Log Stores

[RogerM]

Andy suggested a log store thread last weekend, which is a cracking idea so I'll kick this one off. My offering is a condensed version of a previous thread from 2016 where I believe the photos don't show anymore due to photobucket changes, so here goes.

We needed a new log store next to the doors into our lounge where the log Burner resides. SWMBO didn't want an eyesore up against the house so we agreed that she would be the one to go up the garden and fill the log basket with logs from our store behind the shed on a dark, rainy winter's night. Haha! Who am I kidding, so I've knocked this together.

Started with an end frame.



Then I made the other end on top to make sure they were the same size.



Then I pre-painted some shiplap so that bare wood didn't show on shrinkage, and then added a batten base, some anti racking braces, and connected the sides.



Painted the front with Sikkens, and added an 18mm ply and felt shingle top.



A lifting lid makes loading and unloading easier.



The overall cost was about £100, of which over half was for the 18mm ply lids and felt shingles, so you could economise there. Not a rocket science job, and certainly not as elegant as some of the oak frame creations being mooted in the Green Oak questions thread. However, it was quick and easy to make. I wish I could have built it higher, but the adjacent window prevented that. The lifting lid is very worthwhile for both stacking the logs and for log retrieval into a basket. With the benefit of 5 years hindsight, I wish that in addition to the anti racking struts at the back, that I had tacked some chicken wire across the back to keep logs from falling backwards and contacting the outside wall of the house. but at least this shows I'm still here other than to make sarcastic remarks in the Wood Manglers Retreat , and maybe it'll be useful to someone! :lol:

 

[sidtsloth]

Looks good to me..

And despite me talking about attempting to make mine look posh and in oak, currently I still haven't managed to source the timber at a sensible price!

I have now seen quotes for 100x100mm x 2.4m Green oak posts from £17+vat all the way up to £37+vat... And what really kills all the cheaper ones seems to be the delivery costs which I have also seen ranging from £50 to North of £150.

Given the current advice on travel, I can't really justify a day's travel to go and collect from somewhere 3+ hours away, so I may be totally in need of a rethink.


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[sidtsloth]

Looks good to me..

And despite me talking about attempting to make mine look posh and in oak, currently I still haven't managed to source the timber at a sensible price!

I have now seen quotes for 100x100mm x 2.4m Green oak posts from £17+vat all the way up to £37+vat... And what really kills all the cheaper ones seems to be the delivery costs which I have also seen ranging from £50 to North of £150.

Given the current advice on travel, I can't really justify a day's travel to go and collect from somewhere 3+ hours away, so I may be totally in need of a rethink.


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I take it back.. My new record is 48+vat per beam.

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[AJB Temple]

Do you have any firms near you that do green oak oak timber framing? If so ring them up and ask if they have any pieces suitable for your job that you could buy for cash. Be flexible on sizes - you may well find that what they use for roofing rafters might be big enough for your job.

 

[AndyP]

Finally got round to taking an image of mine. No wip. We put this together from scrap and purchased timber shortly after we moved here.



When full it holds approx 10m3 of 50cm logs. Left hand side is what is left of this winters logs. We are only lighting up late afternoon at the moment.
On the right are the logs delivered may last year. The little glass house to the right holds the small stuff that I chop for kindling and I keep about two days worth of dry logs in the garage just it case it is peeing down when we need some.




This is last years delivery which we are slowly, very slowly at the moment, moving into the wood shed. I used to cover them with plastic but found it an eyesore and to be honest a year uncovered by about 6 months in the shed and it seems dry enough, ie 10-15% on my pin type moisture meter.

I should add that there is not one “joint” in the whole construction. All nuts bolts and screwed.

 

[RogerM]

I've just extended my shed to include a log store. Built using 150mm shiplap, which was painted first so that there would be no lines showing when it shrinks. All the rest is made from 50 x 25mm battens and cut up gravel boards. I've used cedar shingles for the roof to match the shed. They will soon weather the same shade of grey.

 

[AJB Temple]

That looks nice. It so happens that a neighbour who has quite a number of acres of fruit trees, mostly apple, is going to chop about an acre or two down to plant a small woodland screen. I've stupidly said I will help him and in exchange I can take as much wood as I want. We have a couple of old air raid style corrugated iron shelters at the edge of his land, that can be used as dry storage and I will stack maybe 5 or 6 cords along a fence line at home. That will have to be open air. It represents years worth of log burner wood for us. It might affect my thinking on forthcoming oil burner boiler replacement.

Apple orchards are being ripped out at quite a pace in Kent. The hops have largely gone and now the orchards are going too. More than a little is for housing.

It's sad. You can't give the apples away (they have tried). I think he has about 30 acres of orchards and most of the fruit just rots where it falls. Used to be a commercial organic farm.

 

[Blackswanwood]

It's sad. You can't give the apples away (they have tried). I think he has about 30 acres of orchards and most of the fruit just rots where it falls. Used to be a commercial organic farm.

I agree that is sad. Why is it? The wrong type of apples?

 

[MattS]

Very true, I work on a farm.... well our office is on a farm! They used to be apple farmers but most of the trees have gone and I think they’re pretty much landlords now having converted a lot of other barns to houses.

The other trend round here is big commercial growers swallowing up smaller farms. There’s one round here that seems to have exploded and is growing everywhere. Real shame.

There’s only one hop garden I know about near by and I cycle a lot of the lanes. It’s a proper Darling Buds of May farm so sad there aren’t more of them. Particularly given the explosion in beer drinking!

 

[AJB Temple]

I think the main issue is cheap imports, coupled with difficulty getting labour to pick them. You can machine pick, but only if the trees are suitably maintained, which requires skilled labour.....

I think there might be a market for making artisan cider and apply brandy. But I'm not really a drinker. Where I live (excellent rail links) there is huge pressure for housing. These orchards were bought as their privacy barrier originally - they are not farmers.

Personally I think we should be more food self sufficient.

 

[the bear]

Near me we have the garden cider company. You take your unwanted apples, they give you cider back some time later, obviously keeping some for themselves to sell. I'd be surprised if there wasn't somewhere near you that did the same. Even if your neighbour is not a drinker you can give it to friends. The plum and ginger is very nice.

http://www.thegardencidercompany.co.uk/home/4589410876

Mark