Wood Organizer

Managing fuel for a wood stove is challenging from an organizing point of view. I used to have a big box of wood, a small box of kindling and a box of newspapers scattered about on the floor. It looked unsightly and it took up a lot of space. Thus the firewood organizer idea was born.

As with most of my projects, it is made of as much old wood as possible. In this case centered around the box shown at bottom. It was found on the property and I'd left it outdoors for the past 2 or 3 years. I refurbished it, adding a new bottom, rope handles, and skirting. It holds the newspapers.

The center unit is built from old cedar and uses only pegs to hold it together; no screws or nails. It is designed to load wood in the top, but be able to pull wood out from the front once it is in the organizer. It can be loaded into the organizer from front or back.

The drawer holds the kindling and matches.

The idea was to span the necessary gap to the stove with a slate countertop. But to line them up, I'd finally have to replace the bricks the stove had been sitting on since day one with adjustable feet.

I was delighted when these arrived because, it is so rare it seems to find products that are well made and a good value. These feet from instawares.com and made by FMP were just the ticket. The mounting plates, not meant for exactly this purpose, were procured from Lee Valley tool. It took about an hour per foot as I did it in place and had to hand file a small notch for the center bolt to clear. A Dremmel tool might have come in handy.

The finished piece in place, stove leveled and connected with a slab of remnant granite (Couldn't get slate).

Another view. There still remains the issue of what to do with the back. The original plan calls for a bar there.

Below is a simulation of what a bar would look like with perforated metal panels. The panel at left would slide open to allow loading of wood.