The real problem is with stacking, it is next to impossible to get a stack to stay upright if you're stacking 16 and 18 inch wood on top of 12s If it's reasonably close within entra to I let it go. Otherwise the Uglies go on top to hold down the covers in the fall. The uglies are also good for the spring and fall I need a little bit of heat but not a real fire scenario
My stove takes 16”, and I think I can get up to 20” if I go diagonal, top to bottom, but I am going to try and get away from that now that I am cutting my own. I think generally the longs I will keep long and uglys and save them for the fire pit (that I haven’t set up yet). Shorts and cookies go in the kindling box, which may go in the fire pit too.
I try to cut everything to 20". My OWB will handle up to 24" although it's a tight fit. The splitter takes 24" but just barely. I can get two stacks on a 48" wide pallet with an air space in between. 16" splits just seem too short to me. I would usually cut the long piece and take the cookie/chunk/ugly bit anyway, I have a separate pile for those although I hope to set up some IBC tote cages for just that purpose. I will have an exceptionally large amount of short pieces the next couple of years as I have been cutting red and white oak tops with a lot of big knots and crotch wood and I try to work around them for ease of stacking. I guess that if I were to just haphazardly pile everything, or build holzhausens or have bins in a barn etc. that I wouldn't care how long the pieces were at all. Since the stacks fall over if the pieces are irregular, it's best to be consistent. Also helps with proper drying.
Since I use pallet racks to stack on size and shape don't matter. If I'm cutting long lengths I cut to 16". Tree service stuff is usually random with the ends cut on a angle so I have a fair amount of wheel chock looking pieces but it all is in the stack. My stacks are usually 8' tall with no cribbing needed.
We cut our wood to 16". Here is a picture taken a couple years ago but it shows about how we do it. Notice laying on top of the logs a stick with red ends (so hopefully it doesn't get lost). That stick is cut to 4' which will give three 16" stove logs. (Second picture is the marker I use to make the logs for cutting). When measuring it is inevitable that sometimes a cut will come in right at a knot. I will knot cut through the knots if possible or if they are large. Instead, one or two logs will be cut a bit short. I might shorten up an inch on 2 or 3 logs to bypass a knot. An inch will not be noticed when stacking in the pile or in the stove. And below is the marker I use for making a mark for cutting. One of these will last for years. I do like to use in a holder like this one is pictured though else those crayons will break easy. Also, if the bark is wet they don't mark so well and in that case I simply draw a line with an axe for a mark.
your measuring stick reminded me of when i used to cut firewood for my mom years back Backwoods Savage. She would get a few cords delivered on a triaxle. I would gas the saw up, buck until it ran out then split all the rounds. Her job was to gather them up and stack, then we would repeat the process. I had a 48" piece of 1x3 marked at 16" increments. Cant remember what i used to mark with but today i use a carpenters folding ruler and a piece of kids sidewalk chalk.
They go into a separate pile and if they are too short, I don't bother splitting I just put them in the pile for my owb.
Works great and my favorite item at the dollar store jrider , cept my tool box leaked and they all got wet last week!!! Still drying!
I cut to 18” and burn those. Anything less than 18” I pile on top of the 18” “regulars”....and then burn those. Uglies I pile separately and burn those too. All the scraps and “tailings” I make a drying bin for and/or put in milk crates, dry and burn as kindling. Crap wood, rotted, fungus, gets dried in its own separate pile and used for the outdoor fire pit. It all gets used.
When I first started cutting my own firewood I used a piece of chalk to mark my cuts. But then I would get out into the forest and forget it or it would be back in the truck and I would be too lazy to trudge back to get it so I realized my bar was 20 inches. I made a mark 2 inches in from the dogs so it was a line on my bar at the 18 inch mark and use that as my measuring “stick”. I would simply engage my chain break and use it as a traditional saw to saw back-and-forth to make a line on the log I am going to cut. And that’s how I ended up doing that now all the time. I just eyeball it for 18” ...my stove is designed for 20 inch logs so that gives me a comfortable margin of error and a little extra wiggle room when there are hot coals in there and I shove in a fresh split.
When faced with that issue, I knock everybody down to a consistent 16". I'd rather goofy chunks than screwy stacks
Depends - if I'm going to wind up with a thin cookie, I'll just extend my 18" cuts a little bit all the way down the log. If it's going to be 12" or so, I'll just cut it and stack on top. Stove takes 21" If you can angle the wood in, so I've got some wiggle room. If I forget or miscut, it's usually chiminea wood. One of these years I'll make an ugly bin instead of an ugly pile. We don't mind loading n/s, so I haven't been too picky. I like neat stacks, but I'm nowhere near as neat as some of our esteemed brethren here who could drop a plumb line down the face of their stacks and juuuust graze the fibers of the line with every split.
It all goes in the stacks. Not great on getting the length but it all burns. Small stuff help fill in the gaps. Been fairly lucky with stacks staying upright. Not sure how that happens, they should be falling left and right.
I mark the 20 and 24 in bar for 18 inches. For 261 with a 16 inch bar I use the second bolt of the side cover for 18inches. I try to cut to 18 and won’t split the difference. Too much variation in the stack. I would rather have one ugly instead of two shorties. My ugly stack gets tossed in a neighbors owb or in the stove during a lazy Saturday
I keep the chalk in my front pocket Timberdog , although it can be a pain to get out with my gloves on. Folding rule in back pocket.
Yup....or it falls out...or gets soaked with sweat...or breaks up...why I use my current method...fail safe. Fast, efficient, convenient, accurate.
