Artistic woodstacks: Getting creative with the kindling
Plenty of domestic chores lend themselves to obsessive over-thinking in the pursuit of artistry. Elaborate napkin folding, for example. Complicated colour-based shelving of books. And, for the more outdoorsy types - artistic wood-stacking. Yes, it's a thing.
We're not talking about a tidy pile of kindling in an attractive basket at the side of the woodburner. This is well beyond the even-ended stack of pine logs in that purpose-made alcove next to your fireplace. There are no sheds, under-stair storage or back-porch bins involved.
Forget everything you think you know about stacking firewood.
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Some creative kindling-arrangers go for a mosaic-style design achieved by careful composition of shapes and colours; others get all three-dimensional with spirals, swirls and even spheres.
So who does this stuff? I've done a bit of on-line research, and a few trends have come to light.
This is the traditional way to stack wood in Norway, according to author Lars Mytting.
Folks from the American state of Vermont seem to be well into their creative wood-stacking, and I can't say I'm surprised. I know a few lovely Vermont natives (I grew up one state over, in New York). As a rule, Vermonters are a laid-back, outdoorsy crowd, with a fondness for the Grateful Dead and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. I suspect what we're seeing here is when a confluence of "stack" and "spliff" happens, on a crisp autumn afternoon.
Scandinavians, too, are keen timber-tidiers.
"It's a very common thing among older Norwegian men to create this enormous monument of firewood that outlives them, and also a very nice heritage that they leave behind," says Lars Mytting, the author of Norwegian Wood - yes, it's a book all about Norwegian men chopping and stacking wood.
If you have the space, you can creatively shape your woodpile into a spiral like Ken Woodhead from Woodstock, Vermont did.
It's not only size that matters, Mytting says, but creating a "sculptural stack" is another widespread activity, and local papers run competitions to find the best. Retired engineer Ole Kristian Kjelling is famous in Norway for his woodpile portraits of Queen Sonja and King Harald V, Norway's current monarchs, and the 18th-century composer Rossini.
'World-famous in Norway'... sounds a bit like "world-famous in New Zealand", am I right?
No surprises that the woodpile with the silver fern design was stacked right here in glorious Aotearoa. But, despite Googling every permutation of wood-stack-timber-pile-silver fern-design-kiwi I could think of, I'm unable to find out who made it, when, and where. And I'd like to know.
So I'm putting it out there... I want to meet the Silver Fern woodstack-maker. If you're out there, drop us a line.
Retired engineer Ole Kristian Kjelling is famous in Norway for his woodpile portraits. Here are Queen Sonja and King Harald V, Norway's current monarchs.
This image popped up on our Google search. It's clearly a New Zealand thing, but we can't find out any details. Do you know this creative Kiwi woodstacker?
Gary Tallman of Montana (USA) sorts his firewood by colour each spring and uses the raw materials to create stunning firewood mosaics.
Here's a Norwegian-style stack, partially built.
The British Columbia-based artist Alastair Heseltine has turned his seasonal woodpile into an incredible sculpture.
This perfect sphere of timber is the work of artist and blogger Michael Buck.
Another Norwegian, Bjare Granli, has expressed his fondness for fishing in the shape of his woodpile. The pooch doesn't look particularly impressed.
Intrigued by the woodstacking possibilities? May we suggest a bit of light reading?
Imperfect logs come together to create a perfect circle. John Gerding from the American state of Vermont created this one.
- Homed
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