I have a some tree tops to clean up. What is the smallest dia. that you feel is worth the effort to cut? At what point do you stop splitting and leave the limb whole?
Using the chainsaw on; about wrist sized. A lot of wood in my stack are "rounds" about wrist sized diameter.
Same, but my wrist is smaller than yours! I will attempt to split anything that will stand up on my chopping block. If I miss hitting it, it stays whole.
Sometimes cut to 2” diameter if it’s easier to clean up the brush pile, then I use them and in the antique wood cook stove.
No less than 3” diam. Limb wood at 3” in the round still hissy pizzes even after 3-4 years here... I’ll give them at least a quick split.
When I was cutting wood commercially with my father, he would trim tops at about 6" or so in the woods before he skidded the top out for cutting. We were trying to be as efficient as possible, and it didn't pay to work with the smaller stuff. When I have helped my brother clean up his woods after logging, we cut down to 3-4". Not as productive but cutting down to a smaller size made the woods nicer and leads to neat brush piles.
I generally go to 3 inches and split small stuff as much as possible.. If I put all work in it going to warm my house..
The trade off is time spent and moving brush. I don’t have access to a chipper so I drag a lot of brush. The upside is putting a few small pieces on the coals in the morning with larger splits on the top to get the air space for a hot fire a little faster. Or I use them in the old cook stove. No sense wasting wood.
It depends on the type of wood. Oak and honey locust I cut to I can’t split it. I leave nothing in rounds. Ash or elm I’ll cut down to 3” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm far enough ahead, unless the river gets some in the next few days, and there is sooooo much dead ash around, I don't keep anything less than about 8"+-.
I was like that 2 years ago and could be choosey. Small or twisted wasn't worth the effort. I didn't get much cut the last 2 summers. The tree top, Black Locus, is blocking my way to a large Ash I am going to drop. I need to move the brush anyway.
It is a bit of a series of sliding scales for me. It depends on hauling capacity for the job, where I'm cutting, how far it has to be toted to reach the wood hauler of the day, single trip to cut and drive (or close or even at my own place?) and if I am going to be able to leave some nice brush piles for the critters. I would say about 3 inches is the sweet spot . But if it's a long haul then maybe I'll stop at 4 or 5 inches. And sometimes I'll stop larger if I'm limited on space. I like to be able to leave some pretty nice brush piles for birds and rabbits. Especially since the coyote invasion in the last 20 years... As far as splitting, I usually don't bust rounds smaller than 6 - 7 inches. But, *disclaimer* I am not burning inside the house in a stove like lots of you folks.
Hopefully this is a link to a short video of my '82 Kubota B7100 connected to an old stationary buzz saw rig that I adapted to a three point and pto drive by use of a John Deere right angle drive. If you feel like spending a minute or two, the video should answer the question for me.... If the link didn't work, OR you don't want to watch it...well dang it anyway !!
i cut down to 2" (as long as its easy) and split down to 5" i do have some 7" maple rounds in here, but oak will get split to 4-5 inches
That's a great rig you got there tractorman44! Sums up about where I'm at with size of rounds that I wont try splitting. Bet you have a killer back hand tennis swing haha!
Guessing your talking about the Ohio River? I crossed it SE of St. Louis yesterday I believe. Way full! Lots of flooded ground. May have seen some of your firewood travelling by I believe it was the Tennessee River that was up also? Could be off on that one? I couldn't believe how much area was flooded down that way. It barely sprinkled in Key Largo once in 2 weeks. Odd weather indeed.
Well I ain't too much on tennis but I'm pretty quick at deflecting my wife's backhand on occasion... I usually toss anything more than 6" off to the side to be busted just once. But really I don't have to because there is no chance of it not being fully seasoned by the time it gets burned as I try to be consistently ahead three years on wood supply. I bust them mainly so the ladies won't have trouble stoking the fire with them. A little too large of a piece discourages them from setting them into the firebox. Thank you for the compliment on the old rig....and its ooooold !!
If I'm cutting tree in my own yard, and I have to haul off the branches, then I cut and save down to wrist size. I'll split anything I actually can. I'll cut down to "wrist size" but only split about double that. I like to try to split the smaller stuff because it seems to dry better. If I was selling wood and had a huge chipper I would use the chipper on branches. People generally do not want round wood. For whatever reasons. Sometimes they rot, like birch so I don't blame them.
I'll cut down to about 4". Splitting really depends on species. Oak I'll split to 6-8". Elm & Ash rounds 12" & under go in the boiler whole. I just loaded the boiler with DED Elm from I don't know how long ago. 3 14" rounds & a few smaller ones around that. It'll burn a looong time on that.
