Ready for the winter

[Jusgunn3]

Well, got our first cold day today so I loaded the racks around the house and started our first fire. I have plenty to get us through winter and I think I am going to split and stack as I go through the pallets I have my wood on. How do you go about replenishing the seasoned wood you burn? Catch up in the spring or split when you can in the winter?

 

[hacskaroly]

How do you go about replenishing the seasoned wood you burn? Catch up in the spring or split when you can in the winter?

I don't burn that much, so mostly restock during the summer. I guess it would all depend on what you have going on and how bad cabin fever gets.

 

[Hoser]

As I process wood through the year I stack all my firewood in Ibc cages that I use as end pieces on sale wood stacks.
In the summer I empty all the totes that have been full for a year or more and put them in the wood shed.
I’ve been trying to get 2 years ahead for years now but it’s hard to say no when a friend calls looking for a cord.

 

[Jusgunn3]

As I process wood through the year I stack all my firewood in Ibc cages that I use as end pieces on sale wood stacks.
In the summer I empty all the totes that have been full for a year or more and put them in the wood shed.
I’ve been trying to get 2 years ahead for years now but it’s hard to say no when a friend calls looking for a cord.

That’s a good idea, I have about 20 cords split and stacked now. We will go thought 4 cords or so so my plan is to split and stack whatever we go through each year to stay years ahead. I think splitting in the winter could be ok as well as long as its not raining.

 

[Stem]

I have a pellet stove, but my parents & aunt and uncle burn firewood. I cut rounds/short logs in the fall & spring (I cut mostly dead standing & blowdowns) & pile it in my designated splitting area. I split during late spring/early summer before it gets too hot. once split it gets stacked. Having 2 splitters now & my sister helping its much easier & less time consuming for me.

my Dad always use to cut & split wood once it got cold, man I hated doing that as a kid.

 

[Hoser]

Most winters here prohibit processing firewood unless you’re cutting the tree down, bucking, splitting, etc that day. Talk about cabin fever.
What blows my mind is how many people I know who start cutting this years firewood right about now, from truck to stove.

 

[hacskaroly]

What blows my mind is how many people I know who start cutting this years firewood right about now, from truck to stove.

I issue out firewood permits for the USFS...I have people that come in the 2nd and 3rd week of December to get a permit because they run out of wood or were too busy during the year to get it.

 

[Jusgunn3]

That’s crazy, I have been trying my best to dry out my wood as long as I can.

 

[Sloughfoot]

I usually cut between summers, split and stack soon after. Season at least 2 summers, prefer 3. Most everything we burned growing up was much easier to split green and power splitters were unheard of. Neighbor, the village idiot, gathers and splits as needed and has more steam than smoke coming out his chimney. Wood is his primary heat source, too. He does everything the polar opposite of what the conventional wisdom is.


edit: Forgot to mention he doesn't clean his chimney even though he's had two chimney fires burn two houses.

 

[Jusgunn3]

I usually cut between summers, split and stack soon after. Season at least 2 summers, prefer 3. Most everything we burned growing up was much easier to split green and power splitters were unheard of. Neighbor, the village idiot, gathers and splits as needed and has more steam than smoke coming out his chimney. Wood is his primary heat source, too. He does everything the polar opposite of what the conventional wisdom is.


edit: Forgot to mention he doesn't clean his chimney even though he's had two chimney fires burn two houses.

Your neighbor sounds like a smart feller, like the horse that gets to the water and doesn’t drink haha.

 

[Sloughfoot]

Your neighbor sounds like a smart feller, like the horse that gets to the water and doesn’t drink haha.

He’s one of those that started thinking he knew everything about the time he figured out how to wipe his ass.

 

[RCBS]

I'm finishing packing the house in with splits right now (3-1/2 year covered). Wood season kicked off for me last weekend bringing in the first few logs of the year. I had a big oak go down in spring and it took 4/5 other trees with it. I think I got enough to keep me busy through Christmas time at least. Good sized red maple and a couple of oak branches. Decent sized Beech down too but it's a mouse trap and I have not yet figured a *safe way to get it on the dirt. Busted butt elevated on a slope with a couple 8-10 branches holding it up under spring tension. Trunk is 6-8' off the ground in middle. May throw some chains on it and yank it with the tractor to see what happens. I'd probably leave it if it weren't blocking a trail.

Making wood in the heat makes it too much of a 'chore' for me, so I tend to work in the cold.

 

[Eduardo K]

i think the wood I have to burn this winter was split in 2022.
I might burn two cords a winter and enjoy cutting, splitting, and stacking, so I quickly stock up whenever theirs space to put it. I tell my kids it’s like money in the bank or meat in the freezer. I’m sure it’ll get old at some point, but I’m still having fun.
I’m sure for most folks, cutting and stacking cord wood is the last thing they want to do, so it always gets done too late.

 

[Wilhelm]

My least seasoned firewood got processed December.2024 and it is one season worth.

I have 2 seasons worth neatly stacked out in the open and covered from the top.

And I have about 1/2 a season worth in the shed, excess/spare that keeps being dug under new firewood.
I intend to clear that out first before I restock the shed as some of it is 5+ years old.
Also, one of the sheds roofs beams has a severe bug infestation so I need to replace the beam or double it up with a parallel one to it before it comes crashing down.

I process firewood year round, when I have firewood logs in my back yard.
I try to keep it an enjoyable experience rather than a tiring one.

In my area many have not yet secured needed firewood for the winter.
We are getting morning frost and windy cold days, as such heating season has basically begun.

 

[Catbuster]

I try to cut firewood at least two years in advance. Summers here are oppressive, especially this last one. Of course, this summer was both hot and dry, which kind of puts a damper on being out in the woods. It’s never been quite inland PNW/northern Rockies dry here, but it does get hot and dry enough here to get rates of fire spread fast enough to outpace the suppression capabilities of local agencies.

So, if possible, I cut and harvest my firewood in September & early October. By late October it starts to rain and stay wet for several months, which makes getting to your wood miserable and makes a mess out of the ground, which then washes away your topsoil. Starting in March it seems like we get into nasty weather season (read: ‘Naders & strong straight-line winds,) which lends itself to plenty of blowdown stuff that makes for firewood I don’t even have to fall. Sometimes it’s easy to cut it in the spring, then come back and haul out in the fall. Other times, it’s got to go then, and well, it is what it is then.

Fun times.

 

[redneckhillbilly]

getting ready for winter is a process for me, I get all my firewood in and stacked by the end of may, but in september I start cleaning up the yard making sure everythings put away, get hoses dried out and put away a few days ago, but come december the dozer will stay plugged in and ready and the generator will get turned on standby, so for me winter prepping is more of a year round process, when I think I'm ready, I always see something else that needs to get done.

 

[OnlyStihl]

As I process wood through the year I stack all my firewood in Ibc cages that I use as end pieces on sale wood stacks.
In the summer I empty all the totes that have been full for a year or more and put them in the wood shed.
I’ve been trying to get 2 years ahead for years now but it’s hard to say no when a friend calls looking for a cord.

I was ahead for years, but was having rot problems. Even green wood would have some rot by the time I got to it. I'm about where I need to be, just one year ahead. I burn just less then 6 cords, but am expecting a brutal winter, so might exceed that by another cord.

 

[Hoser]

That’s more or less my problem now being a part time/ full time firewood guy.
If you’re on a good bush you’re so busy felling, bucking and hauling a lot of stuff isn’t getting split until spring so I’m losing a fair amount of good wood like sugar maple and beech to rot.

 

[OnlyStihl]

That’s more or less my problem now being a part time/ full time firewood guy.
If you’re on a good bush you’re so busy felling, bucking and hauling a lot of stuff isn’t getting split until spring so I’m losing a fair amount of good wood like sugar maple and beech to rot.

Yup, my new SOP will be to cut and split in the spring and by wintertime it should be good. It was that I would wait til it seasoned when easier to split cause I did not have a gas-powered splitter. Getting too old to split with a maul, and now that I have a gas-powered splitter I don't have to wait.

 

[bigbadbob]

I have about 6 cord of dry fir,, usually burn 2-3 cord a year..
You can never have too much,,,,,