Last Febuary I had several birch and red maple trees taken down and cut into rounds. I think spent the spring and summer splitting them up. It was a ton of firewood to stack somewhere and I was starting from scratch since this was the first season with a wood stove in the house.
I ended up building a few of these simple firewood racks out of pressure treated 2x4s and these easy to use brackets. I put a couple of bricks under the brackets to lift them off the ground.
I also need up building another similar rack near the front door using these brackets which have more of a lift to them which made it perfect for on top of the patio blocks near the front entry.
I also built this woodshed that can hold a cord and a half of firewood if stacked neatly.
But even after filling these racks I ended up with a lot more wood and a ton of weird short pieces. So I stacked them in the European style or Norwegian round stack. Also known as a Holz Hausen.
The benefits of this style of round rack is the circle of wood holds itself together. It allows one to stack the wood high while maintaining a stable shape. Also the interior can be filled with all of the weird knarly, twisted and short chunks. You just toss them in the middle.
So how did mine round firewood stack work out? I thought it dried well, held up and looked good. It was fun to build and I got compliments from the neighbors for my wood “sculpture”. But the downside was taking pieces off the pile. As soon as it started to burn the beauty of the shape was ruined and it was kind of hard to take off pieces from the back side and middle. It was also harder to cover (only cover the top). In the end I’ll probably just stick with the traditional American rectangle stacks built on top of pallets which are easier to stack when one gets wood delivered with more uniform shapes.
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By the way, I got this book for Christmas and it’s excellent – The Wood Fire Handbook by Vincent Thurkettle
A practical guide to all things wood fire, both indoors and out.
The Wood Fire Handbook shows you that the soothing effect of dancing flames and glowing embers is a simple pleasure to have in our lives. Understanding everything that underpins the perfect wood fire makes it even more enjoyable. Vincent Thurkettle’s handbook is the essential companion and manual.
The expert insight and knowledge in this book allow everyone to rediscover the skills of previous generations and savor the delight of a perfect wood fire in all its incarnations.