OT - DIY Firewood Drying Facility

[mousegunner]

View attachment 1175609 Here in the Pacific Northwest we have a myriad of ways to use tarps, not just covering fire wood. Pictured is what's known as "The Blue Tarp of Neglect" Acts like a Klingon cloaking device. Actually can be deployed anywhere in the country.

A little off topic but here in west Texas on I-10 I see what I call the Tribe of the blue tarps. They are Guatemalens traveling back home with pickups full of furniture, appliances and what not, all covered with blue tarps? They would drive to Brownsville, Texas, cross into Mexico and drive to Guatemala. They would be driving used pickups to sell, Toyotas, Nissans, old school buses and whatever was popular. A lot of them were illegally here and would pass through the checkpoints with no trouble since they were going back home and leaving the country.

A DPS trooper freind of mine told me of a case where well to do people from Central America would come and pick out new cars at a dealership, the cars would be stolen and given new titles with fake VINs and driven back south. The car ring was broken up after this came out. It was an interesting case.

Anyhoo I joke about opening a store that sells just sells blue traps especially around Christmas when a lot of them go south for the holidays. So if your traveling on I-10 and see a truck with blue tarps that's what it is.

 

[farmerjohn]

I can still out run a splitter........... for a little while. I now have a tilt splitter and I set on a round and split everything I can reach then roll some more over or move the splitter. One of these days I'm going to invest in one of those metal carports to store my wood under.
View attachment 1175634

I got too old to pick it up and put it on the splitter, got this attachment for my track hoe... John

 

[nmkid]

You’re no weenie! I used to have a firewood business. Used a maul for years, in my 20’s. The girls loved the results! Hardest way to make money I know! A splitter=production!

I thought I was in heaven when my wife got me a wood splitter for one of my B-days. The 2-3 mauls I had became conversation pieces. LOL.

 

[rjtfroggy]

I get to stiff and sore to split wood, so I started buying pre-split and only had to stack, then wheelbarrow into house as needed. Makes for a mess, so next year I think I will try the Bio blocks, one pallet is supposed to equal 1 cord with no drying, no stacking and little to no mess and no bugs, at about the same cost.
We'll see.

PS maybe I should just move to South Florida.

 

[MikeT49]

As long as this thread has been brought back to life. UPDATE I mentioned earlier in this thread that if you live in in snow country, this might not work. I don't live in snow country. You've all heard of Murphy I suspect. Well, Murphy got me. I managed to keep it up through the first 28" snow storm. Two weeks later it snowed about 8" overnight then started to rain. Aaaarrggh!
I just picked up a MIG welder. I am going to fabricate steel fittings, it ain't gonna collapse again.

 

[skeeljc]

Air drying over the summer works just fine.

 

[MikeT49]

What's Summer?

 

[skeeljc]

What's Summer?

Any day above 70 degrees here in Iowa.

 

[Gary C]

We burn about 8-10 full cord a year in an outdoor wood boiler that also produces out domestic hot water.
We have 20 acres of hardwood and have been expanding pastures for 30 years so we have plenty of oak and hickory.
I have never bought any wood to burn although the tree company that is cutting roadside power lines have been dumping a ton in out wood lot this year.
Husqvarna 562 and 357 with 24 and 20 inch bars and a Timberwolf TW1 with a log lift that I converted to hydraulic and a take off table get it done.
I have been building PT skids for years and they last.
JD 4320 with forks move the skids from the full sun drying area to a shed that holds a seasons wood in early September.
Currently cutting and splitting for the 24-25 season and the two year minimum drying time makes a huge difference in the heat production out of the boiler.
The wife loves to help splitting and stacking on the skids so me at 70 and her at 60 are still getting it done.

 

[PigButtons]

I have a Stihl 084 with the .404 chain and sprockets. It's for my Alaskan chain saw mill, but makes cutting large trees a snap. Just don't try and pull the starter cord without the compression release set or you'll pull your arm off instead. It can sit for years and starts on the third or fourth pull. NEVER use Stabilizing fuel additives with mixed two stroke fuels, there's enough stabilizing agent in the mix oil. Adding more just causes it to jell.

I have so many dead trees from a drought six years ago that some of them will rot before I will get around to burning them. But I have a friend that uses wood to heat his greenhouses that's looking for a better way to dry his firewood. Thanks for the tip.

 

[PigButtons]

If you want to split with a maul, spend money to get a good one. I can't recommend this one high enough. It's like cheating.

 

[brokeasajoke]

If you want to split with a maul, spend money to get a good one. I can't recommend this one high enough. It's like cheating.

That looks worth a try. Apart from the 22 ton maul (lol) I use the fiskars x27 and their 8lb splitting maul.

 

[PigButtons]

That looks worth a try. Apart from the 22 ton maul (lol) I use the fiskars x27 and their 8lb splitting maul.

I tried many as well. This one is different. very thin for about 3/4 of the head, then gets thick quickly, blade is very sharp. I don't think I've ever had it get to the thick part, or get stuck bad. Most of the time I'm splitting 2 foot rounds of Hickory, and most of the time I don't even need a full power swing, occasionally I'll need two blows.