| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Jam Lady |
HolzhaufenAs some of you know we have an inordinate amount of downed trees to cut, split, stack. (Paul suggested that he might go around and label them 2013 / 2014 / 2015 for when he might get to them.)In the month since the superstorm he's cleared the one that fell across the driveway and made tremendous efforts with the 4 mature red oaks that uprooted and fell across the front lawn. Since we already had two cords of wood cut / split / stacked for this winter the question is where to put it all. I made a couple of traditional long rows with cross-laid ends in the woods up from the driveway. It's laborious getting the splits and rounds up there. I suggested that over the winter we could stack in the gazebo with a satellite dish roof and gravel "floor" right next to the driveway, thinking rows. He, clever man, looked up stacking firewood in circles and found holzhaufen. Another name is holz miete. Anyone here ever head of this technique? Make a ring of split wood. Ours is a bit less than 3 meters in diameter. Start stacking wood radially, so one end is on the ring and the piece of firewood tilts inward. Can go up to about 3 meters. (Ours will be shorter because of the satellite dish.) When partway built fill the hollow center with smaller rounds and those weirdly shaped pieces that won't stack. Do your best to keep them vertical. Keep stacking and filling until your holzhaufen is as tall as you want.. It's very efficient for lots of firewood on small footprint, and supposed to season very efficiently due to chimney effect in center. I started building ours today. Amazing how much wood it takes - until you do the math and realize that pi X diameter of a 9 foot diameter circle is roughly 27 feet. And they look very attractive. Just curious if anyone here has used this method of stacking firewood. |
| mochyn |
I haven't but it sounds marvelous. I think I'll sweet talk the old chap into getting that much wood from somewhere to do it with! |
| Went |
Sounds fascinating - maybe a picture when you have time? |
| Nick |
http://soede.net/soede/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=14&Itemid=29
I've not done it, obviously, but near our Swiss factory you see them. Never knew they had a name or a science! Eta: I just googled for a picture. Didn't realise that page was a mad Australian doing an experiment! |
| RichardW |
I have seen those before.
You do know that a square of the same size will hold much more dont you? Your 9 foot diameter will hold 572 cubic feet at 9 foot tall & a 9 foot square will hold 729 cubic feet. |
| Nick |
You do know that a square of nine feet and a circle of nine feet aren't the same size, don't you? 
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| 12Bore |
What a good idea, one of those that seems really obvious - afterwards. 
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| vegplot |
It's a hayrick - but with logs. |
| Nick |
Weirdly, tho, Googling for logrick comes up with Rick Stein's Yule Log, and a dating site for single women in Dumfermline. |
| sean |
Are you going for some sort of world record for displacement activity? Or have you finished your list now? |
| Nick |
Nope, handed expenses in, 50% of 2013's target hit (year starts Dec 1st), tender submitted, just about to load the car, nip to John Lewis' for a bit of shopping, customer visit this afternoon, then tea and cake with gran after, and home to make dinner.
I'm killing a bit of time, because I have it today.
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| RichardW |
You do know that a square of nine feet and a circle of nine feet aren't the same size, don't you? |
Not sure if you are being funny or not.... A 9 foot diameter circle will sit in a 9 x 9 square touching all the edges.
A row of 9 foot (diameter) circles will take up the same ground space as a row of 9 foot squares yet hold less wood.
Storing in rounds is inefficient on ground area.
The gazebo has a circular footprint so it makes more sense to stack a cylinder of wood.
A cylinder might be easier to build than a cube
Under Construction
Here is an image of the holzhaufen under construction. It is going slowly because first Paul cuts to stove length (please notice the size of the downed trees behind the wood storage area aka gazebo.) Then it must be split. After which I get to move it by the cartfull from log splitter area to stack it.
It is going to be complicated by the three vine trellises but that cannot be helped. I left an opening in the ring so that at this point I can stack from the inside. When it gets to some suitable height I will begin infilling with smaller rounds and wonky bits.
It's actually rather fun, and I love the way it looks. Stay tuned for future developments.
a similar principal will work for timber sized trunks if you get a machine to stack em
Wood heats you multiple times before it is burned . . . .
We just opted for this as gazebo would not be used in winter, even in theory, and it has a gravel "floor" which is great for storing firewood.
We have about 2 cords of seasoned wood nicely stacked under a roofed area convenient to the house, just outside the basement door as a matter of fact. There's another 1/2 cord of seasoned wood in storage racks near the driveway, covered with tarps over the top but sides open to the air. This was all prepped before the superstorm rolled through.
What's now being cut, split, stacked would not be used before next winter. Our concern right now is where to stack all the wood. And then next Spring we can worry about where to store the next 5 trees worth of wood, to be followed by the 5 trees cut and split in autumn 2013. And then 2014 . . . .
There's a total of about 20 downed trees, both red and white oak, big mature trees, uprooted. Excellent firewood. These 5 are easy to access. The next 5, also relatively accessible. After that it gets more awkward.
So you see, it is more a matter of where to put the wood rather than how quickly it becomes burnable. An embarassment of riches, one might say.
green oak is an ace structural material
maybe first job is to build a woodstore ?
edit to say a few well sectioned oaks would make a good frame for a small barn using the natural curves /forks etc to give pairs of timbers
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Ed. to correct link cut-and-paste fail.
Almost as high as we can go. Still working by walking in to the structure through a gap deliberately left in the perimeter. Piling wood from the inside. Amazed at how stable the structure is, can push on it and wood doesn't shift.
Here's an overview - Paul is on the far right, gives you a sense of scale. Up the slope you can see some more downed trees. They're maybe for next fall as there are other trees down between house and road that Paul will probably tackle next Spring. And he still has to finish the ones uprooted near the gazebo.
Need to finish the perimeter and then start filling the center. Not the classic technique but forced by the gazebo roof and the three vine trellises.
Today's picture. I managed to move & stack 2 carts of rounds before the snow got serious.
