Three Woodpiles, Three Styles

  • Post published:10/02/2012
  • Post comments:7 Comments
Woodpile in Hawley

Three woodpiles, two which have been of very different styles are among the most popular of my posts. We seem to be thinking about winter and warm nights in front of a crackling fire or humming woodstove even in August. The first was an artistic woodpile I passed one fall day in Hawley, a town near us.

Holz Hausen woodpile in Ashfield

The second woodpile in Ashfield was a traditional pile designed to help air move through the pile to dry wood. Artistic and scientific.

Our Woodpile

We have a traditional New England woodpile, but it has never been stacked so neatly so early in the season. Three cords.

A cord of wood is a pile that would measure 4x4x8 feet or 128 cubic feet of wood. Our pile consists of ash and maple mainly, with a bit of birch. We buy most of the seasoned wood from a neighbor who has a good business in firewood, but we occasioally add wood that we cut on our own property, ash, cherry, or an apple, when the wind takes down a tree. Of course, the tree has to be located where we can reach it to cut it up and bring it back to the house with relative ease. We are not as young as we were.

I’m wordier than usual but for real wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. Jason

    That first one should get some kind of award. Are there awards for wood piles?

  2. Aussiepomm

    THAT looks amazing! We have a similar technique here in Australia, and I think its worldwide as well, called Drystone Walling. We even have a few examples at my work at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan!

    Mines up as well at AussiePomm – Melbourne and a Footy Grand Final

    Have a great day!!

  3. Lena Sledge

    #1is very creative. # 2 looks like the uninspiring pile of wood in my backyard. 🙂

  4. Pat

    Diane – We’ll use most of this wood by May. And our gas furnace too.
    Jason – I agree! At least news of the Hawley woodpile reached France.
    Lena – Actually #2 is a very scientific stack of wood that will dry quickly.

  5. Lisa at Greenbow

    All three piles are beautiful but yours I wouldn’t mind to use. The others look more like art than function.

  6. Pat

    Lisa – It may make a person wince to take the first logs – but all are functional and used down to the last punky piece.

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