One of the things I learned moving to the PNW is it gets cold. After spending 40 years of my life in Florida, it took some adjusting to. A fireplace, while a kind of nice to have in Florida, was a lot more relevant here. The other thing there is plenty of is free firewood. Not sure what other parts of the country are like, but here, everyone is giving away firewood.
A lot of times you have to chop it yourself, but it is not that hard to chop a cord of wood. It can actually be fun and rewarding at the same time. All you need to start chopping wood is an axe and a large wood/stump round. When I find wood, I like to get them rounds; they are easier to load and unload. I can then chop them up as needed.
Where to Find Firewood
There are several online resources these days to help you find firewood. OfferUp or LetGo are two apps you can use to look for items being sold locally. Just search for “free firewood” and you will see all the results. This works on Craigslist as well. Facebook Marketplace is also another good resource, although I am not a fan of Facebook and their privacy practices. Other apps that you may already be part of are nextdoor.com or freecycle.org
DIY Firewood Rack
After getting all of this wood, however, I needed a place to store it. When I was a kid, my grandfather stored wood in a pile on the ground. With this in mind, I made a pile of wood on the concreate near our shed, but it rains so much here, I felt I needed to get it off the ground. Today, there are all sorts of woodworking plans online so I just searched for DIY firewood racks and quickly found a solution.
Like anything in life, plans for a firewood rack can be everything from simple to elaborate. I have always defaulted to keeping it simple, especially if you have never done whatever it is you are going to do. A firewood rack is no different.
After a quick search, I found a site that fit the bill. Here is the link to the Fresh Patio website page with the firewood racks. All of these are good racks, but it depends on your needs. I chose the “DIY Log Rack Plan Under $30” plans, but I did modify it from 4′ to 6′ long. Adding the two fence pickets covered the bottom; uncovered I thought it might make it difficult or take longer to stack. The total cost was approximately $56, plus tax.
My lumber list is as follows:
| Material Type | Qty | Unit Price | Total Price |
| 2×4 x 6′ | 9 | $4.88 | $43.92 |
| Fence Picket 6′ | 2 | $1.98 | $3.98 |
| Box of Screws | 1 | $7.97 | $7.97 |
Completed Project
Here is a photo of the finished project. The the pressure treated lumber held up in the Pacific Northwest weather. It is still as solid and sturdy as when I built her. The whole project took about an hour and it looks great.
Ax Types
The subject of axes would take another article. The variety of specialty axes surprised me, but for now, you really just need a general purpose axe which are called felling or limbing axes. There are axes specifically designed for splitting wood but a general axe works fine.
