Building a Firewood Shed and Other Wood Stove Accessories

You may not think of a firewood shed as a wood stove accessory, but, in the big picture, it is one of most important. You might have the best gas chain saw, extra chains, sharpening tools, and fireplace tools, but if your wood is wet it will not burn.

The shed need not be fancy or expensive, neither does it have to be a messy pile of boards and tarps. You can buy ready made firewood racks, but they tend to be rather small and expensive. If you only use wood for taking the chill off or for the occasional atmosphere fire, then a small ready made one will work just fine.

Building your own shed can be a very satisfying project that can include other family members. Because it is a shed, not a kitchen cabinet, there is plenty of room for error and it will still work well. When small children are allowed to help Dad with such projects, the memories can last a lifetime. Hammering and sawing boards can be a great learning experience, and a firewood shed is the perfect kind of project to work on together.

It is important to decide on the size of the shed, which will be determined by how much wood you expect to use for the winter. In Vermont a typical house uses 5 cords of wood for the season. This is a lot of firewood, and it might be more than you are willing or able to build a shed for.

A full cord of wood is 4 ft. x 4 ft. x 8 ft., or 128 cubic ft. From this, you can calculate the size of shed you need. You can also use the basement, a garage, several sheds or one shed and several covered piles.

The wood needs to dry at least 6 months before burning. If the prevailing winds and weather tend to make the wood wet, you should consider adding at least a partial wall to the shed to protect the wood. The more air exposure the wood has, the better it will dry.

Other wood stove accessories you will need, if you are going to use a new or used cast iron wood stove or fireplace insert, would include a metal ash pan, shovel, floor protector, and stove top water steamer.

The dangers of using green wood are real and can result in a chimney fire. The moisture in the wood cause it to burn incompletely, which makes the wood smolder, rather than ignite. The gases emitted condense on the walls of the stove pipe or chimney and solidify as a coating of condensed fuel, just waiting to ignite.

If the chimney is coated with creosote and you have a very hot fire, or a lot of sparks and flames, the creosote may ignite into a torch like fire. This fire sounds like a rushing wind as it explodes in the chimney, and the temperatures can be high enough to actually melt stove pipe or adjacent combustible materials.