What to do with all the small stuff ....

[firegal]

thanks for all the ideas!

I especially like the one about filling paper bags with the stuff and using them as fire starters. I might try that if I can get some of it dry!

I've thought of using laundry baskets ... unfortunately I don't have any old ones since I just built the house and this is the first time I've had a washer and dryer (and therefore just bought my first laundry basket). Maybe a trip to the dump might help here. And banana boxes are worth a try as well.

And what is too small to do anything with I just might dump in part into the compost pile if it's mostly bark to see what happens to it. I like using bark for kindling, though-- especially white birch bark. That stuff is great kindling.

Thanks again, all.

firegal

 

[kenny chaos]

I dug up this old thread instead of making a new one. I made a bunch of charcoal this summer out of small pieces and then came across this yesterday-
http://www.help-build-a-community.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6

 

[ccwhite]

I use a couple of Rubbermaid containers to hold anything big enough to be worth picking up. Anything smaller gets raked up and tossed into the backyard fire pit.

 

[LLigetfa]

I especially like the one about filling paper bags with the stuff and using them as fire starters.

The heavy paper bags from the wine store that hold a single bottle are perfect for this. They hold just the right amount and are tough enough not to rip open. It's a good job to task the kids with.

Larger short, long, and twisty pieces get set aside to be later put on the top course of the woodpile (they mess up the stacking). The finer chainsaw cuttings and bark chips stay on the work area for the duration of the work and then later go on the compost pile. Everything else I just toss on my brush burn pile.

 

[stockdoct]

I throw bark away. Negative BTU's, I think. It smothers the fire, adds little except moisture. I hate bark.

But for the small wood chunks (3" by 4" kind of stuff) I have a 35 gallon Rubbermaid container in my basement. I cut a "window-flap" , kind of like a doggie exit flap in a door, in the Rubbermaid's front bottom, about 15 " x 10". When it is fullish, I grab a armfull from the top, when it gets low I can open the door and grab them from the bottom. Pretty decent rotation of chunks so nothing stays in there forever, and its clean so my wife doesn't get upset. Easy to use.

 

[jeff_t]

I dug up this old thread instead of making a new one. I made a bunch of charcoal this summer out of small pieces and then came across this yesterday-
http://www.help-build-a-community.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6

I look at the huge bed of coals I sometimes get in my furnace and think about pulling some out for next summer.

All my bark and splitter trash gets raked up and loaded onto the little trailer behind my ATV, then returned to the woods from which it came. If I had to buy my wood, I would definitely be drying it out and burning it.

Jeff