I know this is a dumb question, but why leave wood in the round?

[Little Digger]

When I'm, processing firewood, be it from a freshly felled tree or some logs delivered, as soon as I buck them into rounds I split and stack them as soon as possible. I always have. Otherwise I understand it takes a lot longer for the round to season. Especially if it still has bark on it.

I have seen some cut up logs where they leave them in the round for a couple of years with the intention of burning them that season. The same for entire logs, both of which are in contact with the ground which is why I need to ask.

Wouldn't the moisture content be on the high side as in upper 20% to low 30%?

 

[pen]

basically, yep..... I can't see the point in it either.

 

[jatoxico]

I've left wood in the round until I can get to it. I try to stack them on something to keep them from being in direct contact with soil. For me it was just a time thing, that and rounds take up less room. Once split you gotta stack the wood (hopefully) in it's final resting place. I'm several years ahead so no rush.

People that leave it in the round then split just before they plan on burning the wood most likely just don't know any better. Generally not willing to change anytime soon either.

 

[Cascade Failure]

I won't leave them in round form for years but sometimes they stay that way for a month or two. Sometimes I feel like cutting, sometimes splitting. Sometimes I cut one day intending to split the next but then life intrudes and I can't get back in the woods for a while. As long as I leave them in the stacks long enough I don't worry too much.

But I will NEVER leave rounds stacked holz hausen (spelling?) style. Wish I had gotten a picture of this out near Wyassup Pond.

 

[Hogwildz]

The only real benefit of rounds, is it is better than full pole lengths. It won't dry as fast as split, but will dry better than full pole lengths.
And its ready to have splitter set next to and split away.
Typically, stacked in rounds is just a temp holding pattern, till splitting is commenced and completed.

 

[dafattkidd]

I scrounged oak that was in the round two years- then I split and stacked it in May. That oak was SUPER dry when I burned it in December. I've also split spruce that was in the round for over a year. Fresh split was at 15%. I burned it within weeks of splitting. The spruce was about 12" long and 10" radius. So wood does season in the round. Just not as fast or as good.

 

[DougA]

For me, it's a time factor. There is so much wood to cut and it's fastest to cut to length, store in a dry area and split when you have time.

 

[blades]

Just a time factor, Get it all bucked up to length, split and stack at leisure.

 

[peakbagger]

I cut my wood at one place about 20 minutes away from my house and then haul it home and split it by hand when I have a chance. I can knock off a lot of wood during lunch (I work from home) I usually throw the rounds in the truck and then split it when I unload it. Its a GMC Sonoma so the bed isn't that big and therefore the limiting factor in my wood runs is truck capacity. I have a lot more wood cut then I can haul home so I pile up the rounds in the woods until I can haul it home. The one exception is white birch. I usually split it when I cut it.

 

[Chas0218]

I did this the other day bucked it all and had it ready to start splitting. I don't have a wood splitter so splitting right after being bucked is key. Normally the rounds will get spongy and tougher to split. With an 8lbs. maul I can manage to split fresh maple, ash, or locust rounds with one hit. If I let those same rounds sit 2 or more days normally it takes 2 or 3 swings to get her broke up. For me it's all about time invested, the more time it takes the more it costed me to do my own firewood.

 

[Fred Wright]

When we were cutting in the woodlot we always hauled the rounds up and stacked 'em for splitting later. I tried splitting & stacking rounds piecemeal, i.e. by the cartload but soon nixed that practice. It took more time that-a-way.

Used to cut sweet gum every year for shoulder season. Gum tends to split easier after it's set in the round a few months. Loses a lot of water weight as well. Still needs a year stacked.

Despite what Hollywood movies and television shows would have one believe, firewood doesn't cure in the round. It may burn when split to order but it won't burn very well or very hot.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Just a time factor, Get it all bucked up to length, split and stack at leisure.

That's exactly what I do.

 

[peakbagger]

Despite what Hollywood movies and television shows would have one believe, firewood doesn't cure in the round. It may burn when split to order but it won't burn very well or very hot.

I always thought that but I have single stacked rounds in the sun over a winter at the wood source and it was quite noticeable the amount of checking I got on the sunny side and even on the shade side there was distinct (but less) checking. Much of the initial moisture leaves the logs on the butt ends versus the circumference, that's why cutting it to length is so important. I try to stay ahead on wood for two years and the available wood is mostly maple and birch with some beech cherry and ash so I don't have to be as careful as those drying ash. The choice for me is to leave it on the ground in a pile of rounds or stack the rounds up off the ground in rows and if I am lucky cover them. There is no comparison between the pile method and the stack method.

I then carry it in my truck over to my house to split and stack it when I can. I find that splitting a wheelbarrow full out of the truck bed and then taking time to stack it gives me a break from hand splitting and allows me to split for an overall longer period of time than just splitting straight through the truck bed.

 

[DougA]

Despite what Hollywood movies and television shows would have one believe, firewood doesn't cure in the round.

I find the same thing as peakbagger. In my guess, it's about 1/3 the drying rate of split wood. CIf I leave it stacked properly in rounds, then split, my dry time is less by 1/3. If I had time ....

As I was waking the dogs through the woods a few minutes ago, I was thinking about how much time is spent in the whole process of wood burning. This forum heads the list ... but it's so much fun, I couldn't give it up.

 

[sportbikerider78]

It does dry,,just takes time.

I have some apple rounds that were impossible to split by hand. Giving them a year to dry out a bit and I'll give them a go next year.

 

[maple1]

Some of my stuff spends some time in the woods between getting it cut up, and getting back to splitting it.

But I hate stacking wood - so it lays where it falls when cutting up, and only gets stacked after it's split. At most if I know it will be a couple or few months before I get back there, I might quickly heap some of it up.

 

[peakbagger]

As an aside I remember years ago helping a friend pile up about 2 cords of sugar maple in the woods in rounds. We were going to go back and get it as soon as his truck was fixed. A few weeks later there was a record storm in the area that sliced right through the access to the wood pile which was about 3000 feet from the road. No way to get anything to it. A few years later I was up there and that nice pile of wood was starting to rot in place as we didn't cover it.

One good reason to get it out to the woods quick.

 

[Longstreet]

Lots of people don't have continuous access to a splitter. They may save rounds for the one weekend a year they rent/borrow a splitter.

 

[Wood Duck]

There is no reason you'd want to do that, but sometimes you have only enough time to buck, not enough to buck and split.

 

[Eagleknight]

Same here as more of time issue. My scrounges mostly go get it off the property as fast as possible and unloaded as fast as possible to go back and get more. Then process at leisure at home. It is kind of a pain working out of big pile though.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

That's exactly what I do.

View attachment 162374

This is pretty much exactly what my driveway looks like, except all in one long line...waiting to get moved to the yard this weekend

 

[SawDawg]

My back can only handle so much at a time so I leave it in rounds then split with an ax, which I find fun, as I get around to it.

 

[gerry100]

Thieves are less likely to steal rounds than splits

 

[Babaganoosh]

My system is collect rounds next to driveway, when I get a decent amount, split into my 5x8 trailer. Then unload the trailer right into the racks. Trailer loads are about half a cord at a time. I split right in the driveway because I'm shaded by a tree and cleaning up the splitter mess is a lot easier on the driveway then it is on the grass. I'll rake up the mess, use a snow shovel to dump it into the trailer along with any really crappy or punky splits and then take it right to the dump and dispose of it. Then I use my blower to finish up the driveway.

 

[Oldman47]

I stored a couple of cords of ash in the round because I knew some day I would be burning and didn't want to just give it away. Now, 4 years later, I am well along in splitting it in my spare time while I build the house with the stove in it..