I posted after piles came out about some usability and general UX issues around piles that started as a bug report and was revised after Yang had to explain how to use them.
My carpenter had no problem taking it out of a crate to make a market stall. Hmm not sure what could be wrong here.
Have you tried to make a stockpile next to the chest and set the chest to “except nothing”? but it does fall under a weird category… it not under wood, irc it goes in to furniture.
I had the same issue with the masons second crafting station, they just would not pick it out of a container to place it down. the above “fixed” it.
This bug is current as of today’s alpha branch on steam.
I did find a workaround though: if you deselect the container’s “wood” setting, such that log piles are no longer valid for placement in that container, the hearthlings will instantly build the pile.
I definitely see this as well in A16. Also, the Herbalist’s tonics can’t be triggered while in a storage container (strength, stamina, courage) which is a similar problem.