Waste not want not poll

[shawneyboy]

Just wondering what you do with the brush. I scrounge all summer for wood and have a decent stockpile ... But with some of the wood I got I made a deal with the property owners that I would also take the brush. I figured why not, I can use it as kindling, for reloads, and in the chiminea during the cooler evenings out on the deck.

Maybe because of my waste not want not up-brining, or maybe because I have to much time on my hands, or maybe because I am cheap and am paying for childrens higher education, but I see no reason to not use it. I use cord wood as my main fuel but the smaller brush is great for shoulder season I use it during early morning reloads and the like.

So I ask again what do you do with any brush?

 

[quads]

It stays out in the woods where it fell off the tree. Doesn't take very long for it to decompose and then it feeds the next generation of trees.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Yep, stays in the bush. No way on Earth could I bring it all home even if I wanted to.
The picture below shows how much brush I often have to deal with (on the left side) before getting to the wood I'm after (on the right). If I started hauling all that brush home I would have a huge mess to deal with and no room for the cord wood.
By the time we are done splitting the cord wood at home we still have pletty of scraps and bark to deal with, and often those just get burned outside too.

 

[Monkey Wrench]

I can drop a 24" dbh tree. Buck it, load and be gone in no time. If I mess with small branches I get smacked in the face, poked in the ear, c/s jumps, waste fuel, dull my chain, waste my time, bores me, and.......what the Hell... NO!

 

[Bspring]

It stays out in the woods where it fell off the tree. Doesn't take very long for it to decompose and then it feeds the next generation of trees.

Yep.

 

[gzecc]

My town actually picks it up at the curb. They come around with front end loaders and take as much as you leave out there. I normally have a 20'x20' pile.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It stays out in the woods where it fell off the tree. Doesn't take very long for it to decompose and then it feeds the next generation of trees.

I did not vote because the poll does not really apply to what most of us do. I do not think the waste not, want not applies to this situation at all.

In addition to quads post, the animals use it better than we can. Deer, on a regular basis follow me around to chew on the tips of the branches that I cut off. Rabbits also eat them and also like the brush piles if I bother to make them.

One more thing is that it depends upon where you cut the wood. If cutting inside the woods you have much less top or branches to contend with so that much less waste. Cut that same type of tree that is standing in a fence row or out in the open and you will have much, much more brush to contend with. Then it sometimes is best used to build a fire to warm the bodies while cutting up that tree. Sometimes it is nice to take some sandwiches along and roast them over that fire.

 

[firefighterjake]

I leave most of the brush in the woods . . . as mentioned . . . it breaks down into tree food . . . and in the process provides sanctuary and nourishment to the forest critters.

That said . . . I tend to cut quite a bit of the tree . . . generally I'll keep cutting until I get to a 2 inch or so diameter . . . many others that I know wouldn't bother cutting down to that small of a diameter . . .

I should also add . . . it's different when you're harvesting your own wood on your own property and when you're scrounging and have to take the brush . . . around my home I tend to take the branches and pile them up for the Spring brush pile fire . . . or burn them in the fire pit when I have friends visiting.

 

[Cascade Failure]

An inch or bigger comes home. The little stuff goes in the fireplace, usually when my wife and sister in law just want a "pretty fire." The good stuff goes in the stove.

 

[Slow1]

I scrounge in an urban area. By time I get to anything there isn't any brush. I'm not sure if I've yet to fell a tree more than 8" across (is that even technically a tree or is it still a sapling?) in my wood collecting.

IF I ever get to it I'll likely not bring it home as I have no space for it. I am happy to burn any wood in the stove that is 2"-3" diameter or larger though - less than that and it is kindling and I don't need much of that so I can't see spending a lot of time collecting, moving, and stacking it as it just burns too fast.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Slow, you cut the little ones to learn what you are doing before you tackle the big ones. I have a feeling you will do fine when the time comes.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Just wondering what you do with the brush. I scrounge all summer for wood and have a decent stockpile ... But with some of the wood I got I made a deal with the property owners that I would also take the brush. I figured why not, I can use it as kindling, for reloads, and in the chiminea during the cooler evenings out on the deck.

Maybe because of my waste not want not up-brining, or maybe because I have to much time on my hands, or maybe because I am cheap and am paying for childrens higher education, but I see no reason to not use it. I use cord wood as my main fuel but the smaller brush is great for shoulder season I use it during early morning reloads and the like.

So I ask again what do you do with any brush?

When it comes to firewood the question of whether something is "worth it" is entirely subjective. If it's "worth it" to you to glean through the brush and use it as firewood then it is. My dad is the 'zact same way. I fall on the other end of the spectrum. Brush piles around me tend to burn en masse.

 

[heatwise]

If I leave anything behind i always pile it up for the critters to use as they wish. I'll take anything over an inch. I like having lots of the smaller stuff on hand. Pete

 

[maplewood]

If I'm cutting wood at my pile, any branches, sawdust or bark that is unwanted gets thrown into a bonfire pile - we light it up a couple of times a year.
If I'm cutting in the woods, I usually make a pile and leave it to rot - for the critters and for the neatness of walking through my property. I've only got 6 acres, so I'm thinning and harvesting as I go so I can make it into a personal park.
But if I'm in a zone where I don't care, I kick it aside and let it rot where it drops.
Mind you, I cut branches and bushes into firewood pieces as small as 1" diameter!

 

[Highbeam]

Fall the tree, skid the whole tree to processing area, delimb the tree, skid trunk to bucking area, go back and shove all limbs into the huge limb pile with tractor. The huge limb pile is a haven for all sorts of wildlife and when sompacted by the tractor I can get many many trees into a smallish windrow of limbs. Ideally, trees would have no limbs but since they do some of this wood is wasted with regards to burning. I only fill my truck with rounds. Some rounds are 2-3" across so to be sure, we're not wasting firewood. We are wasting the small stuff.

 

[Wood Duck]

If the brush is straight, I might cut 1" rounds and take them. If it is branched, twisty brush, I might leave 3 inch pieces in the woods. I have used pruning shears at times to cut 'firewood' out of shrubs that I wanted to clean up. All depends how long it takes to process and how much time I have.

 

[thewoodlands]

It stays in the woods and anything around the house gets chipped up.


zap

 

[loon]

will go about this far then will wait for some good snow.. then have the neighbors over for a weennie roast ;-P

 

[gpcollen1]

I don't bring home 'brush' with me when i score some wood. I do cut up small logs, 2 inches or more, and stack them with everything else. I do burn the brush around the house. That is plenty for the fire pit.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

In the yard I burn it in the firepit or kiln (leaves and all in the kiln). If I'm scrounging then I don't bother with it

 

[billb3]

I was chipping pine branches until the engine in my chipper seized.
Now I have piles of pine branches again.
They make decent kindling after the needles fall off and the branches dry out good.

I've cut up the branches of an oak tree that fell across my driveway, but it is so time consuming with the little stuff that it is easier to drag it into the woods and let it rot and become forest floor. Doesn't take long as long as you don't make big piles.


If you've got the time and the stamina it all burns.


I figure the sticks and stems and seeds can return to the earth and I'll keep the good stuff.

 

[Wooddust]

4 inches and under gets burned on the site. Usually have a brush pile fire going while im cutting the trees down and have another one going when Im splitting and stacking.

 

[Wood Duck]

I have built some big brush piles around my yard, and they are where a lot of the birds hang out. Very interesting place to watch. They also harbor a lot of rabbits, but I had too many of them long before I had the brush piles.

 

[bogydave]

3/4" to 2" fire pit / cook out wood.
Small stuff, bon-fire wood (4th & New Years etc)
Rest is home heating.

 

[Hunderliggur]

I use it for my habitat brush piles that I build as part of my state Forest Management Plan for MY forest! They are 20x20x8 piles on a base of criss-crossed 6" poles. I even let our 4-H club build one. I am working on the Boy Scounts next ;-)