Seasoning Firewood

   / Seasoning Firewood #91  
Good thread. Some very nice woodsheds in here, but I can't help but think of the repetitive handling whenever I see one. That's the way my dad operated when I was a kid also, we'd take the lawn tractor and 10cu cart over to the woodshed, load it up and back over to the house to unload and stack. I thought it was all fun. Now I am 39, back is starting to ache, and never have any time. So I bought IBC totes. Straight off the splitter into the tote, doesn't get unloaded until it's burning time. Currently I unload the totes by hand into a rack in my screen porch (french doors to it just 6' from the woodstove), but I think I might modify my screen porch to have a giant swinging door opening, and then I can just set the IBC tote directly into the porch and unload/burn directly.

As for seasoning, that was a large part of my motivation to get a metal carport. I used to keep these totes outside, under tarps (I didn't have the plastic liners like Don) - but I would often get mold on my split wood, not fun. This setup is high and dry, and I am finally getting more than one winter ahead on ym production after living here for 7 years with woodstove heating.

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In our first years here, I would go after the standing dead ash trees, because while often wet when cut down, they would dry very quickly. I felt ok about burning them in the woodstove after just 3-4 months drying (cut and split). Our green black walnut and black cherry also dry pretty quickly once split, but I'm aiming for 15+ months of curing nowadays on everything I burn. I bought a moisture meter and promptly lost it, doh.
I had to laugh deezler! 39 and already looking at ways to save your back. Smart man.

I went with totes a few years ago for the same reason but at 72 they take more work than I want to do. I will be going to bulk bags next year. Tried 6 this year as a test and they worked well. I will be able to load them directly from the wood processor so no handling at all until I carry the wood into the house.

I envy your carport as I will need something like that for bulk bags. Prices over the last 5 years have gone nuts on carports.
 
   / Seasoning Firewood #92  
Yeah I had to pay 3500 for my carport, which really stung when I was used to seeing all the ads showing them as more like a 2000-2500 cost. I sucked it up and am very glad to have the covered storage.

I'm curious about your bags. So you toss wood in randomly, right (no stacking) ? Then do you have to bend over and dig through the bag to pull out pieces of wood? Can you move a loaded bag by yourself, or do you need a helper on the ground to put the lifting straps up onto your forks?

One thing I do with my IBC totes now, is that when I bring them over to the house, I set the tote down atop three stacked pallets which brings it up 15" taller, saves a lot of bending over for the bottom wood pieces.
 
   / Seasoning Firewood #93  
Yeah I had to pay 3500 for my carport, which really stung when I was used to seeing all the ads showing them as more like a 2000-2500 cost. I sucked it up and am very glad to have the covered storage.

I'm curious about your bags. So you toss wood in randomly, right (no stacking) ? Then do you have to bend over and dig through the bag to pull out pieces of wood? Can you move a loaded bag by yourself, or do you need a helper on the ground to put the lifting straps up onto your forks?

One thing I do with my IBC totes now, is that when I bring them over to the house, I set the tote down atop three stacked pallets which brings it up 15" taller, saves a lot of bending over for the bottom wood pieces.
Yes, the wood is random stacked in the bags. The bag will hold 1/3 cord of 16" splits I was concerned about getting the wood out of the bags and that was the purpose of the trial this year. I gave one bag to my buddy and he is going to convert to bags as well. He was all set to use the totes I showd in my prevous post but the bags are so much less work. He does not use a processor but built a "chute" that sits over a frame than holds the bag and dumps the splits from his bucket into it.

When unloading, the bag gets pulled down as the level in the bag is reduced. It is a bit of a pain to get the last 12" of wood but not too bad. Like wrestling with a giant condom but no happy ending...LOL

To fill the bag, I have a frame that has two four foot pipe clamps to hold the bag lift loops. I have tried two methods to move the full bags. One is to remove the pipe clamps and then feed the forks through the lift loops. That is tricky but doable and usually need to get off the tractor twice inless I have a helper. The other is to still use the frame and pipe clamps but let the bag sit on a pallet, Once the bag is full, I lift the pallet about 4-6 inches and the loops slide off the pipe clamps as I reverse. This can be a bit tricky too but I do not need a helper or to get off the tractor. The other advantage is the pallet keeps the bags off the ground.
 
   / Seasoning Firewood #94  
Did anyone else stack wood in a fort structure then have a mad dad later when he got home from work? Lol.
 
   / Seasoning Firewood #95  
Historically,

"seasoned fire wood" was cut "in season". i.e. in late January and February when the sap was down and the wood the most dry... for the season. Some species could be burned right off the splitting block.
 
   / Seasoning Firewood #98  
Historically,

"seasoned fire wood" was cut "in season". i.e. in late January and February when the sap was down and the wood the most dry... for the season. Some species could be burned right off the splitting block.
This is a very good point that is not mentioned terribly often here.

I initially tried to get all my felling for firewood done in the winter time. But it turned out that my habits mean that I am logically doing big landscaping and clearing projects in the summer time, so thats when my trees tend to come down. They are so much heavier when water is dripping out of every cut. So I tend to stack up a pile of 15-20' long logs and let them sit and dry for a year before I cut to lengths, and then sometimes let the rounds sit even a bit more before splitting.

Whereas trees in winter are indeed much drier to begin with - that said, still a poor idea to burn pieces right after splitting, if you care about the health of your flue.
 
   / Seasoning Firewood #99  
I would start by searching craigslist and/or facebook marketplace for "IBC". I got my first 12x for $25 apiece (275 gallon size, = 40x48x48"), with no plastic tanks of noxious chemicals to deal with.

If the plastic liners are not too disgusting, you can cut them up to make hats or find other purposes for them. But disposal is a hassle, so I was glad to get my first 12 without the liners. My next 8 came for free (craigslist post again) but with nasty liners of cow manure residue. It was extremely gross to rinse those out, drain them, and cut them up for disposal, lol. 🤮
Not going to help you, but a buddy of mine got some of those IBC totes down in Oregon and they would allow him to take the liners, because they weren't for potable liquids. Said something about getting sued one time when someone used it for rain collection. So he just got the frames, plus they left the plastic corner pieces in them. I have to say, it looks pretty neat looking, with nice rows of totes double stacked. He picks one up and takes it to the house, slips into a little covered area right by the back door. Everything has to be covered here cause of the rain. We just had an unusual period of 3 days straight, where it rained for less than 10 hours in 24.
 
   / Seasoning Firewood #100  
Thats exactly what I do, double stacked IBC totes of wood under the metal carport, then take one at a time right up to the screen porch door. I also toss a sheet of plywood over the tote sitting outdoors by the house in case it rains or melts before I get the wood moved into the rack in the porch.
 
 
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