after splitting clean up?

[bigbarf48]

When I finish splitting or stacking there is usually a lot of junk. Mostly I leave it and my wife will tire of seeing it so then pick it up. We then burn it; use it mostly for kindling. Nice to have a wife to do that.

View attachment 128399

Best suggestion yet

I like your style Backwoods

 

[Ashful]

What general mess. It's my wood processing area. The mulch just helps keep the mud out of my boots. The thicker the mulch the less likely that my bar will dig in the soil.

I tried that, but given our deep rich soil here combined with the lower elevation of my wood splitting area, meant soft earth for the majority of the year. Load up a 2500 lb. tractor with a 1/4 cord of green oak (another 1500 lb.), and I was leaving some nasty ruts. I cleaned up and planted grass (tall fescue), and the roots seem to keep the soil much more stable, even when I've trampled the grass to death during a long weekend splitting.

 

[tfdchief]

Dennis, without Judy, you would be a half a man Got to love that girl!

 

[loadstarken]

I split on a paved driveway so I'll sweep it up and pull out the bigger chunks for starting the stove or fire pit then toss the rest in the yard waste bin.

 

[blades]

Pull out what is useful for kindling or uglies for shoulder season, rest goes into chipper for mulch. This only works if you have a true chipper, Most of the box store units don't have the moxie for this and take way to much time.

 

[firefighterjake]

Bigger stuff becomes kindling. Smaller stuff goes into the fire pit or is left underfoot.

 

[jillybeansisme]

@Backwoods Savage -- I don't plan on having a wife anytime soon perhaps I'll have my kid be my "helper cleaner-upper" when it comes time!

 

[BobUrban]

Get yourself one of these or if you live off the grid like many of us do - just pile it up with all the other scraps and put super cedar in there. It will be gone in no time

 

[Gboutdoors]

I love your seat Bob I will have to keep an eye out for one as I work my wood lot.

 

[mass_burner]

We burn 100% birch........so, lots of big pieces of bark left over after splitting. Those get boxed up to use as kindling. Smaller bits and pieces get raked up and put on the compost pile.

ChipTam

+1 on compost pile, I have a bin 6ft from wood stacks.

 

[Wood Duck]

I use the bark for mulch. I haven't seen termites or any other bug problems in the mulch, aside from the usual bugs and worms you find in any mulched bed. I try to peel the bark off my firewood as much as I can, so I get a ton of loose bark and often in big sheets. It all makes nice mulch.

 

[Gboutdoors]

do you use the mulch around the house? I have though about this, as I cut a lot and burn many,many,many branches. Doesn't mulch get treated for bugs?

Yes with use it on all our plantings and around some trees. No the stuff you get from landscape yards is not treated other than a dye to color it. I find we have had less trouble with fungus and mold with our homemade mulch.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Dennis, without Judy, you would be a half a man Got to love that girl!

Steve, I realized that long before our wedding! That is why I married her as I felt lost without her and still do.

 

[tfdchief]

Steve, I realized that long before our wedding! That is why I married her as I felt lost without her and still do.

Well, having met her, I completely understand my friend. She is a jewel.

 

[BEConklin]

you'd be surprised how large a piece of bark you can run over with a riding mower with no harm done to the mower...6 or 7 mowings later and you'll have nice little bark chips

 

[tfdchief]

you'd be surprised how large a piece of bark you can run over with a riding mower with no harm done to the mower...6 or 7 mowings later and you'll have nice little bark chips

I don't know, my Red Oak bark, when it falls off a split, seems more like a small split than a piece of bark

 

[Kevin Dolan]

I don't know, my Red Oak bark, when it falls off a split, seems more like a small split than a piece of bark

Seriously I have a tonne of bark and wonder if it will burn and produce a lot of ash without too much heat.
Growing up in Scotland my mother would take empty tin cans of beans or dog food and stuff them with potatoe peelings and put them in our fireplace with smokeless coal to stretch the burn - prob not EPA standards but late 60's burning in Scotland and I don't think my dad ever got the chimney cleaned- wow!

 

[billb3]

wood slivers worth picking up go on the stack
bark and chips go on the trail in the woods in the tractor ruts - gotta give something back

 

[ryjen]

So I was doing some more splitting last night, and needed to fire the stove. So I grabbed and large handful of the "leftovers" and threw it in the stove, laid a couple of chunks of dry oak on top and a wad of newspaper underneath it all.

Talk about a blazing fire in record time! Hot coals in minutes, blower fan kicked on before the pot of coffee was done (You have to drink coffee while splitting in 40 degrees or under). I have found my new fire starter!!

 

[Ashful]

So I was doing some more splitting last night, and needed to fire the stove. So I grabbed and large handful of the "leftovers" and threw it in the stove, laid a couple of chunks of dry oak on top and a wad of newspaper underneath it all.

Talk about a blazing fire in record time! Hot coals in minutes, blower fan kicked on before the pot of coffee was done (You have to drink coffee while splitting in 40 degrees or under). I have found my new fire starter!!

Wait... you have a stove in your splitting area? Or you split wood in your living room? Inquiring minds...

 

[ryjen]

Neither. The stove downstairs is just through the door to the garage. I'm currently splitting in the driveway outside of my garage. So open door, walk to driveway, grab handful, walk to stove, toss, close door.
Note: Steps should probably be done in that exact order, otherwise your results may vary.

 

[smokedragon]

Wait... you have a stove in your splitting area? Or you split wood in your living room? Inquiring minds...

I keep a week or two worth of wood in my sunroom (just off the family room the stove is in). In that room, I have a large round and a 4 lb fireside helper (mini maul). I will go out there when I am bored and take a split down to kindling and put it in a box for cold starts. Any bark that fall off in that room gets scooped up with a dustpan and put in my kindling box too. Bark make some of the best fire starter.

 

[red oak]

What does everyone do with the "mulch" that is leftover after splitting. Bark, splintered pieces, and general mess that resembles mulch.

Well, first off I have a splitting area which is different from where the kids play, and where I mow the grass. Second, large pieces get collected and used as kindling or mulch for the garden. Smaller pieces just stay where they fall.