Homemade Firewood Racks

Slow and steady wins the race for Wes' Rib House

PROVIDENCE — There’s a reason Wes’ Rib House has been a mainstay of the restaurant scene for nearly 30 years, and it’s not only because of its slow-cookin’ “Missouri-style barbecue” or the ambiance of the place which is up a flight of steep steps on the second floor of an old mill building surrounded by other old mill buildings in Olneyville.

One of the keys to Wes’s longevity is its daily longevity. When other restaurants close for the night, Wes’ kitchen is still serving St. Louis baby back ribs, smoked pig platters, jalapeño poppers and Buffalo wings until 2 a.m. weekdays and 4 a.m. weekends. When the bars and nightclubs let out, revelers can head to Dike Street and know they’ll find the lights on and the kitchen open. Plus, you can play Keno.

When we arrived on a recent midweek evening at about 7:30, however, there were only a few people at the bar watching a sporting event on the big-screen TVs and a pair of diners at a table. I’ll bet if we’d returned at midnight the place would have been, if not hopping, at least busy.

Fitting the mood of the restaurant’s hallmarks — ribs, pulled pork, chili and a dynamite cornbread — Wes’ is done up in down-home style from the outside of the building, which has a Wild West façade, to the interior, which has brick walls, neon beer signs, vinyl-covered tables (easier to sop up spilled barbecue sauce), and a wood plank divider between the tables and bar. You can look in on the kitchen as the chef cuts and pounds and grills your order. One corner of the kitchen is taken up by a rack of firewood.

A Narragansett beer ($2.75) on draught seemed a perfect fit for the room and the menu, which for us started with thick, wonderfully greasy beer-battered onion rings ($4.25) and Chopped BBQ & Cheese Tater Skins ($6.99). So what is “chopped BBQ, anyway?” I asked our cheerfully friendly and knowledgeable waitress, Stacey. Why, it’s pulled pork and it filled three potato skins, melted mozzarella and Cheddar on top. The pork was sweet and delicious and there was little potato filler in the skins, which had been fried to crunchiness, then stuffed and baked in the oven with the cheeses on top, cholesterol be darned.

Wes’ chili ($3.65 for a half pint) has won awards over the years. It was thick and spicy, loaded with beans and a sprinkling of chopped meat.

Firewood Rack

DEAR TIM: My husband says we must have a firewood rack, but I say it’s not going to work. The only place available at our home for the firewood storage is a sloping hillside. All the storage racks I’ve seen are made for level ground. Do you have any suggestions for an outdoor firewood rack that might have adjustable legs? Money is really tight right now, and if there is another way to solve this firewood storage rack inexpensively, I’d be grateful. Melissa T., Stowe, VT

DEAR MELISSA: I have to agree with you, as I’ve done pretty exhaustive searches and the photos of each firewood log rack I’ve seen show the rack on level ground or a driveway. That’s not to say firewood racks can’t be modified, but that could take some work.

I’m also sensitive to your budget issue, as undoubtedly are many other homeowners in these challenging financial times. Just this past weekend, I solved my own firewood outdoor storage problem by building three outdoor firewood racks in one using the actual split firewood and salvaged oak 4x6’s that came in a shipping crate. This project only cost me my time, with no out-of-pocket expenses.

Salvaged wood beams for a project like this can often be found at trucking companies or businesses that ship and receive granite, stone or marble. You can also purchase these strong materials at a lumber yard. Be sure to get treated lumber if at all possible.

Frequently homeowners underestimate the weight of firewood, especially if it’s a dense hardwood like oak or locust. This is why you frequently see the firewood rack glamor shot with the rack resting on a concrete, brick or blacktop surface. If the rack was placed on soil, the weight of the wood very likely would drive the legs of the rack into wet or damp soil.

The ground surrounding my outdoor fire pit is also sloped like yours. I used 4-foot-long 4x6’s to make level, or nearly level, stacking platforms for my firewood. The advantage to using shorter lengths of the wood beams becomes clear when you see how little you have to lift the downhill end to make it level. Often a medium-sized piece of split wood that is placed perpendicular across the end of the first step of the wood beams is enough height to set the next step of the homemade firewood storage platform.

The primary purpose of the firewood racks I’ve seen is to create support at the ends of the pile and a level surface off the ground so the wood doesn’t contact the soil. The short wood beams in my homemade firewood rack provide plenty of space for air circulation at the base of the pile of wood. I use the actual split firewood at the ends of the pile to provide the necessary support so gravity doesn’t cause the wood to tumble off the pile as it gets higher.

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