log sheds

[smojo]

Been looking around for designs for a small logshed to build in my back yard. All the ready made ones I have seen have been quite open - no front and big gaps between the side and back planks. Now I realise it's good to have gaps to let air through to dry the logs but surely an open front is just going to allow driving rain to soak the front of the logs. Kind of defeats the object of a having the thing to keep your logs dry. Am I missing something here?

[Dexter's Shed]

yup, air flow all around will dry out the logs, even after getting a bit wet from driving rain, where as fully enclosed tends to keep the dampness within the logs

or just use ash, as you can burn that straight away

[Wendelspanswick]

Been looking around for designs for a small logshed to build in my back yard. All the ready made ones I have seen have been quite open - no front and big gaps between the side and back planks. Now I realise it's good to have gaps to let air through to dry the logs but surely an open front is just going to allow driving rain to soak the front of the logs. Kind of defeats the object of a having the thing to keep your logs dry. Am I missing something here?

The logs only get wet on the outside! Air dried timber is sticked outside without any cover and goes down to around 15 to 20% from saturated.

[SimonFisher]

or just use ash, as you can burn that straight away

There is a difference between 'can' and 'should' though.

Most of the ash I've felled over the years has been over 30% moisture content immediately after felling and splitting. It might burn, but a lot of energy's going to be wasted in burning off the excess moisture first. Still better to let it lose some of that moisture before burning it.

[oldclaypaws]

It pays to have your fuel as dry as possible or the steam will conduct all the heat up the chimney.

If you think of a chip pan on a stove, with just oil in it the oil rapidly heats up and can ignite, the pan becomes very hot. Chuck a couple of handfuls of soggy chips in it though, and all that heat is used turning the water in the spuds into steam, which escapes, and the fat and pan remain at a lower temperature. I always try to fire my kilns in dry weather, if you get a fog, you can never get the kiln to temperature, you're heating fog rather than the pots.

Likewise, wet fuel in a wood burning stove will see most of the heat used generating steam, rather than radiating to the stove metal.

Ye canna deny the laws of physics, Jim.

I'm building a three sided log store which uses a wall as the back, and two fence panels as the sides. The front faces East, the opposite direction from the prevailing Westerly wind and rain. Having an overhang on the front means most vertical rain, even if from the East, will miss the wood. I also pack full log nets round the inside wall of my kiln shed, so my fuel is virtually 'kiln dried' after a pottery firing.

[ballibeg]

The best log stores are the ones that let the most air through. Wind removes moisture better than sun. Slatted on sides, top covered, access from end and built off the ground. Think air flow. This store holds two years wood with each years wood accessed from either end.

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Dave

[smojo]

Thanks folks. So that's my home log shed sussed - open fronted and slatted. Next part of the jigsaw is drying newly felled trees in the woods. Because my garden is tiny, I intend to store most of the new logs in the woods until I need them. To keep down the initial work involved of cutting them up into useable sizes once felled, I figured to cut them into longer lengths for the initial seasoning, then after a year or whatever, cut what I need into stove-sized logs to bring home. I realise that the moisture exits by the ends so longer logs will take longer to dry. So two questions

What's the optimum length of log for the initial drying? - most of mine will be small diameter sycamore between 10-20cm and I'm hoping to have them ready in a year's time.

Is it better to give them some form of cover for this period or are they OK just stacked in a pile raised off the ground slightly?

[SimonFisher]

A bit like you smojo, we have limited storage at home and I now work on the basis of seasoning my logs in the wood. Note that what I describe here works fine for personal usage amounts - it might not scale well if you're looking to sell your firewood.

I prefer to cut to final length and split straight away after felling rather than seasoning large pieces of wood and processing later. That saves further work on them and allows seasoning more rapidly as the maximum amount of grain is exposed. I find splitting green wood is a lot easier than doing so once it's seasoned.

For storage, I've been able to get hold of as many free pallets as I need from which I can put together 'crates' which I fill and then put a tarp over the top. I'm currently processing around five tonnes of beech which came down last winter and that's going into such a crate that's one pallet deep but currently runs to about five pallets in length. I try and get the base pallet reasonably level using scrap wood or masonry blocks and will often use two pallets on the base for strength or ground clearance. I find pallets can be easily fastened together using heavy duty zip ties or timber screws [1] driven in with an 18-volt cordless imapct driver.

When it's time to take logs home for burning I've a number of wheelie bins which fit on my trailer and which can be kept at the side of the house for easy access to the logs. The pallet crates are constructed at track side for easy vehicular access to the logs.

Before settling on the above, I did split some lengths of oak and beech using splitting wedges which were then left to season in the open on some sacrificial bearers to try and keep them off the ground. I know others use that method but I found the pile would get covered in leaves and other detritus which would hold moisture. I only did it once.

[1] http://www.screwfix.com/p/timberfix-plus-flanged-hex-exterior-timber-screws-6-3-x-100-pk50/80050

[SimonFisher]

What's the optimum length of log for the initial drying? - most of mine will be small diameter sycamore between 10-20cm and I'm hoping to have them ready in a year's time.

To answer one of your questions specifically, I think it's more important that you expose grain along the length to season rapidly. Moisture won't readily pass through the bark or end grain as easily as it will exposed (long?) grain.

My technique for splitting is to put a starting notch in one end using a chainsaw (I often use my Makita 18V cordless for this), then use a pair of splitting wedges to run the split along the length. Mine are Gransfors Bruks (http://woodsmithexperience.co.uk/shop/product/gransfors-bruks-splitting-wedge) which have a twist in them to maximise the split as you drive them in. No reason why you couldn't put the end-notch in immediately after felling and any cross-cutting - as you'll already have your PPE on.

Once you get the knack you should be able to split fairly long lengths quite quickly. I'd say leave the lengths as long as you can manage them to reduce the number of pieces to handle in the future. The length won't affect seasoning time. For large diameter logs, you might split into quarters - more exposed grain will aid rapid seasoning.

[oldclaypaws]

The last couple of years I've been burning Eucalyptus & Leylandii from the garden, and then Hazel and Goat Willow from the wood. Leaving it intact in long lengths, it dries at a snails pace if at all. The long thick Hazel is still just as wet 6 months or more after felling, only the first few inches of the cut ends will be dry. If cut & split to burning length and thickness though, it seems to dry in as little as 3-6 months in the summer/autumn. Therefore I fell in the late winter, do most of the woodland work between Nov-Feb, split logs in the spring/summer, and they are ready by winter. Big trees like oaks need to be cut into rounds and left for at least a year, in long lengths on the ground it just stays green for years until it rots. Moisture meters are affordable and accurate, my diddy Stihl one was about £20. Fresh cut timber can be 50% moisture, but you want it below 20% for burning, a quick prod with the meter tells you if a batch is ready or not.

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