Do I cut in half, or take off 2 inches?

[Dobish]

I just recently had a bunch of trees taken down, and the crew was nice enough to leave me with the wood (which was part of the deal). They left me a bunch of piles, with sizes ranging from 12" - 36" and a lot of the pieces measure 24". I can fit 22" in the stove.

The question is, will i be better off cutting them in half, or buzzing off the last few inches? Most of my piles are not really standard sizes now, but I was sort of hoping that I would be able to keep things a little closer now that I am further ahead. I am leaning towards just buzzing them in half, but that also means that I am then doubling the amount i have to split....

There are probably 2-3 cord strewn about that would need to be sorted out, most of which is probably in need of being cut down...

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Had the same problem recently. I cut off a few inches with my 12"chop saw after splitting. That way I'm left with one perfect piece and a short. The perfect pieces allow me to maximize packing the stove, and the shorts are saved for shoulder season or times when I don't mind reloading more often. I'd rather one problem rather than two.

I've been burning with shorts and uglies since September 30 this year.

 

[Dobish]

we have only had 2 fires this year so I haven't gone through too much wood yet!

I don't have a 12" chopsaw, which would make things easier for sure, and I am guessing I could put on a bigger blade on the radial arm saw, but I figure by the time I do that, I may as well just get out the chainsaw, especially since the wood will be for next season or beyond anyway and is nowhere near the saw....

Everything I have is so inconsistent, that it probably just makes more sense to try and keep them at least stackable, and not have a cord worth of disks....

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

we have only had 2 fires this year so I haven't gone through too much wood yet!

I don't have a 12" chopsaw, which would make things easier for sure, and I am guessing I could put on a bigger blade on the radial arm saw, but I figure by the time I do that, I may as well just get out the chainsaw, especially since the wood will be for next season or beyond anyway and is nowhere near the saw....

Everything I have is so inconsistent, that it probably just makes more sense to try and keep them at least stackable, and not have a cord worth of disks....

Makes sense. I've always had issues with using the chainsaw in situations where the piece can spin, not a problem with big rounds, pre-split. I have gone back and forth in years past, mostly cutting in half, but since I started using the chop saw this year, I'm not going back. I just didn't like having double the amount of fuel that I could only fill the stove 3/4 full.

I store my shorts in tubes of welded fencing stapled to skids, just throw them in the top. Because shorts are, um, short, they do not accumulate as much as you might think. I'd also like to try a five sided skid crib for this, I've seen others here mention these.

 

[Jags]

I prefer dealing with one short or ugly as opposed to two.

 

[mark cline]

The electric co. took down about 12 trees when they put in my service . I knew they would cut the pieces way too large ,so considerable recutting would be needed . I offered the wood to my neighbor , across the street, so I would not have to deal with it . After 2 months he never touched it , so I cleaned up the wood , having to recut , stack odd sizes . What a pain . It would have been easier for me to go out into the wood lot and cut trees to come up with the same amount of wood. If I were you, I'd cut the 2-3 inches off to keep your stacks consistent in size and burn the smalls during shoulder season.

 

[Dobish]

probably 80% of what i have was cut by someone else, so there is very little that is consistent lengths. I have tried to keep it relatively consistent among stacks (12"/16-18"/18-22"). Most of the pieces in these stacks are pretty straight, so this might be a good place to start getting consistent lengths. The other thing is, I can fit a 22" log with the front doors open, but I can only get about 18" through the top loader.....

 

[Wood Collector]

After installing my insert most of my 3 cords of split 18 to 20 inch long wood needed to be trimmed down to 17" for my 18" wide fire box. I made a box out of plywood scraps that is 17" deep 16" wide by 4' long. I fill it and run the chain saw down the top edge of the box. I collect all the cut offs and use them during shoulder season. I use the cherry cut offs for smoking & grilling. It's a pain but I'm almost thru it all now.

 

[CountryBoy19]

IMHO, this is why, if given the chance, you ALWAYS request it to be left in log-lengths or left uncut; tell them you'll cut it up. They have less work to do (and sometimes charge less because of it) and you have less work to do (easier to cut a log to the lengths you want vs trying to recut wood to the right length after it's already cut).

 

[Vikestand]

Chop to the right length, toss the biscuits into a pile. I've made the mistake of cutting in half and it made stacking an impossible choir that year.

 

[St. Coemgen]

sizes ranging from 12" - 36" and a lot of the pieces measure 24". I can fit 22" in the stove.

If you have one, or can rent one, or know someone who has one, this sort of trim work is best done with a bandsaw, table saw or chop saw after splitting (and splitting them thin would help).

 

[Dobish]

i could use the table saw or the radial arm saw, i guess I didn't think about splitting them first! (duh!)

I talked to the owner who's a friend of mine and asked them to leave the pieces uncut, which they left a lot in bigger pieces that I can cut down. It turns out most of the trees that they were cutting down they had to climb, so they were taking them down in sections I guess, which explains why they were not getting the longer pieces. I think when I am stacking them to process i will break them into sizes and see how much of each I have to deal with!

 

[gerry100]

if your E-W length is 22" what size is your N-S '

If half of your length is approx. your NS dimension, I'd consider cutting in half

 

[Dobish]

loading NS is nice when you open the front doors, but it is a bit more of a pain when using the top loading feature....

that and it is 10" to the back of the andirons which is even worse to stack than 12" pieces!

 

[blades]

Get a lot of the odd size for my stove also I just trim splits to length on band saw- leftovers go in a box get used for shoulder seasons. I do it as I am stacking a couple cord inside for the cold weather. 17" throat on saw perfect size for me - built in length gauge. Zip out a bunch of kindling from the shorts/uglies also on the band saw. I make my own blades from bulk rolls so that isn't a difficulty for me. Nice thing about band saw is 12" height of cut if needed- times that of a radial ,table or chop saw.
The box , stacking splits on end tightly and the chain saw or sawzall ( 12" long blades available) sounds pretty good also .

 

[Ashful]

I've re-sized about 16 cords over the last two seasons, as my new BK's take 17" splits, and I cut to 21" for my old Jotuls. So, 4" must come off every last stick of about 25 cords I have CSS'd.

I debated just cutting in half, and tried it for a bit. I found it more efficient to pack a stove with mostly full-length splits and then toss in a bunch of 4" bits on top, than to have a stove full of 10.5 inch splits, and 1/3rd of my firebox perpetually empty.

For resizing, I looked at all the options, and figure you folks using radial saws and bandsaws must just have brain damage. No way in hell I'm hauling a 800 lb. radial saw or 1200 lb. bandsaw down to the wood stacks, nor am I willing to haul 20+ cords of firewood into my wood shop. My solution was far simpler, and I'd be willing to bet good money, much faster.

I built a rack that is 2' wide x 6' tall, and the depth of my desired splits (17 inches). I load it with splits, throw a ratchet strap over the full load (just over 1/10th cord), and cut the whole bundle with one fell swoop of my 064 chainsaw. It takes mere seconds, and I can resize a full cord in 9 bundles, on this rig.

This wasn't my idea, many here have done it before. There are photos of my rig on this site, as well as with those of others I copied.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Get a lot of the odd size for my stove also I just trim splits to length on band saw- leftovers go in a box get used for shoulder seasons. I do it as I am stacking a couple cord inside for the cold weather. 17" throat on saw perfect size for me - built in length gauge. Zip out a bunch of kindling from the shorts/uglies also on the band saw. I make my own blades from bulk rolls so that isn't a difficulty for me. Nice thing about band saw is 12" height of cut if needed- times that of a radial ,table or chop saw.
The box , stacking splits on end tightly and the chain saw or sawzall ( 12" long blades available) sounds pretty good also .

I tried the sawzall. It takes forever! There just is not enough travel of the blade to make it an effective firewood saw, I tried the long blade with teeth that look like a bow saw blade.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I've re-sized about 16 cords over the last two seasons, as my new BK's take 17" splits, and I cut to 21" for my old Jotuls. So, 4" must come off every last stick of about 25 cords I have CSS'd.

I debated just cutting in half, and tried it for a bit. I found it more efficient to pack a stove with mostly full-length splits and then toss in a bunch of 4" bits on top, than to have a stove full of 10.5 inch splits, and 1/3rd of my firebox perpetually empty.

For resizing, I looked at all the options, and figure you folks using radial saws and bandsaws must just have brain damage. No way in hell I'm hauling a 800 lb. radial saw or 1200 lb. bandsaw down to the wood stacks, nor am I willing to haul 20+ cords of firewood into my wood shop. My solution was far simpler, and I'd be willing to bet good money, much faster.

I built a rack that is 2' wide x 6' tall, and the depth of my desired splits (17 inches). I load it with splits, throw a ratchet strap over the full load (just over 1/10th cord), and cut the whole bundle with one fell swoop of my 064 chainsaw. It takes mere seconds, and I can resize a full cord in 9 bundles, on this rig.

This wasn't my idea, many here have done it before. There are photos of my rig on this site, as well as with those of others I copied.

My chop saw sits right on my porch and I saw to length right before it goes into the house. The saw only weighs about 60 lbs, has a stop-block to keep length consistent, and is easy to put away, but I agree that I wouldn't want to mess with round tripping to my shop. If I had as much as you, I think your method would be a better way.

 

[Dobish]

I've re-sized about 16 cords over the last two seasons, as my new BK's take 17" splits, and I cut to 21" for my old Jotuls. So, 4" must come off every last stick of about 25 cords I have CSS'd.

I debated just cutting in half, and tried it for a bit. I found it more efficient to pack a stove with mostly full-length splits and then toss in a bunch of 4" bits on top, than to have a stove full of 10.5 inch splits, and 1/3rd of my firebox perpetually empty.

For resizing, I looked at all the options, and figure you folks using radial saws and bandsaws must just have brain damage. No way in hell I'm hauling a 800 lb. radial saw or 1200 lb. bandsaw down to the wood stacks, nor am I willing to haul 20+ cords of firewood into my wood shop. My solution was far simpler, and I'd be willing to bet good money, much faster.

I built a rack that is 2' wide x 6' tall, and the depth of my desired splits (17 inches). I load it with splits, throw a ratchet strap over the full load (just over 1/10th cord), and cut the whole bundle with one fell swoop of my 064 chainsaw. It takes mere seconds, and I can resize a full cord in 9 bundles, on this rig.

This wasn't my idea, many here have done it before. There are photos of my rig on this site, as well as with those of others I copied.

i don't move the radial arm saw... it happens to be on the back porch, next to where the wood gets stacked to go inside.... i am leaning towards the big box i take off with teh chainsaw....

 

[Fred Wright]

We get a lot of too long stuff from the sawmill every year. I just cut it to length and lay the short stuff on top of the stacks. They're nice for smoking meats or use in a fire pit. Or in your wood heater. They burn well.

Stacking shorts and odd-length splits can be a PITA. They're more likely to topple over, too.