Shelter Firewood Racks: A Comprehensive Guide

Whether you have a wood burning furnace, a wood stove, or a fireplace, a firewood rack is a must-have. Stacking cordwood on a log rack helps to season the wood more quickly, allowing for a cleaner, more efficient burn in your wood heating appliance.

But finding the right firewood rack can be challenging. There’s a lot to consider: what size do you need to accommodate your seasonal wood consumption? Should you get an adjustable log rack? Or how about a DIY firewood rack for those with a little more mechanical aptitude?

At HY-C, we manufacture five unique styles of firewood racks under our Shelter brand name. And in this guide, we’re going to take you through the ins and outs of each log rack.

We’ll cover the available sizes of each style, how much firewood each one can store, the cost of each rack, and more.

By the time you’re finished here, you’ll be familiar enough with each Shelter firewood rack to be able to choose the right one to suit your wood heating needs.

View All Shelter Firewood Racks

Shelter Firewood Racks

Discover Shelter Firewood Racks

The first style of Shelter firewood racks consists of five stock sizes — a small size, a medium size, a large size, an extra-large size, and an extra-large-tall size. These racks are not adjustable; they come as-is, and they’re capable of holding a set amount of firewood.

The smallest rack measures 28 inches by 12 inches by 33 inches. It’s capable of holding around 50 logs, and it’s rated for 1,000 pounds of weight maximum.

The largest rack measures 96 inches by 13 inches by 60 inches. It can hold a bit over a face cord of firewood, and it’s rated to hold about 4,000 pounds.

From the smallest rack in the line to the largest, prices range between around $90 to $205. We also make a firewood rack cover for each size tailor-made to its specific dimensions.

These racks are a good choice if you already know (more or less) how much wood you’ll need for the heating season. Between the five options, you’ll easily be able to pick a size-appropriate and price-appropriate option tailored to your wood burning needs.

Shelter Adjustable Firewood Rack

Discover The Shelter Adjustable Firewood Rack

For a more customizable wood storage solution, the Shelter Adjustable Firewood Rack allows you to create a storage system with any dimensions you want. Essentially, this rack only includes the sides; the rest of it is comprised of two-by-fours that you’ll have to supply and install yourself.

This gives you plenty of options, as standard two-by-four lengths include:

• 8 feet (96 inches)
• 10 feet (120 inches)
• 12 feet (144 inches)
• 14 feet (168 inches)
• 16 feet (192 inches)

If any of these are too long, you can cut the two-by-fours to any length you desire. The Adjustable Firewood Rack is a truly modular solution that covers most wood storage needs. It’s 13 inches wide, and its MSRP is $88.99.

The only caveat to this rack is that its height is limited. The 1-¼” tubular steel that makes up the sides of the rack are fixed at 48 inches tall. However, another Shelter firewood rack style provides additional versatility…

Shelter Firewood Rack Bracket Kit

Discover The Shelter Firewood Rack Bracket Kit

Like the Shelter Adjustable Firewood Rack, the Shelter Firewood Rack Bracket Kit is a firewood rack with a DIY twist. It allows you to customize the length of the rack both horizontally and vertically for an even more bespoke fit.

The brackets themselves are made from steel and feature a black powder coat paint finish. They’re designed to accommodate a total of six two-by-fours — two at the bottom and four sticking upward (with the brackets themselves holding everything together).

While this rack style does offer the very best in versatility, it’s not without its downsides. Aside from the brackets themselves, the entire rack ends up being made of wood. Wood is not as structurally sound as steel, so the rack ends up a bit weaker than some of the other styles mentioned here.

Also, the brackets themselves are only 14 inches wide. This means they can still accommodate average log lengths between 16 and 24 inches, but any pieces of firewood longer than that will hang over the edges of the rack quite a bit. It's very inexpensive, though, with an MSRP of $49.99.

If you’re looking for something quite a bit sturdier that can hold a similar amount of firewood, though, there are alternatives available, like…

Shelter Heavy Duty Firewood Rack

Discover The Shelter Heavy Duty Firewood Rack

When it comes to holding a large amount of firewood with uncompromising strength, durability, and reliability, the Shelter Heavy Duty Firewood Rack is about as good as it gets.

Forged with 1-¼” square tubular steel, this rock-solid firewood rack is capable of holding up to 3,000 pounds (or half of a face cord of firewood).

If you need more wood, there are extension kits available to add to the total width of the rack. Each additional section provides four more feet of storage space for a maximum possible width of 16 feet (or 192 inches). This versatile design allows you to store as much (or as little) wood as you need.

Each section can hold half of a face cord, meaning that in its largest configuration, the Heavy Duty Firewood Rack can hold two thirds of a full cord. That’s around 700 logs total.

The base version of the rack has an MSRP of $227.29, and each extension piece will run you close to $160. The rack itself is a bit pricey (especially fully extended), but when it comes to season-after-season dependability, it’s hard to put a price on quality.

Shelter Crescent Firewood Rack

Discover The Shelter Crescent Firewood Rack

Finally, we finish with a style that has some curvature to it. The Shelter Crescent Firewood Rack is the only round firewood rack in the lineup. There are two sizes available: one that measures five feet wide and three feet high and one that measures eight feet wide and four feet high.

These racks are the most expensive in the selection. Their architecturally appealing arcs take time and precision to fabricate, driving up the cost. They’re also made with the same 1-¼” square tubular steel as the Heavy Duty Rack, bringing plenty of strength to the design.

The five-foot model has a steel tabletop available, allowing you to transform the rack into a dual-purpose display-and-storage solution. For this reason, these racks are best suited outdoors on patios.

The smaller style can store about one third of a face cord, while the larger rack can hold about one half of a face cord. They’re not the best choice for heavy wood burners; rather, their compact storage combined with their sleek shape are better suited for casual use.

Which Shelter Firewood Rack Should You Get?

This has been a close look at all of the firewood racks included in the Shelter lineup. Even after looking through all the details, you may be left wondering which one is best for you. If you’re still having difficulty deciding, consider the three Cs: capacity, cost, and convenience.

Capacity has to do with the amount of wood you tend to burn in a season. Between the five styles listed here, there are models that hold as little as 50 logs and models that hold as much as two thirds of a full cord. Choose the one that can store the amount of wood you expect to burn.

Next, there’s cost. If a model can hold the same amount of wood but there’s a big price difference between them, typically that means that the more expensive style is more durable. If you prefer your firewood rack to last longer, opt for the more expensive model. If you don’t mind taking a chance on something that may not be as robust, buy the less expensive option.

Finally, there’s convenience. This mostly has to do with the dimensions of the rack itself and where you want to put it. Make sure that the size you select will fit where you want it to go. If you’re storing wood inside, make sure the rack can fit properly in the storage room (and that your floor can handle the weight). This tends not to be a problem with an outdoor firewood rack.

Keep capacity, cost, and convenience in mind when you’re buying. Those three factors will help you find the perfect Shelter firewood rack for your wood burning needs.