Seasoning chunks/uglies

[ckarotka]

Over the course of the summer I have gathered two pallet bins of chunks/uglies. These will get plenty of airflow in the bins but limited sun due to the location. In planning my next few years of burning I have enough of them to count them in the cord wood. Can I expect to use them in 2012? The chunks are prob 6x6 and some bigger and smaller, almost all are split once. If not I need to start having more campfires next year to rid myself of them when their green.

My little Quad 400 likes these chunks from what I remember, I burned alot of them a few years back but not this many. It's the storage space thats getting me. I don't want to take cord wood space for these. I suppose I could go vertical with stacking the pallet bins two high but that seems a tad much.

Charlie

 

[firefighterjake]

Short answer: yes . . . you should be able to use them in 2012. Heck, I'm burning my chunks, punks and uglies that I cut and split a year ago right now . . . most were in a holtz hausen and are now in a heapen hausen on my front lawn . . . others were on top of my stacks and are well seasoned.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Close to a third of what I burn is chunks/uglies as it is all free stuff from tree guys. I split it small and burn the same year because of the storage hassle. I just toss it in a heap and burn it before and after the snow pack is gone. They seem to dry fast, I haven't had any 6" sizzlers from stuff split the previous Spring. There is a lot of heat in those chunks, don't waste it in the pit. This stuff I split in April is already bone dry.

 

[thewoodlands]

Charlie I just resplit some uglies that are three years old (sugar maple) and moved them to the northeast side which gets sun and full wind. I could have burned them last year but I hoarded the sugar maple for some reason.

zap

 

[ckarotka]

Thanks guys,

With limited yard space, and 1 cord shy of my 3 year ahead goal, things are getting tight. People are starting yell as they drive by when I'm in the yard "DO YOU NEED MORE" or "SLPIT SOME FOR ME". To my daughter's friends I'm the "guy with all the wood". Funny part is if you drive about 3 miles south my stacks are nothing compared to some. There's something to said about planning a rotation with an acre lot shaped like a pie and no wood in the back yard where the kids play for safetly reasons. I moved 2 cord into the garage(my wood shed, that the last owners built that you can't drive a car into??!!) to give me more room to stack 2013 stuff. My side/front yard is starting to take a beating and I don't want any heavy trucks backing in after September so the rush is on.

With a new baby coming in Nov, I know my time next summer will be limited for wood gathering. FFJake I to am a public servant with many days off during the week, so next summer I will have a 3y/o and a newborn home with me.

 

[CountryBoy19]

So burn the chunks and ugly's first thing this year. That way you can continue gathering wood and don't have to worry about them being in the way for much longer.

It would be better to burn them green (if they aren't yet seasoned) and get marginal heat out of them over just pitching them. If they're really green you may want to mix them in with seasoned wood so you don't have a big problem with creosote.

What I do with them? I just stack them on top of my stacks. Sure it takes away the nice, neat, square look that the stacks could have, but it's a convenient place to put them, and they all burn the same.

 

[Slow1]

Yeah the chunks and uglies pile up rather fast don't they. And they REALLY don't stack well.

I put the chunks that I can on top of stacks (as much as will fit) if they are large. Small ones I have been putting into small piles and I plan to burn this winter - even if they aren't super dry. I figure the small ones (less than 6" of grain length) have to dry out pretty fast and if not, there won't be enough of them to matter. Humph. Too much space to hassle with them. I won't waste them though - I work too hard for every piece.

Now uglies... these come in many sized and shapes and I've wondered about them. I have a few that are likely just small enough to fit in the stove - serious knots and such. I imagine that if/when they dry out enough they will be some seriously long burning wood given how dense the grain is. But I wonder - are these already low moisture (dense etc) or are they just going to take forever to dry out?

 

[ckarotka]

I just threw them into a bin. If they were a two year dry time, I would move the bins to another location so I could have more room to stack wood. I have around 75cuft of these little buggers. I wanted to use them next year if I could, sounds like I can.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Ha, I just filled a 55 gal. drum with chunk wood, and stacked another pile of it under roof on my back porch....it's the first thing I burn in the fall....along with any punky or lightweight stuff.

I lay my chunk stuff out on top my woodpiles, real loose like, and let it all summer to dry like that. I can usually burn it within 6 months of splittin it up.

 

[midwestcoast]

I was geeking-out on wood drying research for a while, wondering how to dry 2+ seasons worth on 1/3rd acre shaded lot (including a lot of red oak). Anyway, somewhere in there I remember reading research papers claiming that wood dried way faster (several times) from end-grain areas than cross-grain areas. That doesn't factor much in regular splits of course since theres so lttle end-grain area, but with the chunks I think it can really contributes. In other words, the chunks dry quicker than you (I) expect them to. I plan on burning my chunks&ugs; along with the wood processed at the same time, even though they're just thrown in a heap.

I quickly learned that scrounging = lots of ugly chunks. I run into neighbors with bits of wood to give, but they want to cut it all up or "help me" cut it up. They just want to run a chainsaw fr a while a while or to justify owning it... End results often resemble a rhombus if I remember my grade-school geometry. Still heats the house though...

 

[Slow1]

I wonder if that "just want to run a chainsaw" syndrome is what was going on with the load of ash I got. I swear no two pieces were the same length in the whole pile. Some of the cuts looked totally random. Needless to say I have some seriously unusual pieces to deal with and lots of chunks and runts. Not to mention that pile is one of the strangest stacks I have - I really have come to appreciate the value of consistent split length when it comes to stacking wood!

 

[SolarAndWood]

The only thing the smaller tree guys care about is getting it into pieces their guys can move. After having the opportunity to watch a few jobs, I can see why the stuff I get is the way it is. The only goal is to get it into pieces that can be moved to the street as quickly as possible and get paid. You guys that get logs delivered from the bigger tree services have got it made.

 

[heatwise]

heres some variable size oak chunks. i stacked the bits best i can . also have a bunch of plastic bulb crates for the really small stuff. and i have a plastic 55 gal drum with holes in it that i use as well. i keep the bulb crates under a porch where it gets morning sun and is sheltered from the rain. these smaller pieces tend to dry fast in the crates. pete