Hello Fellow Firewood Hoarders, So there was an entrance to some property that my dad needed cleaned up. He had cut some over hanging limbs onto a section of road that was going to have a new fence put up. Usually we would just throw the limbs into a burn pile, but I decided to salvage what firewood I could from the limbs! People drove up and said I was crazy for salvaging such small pieces, but I was curious if you guys would have done the same? I also loaded it up into my shorted tacoma and really gave it a good workout lol. Eiither way, I hope you guys enjoy the video, and I hope everyone stays safe as we all cut, split, and stack!
when it comes to me cuttin i usually try to take as much of it as i can and the super small stuff gets tossed into a seperate pile with the rest of kindling and slightly larger limb wood gets used as round logs
It’s whatever Is worth it to you. I’ll cut even smaller than that, but it’s because I’m wanting to leave less of a mess for the farmer to push off the field. He doesn’t care Either way, but I just figure it makes it easier and less mess for him. You do more cutting for less wood, so if your going for production, you’ll be disappointed Just have to assess your situation and do what works for you.
A friend is driving to Ohio next week to buy a chunker, so they can salvage more of the tree for fuel.
most of my firewood comes from trees I'm cutting anyway and I have plenty of them. I take the big stuff and the small stuff goes onto the burn pile. Stack it up with the front end loader and grapple. There's always a lot of pine branches in the burn pile and soon enough those needles are dry and brown. When I'm in the mood for a bonfire, it tends to be glorious.
Depending on the score. Road side ash i scrounged last week had little limb wood as most was chipped. There was some 4-5" limbs which i took. I was cutting black locust tops today and went to about 4" as the limbs were in a massive tangle of prickers. If i harvest a downed tree in the woods ill buck down to 3" BTW i did not cast a vote for this reason. Not a lot of smalls in my stacks.
Pretty much how I do it. Anything smaller than that isn't worth the time. Apple and hickory is about the only exception. I'll take smaller then for smoking.
I take just about all of it, especially if I'm going to have to move it. I might as well move it to use as move it to throw away. Great for "take the chill off" fires.
I take down to wrist size or so depending on species. I learned years ago "waste not want not" from Pappy who was an immigrant from Russia WW1 times. He spoke no English. He and his wife rented a house from my parents that was heated by wood. I watched him hoard wood year round. He knew the value of every branch and twig he brought home. I stihl have the buck saw he used for cutting his firewood. This Led Zep album cover pretty much covers Pappy's wood hoarding.
Small stuff is okay but it takes a lot more time to make a pile. One just has to balance it. If cutting on some else's place I'd probably take just about all the small. If on my place I won't take a lot of the really small stuff.
I process down to around 3". A lot of it will depend on your available time and resources. If you have access to tons of wood, and they don't care if you leave limb wood go ahead. If you have limited areas to cut, or the owner wants it more cleaned up, then it may be worth cutting the small stuff. Small limb wood still has BTU's, and fills nooks and crannies in the stove nicely!!!
If it is fairly straight, I will cut down to almost an inch, certainly won't pass on two inches. Everything smaller goes through the chipper.
If it is in an area such as my pasture, I will keep limbs at an inch or better. I use a battery powered reciprocating saw with pruning blade. I like tossing them in the boiler has a top-off. In the woods, I leave a lot. Used to keep uglies, but now am more particular, since the big timber harvest.