Homestead projects Uncategorized

Firewood

Filling up the firewood rack
Filling up the firewood rack

In September we had six trees taken down which provided a lot of firewood for the wood burning fireplace in our family room and the outdoor copper fire pit on our patio.

Thanks to a rented log splitter I was able to get the majority of the wood split.  I ended up with roughly five split cords.  Another session with the splitter should finish up the remaining two cords.

The most recent activity in the firewood project was to build log racks to store the wood for seasoning.

I contemplated buying some more hollow tube one-cord racks (like the two I already have) but I didn’t want to spend the money on something I wouldn’t need after this surplus of firewood is gone.

I ended up building them out of pressure treated 2×4’s and deck screws.

The final design is 4’H x 8’L x 16” W with a center cross-member, supported by a 4×4 (made from two 2×4 scraps screwed together).

The racks are surprisingly stable and rigid, considering the tops are open.

I plan on screwing tarps across the top to keep the snow and rain off of the wood while it seasons.  I really need to get this done before the snow flies.

The recent boom in firewood has really helped motivate me to have fires more often.  We’ve had three in the last two weeks.

 

Here’s an interesting book all about  woodburning- “The Woodburner’s Companion” by Dirk Thomas