A couple questions for your seasoned veterans of the firewood hoarding business. When you cut down a tree, you cut to log length and leave on the ground until a later date to cut into rounds? If you don't leave the logs on the ground, do you cut them into rounds and leave the rounds to split at a later date? Or do you do the full Monty when bring down a tree? I have my load of logs on the ground ready to be cut. The area that I am going to put the splits is not ready. My thought is to cut the logs into rounds. With the rounds on the ground, I would take the time to prep the area that the splits will end up. After the area is ready, then I'd split the rounds, and stack. Thoughts?
A lot of the answers to these questions depends on the species of wood you have. I cut mine in to rounds and bring them home where I stack them to split later. Usually cut through the winter this way and then work on splitting as time permits but certain types will not keep well in the round. Maple and beech are the 2 that I get around here frequently that I have to split and stack relatively soon. Ash, cherry, locust and elm are some that I can leave in the round a lot longer.
Do what you can, is my motto. Obviously, if you can process it all the way to split right away, then it will be seasoning the quickest. Keep in mind, that if you let the logs or rounds lay on the ground, they have a better chance of rotting. That said, I've got a number of trees that I left on the ground this fall in all states from just downed, to all cut into rounds. They will be fine as I've collected and split beech, hickory, cherry, and sugar maple that was cut 2 years ago. Those were all fine. The maple will get punky first though. If it's dead standing, or cut off from the roots and off the ground, that is best until you can get to it.
I usually cut in National Forest, and my goal is usually to get in and out as quick as possible. So I'll cut the tree down, then saw it into rounds. From there I'll split if I have to in order to wrestle them on to my pickup. If I have to quarter a round in order to save my back I'll do it, usually I'm cutting oak and it splits pretty easy anyway, and I rarely cut trees over 20" diameter. I bring them home and then split at my convenience. As others have said, it's best to get it off the ground as quickly as possible, but a little bit of time on the ground (a couple of weeks) doesn't make much of a difference with most hardwoods.
Varies, but normally I only cut down what will fit in the vehicle I'm using to get the wood home to my splitter. Last fall and this spring were different because every time I cut a tree it got caught in another. Once at the splitting area, it might take a while to split, but nothing has rotted yet. Ended up cutting down 5-6 trees and I still need to go get 3 of 'em. I think. The ones on the ground get bucked, then hauled to the Jeep or a trailer. I never know when I'll get back at it, despite my best intentions.
Just me... but, I'd spend time prepping the area you're going to stack first before you cut anything, because you said logs were already there. Then... go for it with what time you have... :stacke:
I always cut into rounds and throw em in the truck and take them home. I have temporary racks I stack the rounds in so they're off the ground then split as I have time.
I'd love to tell you a system that worked great for us. Not worth it, all pine in an extremely dry climate, and our cut zones were up to 2 hours one way to get to.
Many of you already know that I am new to the firewood hoarding piece. I grew up in a house that burned firewood, and have done so throughout my adult life as well. Now that I am getting serious about firewood hoarding, I'm starting to look at my available off time from softball, and workout my process. For the most part, I'll be buying loads of logs with a few trees from my property here or there. My biggest hurdle to face is my available time. Below is my schedule with softball. I am the president of a local non-profit league. Softball is the life in our house right now. Two girls playing. One in 8U and the other going into 14U. Tryouts for next spring's teams are held in August. Once the teams are announced, they start in the fall league, Sept-Oct (Columbus Day Weekend) followed by one or two fall tournaments. Off time is parts of late October, all of November and December. January, we start indoor winter training to get ready for the upcoming spring and summer tournament season. From January until we can get back outdoors, usually in March, we practice indoors. Spring season starts in April and runs until the second week of May. Games are doubleheaders on either Saturday or Sunday. With practices twice a week. Tournament starts at the beginning of May and runs until the last week of July. Tournaments typically start Friday nights and run through the weekend. Practice continues twice a week while we are scheduled for tournaments. August is off for the most part other than to hold tryouts for the following year. As you can see I have roughly three solid months to collect an average usage of 4 cords/year. Not an impossible task knowing that each load of logs I receive is about 3-3.5 cords. With this being my official startup year, my plan is to get 8-9 cord in place. Hopefully this explains a bit as to why I am wondering what everyone process is.
Three months is more than adequate to get your wood processed. Loads that are 3+ cords are really nice because you wont get burried under a pile of rounds as you can with a 6-8 cord load. It should take less than a day to cut, an easy weekend with outer family duties mixed in. When I get logs I cut them all first, mainly because I have to clean it up and its a lot easier to clean up one big pile of chips once. Then it gets split and stacked when I have time. It takes me about 8 weeks to get 6 cords processed with available time. You should have no problem getting one or two 3 cord loads done between October and December and still have plenty of time for other things.
When I drop a tree I'll buck it up at the same time, and then move it to a pile right next to my stacks. I'm not sure if I'll ever completely get all of those rounds split, because it seems that about the time I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I bring in a couple more trailer loads of wood. I rarely dedicate a full day to splitting out of that pile, I normally just pull out the splitter and split an stack an hour or so at at time when I've got time to kill. I like doing it that way so I'm net depending on having a full day free with decent weather to take care of firewood. On the other hand, my wife thinks I'm "ALWAYS!!!" messing with firewood, so when she thinks I've spent the past 4 weekends processing wood, in reality I've only worked 4-6 hours total.
I cut trees off my own land. Where the tree is determines what I do. If it is in the woods it is usually a windfall so I finish dropping it if needed then buck it and haul out the rounds by hand until I can get them in a vehicle. More often I am cleaning the edges and releasing desired trees so I drop the tree into the field. I've learned the hard way that clean up is hard once the grass grows up so I limb it up and dispose of the small stuff first. Then buck the rest in place to keep the saw chips in the field to minimize the mess at the splitting area. The rounds then go in the front end loader unless the ground is soft (in which case I use the Gator) for transport to the splitting area. That is covered and I hand split at my leisure. Because I'm dropping my own trees I'm not in a rush to drop a bunch. More concerned with keeping things neat. I try not to let the pile to be split get too big so it is still in good shape by the time I finish. I only need about 3 cords a year plus a bit for the pizza oven so no need to get crazy with it. Slow and steady. If I ever get set up with a unitized system they will get split where they fall, stacked, and moved as a unit. But that is a long way from the top of my priority list.
I cut anytime its available, and process before loading to firewood length. So I build a pile of rounds throughout the year, then in the spring while its still cool out, I split everything at once to fill my lean to. This gives the wood a year in rounds, then about six months more in c/s/s position under my lean to. This is sufficient seasoning for me since I am using an outside wood boiler. And my lean to has a green metal roof, so it does a pretty good job of drying through the summer months. Only usually exception is if I have time to kill, or really big pieces, I might split as I remove from the trailer to simply not waste the luxury of having them already at waist height. Saves rolling them around on the ground bent over etc.... come splitting time
When you cut down a tree, you cut to log length and leave on the ground until a later date to cut into rounds? If you don't leave the logs on the ground, do you cut them into rounds and leave the rounds to split at a later date? Or do you do the full Monty when bring down a tree? Usually when we cut a tree, we buck it to length right then as it is best to not leave it laying on the ground. Yes, we cut them into rounds and just sort of stack those up to be split at a later date. Most of us do things just a tad different and whatever works best for YOU is what is the best method. For us, we have found that winter cutting works best. Reasons being the bugs are gone, the leaves have fallen, the birds are gone, hunting season is over for us and doing the hard work like putting up wood is better when the air is cooler to cold. Therefore, we usually start cutting around Thanksgiving or December 1. Here is one area where we started last December. There were several trees which had fallen over plus one large elm limb that broke off. It was dry then and this area normally tends to get a bit wet so we were happy to get these out before Christmas. Notice that we cut and then haul out the wood to be stacked on higher ground. Those rounds that need splitting get stacked separately and the splitting is usually done in March/April. Rather than getting the splitter out over and over and over, we get it out once per year and do all the splitting then. Stacking comes next. Sometimes, depending upon where the logs are, we will the logs and haul them out before cutting them to firewood length but we don't do much this way. Sometimes we will haul some out for someone else who needs wood. And then comes the stacking. Cleanup comes later (I usually leave that for my wife to handle. lol)
What system will allow you to get it done with the minimal amount of wood handling? - Will you be splitting where the logs are being cut or next to the storage area? - Will you be moving the cut rounds to the splitting area or just piling them up? If the splits will be stored next to where you will be splitting, have the storage area ready before splitting. My philosophy is once the round leaves the ground, it doesn't hit the ground again. This really makes it easier on my back & makes a huge difference on how I feel at the end of the day. So: - Instead of having to piling the rounds up so you can reach the other logs to cut, cut what logs you can without having to move rounds. - Then the set of cut rounds would be either loaded onto a trailer/truck or split depending on where you have the splitter staged. - After splitting, the splits going into the stacks or trailer/truck to move tehm to the stacks as appropriate. ***** Note ***** If you have to borrow or rent a splitter, then cutting all the logs up first would make sense. ********************************************************************************************************** I am blessed with a tractor & loader. When working at home: - The tractor loads an elevated bucking stand. - The cut rounds land on the trailer the bucking stand sets on. - The splitter in set-up next to the trailer. Large rounds are rolled onto the log lift of the splitter. - Splits are taken directly off the splitter & are palletized. The pallets can be moved easily with the tractor. (This is set-up under a shade tree.) If it is a smaller job away from home, I can pull a 12' trailer with 3 pallets on it behind my splitter to the site. Then when I get home I just have to unload the pallets.
Another scenario: If I have a log load in the driveway, I buck up as much as I can handle that day. Could be 1/3 cord, or it could be a full cord, but that's usually my limit. From there, I get out the splitter, and split right into the trailer. Once the trailer is full, it gets hauled to the stacking area. Depending on a variety of factors, I may let it sit there until I can get back to it, or I'll stack all or part of it right then. I've also bucked up (over the course of a few days) a couple full cords before ss. If the trailer's full and I don't feel like stacking, I'll continue bucking until I change my mind. I'd love to get another 20 cord load of logs, which would be so much easier than going into the woods, but the rounds from the woods is almost free. Load of logs has got to be around $2000 by now. Having a way to palletize firewood and then move those around from drying area to shed would streamline things a ton. Didn't bogydave do a "The 14 times I handle my firewood" thread a while back? Someone did.
To the OP regarding available time, 3 months should be plenty of time to gather wood, especially if you're having logs delivered. But throughout the year I have rounds near my woodpile that need split, which I'll do when I have a few minutes here and there. Those few minutes add up, and you'll find that those 4 cords can be split pretty easily and quickly. So it doesn't ALL need done in those 3 months.
I have two nice sized piles that have yet to be split and stacked. I'll get around to 'em sooner or later. I usually buck in rounds first and get a big pile together over a few months then work on splitting and stacking it. Some times I'll cut long length and throw on the truck, and buck that stuff when I get home, especially if I don't have the time to saw it all up but want to get it and skedaddle on home.
Here is the process I followed last year. My son working with me: I go to town cutting with the chainsaw cutting rounds. He would take the rounds as he could get to the them and start splitting them. The splits would be thrown into the back of my dad's truck. Once the truck is loaded, we'd drive the truck up to where we create a pile. (Please forgive the word pile. It's accurate, but I didn't know better then.) This year we'd drive the load over to my new area for stacking the wood on the pallets I've collected. Usually we'd get three or four loads in my dad's truck in a 4-6 hours session. We don't fill the truck. The spits are loaded in two rows at the back to make it easier to unload. Just me: I'll cut as many rounds as I can without creating a tripping hazard. Once I have too many rounds in the way, I'll shutdown the saw, and start splitting and throw into the back of my dad's truck. This takes longer to fill the back of his truck, but I keep motoring until the truck is loaded. Then I take it out back and pile it up. This year stack. Going by myself, I might get 1-2 loads. I've gotten 3 one day. At some point I'd like to add a trailer and a quad to my list of tools. A quad is not a need. It's a want. Yes it would be easier getting in and out of the backyard and maneuvering around. Jason from RI
