i picked up a load of red maple slab scraps last night. guy says after the red maple is gone (4? more truck loads) i can get into the black locust and he will have a lot more BL coming. trying to figure out if it is worth it for me so i have a few questions. this is located 40 minutes from home. i will fit a little better than a half cord in my truck per trip. working on borrowing a mason dump or trailer. i think i didnt realize the difficultly in handling and cutting these up. my biggest question is, whats the best way to cut these to length? circular saw? chop saw? i dont like the idea of sawbuck and chainsaw. they range in size from 2x2 to 4x10. the bigger stuff i know i am going to have to use the chainsaw. this maple bark mostly comes off pretty easy and there isnt much sapwood. is the thick locust bark likely to come off easy as well? i dont want to bring home loads that are half bark. i imagine there will be more sapwood with the locust too. how will this burn in comparison to splits? a google search yielded hits with much concerns with quick burns and overfiring stoves with such wood. i have a boiler with storage so i am not worried about this. any other tips or advice? thanks!
"It's all BTUs" The sap wood is not as dense, a little less BTUs but thats ok IMO. + It should dry fast Set up a jig & where the cut end falls off, using a chop saw or tie a bundle together on a stand & use a chain saw If the price isn't bad, it's a good way to go to get a stock pile ready to go for burn season. "You burn what you got ! "
Why not a sawbuck? I'd use the H-buck personally, can cram a whole bunch in there and after 3 cuts you have a lot of stove length stuff ready. For the small diameter stuff, that goes at the bottom so that the bigger pieces hold it down and eliminate the possibility of it grabbing up and coming back at you.
I would cut them a bunch at a time, like this, , but if I had a lot to do, I would build an H style rack, other people on here have them, MasterMech has a video. You could stack that slab wood in there pretty tight, and cut a whole lot at once
This is what I use for the small stuff including kindling(made from pallets: The last I used it was for the Norway Spruce branches shown in the picture below. It's not just for the stove in the garage, but for in the house too. A BTU is a BTU, no matter the size of the wood. That rack shown in the garage is 12 feet long stacked 4 feet high.
You will definitely want to use a chainsaw. Back when my father had an outside wood boiler we burned a lot of slabs off the sawmill and found a saw buck was the best way to go. He made his at a slant and out of 2 x 6's so that it would semi slide down to where he could cut it. It worked well. As for the wood itself questions, I really don't know. We use our sawmills mostly for framing lumber (studs and rafters) so we use softwood and put very little hardwood through them.
nice setups guys. i will have to rethink the sawbuck. doesnt the chainsaw make a lot more sawdust than the thinner circle blades? the price is two hours of my time to drive there and load up and drive back plus about 35 miles of fuel and wear and tear for truck, say $20. not much different than if i was processing rounds, except i will have more mess up at my stacking area with the slab scraps. i like it because i can bring my son along without much fear of him getting hurt bad. i like it because its lets me take some harvesting pressure off of my woodlot. i like it because of locust, i dont see as much of the stuff as i would like.
You could easily build something like this to cut them off too. You can see the chainsaw cut off tool at 14 minutes, 14 seconds in. Pretty ingenious and works well by the looks.
That's what I'm talking about H style saw buck, you could make it 4' hi, each cut would yield a lot of stove size pieces, just remember the width needs to be under the longest bar you have. Sure you are going to make more sawdust with a chainsaw but I think the time savings cutting a lot at once would be significant
Like others have said if the price is right pounce on that! BTUs are BTUs and when you throw around words like maple and black locust those are gooder BTUs. Black locust bark should fall off relatively easily at least with my experiences that has been the case . I'd say however you are comfortable cutting it up would be the way to go, just do it as safely as possible .. get it cut up and stacked!!!
Don't get me wrong though, a table set up with a chop saw and a two-man team I think could make some pretty good time
Sounds like you have a good problem to have. Would like to see pics of what you are getting. I am not following the difficulty of processing these slabs; especially compared to dropping, limbing, bucking, loading, unloading, splitting, and stacking a whole tree. Lots of good ideas shared already. I might add a top handle in one hand and a stick in the other if you don't have a bucking stand.
I still think the absolutely best way of handling slab wood is with a buzz saw but there are very few of them around anymore. It used to be almost every farmer had one when I was young (NO. I did not have a dinosaur for a pet; I had a puppy). A few years ago a neighbor had some surgery and asked me if I'd cut up some slabwood for him. He expected his son to help but I got no help. It was just thrown in a pile and not stacked neat at all. Still, I had no problem cutting it with chainsaw right where it laid. I would not necessarily recommend it for many folks but it certainly can be done and done quite quickly. Other than that, the H block or sawbuck is very handy for a one man operation.
Here we call what I think you call a "buzz saw" a "cord wood saw" and you can still buy them brand new. Around here anyway, any equipment dealer has them, or can get them. Not all that common to see any more, but I am in agreement, they work quite well for that sort of work. Here is a link: Vermont Woodsman Cordwood Saw
Ummm, NO, not a good idea. That is a recipe for injury. Saw in the leg, missing fingers, maybe a hand. Really in my opinion, there is no such thing as a one handed chainsaw. They come with two handles for a reason. How about taking a couple maybe 3 short slabs, laying them out on the ground with the centers being 16" between as an example. The first one would be 8 inches from the end, then 16", 16", 16", etc. Then use bungie cords near the short slabs and tie the others into a bundle. The cuts are made starting at 16" from the end of the bundle or in the middle of two of the short slabs. The short slabs will keep the bundle off the ground, and if your careful, also keep your chainsaw out of the dirt. I've used that method many times, only with branches.
