Stacking a holz housen versus a standard woodpile
Let's compare the amount of wood that's actually stacked in a holz hausen versus a traditional woodpile. Let's assume that you have two cords of split wood that you need to stack. One cord of split firewood is 128 cubic feet. Assuming we are stacking two cords, that would be 256 cubic feet. For argument sake, let's assume that a typical split log is 16" long.
TRADITIONAL WOODPILE
A traditional woodpile that stores one cord of wood would be 4ft deep x 8ft long and 4ft high. You can learn more about it here. To store two cords, the wood pile would need to be twice as long - 4ft x 16ft x 4ft high. A 4ft wide pile, would be three rows of 16" long logs. Since every piece that goes into the woodpile is stacked, 256 cubic feet of wood is individually stacked.
HOLZ HAUSEN
Assuming we build a holz hausen at 8ft in diameter, a pile that is 4.5ft high with a 25 degree "roof" would contain two cords.
When building a holz hausen, you only need to stack the outer perimeter of the woodpile. Since the holz hausen is 8ft wide, the inner diameter of the pile that is not stacked would be 5ft in diameter (8ft - 2 x 1.5ft = 5ft). A 5ft diameter cylinder which is 4.5ft high is 88 cubic feet. As mentioned above, two cords of wood contains 256 cubic feet. If 88 cubic feet of the two cords is not stacked, this means that only 168 cubic feet are actually stacked. The remaining 88 cubic feet is thrown on the inside of the stack and not placed in the woodpile.
TO SUMMARIZED THE COMPARISON OF STACKING TWO CORDS OF FIREWOOD:
Traditional woodpile - 4ft deep x 16ft long x 4ft high = 256 cubic feet of stacked wood.
Holz Hausen - 8ft diameter x 4.5ft high with 25 degree "roof" = 168 cubic feet stacked wood
In summary, holz hausen woodpiles are easier and quicker to build because there is 34% less stacked wood when compared to a traditional woodpile. Although you still need to handle the 88 cubic feet of wood, the advantage is that you can throw it inside the woodpile without walking over to place it on the stack. This saves time because you can stand in your truck and throw it in, dump it in using your tractor, or stand next to your wheel burrow and toss it in. This is also helpful when you have kindling scraps from splitting that you can toss inside the pile. During the winter when your grabbing firewood to bring inside, you can grab a few pieces of kindling that you tossed in as well when you built it.