Am I the only one that uses the real small wood?

[user 19670]

I cut down to about 1-1/2" or so. Sometimes I think (as I am sawing) that this takes tooooooo much gas for the return but I can't waste the wood. Had some logging done by a pro and I get all the tops and branches for fuel. When sawing I have to negotiate the pile of small stuff so it seems safer to just cut it and use it for fuel instead of tripping over it when my hands are full of either saw or wood.

Real small stuff I snap off with my fingers and keep it for kindling but don't really need too much of that these days as the stove doesn't get a chance to go out. I will do this when out for a walk with the dog.

 

[cjk]

2-3" is about as small as i go. It seems like it takes forever just to throw the brush on a pile, cant see cutting and stacking it.

And the bunnies need a home too.

God place to stomp around with a shotgun in hand.

 

[JAL]

If I take a tree down I take everything to 1 1/2", there is no need to waste good wood by leaving it on the forest floor to trip on. With an OWB you need all the wood you can get no matter how small. Here this years pile.

View attachment 64888


Carry On!

 

[spike60]

I consistently go down to 2", occasionally smaller, especially if it's hickory.

I really don't mind doing pole wood, particularly on my own property. It's very easy to move on foot through the woods. I like to get a decent pile of it ready to cut. I find that cutting it is most productive as a two man job with someone, usually my Dad, feeding it on a sawbuck that I made. If I'm doing it alone, I'll use my little top handle Tanaka in one hand and feed it with the other.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Everything down to about 2". 7yr old daughter loads all the small stuff in the trailer.

 

[Log Splitter]

I cut all my firewood on my property in Louisiana where I have a camp. Anything under 4" I cut into 4 foot lengths for the nightly campfires. I really enjoy sitting around the campfire with a cold one.

 

[mga]

waste not....want not.

 

[Dok]

I'll cut and take the small stuff too. It really depends on how long it takes to cut it up, if its too branchy and requires a lot of time to cut I'll leave it. Those small 1" to 2" rounds are perfect for starting a fire! Plus you don't have to split them.
Dok

 

[Dok]

I almost forgot the best part- the small stuff gives the kids something to stack!
Dok

 

[JAL]

waste not....want not.

Yep!

With a little help from a friend.


View attachment 64896

 

[computeruser]

A fireplace-only burner here, but I keep the smaller stuff, too. It is good for kindling, for those last couple pieces of the evening, and for the outdoor patio firepit thingee. Since I have to pay to rent a chipper to clean up what I don't take home, I'm all for keeping the small stuff.

 

[redprospector]

4" is the minimum I cut. Anything smaller get's chipped and sold, or donated to the park to put in the play ground.
I've tried it, and I spent way too much time on the small stuff to be profitable.

Andy

 

[windthrown]

I cut trees (trunk and limbs) here down to about 3" for firewood in fir, and 2" in oak and madrone. The rest goes into the slash piles. We have 85 acres of trees here though, and an OWB that eats wood. We also always wind up with some smaller stuff for lighting it with, down to about one inch.

Hey, it all burns!

 

[Wood Doctor]

Keep that Small Wood!

Small wood is great for kindling and dries fast. Unless you only light the stove a few times a year, small wood is great to have around.

I collect anything over 1-1/2" dia. and save it for kindling. It also helps pack the woodpile tight as a drum so it won't fall over. And, it really helps rejuvenate a fire that you let die down by mistake.

I could and should have built a whole list of reasons. Next to my stove, about 3' away, is a walnut half-barrel I made in my workshop that's about 18" across and 16" tall. That's where I store and dry my small wood. When the barrel runs out, I fill it.

One of my buddies who owns a splitter rarely collects small wood. However, I notice that whenever I give him a box full of it in the middle of winter, he never turns me down.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I consistently go down to 2", occasionally smaller, especially if it's hickory.

it ready to cut. I find that cutting it is most productive as a two man job with someone, usually my Dad, feeding it on a sawbuck that I made.

Same here. The sawbuck makes all the difference. Plus, I have boys to do the loading. I don't stack the small stuff. I built a bin from pallets, and just toss it in there. Works for me.

Sawbuck pictures here.

 

[wdchuck]

I noticed so many people I talk to about burning wood for heat and a lot of the people I see post on online forums will only make use of wood 4-6" in diameter or larger.

So here's a question and maybe conversation starter to throw out there: am I the only one that will use all of a tree down to about an 1" in diameter? The brush I discard or leave where felled, but I find burning in wood stove that is not kept stoked 24 hours a day and therefore, must be started at least four or five times a week, I can make use of everything from 40" rounds to 1" sapwood throughout the course of a burn. It also saves me from having to scrounge for kindling, I always have all I need.

Am I crazy or does anyone else do the same thing?

I just called a nieghbor, over mile away but its sparse around here, and they are looking for 3" and smaller for the stove in their basement, so they came over, looked around, and will clean up my woodlot floor of all that they want and pile the rest for burning. A good situation all around.

 

[stihl sawing]

I have to scrounge for wood sometimes, I will take all of it. The small stuff burns just as good. You just have to put more in the stove and load it more often. Plus it's good for starting a fire.

 

[Hummer]

Everything down to about 2" goes into my woodpile. The rest goes into slash piles and is cut with a buzz saw for kindling. I keep about 40 one-bushel wooden fruit boxes and fruit baskets filled with kindling that can be easily carried into the house. A bushel of kindling will start 3 or 4 fires.

The kindling boxes stack neatly, 40 on a pallat, and are kept covered. Lately I've been cutting a lot of old conifers around my cabin and can't use all the slash so I haul it off to a county collection site where they chip it for free. Then I use the chips for trails through the forest and as road surface.

 

[Rookie1]

I do like you too. I get sick when I see tree service chip big branches that I would cut stack and burn.

 

[Dale]

I go down to 2" diameter... why waste it. I'll intersperse it with the bigger stuff in my stack, and it makes for a nice tight stack. I only cut dead timber, so I'm not too worried about superior ventillation on my woodpile.