A bit of background… We had a number of tree ether cut back or cut down last month and now have a lot of wood lying around, mostly chopped into foot-long rounds.

The trouble is, despite getting stuck into the rounds every time I have a spare few hours, I only have use of a splitting maul and, as such, we still have most of an ash and three birches lying around. The wood shed is rapidly filling up too and we have started trying to stack up the chopped wood on pallets outside. I would hire a hydraulic splitter, but we have no power to the shed, so that is out.

The winter here _will_ be cold and it _will_ snow. How best can I keep the logs in a decent state until I can get to them in the spring? Is it worth gathering them up and stacking them so that the uncut stuff is mostly off the ground?

you need this book in your life…

Oh getting my wood burner in a few weeks wanted one for ages. More just a few nights a week than survival for me though. Now a handy axe/hatchet recommendation would be good. Stacked and off the ground would be best I’d have thought it my naievity.

I would hire a hydraulic splitter, but we have no power to the shed, so that is out.

Petrol hydraulic splitter needs no power.
Storing the split logs on pallets is great – IBC cages are even better

Is it worth gathering them up and stacking them so that the uncut stuff is mostly off the ground?

If you don’t use a pallet put the logs bark side down as it’s sacrificial.

That book might come in handy, although I would prefer the Swedish version!

Bark side down, got it. Of the three birch trees, one has been stacked in rounds on their sides (bark down), but I still ave two to do like that and the remains of the ash.

I can honestly say that I have never had wood last this long. No matter how much I work at it, I still have wood.

I can honestly say that I have never had wood last this long.

Mumsnet thread right there ^^

Birch will rot relatively quickly if not split and off the ground. I’d focus on that rather than the ash.

Wood is a big bundle of pipes running up the trunk/branch, the moisture evaporates from the ends so no need to split, they’ll dry as they are through the ends. Is one foot your cord length? If not cut the rounds to your cord length, the shorter they are the faster they dry.

They *do* need to be off the ground, that’s not optional.

Anything that’s not sawn into rounds needs to be sawn.

One more vote for the Norweigan Wood book, it’s very readable and tells you everything you need to know and explains why with references.

Cord length is more or less a foot and only one of the birch trees has been thrown into some sort of stack of logs. The remaining two are still lying on the ground where the skogsvård left them on cutting, although we have trimmed a lot of the very small branches off.

Ok, so next job will be to gather all the birch logs and get them in some semblance of order and off the ground. I can always swing a tarp over the pile to keep the worst of the weather off later.

In other news though, I love splitting the ash. The maul goes through it like butter and it makes some really nice logs.

Stored on pallets, tarp on top, job done.

*Waves from Östersund* You don’t know cold Willard, last winter here…. you weren’t there man! 😉

So true, midsommar at Optand was cold enough last year, froze my ass off until the snaps and sill kicked in. Oddly, Dalarna was only really cold on the day we took the längdskidor out. It dropped to “freezing eyelashes” temperature in the time it took to do one circuit of the track. The other days it was a mild -15 or so.

FWIW I never used to cover my firewood and it seasons fine. I’d only cover it to dry it externally just before I used it.

I’m convinced water from above does no harm at all – the logs lower in the stack stay dry anyway.

These days I cover it but that’s only because I got fed up with moving wood into the shed in low humidity days a week or so before I used it. Putting it in the dry saves me that final move.

Other people disagree with that!

We lit he wood burner last week. Freezing winds from Russia I think! was tempted by Falun Enduro this year , perhaps next time. Must go riding that way one day. Final weekend in Åre  this weekend, there be snow on those mountains!

I agree with OOB…. Rain is not that damaging.
The top logs get wet but will dry quickly in the wind.

It’s nice to cover the top but really not essential – airflow to the sides is more important.

I also don’t fret too much about covering my stacks, although I usually cover the stack I’m burning this winter, but never in the summer and next winter’s stack probably isn’t.

Birch (and some other woods) have bark that is completely waterproof. So in log form in doesn’t dry well, begins to rot, water is a product of the rotting, wood gets wetter,rots more and,.. Gone. Ash is more durable although still needs processing before too long, although at stove length it’ll dry.

Get some pallets and stack off the ground.

I’ll just say, fiskars x27. It’ll rattle through ash and birch much quicker then a hefty maul. I find birch I dream to split and often do it with my much smaller axes, x21 is plenty. You’ll find easy splitting wood is processed quicker by hand than with an electric splitter.