Dag blast it!

[Woody Stover]

I happened to glance down at the stacks this afternoon and was dismayed to see this. This was stacked on some discarded half-round fence posts, some of which were kind of weak, on top of concrete half-blocks. I shored up some of the posts that were sagging between the concrete blocks with bricks under the center of the post spans. But I think that since the soil in the woods is kind of spongy, a stack always starts to lean one way or the other and eventually it topples. I could stack shorter, but this one wasn't too much over 4' tall (actual wood height.) Since I'm several years ahead and have more time to let the wood dry, I'm now stacking two rows on pallets with about 6" between the stacks. The pallets are on bricks under each end of the 2x4s. Seems a lot more stable. I'm just going to bring that wood up closer to the house rather than re-stack it there. It's Sugar Maple and I think it's about ready to burn...
In the silver lining department, when I walked down to have a closer look at the crashed stack, I found an item that had been missing for a couple of months; Must have fallen off the quad back there. I'm glad I found that...it's slightly lighter than the similar ones I have seen in the stores.
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[amateur cutter]

mmmmm.......... that's never happened to me. Ok , maybe once........... or twice................. or oh heck, never mind. I did learn real fast to build stacks on stable bases after I picked up a few. Now that I'm ahead on wood, I make sure to stack for longer term stability to avoid such issues, but it can still happen. Critters burrowing, wood drying @ different rates, etc. It just happens sometimes, I'm just glad the wood's there in the first place. A C

 

[ScotO]

DAMMIT Woody! Oh, I'd be a little pi$$ed off if that happened to me. I remember seeing pics of this beautiful wood fence sometime in the late winter/early spring, and it looked great. I'm sure you'll be back to normal after a long weekend of restacking. Who knows, that could have been a ticked-off black bear that was tired of walking all the way around your stacks, so he made himself a shortcut..... Glad you found your maul, too!

 

[Senatormofo]

Bummer! At least you got your maul back!

 

[Woody Stover]

I remember seeing pics of this beautiful wood fence sometime in the late winter/early spring, and it looked great. I'm sure you'll be back to normal after a long weekend of restacking. Who knows, that could have been a ticked-off black bear that was tired of walking all the way around your stacks, so he made himself a shortcut.....

Yeah, at least I've still got that pic to look at. I'm going to move the fallen wood up nearer the house. Need to do that pronto; We are supposed to get a couple inches of rain from the remnants of Isaac. No bears around here. I'll just have to blame it on deer or my cats...couldn't have been a faulty stack job! Now you've got me wondering if a buck would try to scrape against a stack....

 

[bogydave]

I had stacks look just like that.

Now I do just what you are doing, 2 rows on pallets with space between the rows.

I cross stack every 8' or so & wedge a 4' stick in to connect & tie the 2 rows together 2/3 rds up from the bottom every 6'.

No need to get PO'd. It happens.
Like your attitude, "I'm just going to bring that wood up closer to the house rather than re-stack it there."

It had to get close to the house sometime anyway

 

[firefighterjake]

Two rows on pallets . . . a few inches separation between the rows . . . good cross stacking . . . slight inward tilt from the halfway point to the top at 5 feet or so . . . and I have yet to have a row topple over. I did have one stack a few years ago leaning pretty heavily though -- most likely because the ends were being "held" up by one tree on one side and another tree on another side which allowed some movement with the swaying of the trees.

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Just had a moment of silence to grieve...

 

[lukem]

I am such an expert stacker that this isn't even within the realm of possibilities. There's a better chance of the sun not rising tomorrow than my wood stacks falling over....even if a 16.0 earthquake or meteorite were to strike.

 

[smokinj]

Looks like my stacking!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I hate pallets.... Those old fence posts should have worked but the reason they didn't is they were not flat on the ground. We simply cut some small saplings and lay right on the ground to stack the wood on. In over 50 years of doing this I've had one small stack fall over. Still haven't figured out why that was but just hauled it to the barn and stacked for last years wood burning. Nothing else fallen yet but had one close. It was funny watching some deer running around and one actually ran into one of the corners of the stack. It is leaning a bit.

 

[Woody Stover]

I am such an expert stacker that this isn't even within the realm of possibilities. There's a better chance of the sun not rising tomorrow than my wood stacks falling over....even if a 16.0 earthquake or meteorite were to strike.

Musta been a quake...yeah, that's the ticket. Actually, one of the half-blocks was on a slope. I should have leveled that one out on the low side instead of trying to compensate while stacking.
Hey, if my stacking area was as flat as yours, lukem, I'd never have a stack crash either.

Looks like my stacking!

Hey, some say a pile works for drying wood, too.

 

[Lewiston]

Just had a moment of silence to grieve...

Fallen stacks are indeed a sad event.

 

[NH_Wood]

That stinks, but, as others said, at least you have the wood - you are further ahead than most wood burners I know. I like pallets - trying to get a bunch of pressure treated scraps to place under them to make them last longer, but I the still last at least 4 years so far - I don't see the problem with them and I like how they look. Cheers!

 

[osagebow]

sorry to hear ya gotta restack - but glad to see I ain't the only one that can lose tools for months at a time

 

[Woody Stover]

Well alright then. After wiping away the tears, I set about to put this tragic episode behind me as quickly as possible. I moved about three quad trailer loads up nearer the house. I fixed a sloping concrete half-block that may have caused the stack to lean and eventually fall. I then re-stacked the remainder, but at a lower height. Besides the Sugar Maple, there was also some Pignut in that row that fell. The smaller splits were bowling-pin dry so I brought them up and tossed them on the "this year" stacks.
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[Woody Stover]

glad to see I ain't the only one that can lose tools for months at a time

I thought I had re-traced my steps from the last time I used that maul, but it turns out that I took a different path to the spot where I park the quad...

 

[weatherguy]

Yup, its happened to me a few times, its an earthquake alright, welcome to the club

 

[bogydave]

Poison Ivy
I'm starting to itch !


Glad you got it off the ground.
Nice picture, not going to touch it though. LOL

 

[Woody Stover]

Poison Ivy
I'm starting to itch !

Yeah, it's all over the place. The drought earlier this Summer has knocked it down considerably though. The undergrowth in general is very thin compared to a normal year.

 

[Woody Stover]

I hate pallets.... Those old fence posts should have worked but the reason they didn't is they were not flat on the ground. We simply cut some small saplings and lay right on the ground to stack the wood on.

I think I will have a lot better luck with the pallets. Stacking single rows on ground that is sloping in two different directions seems to be problematic. As I said, everything I stack now is going on pallets which are on bricks, two rows wide. Those stacks seem very stable so far. I'm also trying to find terrain that is only sloping in one direction. I rather like the look of the stacks on pallets, and they should last a long time since they are off the ground on bricks. As you can see, I also don't entirely cross-stack the ends. I'll stack two or three rows normally, then cross-stack a row. Seems to be working pretty well so far, especially on the uphill end of the stacks.

 

[TimJ]

stacks look good and taking them down in height will help a bunch

 

[lukem]

I hit one of my stacks last night with the lawnmower...rear tire caught the end of the stack as I was making the turn.

 

[Woody Stover]

I hit one of my stacks last night with the lawnmower...rear tire caught the end of the stack as I was making the turn.

If those stacks will stand up to meteorites and 16.0 quakes, I'll bet a mere mower hit didn't even cause it to shake a little...

 

[lukem]

It is a beast of a mower.