At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

I may have enough wood cut and split to finish this season. I am now working on next season's wood. I am going to create a round stack called a holz hausen. Here's an example of a picture I found on the internet.



I pulled my trailer of bucked logs and log splitter to the round stack location.



As I started making the outer circle, I noticed the outside end of the logs tended to tilt downward. As I added more logs, the tilt got worse. So I started making adjustments by cross stacking logs to fix the tilt. Here's how far I got.



Yesterday I checked out YouTube to see how other people were handling the tilt issue and realized that I may need to scrap my stacking job and start over. There appears to be a better way to build the round stack than my first attempt. I don't want my stack to fall over when it gets taller.

 

[dave1949]

I think the holz hausen in the picture would be better if all the pieces slanted down and out, not level, or down and in. That will improve water shedding. Consider that not a lot of air is getting to the wood in the center regions of such a pile.

 

[Danno1]

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I agree w Dave about the water shedding.

I also thought those were supposed to be conical (like a teepee). Or maybe I'm confusing that w something else.



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[Obed]

I think the holz hausen in the picture would be better if all the pieces slanted down and out, not level, or down and in. That will improve water shedding. Consider that not a lot of air is getting to the wood in the center regions of such a pile.

I agree w Dave about the water shedding.

I also thought those were supposed to be conical (like a teepee). Or maybe I'm confusing that w something else.
.

Dave and Dan,
Here's a YouTube video called where a guy addresses this very concern. He takes apart his holz hausen after some rain had occurred to see if the wood was wet. He had built the stack one year previously.

Obed

 

[dstig1]

Most bench vises have jaws that are screwed on from the inside face of the jaws. Assuming yours does, just unscrew them, use as a template for thicker wood ones, and you are good to go. Use longer screws or countersink/bore them deep enough to reach. You could probably drill and tap it yourself as it is probably soft cast iron, if you don't have bolted on faces. Or some polyurethane glue should work well, if you just want to glue them on.

I have that same stump vise that I use in the field. No bar damage from the screw, but you don't need to torque it to death to hold the bar either. The bigger risk is when you release it, the weight of the saw causes the bar to drop straight down, banging your freshly sharpened chain on the throat of the metal vise...So you have to support it before loosening.

Obed - don't ever put your hand on the log you are splitting, like it appears in that one pic above. That is how bad things happen, faster than you can react. Even on slow hydraulic splitters. Worst case you need to hold it from rolling off, but should let go once the splitter makes contact. Even that can be a bit risky if you get distracted. From your TBM Safety:cop:

 

[dave1949]

Obed,
Stack your wood as you like. I have tried, tarped, untarped, teepee and regular piles about the size of two cords of wood. In all honesty, if you don't have to hurry the curing time, it isn't going to make that much difference in an area that doesn't get persistent rain and fog. Tarps can trap as much moisture as they prevent. Oak doesn't really begin to season until it is cut and split. Birch does better if kept dry since it rots quickly. So, the results are dependent upon the species to a degree.

I have found dampness in the center of larger wood piles, and I think the wood on the outer edges probably seasons faster than the wood inside. There is a difference between surface dampness and moisture content. Surface moisture evaporates, internal moisture leaves through cell walls. I think good air movement and sunshine are your best help. There is really no reason or benefit to sending water into the pile if you can just as easily send it out.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree about not tarping. I let my wood season a year then in the fall move 3 ricks into the garage and barn to keep it dry and more importantly from freezing together.

As for stacks I do 18" long pieces stacked 5' tall between two trees about 8' apart.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree about not tarping. I let my wood season a year then in the fall move 3 ricks into the garage and barn to keep it dry and more importantly from freezing together.

As for stacks I do 18" long pieces stacked 5' tall between two trees about 8' apart.

Chris

 

[radioman]

I dont do anything fancy to stack my wood. I just criss cross the ends so I dont need to pound posts at ends. Put bark side up or "frown down". The only thing I like to do is stack two rows next to each other for support. I just make sure its straight by eye going up so it wont fall over as it cures.

 

[Obed]

Ice Storm

 

[MotorSeven]

We lucked out eh? I was all ready for the power to go out. Had the PTO generator hooked up to the Kioti & backed up by the basement.....not even a flicker.

 

[Obed]

We lucked out eh? I was all ready for the power to go out. Had the PTO generator hooked up to the Kioti & backed up by the basement.....not even a flicker.

Rick, I was wondering how you fared with the ice. You didn't mention anything in your "Log House Project begins" thread.

We were iced in Friday. I didn't attempt to go anywhere. I worked from home that day.

A couple years ago I left my neighborhood with ice on the roads and ended up in the ditch. I didn't damage the car; I just felt stupid.



Two days later I got to fix my neighbor's mailbox.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Well Issues

We have been getting some "sand" like debris in our well water filter that is located in the basement. In the past, we have seen the filter clog if we watered the garden too much. However, this past week and a half, we have had to flush the filter 3 or 4 times. We haven't been using any outdoor water and we have had lots and lots of rain. Thus, we don't attribute the debris in the filter to lack of water in the well.


When the filter clogs, we get low water pressure at our faucets.

Filter when clogged:


Getting ready to flush the filter into the bucket:


Filter after flushing out the sand:


Flushing out the filter is pretty easy. We just open a valve at the bottom of the filter assembly and flush the "sand" into a bucket.

 

[brin]

Well Issues

We have been getting some "sand" like debris in our well water filter that is located in the basement. In the past, we have seen the filter clog if we watered the garden too much. However, this past week and a half, we have had to flush the filter 3 or 4 times. We haven't been using any outdoor water and we have had lots and lots of rain. Thus, we don't attribute the debris in the filter to lack of water in the well.


When the filter clogs, we get low water pressure at our faucets.

Filter when clogged:
View attachment 300022

Getting ready to flush the filter into the bucket:
View attachment 300023

Filter after flushing out the sand:
View attachment 300024

Flushing out the filter is pretty easy. We just open a valve at the bottom of the filter assembly and flush the "sand" into a bucket.

Obed ...when we built our house...which is so much like yours...our plumber put in 2 filters...ours looks just like yours except we have an additional filter holder and filter ...so there is filter unit #1 and filter unit #2 - I asked our plumber why 2 ? He said the first unit picks up the worst and the 2nd filter picks up the fines...I have to tell you..we change our filters every 6 months and the primary one has some grit in the bottom of the jar and the filter is gray....the secondary one has no grit in the jar and the filter is just slightly gray...

You might want to go to Lowes or HD and buy one more and add it...in line ..to what you have...it works for us..

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would say your filter is doing what its intended to do. Looks easy to service.

Chris

 

[ENG18LT]

Obed, at our last house we had to have a well drilled. They went 88' and hit plenty of water, no sulfer odor. Problem was it would test potable until we put a UV light on it. Second problem was the water carried sediment in it as well. Every 4-5 months I had to replace the cartridges in our filter. Seemed like a pain in the you know what at the time, but way better then having the driller come back and try another spot or deepen that one and case beyond the gravel/sand vein that was holding all the water. I certainly understand how it is frustrating to have well issues, good luck.

 

[MotorSeven]

We were "iced in" too...I like

I can't remember and I'm too lazy to back-read you thread....how deep is the well and how deep did they set your pump...aaaand what was the GPM of the well?

 

[Obed]

I can't remember and I'm too lazy to back-read you thread....how deep is the well and how deep did they set your pump...aaaand what was the GPM of the well?

Rick,
The well is 300 ft deep. The pump is set at 280 ft deep and is rated at 17 GPM.

We talked to the well driller and also to the pump installer. The well driller is major country and can be tough to understand. He said he had had several customers who are also reporting issues with sand/grit in their water. The well driller and the pump installer both said to watch it and if it continues, they recommend that the pump be raised 20 ft higher in the well.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Obed ...when we built our house...which is so much like yours...our plumber put in 2 filters...ours looks just like yours except we have an additional filter holder and filter ...so there is filter unit #1 and filter unit #2 - I asked our plumber why 2 ? He said the first unit picks up the worst and the 2nd filter picks up the fines...I have to tell you..we change our filters every 6 months and the primary one has some grit in the bottom of the jar and the filter is gray....the secondary one has no grit in the jar and the filter is just slightly gray...

You might want to go to Lowes or HD and buy one more and add it...in line ..to what you have...it works for us..

Bob,
At some point I want to replace the PVC pipes and valves near the filter with all copper. When I get around to that task, I may add a 2nd filter.



Obed

 

[Obed]

Obed, at our last house we had to have a well drilled. They went 88' and hit plenty of water, no sulfer odor. Problem was it would test potable until we put a UV light on it. Second problem was the water carried sediment in it as well. Every 4-5 months I had to replace the cartridges in our filter. Seemed like a pain in the you know what at the time, but way better then having the driller come back and try another spot or deepen that one and case beyond the gravel/sand vein that was holding all the water. I certainly understand how it is frustrating to have well issues, good luck.

Lee,
Since our filter is so easy to flush, cleaning it out every so often isn't a big deal as long as the sand isn't causing other problems (i.e. ruining our water heater, etc.).
Obed