Stacking Wood Bark Up or Down | The Debate
The age old question is finally being answered right here – is stacking firewood bark up better? Or perhaps the other way around?
It does not really matter
I have never found that stacking firewood either by bark up or down sped up or slowed down the seasoning process, at all.
Having said that, sometimes it might be better to use one method over the other in your wood stacking process.
When finishing off the stack
The only time when it, in fact, seems to make sense (to me) to stack the wood bark side up is when you’re about to end the actual stack.
Perhaps it is the classic row, maybe you’re going for the Holz Hausen pile, doesn’t matter – the goal here is to create some type of roof-like cover that could potentially shed water off better.
Can i prove that this indeed helps to stop, or at least slow down the rainwater from entering the deeper layers? No, but i guess it could make sense how this would work…
Point is, i think that bark absorbs less water than raw, exposed wood; put differently, it shields the actual wood from coming in contact with water.
When beginning
In regards to the bark down debate, i believe it’s best to be done right at the start of the stacking process – more specifically, using those pieces as the main foundation of the whole stack.
This might potentially block any of the ground moisture content from coming in contact with the good wood – again, following the same analogy that bark acts as a barrier, this too makes all the sense.
How i do it
I just stack my stuff how i see fit.
The problem with this whole “bark up or down” question is that once you start going for one approach instead of the other, it becomes a great deal harder to build a proper stack.
What do i mean by that, you say? Well, once you start stacking wood, for example, only by bark down, you will find yourself struggling to fill many gaps and finding the right pieces to fit in; not only does this waste space, but also makes the stack less stable.
What i’m trying to say is that worrying, overly-thinking about this sort of thing ruins the whole deal.
Making a nice looking, sound stack is not easy to begin with, so turning the whole stacking goal even more of a chore is really not the way to go.
Honestly, what you should be thinking about instead is whether or not the wood gets enough wind and sun exposure, the location. These are the facts that do indeed matter in the seasoning speed question.