Branches

Depends on size I guess. My rule of thumb is I'll only take stuff that is a bit bigger than what I can fit both hands around. For me, that's about
8 or 9 inch diameter.

When I cut up a tree I take anything the size of my wrist or bigger,no sense leaving good firewood to rot.

They certainly do burn and produce heat. What you take depends on your situation for wood supply. Tons of branches here after the Oct snow storm. Because I am far ahead and can be picky I am sticking to the 5" and bigger branches when scrounging. I have about 1/3 cord of smaller branches just from our yard and helping clean up neighbors yards.
I find the branches to be a lot of work for not much wood.

I don't save all the branches but I'd like to get a stockpile of them down to about 1-1/2" to use as kindling next season. I'm pretty sure that everything but Oak would be ready by then, since I'm usually cutting dead trees. I also get some green stuff from storm damage, though. I don't like to throw away good wood if there's a way I can use it.

I like to save some of the smaller wood for kindling/firstarting. I won't go out of my way to do it though. Save a bundle for that purpose, and mix a little in your wood stacks of larger pieces to fill some holes.

Cheers.

Ive started taking a pair of loppers with me when I cut, some times its easier to snip the small stuff off than using the saw. Its all BTUs.

The branches are great for a fast, hot fire, of course they need to be seasoned. I love them at this time of year, wanna get the chill off the house, do a load or 2 of some of that small stuff.

All wood burns and makes heat . . . it's largely a matter of how much wood you need and how much work you want to invest . . . once the wood gets down to 2 inches or less it's not worth my time and effort to cut it, stack it, move it, etc.

I keep everything down to 1.5 - 2" (depending on how clean the branch is - lots of offshoots = less likelihood of me keeping it). Smalls are annoying at times when you have a load of them but are invaluable for getting fires going. Try to mix them throughout the woodpile if you can (sometimes not possible), or create a whole separate pile for them.

I take everything down to 2". For me, especially cleaning hedge rows, it is a lot of work, but I don't spend anytime piling brush, so it is a break-even in time with a slight gain in Btus.

I prefer not to work with the small stuff as it ends up being a lot of cutting work. 5" is about my min. And I prefer 8" rounds on up.

Since our whole season is a lot like most people's shoulder seasons, small rounds are great.

How small I take them depends on how straight they are. I have flowering pear down to about 3/4 inch, because it stacks so well -- it's basically like a pile of dowels. It also burns hot.

If its sound I pretty much save everything from 1 1/4" on up.Especially if its Hickory or Cherry,those are saved for the smoker & Weber kettle.Great for kindling & when I just need to take the chill off for a couple hours some Fall or Spring day.Anything smaller than that is piled up for wildlife cover.

I use branches that fall all the time. They fit perfect to fill the voids when packing a stove.

I keep anything 1 inch or bigger.It's all heat.

I keep anything over 2", especially douglas fir branches. Many of them that fall in my yard/woods are easily 8-10in dia. Those things have really tight grains, almost like a hardwood, which is probably what allows them to stretch out 25-30ft oftentimes. Makes for long burns and easy shoulder season wood.

Blue2ndaries said:

I keep anything over 2", especially douglas fir branches. Many of them that fall in my yard/woods are easily 8-10in dia. Those things have really tight grains, almost like a hardwood, which is probably what allows them to stretch out 25-30ft oftentimes. Makes for long burns and easy shoulder season wood.

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Me and my buddy just took care of 7 Black Locust trees and we decided to keep anything an inch or bigger. Three truck fulls of cut up branches. Pleanty of wood and it will all burn. Might even be good for the bbq. My theory is that one day I'll say "I am glad I kept that stuff" I am sure I will need it

Branches; I save down to about an inch.

Seasons fastest.
No need to make kindling.
Cut super quick.
Less brush to deal with.
Fast heat.
Less waste.
Less splitting.
Provides fast bed of coals.

Frankly, I can't understand people who only take large diameter stuff, then split it small, but to each his own.

I usually use them as kindling or for small fires. I have to haul them off at some point anyway

I find small stuff easy to come by for free here as everybody likes big logs to split.

I have found that when cut short (say 6" or so), smaller stuff dries out ok without splitting, and is fine for N/S loading.

It's a rare day that I come back from a walk without a branch under my arm ;-)

quercus_kelloggii said:

I prefer not to work with the small stuff as it ends up being a lot of cutting work. 5" is about my min. And I prefer 8" rounds on up.

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I don't mess with the smaller stuff either. I try to keep 8"+ and prefer 12"+. Splitting small stuff can be more work. The big rounds don't fall over as I split them. I try to stay far ahead of myself so that I can be picky.

When I'm doing someone a "favor" cutting up their trees (and I make sure we both agree I'M doing THEM the favor and not they are gracing me with "free wood" mu usual rule is I will take anything my wrist diamante or larger and anything less is brush that they can deal with. From my own property I use the Wrist or larger rule for what goes into my wood pile and anything less I cut up and throw into a brush pile that I plan to harvest in a year or two as kindling.
As so many have said here Wood is wood and it all burns but for me its a matter of time/gas etc if I should haul it and I use that ole "wrist" rule to decide.
Good luck

Thigh for me.