# of steps to process firewood!

You forgot to include what to do with all the brush from the branches and the stump.

You mgiht try doing your splitting at the drop zone, you can then go right from the drop zone to the stack on your patio...or the pallets anyway. Why the internediate stack anyways? One year seasoning time or you trying to use the aptio for the summer without firewood all over it?

It IS alot of work.

1) cut into rounds at scrounge site / carry to and load into truck
2) unload rounds from truck into side yard split site and then split
3) stack on pallets close by
4) move to garage or porch
5) move to hearth to burn

When I cleared my lot I would drop the tree, tow it near my bonfire, delimb it there throwing the brush onto the fire, then tow the trunk and larger limbs forward where I would buck it into firewood length. Do the same with the next tree lining up about 6' from the last. Once I had about 5 or 6 trees like this I would go up and down those rows with my log splitter tossing the splits into my trailer then off to the pallets to be stacked. This was the most efficient way I could come up with. Scrounging or off site pick ups are about the least efficient.

TOO many times in general. I scrounge most of mine and hate the fact that i just dont take it right off my trailer, split it and stack it to season. Next year I just may be set up to do this but not right now for sure...

It is the many times I handle each piece that is killing my back for sure...now I had better get out of work so i can grab another trailer load of willow rounds...or should i get the beech first??

Beech WAY before willow!

I feel your pain. I used to do something like you but this year as I began I decided no more. Now, I'm not touching it any more than I have to. I buck and split in the same spot and then take it right to it's final spot, pre-incineration. I realize this can't always work but I am no longer going to stack and then split 150 lb rounds. I'm far too fat.

Wet1 said:

Beech WAY before willow!

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Yeah I know guys, it was more of a logistical question. Beech sitting there 5 miles from the house and not going anywhere soon. Willow sitting 10 miles away in someone's yard i do not know and I don't know if anyone else will be grabbing some. I don't NEED the willow but do like the low BTU for the shoulder season, small fires to take the chill out and for getting the fire ripping again.

I actually chose to do neither but did get a spot cleared and some pallets down to get ready for the wood - so i did not have to handle it too many times....

CT, don't forget when splitting beech, it does not like to be split through the heart. Split on the sides, not in the middle.

what happens to the beech if you split in the middle?

Nothing happens to it. It is just that beech splits much easier on the sides than it does through the heart. Much easier. That's part of the fun of splitting. Finding out where different woods split easier.

Here's another: What if you are splitting wood that has a knot. Should the knot point up or down to split the easiest?

I agree. Go with the grain and not against it. Same thing applies if you are limbing with an axe. Cut with the grain; it cuts much easier.

Backwoods Savage said:

I agree. Go with the grain and not against it. Same thing applies if you are limbing with an axe. Cut with the grain; it cuts much easier.

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Then again there are some pieces that defy all logic and you have to flip and spin them a few times before you get it to split reasonably well.

my 27 laughs at any knot too. the over ride kicks in on the honda and just rips it apart. elm, gum, beech or whatever so far.

forest pirate said:

my 27 laughs at any knot too. the over ride kicks in on the honda and just rips it apart. elm, gum, beech or whatever so far.

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Mine can just shred some of those too but I would prefer a nice clean split - especially when it comes time to stack...

right on...I understand.

1. Hook up the trailers to the ATVs and head into the woods behind my house. Buck up the logs (either after dropping the tree or cutting dead fall or tops left from logging).
2. Load the rounds into the trailers and haul to the patio behind the house (where the splitter awaits).
3. Take the rounds directly from the trailers to the splitter and then straight to the stack.
4. Pull splits off the stack and throw 'em in the furnace.

I'm building a indoor wood bin this spring that will allow me to stack at least 4 cords inside, another 1 cord on the other side of the furnace, another 2 on the patio and another 1 cord around the corner next to the chimney. I burned about 4 cords this year and I expect to burn less from now on with the new furnace. Yee Haw!!

Yep, lots of steps and a lot of effort. It beats the heck out of going to a gym and mindlessly lifting some weight multiple times like a hamster on a wheel.