Wood Shed

[WebbyMaple]

How big of a wood shed do you need for a 2x6? How many cords would it hold? How many cords would the evaporator use in a season? Thanks, WebbyMaple

[mapleack]

I used to have a 2x8 and would use about 4 cord per season. If you can afford it, build bigger than you think you need, if wood can dry two years instead of one it'll really burn great!

[Hop Kiln Road]

Pretty important - won't want to be without one. I use a cord for every 15 gallons of syrup produced and an average of .25 gal of syrup per tap figures to 3.3 cords for 200 taps. Then in a good year of .4+ gal of syrup per tap, you can always burn the siding off the wood shed and the wife's furniture you never liked. Bruce

[Fred Henderson]

It can never be to big and you can never have to much wood on hand. What space is not used to store wood in you can store othe stuff in.

[tuckermtn]

we built ours for 5 cords- wish it held 10 cord! Hell- make it 15!

[WebbyMaple]

What are the dimensions of yours? How high do you stack the wood?

[PerryW]

I have a 12 x 16 woodshed. It holds about 9 cords when stacked 7 feet high.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y235/perryW/SugarWoodPileSmall.jpg

Using softwood, I can make about 130-140 gallons with the 9 cords

[Michael Greer]

A big wood pile is like money in the bank. A woodshed that keeps it dry is like a bank account gaining interest. Dry wood is much more efficient, so stack it long before you need it and you'll use less.

[markct]

my woodshed is just an open metal frame roof, its 18 by 18 and i stack wood down both sides and use the splitter in the center, i stack some wood outside and tarp it cause i would rather have a dry well lit place to run the splitter in the evenings and rainy days when i cant do much else.

[maple flats]

I do not yet have a wood shed, so I end up moving wood too many times. I have never come close to runing out of wood, in fact I used less than 40% this year on average production. I have wood stacked along both sides of the sugarhouse with a 3'overhang, this is usually dry, the rest is stacked along woods roads and in one field between posts. These are not covered and thus I need to keep moving more wood the under the overhang to dry as space opens up there. I end up moving it from the splitter to woods or field stack, then from either of those stacks to under overhang and finally to wood rack in front of evaporator. I am considering one of 2 things, either a wood shed addition on the sugarhouse or pallet forks for my excavator and several wood racks to be filled at the splitter and moved when needed from a drying barn or have their own roof and then moved as needed to the evaporator. Have not decided which i want yet. AS FOR wood quantity, I figure 1 full cord for each 20 gal of syrup and I plan enough to make .6 gal/tap. I have never hit the .6 but then I have wood left over. I burn a mix of 70% min hardwood and 30% max soft. My soft comes from my sawmill slab as does a small % of my hard. The North American Maple Syrtup Producers manual suggests 1 full cord per 25 gal but I use 20 for a margin of safety.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

A few inches of gravel works wonders as a floor in the woodshed and keeps the wood dry from top to bottom.

[adk1]

My first year I wont have a woodshed built. Not even going there. I will stack the wood just outside the back door and cover with metal roofing. Probably put it all on pallets.. not enough time to build a wood shed, but this will do. Already have 2.5 cord bucked up and waiting to be split..White pine and hemlock. Will be getting to that this weekend.

[heus]

Burned about 6 cords to make 127 gallons this season. Half of that was house wood that I had to split at the evaporator what a pain. Never imagined we would make over 50 gallons. I will be more prepared for next season in the wood department.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I burned about 6.5 cords to evaporate off 5505 gallon of sap on a 2x8 this year if that helps you any.

[Sugarmaker]

Webby Maple,
We have a wood shed that is 20 x 10 and stack the wood about 8 feet high. 9 cord all pallet snitzels, with a 6 foot walk way. Made 190 ish gallons of syrup. Your 2x6 will make about .5 gal per hour and I would expect that you could get between 15 to 25 gallon per cord. So how much syrup do you want to make, divided by say 15 gallon per cord should give you a idea on the ammount needed and then size of the shed.
Using a full cord as 4 x 4 x 8 = 128 cubic feet per cord.
Regards,
Chris