Low key but it works well. A 4' stick (furing strip, dowel, broom handle, branch or anything like that), and a carpenter's crayon. I do like using a crayon holder that is nice and it keeps the crayon from breaking. The measuring stick measures three 16" pieces. If it breaks or is lost it is easy yo replace. Sometimes the crayon does not work well if the logs are really wet so then I simply use the axe to draw a line. Works like a charm. Here is the marking stick laying on the logs..
Just as you do. Tape measure and sidewalk chalk. The sidewalk chalk is the easiest thing to mark with even when the wood is wet and it's ridiculously cheap. I also like the tape measure over a premeasured stick because most of what I cut are tree company logs. I will take the tape measure from one end to the other. If they log is 90" long, I mark at 15" instead of my standard 16" which makes for the least amount of odd length pieces.
I just eye everything now. I did however take a piece of 3/4 x1 hard wood and put two screws in all the way so the points poked through 18 inches apart. I would just scratch the bark vs paint as I don’t want any paint on my chain or bar. Requires a decent eye, but was quick and clean and requires no paint or consumable.
I used to try to "eye it", then realized how horrible I was at that. My multitude of failsafe methods that I use now: 1. The hatchet that I keep in my truck is exactly 16" long 2. I scratch a line at 16" on all my chainsaw bars 3. I mark the handles of my splitting mauls at 16" 4. Grab a skinny split off of the wood pile that's already been cut to length. OCD? Maybe... I'm bound to forget something if I'm off hoarding somewhere. This way I'll have a reference wherever I am, and whatever tools I'm using.
I used to just eyeball it. But my cut length was often compromised by diameter optical illusion error(s). Then for a while I just used the bar length. Which was mostly better for length consistency, but my wrist got tired of that. Now I just use sidewalk chalk and a rule of some sort. Lately just a stick cut to length so I can lose it or break it / easily replaced. Works OK as long as not too wet and/or the bark isn't falling off. In which case I just fall back to the bar length method. I still have a length gauge on the wood box outside by the door to measure any that look too long for the stove. No sense carrying them in just to carry them back out again. When/if I've accumulated enough of them, on a good day, I'll shorten them in a batch.
A short piece of PVC pipe 16 inches long and a lumber crayon. I will be honest I used to eyeball and my lengths were all over the place. Then I started hanging out with that " BRAD " guy and he would mark everything and he wore off on me. I now mark and it does take a little longer but the end result is much better. Piles look much better with the consistent lengths and 3 rows at 16 inches makes cord calculations much easier.
I stole an idea from a YouTube channel. I have a heavy zip tie attached to the handle of a couple different saws. I measure from the bar out 16" and cut the zip tie off. Line up with the end of the log/last cut and commence to cutting. It's super consistent and folds out of the way when I don't need it. If I'm using a different saw, I keep chalk and a tape measure in a tool box on my trailer.
