wood size

Sure.... but it all depends on the amount of work you want to do.

zim said:

when all you seasoned burners cut wood,what dia of the clean up branches do you save for burning..is there much value in cutting 2'' -3'' branches... CROWN on the rocks ZZZim

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If it becomes a cold winter, those 2-3" branches are gonna look mighty toasty. Specially, if you didn`t have the foresight to have a lot of seasoned wood on hand for this winter. :cheese:

Because I always have a 2 year supply of firewood, I have a special bin for that stuff. and it goes in that bin mostly for the shoulder season.

You know the old saying--Waste not, want not!!

of coarse.... a 1' branch is good for kindling and on up. Waste nothing and kiss your mother earth for the bounty she does provide.

The kids use a 3' branch nipper to cut the branches to around 11/2 " and i cut the rest up for wood .I take the small stuff so i leave less of a mess around. I like to burn wood that needs to be split once.

zim said:

ok i have been keeping it but its all mixed in with the big stuff,,Im figured when i stuff the BIG ONES in and have gaps ,I can fill Em with the small stuff to get more burn Time...CROWN on the rocks ZZZim

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Don`t tell me you are a Yank drinking Crown Royal?? ;-)

For me it depends on how close to the house the tree is. The closer the tree the more I cut up in terms of smaller branches.

Sure I'll save up to 2" limbs and mix 'em in with the rest of the wood. That way I always have a good mix of small stuff for a quick morning re-start or to trim the top of the firebox without bashing the re-burner tubes...I really hate it when I do that.

Whatever doesn't fit in my branch chipper is firewood.

zim said:

ok i have been keeping it but its all mixed in with the big stuff,,Im figured when i stuff the BIG ONES in and have gaps ,I can fill Em with the small stuff to get more burn Time...CROWN on the rocks ZZZim

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What are you burning your wood in? Maybe i missed it in your signature........I did notice "Crown on the rocks" is something you use to generate heat. :coolsmile:

JPapiPE said:

of coarse.... a 1' branch is good for kindling and on up. Waste nothing and kiss your mother earth for the bounty she does provide.

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wellbuilt home said:

The kids use a 3' branch nipper to cut the branches to around 11/2 " and i cut the rest up for wood .I take the small stuff so i leave less of a mess around. I like to burn wood that needs to be split once.

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?????

Man, a 1' branch and 3' nippers ..... I thought I was doing well with 2" branches

I'm lucky- in my yard I throw the branches in a pile and then chuck them in the kiln when I fire.

For me it's more about cutting off and dealing with all the smaller branches more even than what size I want to stack and load in the stove. Below a certain point- it's so much easier to drag brush that's all in one piece. I will cut up wood down to maybe 1.5".

After about 2" it is going with the brush. Most I have been cutting in the last 6 months have been so big that I didn't even want to get involved in the small stuff. Long story, but I got hooked up with a lot clearing with firefighters, so it was a no brainer where most of the smaller stuff was going. It was much easier to not have to cut most of these up. Ended up just trying to get as much of the big stuff and forgot about some of the small stuff. This is just a pile for the next few years, so it will be seasoned and if I need smaller stuff, I'll wait and split this again. I think that 1 1/2 stuff would be too small for me to try and carry to the truck and put in the pile.
Just me
Chad

I keep everything down to about an inch.

Anything that won't deflect under it's own weight at 3' in length is pretty much what I'll take.

By the way- I sometimes add branches directly to planting beds as a mulch of sorts. I don't mind the branches rotting away- quite the contrary! Rotten wood is an awesome soil amendment for the garden, lawn, or right there in the woods. (watch that you don't bury it in the wrong place and have a nitrogen deficiency).

For trees's once branches get down to about 5" in diameter they get cut into about 5' long section's this is called buzzz saw wood and gets sorted/piled up into it's own pile once we get enoush buzzz saw wood piled up ya drag the old buzzz saw out of the shed and fire up the tractor and it cut's them 5' lengths to 3 pieces around 16" fire wood in a hurry,

here is a pic of my Buzzz saw tractor and saw,

for those who don't quite know what I'm talking about with a Buzzz Saw,


once branch's get down to less then 1" they get thrown with the rest of brush into a pile most times upon a stump that is trouble spot after 10-20 good brushfires upon that stump the stump really isn't a problem any more.

sublmie out

I take almost all branches between 1" and 6" and cut them into 6' sections and they get piles up and saved for a day where I dont have much going on... I made a jig that I can lay them in and cut them into perfect 20" pieces.

Depends upon the type of wood. Oak, hickory, hard maple etc, I keep everything down to about 1.5 inches. Lesser woods I probably am closer to 2 to 3 inches for the stove. If I have time, I do keep a lot of the smaller stuff in a firepit pile. We tend to burn the outdoor firepit a lot during the fall and winter.

I keep everything that I possibly can, to the point where trimming the tiny branches makes it not worth it. It takes me more time, but I figure I have an endless supply of kindling/fire pit wood and I also feel better knowing I'm wasting as little wood as possible. I even keep and burn branches I trim from my shrubs around the house. I can usually get a face cord or so between spring and fall. I do what some others have mentioned int hat I just pile the lengths all summer until late in the fall when I spend an hour or so cutting it all up.

I do have a question though... How long would you think it would take to dry a pile of 1"-2" (maximum diameter) wood? I always keep a year, but figure they're probably dry long before then, right?

I use it all,Big fire pit out back makes nice bomb fire come oct.31(and a couple before then)