Yeah, I know, it's a bit off-topic for this Brexit group but what the heck...
I was thinking about building a new log store after my last abortion made out of old pallets rotted away. A friend gave me a pile of hardwood planks and four 6ft 4x4" posts so I started planning around these.
Of course with no firm plans the design was a bit "fluid" and I ended up spending an extra £120 on timber and £40 on roofing material but I'm pleased with the end result.
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It's 180cm wide, 140 high and 60 deep with a removable central partition. Just need some logs now...
Thanks. I could have made something as functional for less but it's nice to splash out occasionally on something you hope will last years. It's in a pretty sheltered location. What wind there is approaches from behind.
but where looks are not so important plastic pallets can be used for anyone not wanting to spend too much or if you are in the right place nothing at and they don?t rot. Get the right ones and their construction is a lot more robust than wood ones , I acquired five like this
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make a log store with a top covering of roofing felt left over from a shed job. Sides were then covered with bark from some timber stripped before being cut into logs so it looks quite rustic. The forklift prong holes have proved very useful for storage of the various shorter canes and plant supports that the missus uses around the garden. Longer canes are stored in 3m lengths of 110mm soil pipe hung in a gap between sheds which would otherwise be wasted space.
I would have had vertical cladding with an inch gap, so that the rain runs down and doesn;t pool on the horizontal surfaces. Called 'Yorkshire Boarding' I believe, as used by farmers.
I can see the sense in that but one bonus of horizontal slots it that I can slide a board in at any level across the way to create smaller ?compartments?. I?ve done this now to create a kindling store at the top of one half of the store.
I find that, in sunny Surrey, the dampening of rain blown in is minor.
Mine is about the same size, holds about 2/3 of my annual requirement, but not as elegant. It comprises the two 1.4m by 1.8m high double glazed patio doors I replaced and a third 2.4 by 1.6, acquired a long time ago from a demolition, on the top at a low pitch. The back is the garden fence panel.
The greenhouse effect is quite substantial and the gap at the rear of the sides allows good air flow.
As long as it is loaded with split wood by end of May all the logs are below 20% for the winter.
This year will be a bit more challenging as I have a quantity of wellingtonia to dry, it's both the wettest of green timbers and lightest when dry.
My exoereinec suggests that proivided wood is not in permament contact with wetness - ground or puddle - it dries out to a level perfectly acceptable for burning.
In yeras past |I have not evben bothered to put a roof over it. Cut, split 6 months later its burnable.
Even stuff on wet ground rapidly dries indoors.
The chief problem with wet is rot.
IME you dont need a roof for that, but it is nice.
Hmm I have given up trying to burn poplar and willow. It won't split, it clogs the chainsaw and it produces bugger all heat.
But you are wrong. The lightest timber is of course balsa. Poplar, birch and linden (lime/bass) are among the lighter hardwoods. And spruce is pretty light in the softwoods. All within a gnats c*ck of sequoia.
And when it comes to wetness when green, alder, willow and poplar - the 'swamp' trees - have the highest water content.
Okay we'll have to agree to differ either on what is "perfectly acceptable for burning" or whether once wetted it dries out again in the burning season.
Again our experience differs, I bring in a basket load to last me through an average day and it is dry.
You need to learn to sharpen a saw then.
Nothing wrong with burning poplar or willow but it must be dry (it readily absorbs water) and you have to feed the fire more frequently.
Hardwoods all have about the same energy content per kilo but obviously less dense wood takes up more space in store or firebox.
Softwood tend to have a higher energy content per weight other things being equal.
Birch is only fractionally lighter than oak or beech at the same moisture content. I have never burned balsa as it is exotic.
I don't have figures for poplar, willow or wellingtonia but they must be comparable with spruce which is about 3/5 the density of oak at the same moisture content. My sample piece of wellintonia was 1690grams +-5 wet and 465g+-5 oven dry. It now weighs 495g+-5 having gained moisture in this room over the last few weeks. It feels lighter than the spruce CLS studding I have been using.
So does sweet chestnut, western red cedar and larch but who said anything about an open fire?
I treated myself to a Morso s11 and the door is lightly spring loaded so open burning is deprecated, I cannot think of anything that it doesn't do better then the Jotul 602 it replaced.
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