Fuel wood dilema

[CalG]

I've got myself into a situation over home heating fuel wood.
I've got a years worth of 2-3 year cut split stacked and covered.
Naybe more.

Then I cut a couple more good sized hardwoods earlier this year, and have 3-4 months of heat in a few stacks around the property. (I won;t get into the hemlock ;-)

Now I've had a 8 cord log load delivered and stacked out front on crib logs.

The dilema

There is really NO good place to stack split wood from those new logs that would mean loading in a small trailer and driving somewhere. The log pile IS the place I like to stack, but the fringe area is already full.

Question is.......

Do I start in cutting rounds now, while the logs are still green, and stack the rounds near to where they fall,

or

Do I wait till late winter and spring to cut split and stack the new wood into the spaces vacated by the winter burn.

Cutting "dry" logs vs cutting fresh wood.... ?

decisions///decisions"

Conversation////

 

[bcjmmac]

I’d at least block them up to let them start to dry/limit decay
Splitting is still easier when frost gets into them

 

[dodge man]

I’d probably just leave them as logs and cut and split them after you’ve burned some. No scientific reason it’s just what I’d do.

 

[thclimer]

I would also leave them as logs and get them elevated off the ground.

 

[Rustyiron]

No such thing as too much wood! (Firewood)
Now being in the way is another thing.

 

[Jrasband]

Do not buck them as they will dry, and than it will be impossible to split, unless you are using a hydraulic splitter. Also if you buck them and they sit around they will be more exposed(more surface area to air, more water) and will rot faster. Just put the logs on skids if you can till your ready.

 

[nyone]

Just wait. Cut them up late winter when it's still nice and chilly and not wet and rainy.

I stay a year ahead so typicaly in the fall I'm cutting for the winter after. Usualy logs are down for 1yr prior to me splitting and stacking in my wood shed. My wood shed has two bays that each hold a years worth of wood. I also have a 3rd for overflow or if a get alot of oak.

 

[stephenh]

For me it's easier to store neatly-stacked logs than either rounds or splits. I do have six cords-worth of covered storage for split wood though. Any extra logs/tree parts get stacked neatly down near where the splitter/saw horse live.

 

[Bronco82]

As you aren't in a hurry for it, and it is off the ground, I'd keep it as is for now and get into it when you have room to store it split.

 

[ArlyA]

Following.

 

[JasperFrank]

My wood stove needs are settled. And its sort of weird. I found a Mill that gives the cut offs away. And that mill is close by and the way I drive home any way. So its free. All I have to do is cut some of it down to 14 inches to fit the stove.
This is odd in the sense, that I'm not cutting stuff on the property anymore. And I should be. But this is easier.

 

[WinterDeere]

I've done lots of both, and there are trade-offs. Logs rot, much faster than rounds. You get about 2 years, maybe 3 max, out of stacked logs around here... and that's if you have them up off the ground on sleepers.

Rounds will dry and check a bit, not enough to be stove ready, but at least enough to slow the rot. That said, moving rounds is a total PITA, versus just scooping up logs with your pallet forks!

I usually keep between 20 and 40 cords of wood on-hand, with never less than 20 cords split and stacked. But I have precious little time for processing firewood, so I always favor speed and efficiency (moving logs) over preservation (storing rounds).

 

[HawkinsHollow]

My opinion on firewood is the less you touch it the less work it is. I'd leave it be until I was ready to do something with it.