How to dry ugly wood?

[midwestcoast]

I have about 2 1/2 cords in 3 rows approx 7' tall all drying nice & neat. I also have about a half face-cord of odd-balls that I can't add to the piles. These are the remnants of crotches & knots as well as totally random length & shape yard wood that my neighbor brought over (uh, thanks I guess).
Right now I have some of it in a little precarious pile & some just sitting on concrete waiting for a plan. So how do you dry & store your uglies? thinking of a little crib of some sort, but don't want to spend time or money on wood that's already cost too much time splitting. I don't have an outdoor fire-pit to feed.

 

[Shari]

One pallet on the ground, vertical pallet pallet on each end, 2x4's or other scrap wood to space between the vertical pallets to create a 'crib'. Cost = screws to put it together.

Shari

 

[Got Wood]

spread them over the top of your "neat" stacks

 

[Jack Straw]

How to dry ugly wood?......Put a bag over its face %-P :sick:

 

[ChrisNJ]

wow 7ft tall rows, guess I am a bit conservative with mine at 4ft and those are topped with all the oddballs. I think I will make one of those cribs to maximize my racks too.

 

[smokinj]

I have one rowe that is wider than the others and just toss it in there and no one can see it.

 

[midwestcoast]

spread them over the top of your "neat" stacks

Not at 7+ feet high. I don't wanna hve to pass out hardhats in the back yard hh:

 

[midwestcoast]

I stack high to minimize the space & marital disruption of the woodpiles. Jay, do you mean a double-row with the junk behind? I may try something like that, Free, Easy & Out-of-Sight

 

[CJRages]

I stack high to minimize the space & marital disruption of the woodpiles.

LOL +1

 

[Shari]

I stack high to minimize the space & marital disruption of the woodpiles. Jay, do you mean a double-row with the junk behind? I may try something like that, Free, Easy & Out-of-Sight

With some 16-18" stuff I have stacked double rows on 40" pallets, I just dumped the odd ones between the two rows. Problem is I am now cutting 20" pieces so there is no space between rows which is why I built a 'crib' for the odd pieces.

Shari

 

[thewoodlands]

I put them on the top then when I cover my stacks I use them to hold down the tarp, when I'm done burning that stack I burn them.

Zap

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Shari's crib approach has worked for me. A pallet and some sort of uprights and rails (or whatever) to contain it all to a 3-4ft height. Random thrown, the 'uglies' all seems to dry fairly well that way.

If thrown between rows, especially stacks of green splits, it ought to slow down seasoning of everything- because that way nothing is breathing as well as it could and should. I'm now trying to get away from close stacked rows, and move to rows with some air space between them.

 

[firefighterjake]

I always end up with "chunks" and "uglies" . . . I just toss them on top of my stacks to dry or stack them on the side of the stacks on the pallets so they're off the ground.

In the Fall when I don't need a lot of fire or heat I typically use the "chunks" and "uglies" for my first few fires . . . and when stacking in the woodshed they either go on top of the pile or in the space between the stacks.

 

[LLigetfa]

Give away the ugly wood to the moochers. It's not worth the hassle. I used to try consuming my ugly wood by putting it on the top of my stacks in the shed. Then I would load it up in a wheelbarrow and park it near the patio door to take from it there. Not worth the PITA. Now I just leave it pile up where I do my processing.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Mine gets tossed from the splitter into the not worthy of stacking or a roof heap. The short stuff gets burned in the fall and the longer stuff in the spring.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

When I am stack on pallets, 2 deep, 20 inches, if I have some small pieces I can just stack two together(in the back), or if I have and end cross stack I put short ones in the middle where the air gap is. Best bet is when I build a HH you can just throw any of that stuff in the middle without a concern. And the wife and everyone else loves looking at the finished product, and they have not idea what it looks like in the center.

 

[ckarotka]

I just built a crib today from pallets. Thanks for the great idea. It's not picture worthy though. I had to cover the eye's of my Bob Villa doll during construction. I was a carpenter for 10 years and this crib is not up to my usual standards, it just needed to perform. I made all cuts with the chainsaw and really pieced it together, not pretty but strong and functional.

Thanks again.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

I just built a crib today from pallets. Thanks for the great idea. It's not picture worthy though. I had to cover the eye's of my Bob Villa doll during construction. I was a carpenter for 10 years and this crib is not up to my usual standards, it just needed to perform. I made all cuts with the chainsaw and really pieced it together, not pretty but strong and functional.

Thanks again.

Oh, come on. You can show us. Discriminating wood burners everywhere want to know. You get a free pass because we know you are a real carpenter, not just a rookie amateur like most of us.


(Just kidding, but junky pallets for junk wood sounds good!)

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Lately I stack on pallets. I box stack the corners, with a couple rows between, and throw uglies in the middle or on top.

In the middle of a HH works well too.

 

[ckarotka]

I just built a crib today from pallets. Thanks for the great idea. It's not picture worthy though. I had to cover the eye's of my Bob Villa doll during construction. I was a carpenter for 10 years and this crib is not up to my usual standards, it just needed to perform. I made all cuts with the chainsaw and really pieced it together, not pretty but strong and functional.

Thanks again.

Oh, come on. You can show us. Discriminating wood burners everywhere want to know. You get a free pass because we know you are a real carpenter, not just a rookie amateur like most of us.


(Just kidding, but junky pallets for junk wood sounds good!)

Since you asked so nice!!

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Now that looks like it was done by a carpenter. Very nice!
Wood burners improvise a lot. ;-)

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

ckarotka,

I can see why you're a bit ashamed of your work - I don't see any duct tape. A few of those silver-gray strips judiciously placed and it will look "front yard" quality!

Or you can try a little landscaping around it to spruce it up a little. Just pick up an old toilet you find in the road ditch, place it in front of the crib with some good fertile soil in the bowl and tank and plant nettles and nightshade.

 

[kbrown]

I know that I'm a little late to this party, but came across this searching for an answer to this for me also! Last summer, I had about a 1/4 pickup bed full of cookies and other fine chunky, knotty, crochity, etc junk and it looked like hell in my small yard. This year, I am committed to keeping a respectable looking processing area and yard. A friend of mine has an old non EPA stove that just sucks down the wood so he gladly took the larger rejects off my hands. Other small stuff (3"-6") went to a dumpster --->neighbor gladly offered his at his landscaping business! ;-) Yes, it did hurt me to dispose of that, but the wife was very happy and even let me build more racks! This year I'm trying out the bin idea; found one outside of a local business already to go! Will post a couple of pics once I get it in place; needs a bit of work but it's nice since it was built as a pallet bin for parts, etc. If this works well, my plan is to get another one and this time use up some old outdoor paint on it; keeps the neighbors happy to not be looking at old pallets.

 

[LLigetfa]

I know that I'm a little late to this party...

Better late than never.

I can't bring myself to toss them on my burn pile but the growing heaps of rejects are becoming an eyesore. I keep thinking I'll make a firepit someday and burn them in it but they will rot before that happens. I just might have to build Holtz whatevers to get them up off the ground before the wife gets on my case about it. Maybe I will make 40 inch diameter cylinders out of left over 6 foot tall welded wire fencing, set them on pallets and just toss the chunks inside. Kind of a lazy man's Holtz. Would be a PITA to empty them back out though. Maybe fold over a foot of the fence top and bottom so they're only 4 feet tall...

I'm also thinking of moving my wood processing area further away from my driveway. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

[ANeat]

I build a pallet box similar to the one above, I dont modify the pallets in any way, just tack them together with a few nails.

The idea (for me) is to pull what I can from the top, then knock the front loose when needed to get to the rest.


I get truckloads of oak ends from a local mill, cheap, so there is really no other good way to stack them.