Finished up my firewood for 2020-21

   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21 #1  

TnAndy

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2013
Messages
2,001
Location
East Tennessee
Tractor
Yanmar LX410...IHI 35J excavator Woodmizer LT40
Takes me 2-3 weeks to get a shed's worth down and out of the woods, then cut/split/stacked in one shed working at it now and then.......like days it's not raining/snowing/too cold. Each shed holds right at 4 cords. Wood dries in them for around 2 years, then we move a shed's worth to the basement in the fall, and another every other year sometime in the winter, so alternate years I usually end up like this year with a couple cords left in the basement to start off next fall. So next year, one shed gets emptied, the next year, two, then back to one. We use about 6 cords/yr.

Just finished this one....about 75% hickory, rest is oak.

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Leftovers from filling the last shed goes into 1/3cord baskets like this for use in the shop or greenhouse.

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   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21 #3  
Now that's planning ahead. :thumbsup:
 
   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21 #4  
@TnAndy...What's the moisture content of the wood you burn?...does it take that long to get there?
 
   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21
  • Thread Starter
#5  
@TnAndy...What's the moisture content of the wood you burn?...does it take that long to get there?

Never put a meter on it honestly....probably a year in a shed would get it to <20%, but I like to have at least two ahead more in case I have health issues or something other than the moisture content.....plus I'm not rushed to fill one. Like that 7/17 fill.....it got emptied in the fall of 2016, but I got busy and didn't get it filled until the next summer.

Or that one I just finished yesterday....3/18. It might be pushing it to burn this fall, only be 6-8mo in the shed...but by next fall, it would be 18mo minimum....and 30mo the way my rotation schedule works using it 2020-21.

I started with just 2 sheds, then added 2 more couple years later when I really started keeping track of our use pattern.

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   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21 #6  
Nice. I'm going to start working on 2018/2019 season soon as the snow stops. I use a similar plan on the baskets but they are those 275 gallon oil tank cages that I got for free from a friend. They are already pallets I just cut down the fronts for easy access and fill them up. They stack too.

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   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21 #7  
Nice. I'm going to start working on 2018/2019 season soon as the snow stops. I use a similar plan on the baskets but they are those 275 gallon oil tank cages that I got for free from a friend. They are already pallets I just cut down the fronts for easy access and fill them up. They stack too.

View attachment 545470

They hold about a quarter cord.
 
   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Nice. I'm going to start working on 2018/2019 season soon as the snow stops. I use a similar plan on the baskets but they are those 275 gallon oil tank cages that I got for free from a friend. They are already pallets I just cut down the fronts for easy access and fill them up. They stack too.

View attachment 545470

Yep...those look handy. You store them in the dry or cover them outside ?

I ran into a real deal on the metal, so I made them out of sq tube and expanded metal. The one on the photo I set inside our hoop house for use if we get early cold. The one for the shop is on heavy metal casters....set it inside the shop and roll it back beside the wood furnace.

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   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21 #9  
Never put a meter on it honestly....probably a year in a shed would get it to <20%, but I like to have at least two ahead more in case I have health issues or something other than the moisture content.....plus I'm not rushed to fill one. Like that 7/17 fill.....it got emptied in the fall of 2016, but I got busy and didn't get it filled until the next summer.

Or that one I just finished yesterday....3/18. It might be pushing it to burn this fall, only be 6-8mo in the shed...but by next fall, it would be 18mo minimum....and 30mo the way my rotation schedule works using it 2020-21.

I started with just 2 sheds, then added 2 more couple years later when I really started keeping track of our use pattern.
Thanks for the reply...I love having a sawmill...do you have a jig for cutting bevel siding or are they just lapped boards?
 
   / Finished up my firewood for 2020-21
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Thanks for the reply...I love having a sawmill...do you have a jig for cutting bevel siding or are they just lapped boards?

Yeah I love my mill. Problem is after while, you go looking for projects to build since the cost of wood is so cheap.....ahahhaaaaa.

It's bevel siding....either white pine or poplar. I get a log down to an 8" wide cant by however tall it will square up, (roughly 13" in these pics) then stick a couple pcs of 5/8" plywood shims about 4" square between the bed rail and bottom outside edge of the cant. Cut the first pc. "Un-cock" the cant by removing shims, and cut the 2nd pc (1st & 2nd pcs laying on top the cant in photo)...then just keep shimming, and removing shims each successive cut until you end up with a 1x or 2x at the bottom.

I had a "lap siding jig" I bought from Woodmizer at one time....but it was a PITA to use....you had to cut your cants, remove them from the mill, load the jig, then reload the cant into the jig....real time waster. Two pcs of plywood does the same thing and saves a boat load of time and effort.

Poplar cant, end sprayed with black paint to show the cuts better.

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