Only the Good Stuff

[wkpoor]

I was talking to a friend the other day about how I'm constantly seeing pickups on the highway or in the line at the gas station full of firewood. Problem is these trucks have only the perfect nice rounds between 6-12" dia. Most of the time the wood is so nice it looks as if there were no limbs to trim on these as well. Now to my question.....where is the rest of the tree they left behind???? So my friend tells me about his neighbor who want to help him cut firewood and tells him he doesn't need a splitter as a mule is faster. He soon found out why this guy thinks a mul is faster. Back to why I started this thread. Ever noticed when a tree is cut up beside the road what wood leaves and what stays? Yeh I thought so....it erks me!

 

[SWI Don]

It is one way to avoid having to own a splitter.

I however, take everything from ~3-4" to the bottom minus any rotten on the bottom. There is just a brush pile left that takes ~1hr to burn up as there is no sizable wood in it.

Don

 

[danrclem]

Waste not want not. A lot of my wood is ugly but it burns just as well as the pretty wood. I usually keep some really small stuff. It's good for days when it's not real cold and you can throw on a few sticks and it won't get too hot in the house.

If a person gets what they consider the prime stuff they should give somebody else the opportunity to get the rest. I have made some good scores on what some other people considered too big. In the past I have had to turn down wood that I couldn't handle. That's why I bought the 372. Buck, quarter and load.

 

[Kansas]

In some areas it (whats left behind) makes habitat for small animals and is a good thing fact some land owners insist on doing it.

I always pile my small stuff up when I leave a location but thats me I care about small animals having cover.

Kansas

 

[Rftreeman]

the last time I had a load like that it was from me taking down a tree and I chipped all the smaller stuff but I'll take any of the wood, from perfect rounds to the biggest knot filled wood, my splitter can handle it all.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Maybe they are just vain and only want to show off their wood and put the twisted gnarly stuff at the bottom.

Nah ! they are lazy and wasteful of the resources at their disposal. Only the littlestuff, <2", goes in the burn pile. There are enough fallen trees in the bottom for permanent cover. We dont do any burning till Spring so it isnt as if there wont be winter cover for small game.

Besides a heaped pile of brush provides more cover than a single log but the log provides more BTUs.

I'd like to have all 6"-12" stuff but that isnt how trees grow.

 

[Moss Man]

The wood we take off our woodlot ends up making a pretty uneven pile, I too wonder where some people get their perfect woodpiles and how much waste is involved.

 

[jburlingham]

When I cut a tree, I take every inch of it that is usable. The branches that do not make the "firewood pile" end up in my burn pit, or in the mulch pile.

 

[BaldSawRunner]

the last time I had a load like that it was from me taking down a tree and I chipped all the smaller stuff but I'll take any of the wood, from perfect rounds to the biggest knot filled wood, my splitter can handle it all.

Knots hold fire a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time! I saw split 'em if I can't pop em with the maul.

 

[songofthewood]

Like everyone says,wood is wood.If it burns,use it up.No need to waste it.

 

[LazyJ]

I stack rounds and splits separate. Rounds take much longer to season. Small rounds are my mild weather fuel, rounds 10-12" are "overnighters", and the splits are for making BTU's.

 

[greengiant]

I bust my butt to get my wood (typically), so I take everything. Then I get home, unload, and go to buck and split later and kick myself for taking the crotches and knotty stuff cause I split with a maul and sometimes a wedge. But since I live on a 1/4 acre lot, I can't just throw the tough stuff out. I eventually get through it.

I often wonder about those 'pretty' piles of wood. My stuff is never exact lengths nor split to the same size. I am cheap, so, if it burns, I will heat my house with it.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

:agree2: :agree2: :agree2:

 

[woodbooga]

I bust my butt to get my wood (typically), so I take everything. Then I get home, unload, and go to buck and split later and kick myself for taking the crotches and knotty stuff cause I split with a maul and sometimes a wedge. But since I live on a 1/4 acre lot, I can't just throw the tough stuff out. I eventually get through it.

I often wonder about those 'pretty' piles of wood. My stuff is never exact lengths nor split to the same size. I am cheap, so, if it burns, I will heat my house with it.

I'd be excommunicated from the United Church of Woodboogerin' if I left the uglies and bastard pieces behind. Since we only own an acre, we don't have the luxury of harvesting on site. Therefore, I'm always on the prowl or seeing out new leads.

To me, if I left behind all the butts, crotches, and elbows, I might as well drop a $10 bill on the pile before leaving. Or a few pounds of deli meat I could use to feed my family. Wasted wood is wasted heat. Wasted heat is wasted money.

 

[computeruser]

Living in an urban area where space is at a premium and local ords. dictate how firewood is to be kept, I have always tried to maintain three piles - the neat-n-tidy rows of uniform, straight stuff stacked where the neighbors can see it; the puzzle-piece stacks of knotty, bent, or crotch wood tucked behind the fence; and the oddball/end piece pile. Sometimes these oddball pieces are arrayed on top of the tidy piles, or other times they're given their own pallet or two to sit on.

The end piece/oodball pile is the one that often ends up getting Freecycled or otherwise donated to someone for whom the aesthetics of their heat source are irrelevant. This way, it goes to someone who really needs it, and I don't have to contend with stacks that are prone to falling over, looking strange, or drying inconsistently. The latter point actually matters to me more than to most folks, since I am limited as to space and this year's cutting MUST be all ready-to-go for next year.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Thank God I live out in the sticks...I pile what I want where I want...and it ain't purdy eiether!

 

[avalancher]

I have been getting a lot of wood recently from a sawmill, the butt ends before they get milled into lumber. They guy there is glad for me to show up cause nobody wants the ends because of the odd lengths. Either they are to long but not long enough to cut in half, or to short. I cut em into the lengths that I need, then even bust up the cookies and stack them up in mesh baskets. Some of this wood has sat there so long I have been burning them this year.
Kind of pain, its more like throwing chunks of coal in a stove rather than lenghts of firewood, but hey! Its free! Good wood too, mostly red and white oak.
I try and figure out a use for everything, saves on the wallet in the end.

 

[maplemeister]

When I am working up my own wood I always end up with a bunch of short ends and twisted up crotch pieces that I had to muscle through the splitter. Of course, this is the kind of stuff that doesn't look pretty and won't stack well either, so what I ended up doing this year is to lay down about nine pallets in the back yard and toss all my ugly pieces on that pile. When I finished cutting up my 6 cord for personal use, I had a stack of uglies on those pallets that was at least six feet high and totally covering all the pallets. I would estimate that close to a cord of wood was in that pile anyway. I burned that pile of short ends first this fall and it took me all the way through the months of Sept. and Oct. as well. At that time of year, I only need a fire for a few hours in the evening so all those short ends were perfect for the job at hand and gave me an opportunity to use all the wood that I had harvested. I was happy I could use all the wood and I saved the pretty stuff for my customers. I don't have a real close neighbors to complain about my woodpiles so that is not an issue for me.

maplemeister: :chainsawguy:

 

[Laird]

Owb

One of the pluses of an OWB is that you can load crotches, burls, and other gnarly stuff w/o having to split it. It's hard to get other logs in and around a log like that, but I'll usually save them for weekends when I'm around to toss something else in later. If I can lift it, I can usually get it in the door.