Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

A couple of years ago I got some wet firewood and was researching best ways to stack it to dry it in a hurry. I came across Holtzhausen, but never built any because I thought the traditional way of stacking would dry it faster.

A couple of weeks a go we were in Arden, and someone had built one. Very cool! Basically it's a ring of firewood with wood in the middle, which can be stacked various ways to help dry it.
One in progress: We got our firewood last week, and it's dry so I thought I'd build one. It was pretty easy. Because the wood was dry I just pitched the extra wood into the middle. Mine is a mini holtzhausen, only 6 feet or so in diameter and 6 feet tall. It's a pretty sloppy job, and I didn't bother trying to make the roof watertight because it will be under plastic anyway.
Ist nicht fur gefingerpoken und mittengrabben!
Actually it's surprisingly stable despite the slap together job, went up fast and it holds a lot of wood. A lot more fun than the usual way of stacking, and less travel up and down the row too.

Ah hah! Is this a guantlet thrown? Yes i've been kicking that idea around, and i have a few "bucket dumped" woodpiles that must be stacked for better drying. Plus regular woodpiles often fall down (if wood is at all irregular) as it dries.
A challenge I accept dear lady! I will not stand still with the thought that my woodpiles are inferior!
To build such a pile by the start of the next calendar month? IT WILL BE DONE!

I'm gonna need the predicted dimensions. A 3' x3' Holtzhausen built by next month ain't gonna cut it.......
My next one will be far superior to this practise one! Muah haa haaa haaaaaa!

You DARE insult me by insinuating that I would cheat in some way? You have nerves! I will take a photo of me standing beside my pile: no funny angles, and no camera trickery of any kind!

Je vais vous montrez un pile de bois!

How tall did you say you were? 4'2?
LOLOLOL



I'm sticking to 6' tall or I can't reach the top.

What's this? Shenanigans without me? Haha! You guys crack me up.

I have firewood that needs to dry ASAP to get me through the winter. Will this work if stacked by middle of July? That's super cool !

Yes, this stacking creates a "chimney effect" that rapidly dries wood and the top of the pile acts like a wood shingle roof shedding water. Some folks have tested it and found that green wood that normally takes a full year to dry will dry in four months. Wood shrinks as it dries and if you can measure the top of the pile as it shrinks in height.

And Robbie, better be careful or you'll be on my naughty list!
I am 5'11 and have big hands.

http://www.thechimneysweep.ca/6seasoningwood.html

I pile green wood one layer thick, seven feet tall and as long as you have skids in a row for. I leave a space between the stacks so that there are 2 one- log thick layers stacked on one skid width. These are pretty unstable unsupported or if taller so I use 2x2x 4' stakes to tie the layers together. I'll build a couple of layers of both halves, then put a layer of the 2x2 ties every 6' or so along the top of the layer so that the stake connects the two log piles, then put some more logs on and so on until it's tall enough. So it's sort of a long one skid wide log sandwich with logs as the bread part and air and perpendicular 2x2's going through the middle for the filling..... hard to describe I'll see if I can get a photo for you. The wood is covered with greenhouse plastic, covered one day to cook in the sun and then vented the next (unless it's raining).
The people I spoke to about the holtzhausen did not think that theirs dried quickly, but they did not stack the middle properly so that the chimney effect was built. My guess is that you have to know what you are doing to dry wood in a holtzhausen in four months.

baronrenfrew wrote:
I am 5'11 and have big hands.

That's good! I'll be expecting some mighty big logs in that holtzhausen then!

baronrenfrew wrote:QR_BBPOST

image.jpg

Darn, Santa photo didn't post! But anyway
Hee heee! You look cold in that picture but I'll bet the sweat will be pouring off, waiting until July to stack firewood!!!!
Foresight eh ??? LOL
Unless it's an excuse to drink more beer

(But wait till the holtzhausen are finished.)

PS:I'm on the permanent naughty list, been there since 1963. Look it up, that's me, third from the top