24" Red Oak snag at bottom of steep hill a few feet from NE corner of parent's acreage.Part of the top was gone,guessing it had been dead close to 10 yrs,didnt notice it until last winter.Rounds over 12" I quarter or half in the field with the X25 or maul to make them easier to lift in the cart,plus they take up less room.Then everything gets dumped here to be worked up at my leisure.Gives me something to do if its raining or too wet to get around in the woods.

 

[gzecc]

About 2 cords here cut over the past 7-8 weeks that needs split/stacked. Yesterday I dropped a 24" Red Oak snag at bottom of steep hill a few feet from NE corner of parent's acreage.Part of the top was gone,guessing it had been dead close to 10 yrs,didnt notice it until last winter.Rounds over 12" I quarter or half in the field with the X25 or maul to make them easier to lift in the cart,plus they take up less room.Then everything gets dumped here to be worked up at my leisure.Gives me something to do if its raining or too wet to get around in the woods.

That is some nice looking stuff. Looks like "quads wood"!

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Save yourself some splinters.

remove the rounds from the FEL bucket, place them in the boiler.

Save your hands for

1) a woman's hips

2) a glass of 15yo Glenfiddich

3) lending to someone in need.

 

[Battenkiller]

Just as wood dries much faster from the ends, it also absorbs water much faster.

A little observation from the past...

Several years ago I asked a wood dealer to put several of his biggest diameter log sections on the truck with the delivery. He had no problem since he didn't have to cut and split them. The intent was to turn big salad bowls out of them. He brought five sections about 16-20" in diameter and about 4' long. I stood them on end on a concrete pad to allow the rain to keep the ends from checking and to keep them moist for easier rough turning.

I never got back to them until a couple years had passed. When I cut them into sections, I found that they were punky all the way through to the bottom. Still very wet, too. This was all real nice ash, same stuff that burned so great two winters before. I learned the hard way, and will always lay them on their sides in the future. After seeing that the ancient white ash that Savage brought to Woodstock was completely free of punk after up to nine years in the stack, it's all the more obvious to me that the proper way to store cut wood is always on its side.

And please ignore that huge heapenhausen of black birch in my back yard, that guy has a few screws loose anyway.

 

[bogydave]

To me it depends on a few conditions.
If I'm not going to split it for a while, I like to stack. I've had the bottom & middle rounds start growing mold & mushrooms if left a few months or more.
If I have help unloading, stacking helps me out when I start splitting, I work the stacked rows down to knee level horizontal, no to little bending to get on the splitter. Then finish off vert. I can
just move the splitter down the row, split what I can reach, the move ahead a few feet. Speeds up my splitting time.
Sometimes I just want it to be stacked, I'm not racing & knowing when I split it'll be easier & faster to get close, I take my time, Big heavies rolled off & on the bottom for Vert splitting.
Going down a 20' double row of rounds when splitting is easier & faster for me. I can split all the wood & not get 2-blocked with a pile of splits in the way. Just pull the splitter ahead.
Managing the split sizes in the stacks is easier on my back, no lifting or throwing the big rounds. Throwing the rounds (from medium to large sizes) is a "DO NOT DO ANYMORE" my back just won't take it.

Now if I have a scrounge that I need to get while the getting is good, I off load fast so I can get another load, Highway & power line scrounges, many people getting the wood, so quick, means more.
But I have a spread out mess of rounds that makes splitting more work.

I handle the wood sometimes 14 times by the time it goes to the garden as ashes.
I'm working with "what's the most efficient for me & my back", not what's the fastest.

So we each have reasons for the way we manage our wood, one way is not always the best way for others.
Beside it all outdoor fun work for me, why rush, when part of it is for the enjoyment.

 

[Todd]

I like to stack my rounds because I don't know when I'll get to splitting and it takes up less room stacked than a spread out massive pile. I also scrounge and only come across small amounts like maybe 1/2 to 1 cord so it's not much work to stack. If I had access to 2-4 cords it would probably be in a big heaping pile instead.

 

[maxed_out]

+1 I think we are more than a little OCD on stacking anything.

 

[Danno77]

I do whatever suits my mood and time constraints. My favorite thing to be able to do is pull a round of the truck, split it and throw it onto e stacks. That doesn't seem to happen often enough!

 

[bogydave]

I do whatever suits my mood and time constraints. My favorite thing to be able to do is pull a round of the truck, split it and throw it onto e stacks. That doesn't seem to happen often enough!

+1,
That's a great plan. Off the truck to the splitter to the stack.
If i had 4 of me, it would work.
Seems 3 of the 4 of me are always to tired after cutting, bucking & loading to go right into splitting & stacking when we get home.
I gotta work on those 3 guys. Maybe replace them with younger models. LOL

 

[OhioBurner©]

If someone wants to stack their rounds neatly, thats fine by me. Sure its more work but if they want to do it who are we to say, no its more work than your suppose to do you need to dump it in a pile...

I used to stack rounds because I know I wouldnt get to them for a while, but now I try to split it soon after getting it so it doesnt usually matter. I have two neighbors that stack rounds, both have a system that works for them. One of them is an old retired farmer who sells a little for income. He has a fence row that he makes one long row of firewood. He pays some of the neighborhood kids to help him cut wood and they drop it off in a row infront of the row of firewood so they are parallel. He leaves enough space to get his tractor and splitter inbetween the two rows. Then as he has time he does the splitting himself and just drives the tractor between the two rows, transferring round from right side row to splitter to left side row. Looks nice, works well, and minimizes damage to the grass and stuff I suppose.

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

I agree with the thought. However this past year I could only haul wood on rare days. There was often too much water, snow, or wind to get in and haul out. So I walked in an cut, and cut, and cut.... Since It's all woods grown stuff with few crotches it stacks easy. Then I can move the splitter along the face of the stack and split pretty fast with few steps. Quite a bit easier for me if there is snow.

So I actually have both. A couple big rows of stacked, and a couple good sized piles of rounds.

Whatever gets it up th chimney!

ATB,
Mike P

 

[onion]

I like to stack my rounds because I don't know when I'll get to splitting and it takes up less room stacked than a spread out massive pile. I also scrounge and only come across small amounts like maybe 1/2 to 1 cord so it's not much work to stack. If I had access to 2-4 cords it would probably be in a big heaping pile instead.

+1

I have rounds stacked from the smaller trees I cut from the back. When I scrounge up a cord or more at a time it gets heaped to save time and effort. Stacking a 1/4 or 1/2 cord of rounds takes almost no time and I could use the exercise. Plus, much of what I have in the woods behind the house is Red Maple which seems to dry pretty well in the round, if I cut it in the winter and split by May it is fine.

 

[basswidow]

Hey Thistle - that old oak looks good to go now! Great find and I bet it will burn great. I found some like that a couple years ago. It was tough on the chains - petrified like rock - burned great.

As for stacking rounds - the responses make sence.

- to make it look nice for wife/neighbors
- lack of space
- not going to split for awhile - don't want it to punk on the ground.

All sound like good reasons to me.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I cut during winter and split in the spring. Therefore I stack the cut wood as rounds and stack them right where I want to build the woodpile. So it is split and immediately stack. Some folks split and then tote the split wood to where it is to be stacked but I stack right where it has been split.

(broken image removed)

 

[Woody Stover]

I've been thinking that if I get more than a few years out on my wood supply, I might want to stack some in rounds and split it a couple years before I burn it to keep it from getting too dry. Haven't had time yet to do the necessary research to resolve dryness vs. burning efficiency questions that I have...

 

[firefighterjake]

About the only time I stack rounds . . . and it's pretty rare . . . is when I'm cutting in the Fall and don't feel like hauling the wood home (since the neighbors and friends are already convinced I am a wood horder and I've got my wood already to go for the next two or three years) . . . in this case I stack up the rounds just so I can find them easier in the Spring . . . plus I figure it might give the wood a sense of false hope that perhaps I've changed my mind and decided to spare it from the fire.

 

[onetracker]

I like to stack my rounds because I don't know when I'll get to splitting and it takes up less room stacked than a spread out massive pile. I also scrounge and only come across small amounts like maybe 1/2 to 1 cord so it's not much work to stack. If I had access to 2-4 cords it would probably be in a big heaping pile instead.

yep that's me. i load up the big-booty cutoffs from the logging yard before the vultures with big trucks come in and take it all. if i'm working alone i have to noodle them, maybe even 1/4's for some of them so i can load them. i really have no choice but to throw them in a big pile in my woods. this is my first year employing this strategy.

after hunting season, weather permitting, i'l rent a splitter and try to get it all split and throw the splits right into the pickup and haul them over and stack them by the house. then into the garage the following year (or two). its alot of handling but the wood is free, plentiful and of high quality.

 

[velvetfoot]

I piled rounds for the first time this fall with the last grapple load. I've gotten the last two grapple loads dropped off at the road, so one way or other I have to move it all to stacks, somehow. The grapple load I got in the spring I split horizontally, lifting each round into the lawn cart, and then splitting each load - so I didn't have to lift them again. This time, I wanted to split vertically. I couldn't find a nice spot near the pile, at first, but did find a spot after the pile of logs got lower. My workflow, for a Saturday, was to cut up a log, split it, tossing splits into lawn cart, and then dumping splits near eventual final location. It takes a little while to drag the splitter out to the road, set it up, and then break it down. Maybe good for the weekend, but for after work. I was also thinking about getting the wood off the road before the snow flies, etc. Anyway, I wound up stacking the rounds. Now, I've been rolling the rounds to the splitter, have a pile of splits along with rounds, and it's gonna snow tomorrow. Oh well. I wonder how much a pellet insert costs...

 

[Gunks]

I stacked rounds because it's my art work.