On my daily commute I drive past a house with a unique firewood stack. It’s a large, uncovered pile shaped like a razorback mountain ridge. For months I rubber-necked at the pile and wondered about things like how long it takes before the wood is seasoned, as well as the logistics of bringing loads of firewood inside the house. One day, I stopped in to get the scoop from the landowner.
The landowner, whom I’ll call Bill, was gracious enough to spend a few hours with me explaining his firewood system. Bill said he gets asked about the stack all the time, but he doesn’t understand why people are so amazed by it.
Bill buys log-length firewood and he uses a chainsaw to cut rounds to a length of 17 inches. He uses a wood splitter to make pieces that are chunky, yet easy to handle. Bill likes to burn red and white oak, which he said needs to dry for at least 1 year.
He starts with a rectangular stack of firewood with pieces stacked horizontally in neat rows. Then he adds to the width and depth of the stack by making additional layers made from firewood pieces that stand upright and lean toward the stack’s center. I guess Bill’s design has some similarities to the holz hausen method in that the pile is a large mass, it’s uncovered, and the pieces (laid horizontally) lean toward the center of the pile. It’s a different take in that the wood pieces in the outer layers are oriented vertically instead of horizontally.
I really don’t understand how the drying works (for example, how does air get in and moisture get out?), but Bill does have his stack in a good spot for drying. It’s out in the open with a lot of the surface area facing northeast (gets morning sun). The other side is protected by a row of tall spruce trees. I imagine a large mass like that could absorb a lot of solar radiation. Perhaps this helps the wood season faster.
Bill burns about 5 cords of firewood per heating season and his outdoor stack will hold about 10 cords at full capacity. He stores a season’s worth of wood in the basement, where his wood stove is located. No doubt the dry heat from the wood stove does a good job of ‘finishing’ the wood in preparation for burning.
I really like learning about the different ways people stack and store their firewood. This one appeals to me because it doesn’t need to be covered. In fact, after meeting Bill I decided to leave my wood stacks uncovered this year. Sure, they get wet from the rain and snow, but I just wait for an extended sunny and dry period to bring another face cord (1/3 of a cord) into the breezeway for storage.
