Trying a new stack base system..

[Woody Stover]

We're using dead Sassafras logs as a base, with cattle panel, 4 GA. welded wire sections on top held in place with a few fence staples. The Sass is quite rot-resistant, and hopefully these bases will be stable and hold up for a long time. The cattle panel comes in 50"x16' sections, which now cost $33 each at Rural King, but I got six last year for $25 each, enough to stack twelve cords. 🤗 We set these two up today at my wood-grabbin' nephew's folks' place, where my ex-Fireview now resides. We have a couple other bases over there that I set up there previously, using a double-layer of concrete remesh from a couple rolls that I scrounged in front of someone's house that had a "free" sign on em. I threw em in the ditch where no one else could see em, went and got the big car and 5x8 trailer and came back to grab em. ✊ 😏
Nephew was getting ahead of me on splitting. I wanted to get the bases set up ASAP so they can stack the pile of splits and get it outta the way.
So, any guesses on how much this pile will stack out to? It's about 8x8' on the base and 6' high.
He was splitting when I got there to finish the stack bases this afternoon, but he tossed a small round over toward the splitter, it hit a tire and flew up, smashing the plastic fuel bowl! 😖
Anybody have ideas, suggestions, improvements we could make to this system?

 

[Wood1Dennis]

Is the idea that the cattle fence will make the piles more stable? I use cedar logs here in much the same way but without the mesh. My wood is piled in double rows, two cedar logs under each so four logs for each pile. I use logs that are about the length of the piles, around 10 feet. It works well, the wood is off the ground and air can circulate under it. The cedar posts last a long time, also very rot resistant. I think with my system the wire fence is not really needed, but with short pieces, or the three base logs in your pics I bet it will work fine.

 

[Gearhead660]

Betting it will last longer than pallets!

Guessing it stacks out to a full cord.

 

[Eman85]

We set pallets on old broken pieces of cap blocks and bricks and they don't rot. Pallets are free and flat and there's plenty of scrap bricks and blocks around for free, broken concrete works good too.

 

[Woody Stover]

Is the idea that the cattle fence will make the piles more stable? I use cedar logs here in much the same way but without the mesh. My wood is piled in double rows, two cedar logs under each so four logs for each pile. I use logs that are about the length of the piles, around 10 feet. It works well, the wood is off the ground and air can circulate under it. The cedar posts last a long time, also very rot resistant. I think with my system the wire fence is not really needed, but with short pieces, or the three base logs in your pics I bet it will work fine.

Yep, I also have a couple of short stacks that are two runners under each row, either 4x6 or 6x6 treated wood on the ground, or landscape timbers on concrete blocks. Yes, more stability is one hope I have for this setup. Seems to me that with the logs, there's a lot more support in contact with the ground than with pallets on concrete blocks, and I think that the 8' logs will be less prone to sinking and shifting. The cattle panels, with that thick wire, should add to stability I think. Now, that first base was built with some odds and ends that were pulled from a big that of rounds and long-cuts that isn't show in the pics, that has yet to be split. That stuff is from my nephew's work buddy's house in town, where he took down some dying trees. He had a guy bring over a portable mill and made some lumber..White Ash, mostly. You can see that one 4' Sass half-round with the mill-cut flat top.
I never stacked wood during my time in SE WI (30 yrs,) but I remember that the soil was glacial till with a lot of rock and sand, which drained well and was pretty stable. I recall that west of Madison, in the Driftless Area, there were much more pronounced ridges and valleys due to a more erosive soil base, similar to our property here. There is wood that I can't get the quad and trailer to because it's too steep of a ravine, and I have to pack rounds up outta there. We have a soil here that's heavy in clay. If it freezes, then thaws, it turns into a squishy, slimy mess that your foot will sink into, or will slip out from under your foot like a banana peel! Add to that the fact that my stacks are into the woods a bit from the edge of the yard, so that is a fluffier base due to a lot of decomposed leaves, not a solid base like it is in the yard where the soil has been compacted by mowing, foot traffic, etc. Block and pallet system here, you can see the center 2x4 rail of a pallet (left in the pic) on its own block. The edge rails of two successive pallets have one block spanning both pallets. There's my meager stack of Hedge-apple.. 😔

 

[Woody Stover]

On the other side of the little Hedge-apple rows, two more rows on blocks and landscape timbers, Cherry, BL, Oak, Mulberry.

 

[Wood1Dennis]

Woody, got it. Sounds like the soil conditions with clay and leaves is a lot different from my wood piles. I'm out in the open, on what was a farm field 20 plus years back. Now it is more prairie. The soil is quite sandy with only a thin layer of soil over a gravely/ sandy base. So I get good drainage, and my base logs do not sink in too much.
I can see where the big diameter pieces you have would work better for your conditions. I can get by with around 8 inch diameter logs, that way I get two under each row, 4 under each double row.
This stuff always depends on local conditions.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm out in the open, on what was a farm field 20 plus years back. Now it is more prairie.

Sounds like your stacks get plenty of wind, wood must dry fast! Mine are surrounded by woods so the air doesn't move as fast as it could in the open, 😑

 

[Wood1Dennis]

I have a great location for drying firewood. Open and exposed to the sun and wind. I can dry most types of wood in one season, but I still like to have three years worth piled. That way I know it is always dry. And becides it just feels good!

 

[Geezer77]

Plastic pallets are becoming more available and they don't rot. Just don't stomp on them, especially in winter.

 

[bigealta]

i much prefer the landscape timbers on blocks. Use 4 blocks per 8' sections and you should be almost bulletproof.
I use 2 or 3 blocks for Oak stacked 5-6' tall on 2x4s on not great soil and they work pretty well. If there is any doubt i'll use 4 blocks and those are very stable and can get away with even smaller supports than 2x4s for the base.

 

[bigealta]

How did those cattle panels on sassafras work for you?

 

[Heart Rot]

Plastic pallets are becoming more available and they don't rot. Just don't stomp on them, especially in winter.

The other caveat I would add to that is that some types disintegrate over time from UV damage. I had some lightweight grey ones for free that only lasted a couple years (not sure what plastic type it was) meanwhile some heavy black ones originally used for automotive dunnage have held up really well.

 

[Geezer77]

The other caveat I would add to that is that some types disintegrate over time from UV damage. I had some lightweight grey ones for free that only lasted a couple years (not sure what plastic type it was) meanwhile some heavy black ones originally used for automotive dunnage have held up really well.

Ah, yeah, black colorant in plastic is almost always made from carbon black (like in tires) it's cheap and best at countering UV.

 

[Woody Stover]

i much prefer the landscape timbers on blocks. Use 4 blocks per 8' sections and you should be almost bulletproof.
I use 2 or 3 blocks for Oak stacked 5-6' tall on 2x4s on not great soil and they work pretty well. If there is any doubt i'll use 4 blocks and those are very stable and can get away with even smaller supports than 2x4s for the base.

I have a couple short stacks set up on some landscape timbers that I came across.
I have a bunch of concrete blocks, so I'll keep an eye out for some used timbers or 2x4s. Buying them new might be pricey, I don't know..

 

[Woody Stover]

How did those cattle panels on sassafras work for you?

So far, so good. It will be a while before I can see how long the Sass logs hold up, or if the cattle panel welds will rust as they age. But both the logs and the panels are protected from rain by the wood stacked on them and the metal panels covering the stacks. I was able to scrounge some aluminum roofing, 20 sheets that are 2x7' so that was nice. 🤗

 

[Woody Stover]

I use 2 or 3 blocks for Oak stacked 5-6' tall on 2x4s on not great soil and they work pretty well. If there is any doubt i'll use 4 blocks and those are very stable and can get away with even smaller supports than 2x4s for the base.

I can't tell from the pics but I assume you have cross-braces between the long 2x4s, so that base looks like a ladder. Or maybe the aren't necessary?

 

[stoveliker]

I never did that when I stacked like that. Enough friction from the splits to keep things in order imo.

 

[bigealta]

I don't usually do that but i did put 1 or 2 braces on the 2x4s tying them together because they were pretty warped so i pulled them straighter with the braces. It does strenghten the whole thing especially if you use the minimum amount of blocks under 2x4s.