Splitting Wood

I set out to do some work today on D&S's house site. They have a daughter M, but if I type in DS&M too much, I may get the wrong kind of internet traffic. So do forgive me, M... Please know that when I type D&S... I have M in mind too. :)

I am considering a cordwood home and will be testing my metal for the task with some upcoming log peeling. Every natural building method has at least one massive labour bottleneck, and certainly in Cordwood design, this is it. Today though, I got warmed up with splitting some birch for S&D's firewood stockpile.


I made some pretty tidy stacks, and began imagining my own cordwood walls. A person building with Cordwood has the choice of using round ends or split end logs. I anticipate using split ends, as this dramatically decreases the drying time needed. Also, the finished result looks closer to stonework in my opinion.

I made sure the base of the stack had some lift, so that the wood was not directly on the ground. Some logs were still way to wet for chopping, so I kept them for future chopping blocks, putting cedar bows below them.

I covered the logs with some cedar bows to better the drying time. Today was super snowy!! And I also stacked the poles D has fallen, keeping them layered as best I could with shorter logs in between for air circulation. 

I am thinking that the cedar bows may have an acidic effect to assist the drying wood. Can anyone confirm this for me?





D&S... have these foam blocks salvaged from the nearby tree nursery, and are discovering all kinds of building applications for them. There is a chemical coating, however, so this would not be ideal for a dwelling, but rather an outdoor shop. I used them for a base and cover today. The little holes for the trees are ideal to capture cement. Strapping layers of these together would basically be like building with lego.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

www.sta-sis-arts.com