Time-saving tips for wood collection?

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I suppose I am blessed, but I have a couple.

I burn seven to ten cords each year. In October I have a truckload of logs delivered. I get billed for five cords, looks like it is going to split and stack out to almost seven cords again this year. I am about 3/4 of the way through my pile of rounds now and am loading up to scrounge starting in the morning- looking for just enough to finish filling my seasoning racks. I have rack space to season ten cords each summer for next winter.

I will be driving my truck all day everyday until I am done scrounging about three cords.
I have my saw, my saw box, chaps and helmet in the truck, 1 gallon gas can in the truck bed.
When I find a log worth scrounging I pull over and scrounge it.
Once it is home I just buck it and put it with the other rounds.
I split on the nights after work there is no bucking to do.


It works for me to go stepwise. In October when the logs come I just buck and buck and buck on my tiny lot until my wife can park in the garage again and then keep on bucking until the buckling is done. Then rest a couple weeks, usually get on with splitting long about Thanksgiving or so working on splitting the wood that will season over the coming summer and burn next year.
 
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ADK_XJ said:
Now, there's a seriously good suggestion. I have a friend who's on a logging crew but I think they're typically clearing old white pines that drop on people's houses. I'll have to put a bug in his ear about good wood.
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Don't discount white pine, It burns better for me than some of the hardwoods.
 
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My biggest time savers are using wedges to keep your cut open. I cut some massive 3' diameter rounds (I have the saw to do it) and then sometimes have to even cross cut those as they are all over 200lbs, and anything over 200-250 I can't lift into the truck. Always keep a backup saw. Sometimes wedges aren't enough. 99% of the time they are, but you always get that one.

I only cut dead wood, and if I'm not cutting huge diameter rounds, I cut them the length of my truck bed, typically 6 foot. Once I get home, instead of bucking them all to length in the field and killing my back by bending over, I throw them all up on a firewood jig (it holds probably 20 4" diameter logs) and then buck off one side, buck off the other, and buck down the middle all in one swoop. It literally rains firewood, and saves on bending with a heavy saw, prevents you from hitting dirt and rocks, etc.
 
Lots of these. If you only have 1 saw, consider having just another backup bar/chain combo. In the event I get pinched, I can unbolt bar/chain, re-assemble with backup bar/chain and cut myself out. It's also a good reason to grab another bar if you're looking to ;).
 
ClintonH said:
Lots of these. If you only have 1 saw, consider having just another backup bar/chain combo. In the event I get pinched, I can unbolt bar/chain, re-assemble with backup bar/chain and cut myself out. It's also a good reason to grab another bar if you're looking to ;).
Click to expand...
If you get stuck bucking, why not just drive in a falling wedge to free it up?
 
Like someone else mentioned, pull up with trailer, split and then stack directly off the splitter. That is the final resting place before going into my stove room prior to being burned.
 
Lots of folks use felling wedges rather than splitting wedges to keep the bar from getting pinched when bucking big rounds. Plastic, significantly more gentle taper than a splitting wedge, lots cheaper, won't hurt the chain if you bump it with the saw.

Stout enough to take hammer hits, the more expensive ones have a metal cap Worth a look if you are getting pinched a lot.
 
ClintonH said:
Lots of these. If you only have 1 saw, consider having just another backup bar/chain combo. In the event I get pinched, I can unbolt bar/chain, re-assemble with backup bar/chain and cut myself out. It's also a good reason to grab another bar if you're looking to ;).
Click to expand...
I was actually forced to do this two weekends ago and, you're right, huge time saver to have a second bar/chain set. Unfortunately it was not a time saver when I had to drive the jeep out of the woods and across town to the Stihl shop for a new 20" Forrester bar! But, hey, least I've got it now!
 
j7art2 said:
My biggest time savers are using wedges to keep your cut open. I cut some massive 3' diameter rounds (I have the saw to do it) and then sometimes have to even cross cut those as they are all over 200lbs, and anything over 200-250 I can't lift into the truck. Always keep a backup saw. Sometimes wedges aren't enough. 99% of the time they are, but you always get that one.

I only cut dead wood, and if I'm not cutting huge diameter rounds, I cut them the length of my truck bed, typically 6 foot. Once I get home, instead of bucking them all to length in the field and killing my back by bending over, I throw them all up on a firewood jig (it holds probably 20 4" diameter logs) and then buck off one side, buck off the other, and buck down the middle all in one swoop. It literally rains firewood, and saves on bending with a heavy saw, prevents you from hitting dirt and rocks, etc.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I like your approach. I do something sort of like this with a three legged saw buck I knocked together with PT 2x4s but I tend to focus on things too small to split. Hadn't thought of going even bigger on the jig/buck and doing while lengths of rounds at a time.

How do you move the thicker 6 foot lengths into the bed of your truck in the woods or are they all just the 4" diameter ones? Helper or just bend at the knees?
 
j7art2 said:
instead of bucking them all to length in the field and killing my back by bending over, I throw them all up on a firewood jig (it holds probably 20 4" diameter logs) and then buck off one side, buck off the other, and buck down the middle all in one swoop. It literally rains firewood, and saves on bending with a heavy saw, prevents you from hitting dirt and rocks, etc.
Click to expand...
Do you have a picture of this jig? The more I think about it, I might just have to copy that idea.
 
Poindexter said:
I suppose I am blessed, but I have a couple.

I burn seven to ten cords each year. In October I have a truckload of logs delivered. I get billed for five cords, looks like it is going to split and stack out to almost seven cords again this year. I am about 3/4 of the way through my pile of rounds now and am loading up to scrounge starting in the morning- looking for just enough to finish filling my seasoning racks. I have rack space to season ten cords each summer for next winter.

I will be driving my truck all day everyday until I am done scrounging about three cords.
I have my saw, my saw box, chaps and helmet in the truck, 1 gallon gas can in the truck bed.
When I find a log worth scrounging I pull over and scrounge it.
Once it is home I just buck it and put it with the other rounds.
I split on the nights after work there is no bucking to do.


It works for me to go stepwise. In October when the logs come I just buck and buck and buck on my tiny lot until my wife can park in the garage again and then keep on bucking until the buckling is done. Then rest a couple weeks, usually get on with splitting long about Thanksgiving or so working on splitting the wood that will season over the coming summer and burn next year.
Click to expand...
So, you're getting 7 cords of wood delivery in log form for how much? That would probably break the wood bank for me. My aim is to cut and carry wood that is zero cost at least in terms of the wood itself. Ancillary expenses to get to it, maintain equipment and add year to the stockpile are write-offs as far as I'm concerned.

That's an awesome haul at anyone time, though. I'll admit I'm jealous.
 
Oldman47 said:
If you get stuck bucking, why not just drive in a falling wedge to free it up?
Click to expand...
I have a couple good wedges and I've had a friend's small Husqvarna (14" blade) get so jammed in a piece of ash we just simply couldn't get the pressure off without cutting another piece. I think that's the exception not the rule but it's nice to be able to remove the bar/chain as he's suggesting and fire back up with another at hand.
 
Poindexter said:
Lots of folks use felling wedges rather than splitting wedges to keep the bar from getting pinched when bucking big rounds. Plastic, significantly more gentle taper than a splitting wedge, lots cheaper, won't hurt the chain if you bump it with the saw.

Stout enough to take hammer hits, the more expensive ones have a metal cap Worth a look if you are getting pinched a lot.
Click to expand...
Yup, I've seen these by the box full at the local Stihl guy's shop across town - definitely need to snag a few the next time I'm there.
 
ADK_XJ said:
So, you're getting 7 cords of wood delivery in log form for how much? That would probably break the wood bank for me. My aim is to cut and carry wood that is zero cost at least in terms of the wood itself. Ancillary expenses to get to it, maintain equipment and add year to the stockpile are write-offs as far as I'm concerned.

That's an awesome haul at anyone time, though. I'll admit I'm jealous.
Click to expand...

I paid $975 for "five cords" of delivered birch. Vendor has great word of mouth rep, and published warranty on his website that if you aren't satisfied he will bring you more. The trouble with birch is it starts rotting from the center out whole the tree still looks healthy on the outside. The vendor clear cuts under contract, if you want a lot cleared call him, he fells everything, loads everything and delivers it.

I got pretty lucky with this load, a few logs with some punk but only one with the center rotted away. I think if I had gotten typical luck of the forest birch I would have between five and six cords out of that truckload.

It comes down to what your time is worth and what else you got going on. I got four kids in college, plenty of opportunity to work all the overtime I want.

I coulda bought stumpage at $10 per cord, but I would have had to go fell it and drag it home. Weeks of free time, like 6 to 8 weeks. Instead I worked a bunch of overtime for two weeks to cover the price difference between stumpage and delivered logs, spent 9 days bucking up the log load and got to having a bunch of rounds in three weeks instead of six or eight.

Having three to five weeks of free time after work every night was worth it to me.
 
When bucking, I "try" to get the wedges in before it closes the gap. I stuff wedges quite often, but still get stuck once in awhile.
 
I am sure some of it is just on-line video editing but I have seen pictures showing a pinched saw actually being freed by driving a wedge and having the top of a kerf open back up. The whole top of the log was raised by that wedge's action.
 
ADK_XJ said:
Do you have a picture of this jig? The more I think about it, I might just have to copy that idea.
Click to expand...


I do. In fact, I even have a video on how well it works. I had a very similar situation earlier this season. I will be shortening the legs of the jig to be closer to the ground so I can lob 12" diameter ones in there (I can't lift them over my head to get them up onto it LOL) but it's the exact same principal. If they're too big around, I just cut them into 4 foot lengths, or lengths I can handle. The less bending at the back with a 14-16lb saw in my hands the better.

Check out this thread for pics and video.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-bucking-back.137262/page-2#post-1856006
 
Lately I am cutting in a place where I have to carry the wood 50 to 100 ft to my trailer. I save time by cutting to four foot lengths and carrying them to the trailer, rather than cutting to stove length and carrying. Each trip with a four footer saves three trips with a 16 incher. Sometimes I have to cut to 32 inches or 16 inches with the largest trees, but the point is I save time by carrying larger pieces.

This probably adds total time because I have to cut again at home, but it allows me to get wood out of the woods faster. If you count all the times I have an hour or two at home, I have plenty of time in a year to process wood, but the number of times I can take a few hours and get to the woods (which are not adjacent to my yard) are limited.

By the way, I let my kids make simple chainsaw cuts, with a small log in a stable rack on a solid, dry yard, when they were about 12 or 13. Now that the oldest is 18 he can use the chainsaw in the woods.
 
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j7art2 said:
I do. In fact, I even have a video on how well it works. I had a very similar situation earlier this season. I will be shortening the legs of the jig to be closer to the ground so I can lob 12" diameter ones in there (I can't lift them over my head to get them up onto it LOL) but it's the exact same principal. If they're too big around, I just cut them into 4 foot lengths, or lengths I can handle. The less bending at the back with a 14-16lb saw in my hands the better.

Check out this thread for pics and video.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-bucking-back.137262/page-2#post-1856006
Click to expand...
Oh wow, nice! Well, I have to agree that you're raining firewood out of that thing but I also think you're right that it's pretty high to be lifting that saw up to over and over. I can commiserate because my Farm Boss weighs close to 20 lbs WITHOUT a the bar and chain.

Thanks for sharing!
 
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Getting pickier with my trees. No more giant yard soft maples with 20 crotches.<> Time per btus is not good.
Scrounge bucked stuff, easy oaks, mulberry,locust, ANY hedge available.
From my tract, mostly declining oaks before the punk but with mostly dead and gone tops. Bushy 20" black gum is a leaner near the the road, but isn't a hazard. I'm pretending it doesn't exist.
 
I use the firewood grippers to carry rounds. One in each hand for balance. They will handle a lot more weight than you think they could. I've found that I can use a sort of wrist flicking motion to release the rounds, it saves having to set them down. I just kind of throw them into the truck.
Also, I carry a farm jack to lift the end of the log in case a plastic wedge won't work.
Just jack the log up slightly and kick a small round ahead of the bind, lower, and you are free.
As you gain experience, this happens less and less.
 
If you have options, select wood you can drive up to. Carrying wood takes a lot of time.
 
I like to cut, buck, split, pile and cover what I cut down where I drop it. A lot of the weight (water) has evaporated before I need to move it.
Then ideally it gets stacked next to your wood burner dry and ready to go. That way handling wet wood is kept to a minimum.
I've even peeled the first 3 feet of bark off of poplars to kill them. 3 years later most of the bark had fallen off the top half of the tree.
The top (down to about an 8 inch round) could be burned when it was cut down. The bottom needed another 6 months after being split, piled, and covered.
Things mostly dry pretty quick here though.
 
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