As wood dries at a rate of about 2,5cm a year, we needed to find an appropriate drying area that was flat, not too exposed to the elements and easily accessible for our 6m trailer onto which we loaded the newly sawn planks. The bottom end of the front lawn of our small mountain cabin fulfilled all the criteria…..and so the stacking began.
A very important aspect of stacking planks is to ensure that sufficient air circulation between the stacked planks can take place. We thus cut hundreds of 20x20 sticks or spacers, called stickers, to place in between successive planks. We created a number of stacks, each ultimately about 2m or so high. In order to protect the stacks from the rain, we covered each stack with old corrugated iron roof sheets which we weighed down with rocks and unused tree trunks. We also used some plastic sheeting to keep the rain out – quite a futile exercise at the moment as rain has been, and still is very scarce in the Winterberg! Our small river with its three springs has stopped flowing for the first time in decades.
We also stacked tons of small blocks of fire wood. The off-cuts from all the waste of the felled trees generated a very healthy supply of firewood for years to come!
