Keeping short/ugly pieces

[neverbilly]

Let's say you cut for a fireplace and/or firepit and want 16" pieces. When you cut, especially if it's a limby or gnarly tree, you can end up with lots of short, leftover pieces, crooked pieces, chunks, y's, etc. Do you keep those? How do you 'stack' something like that? Those IBC Totes look appealing for something like that. If you use one of those, do you keep the plastic container inside the steel mesh cage, or remove the plastic container and just throw them into the cage? Anyone found a simpler (less expensive, those Totes are not free) method? Keeping these makes sense from a wood-burning perspective (they burn) but they seem problematic to stack/store.

 

[Woody5506]

I throw them in a pile and get sick of looking at them after a while to be quite honest. At this point I don't want a mess in the yard, just nice neat stacks. I'll burn the ugly pile throughout the summer but I'm going to be more mindful of what I take on scrounges.

This past week I actually took a bunch of wonky unstackable pieces with other yard brush to the town dump. Felt good just to get rid of them.

 

[SeanBB]

Let's say you cut for a fireplace and/or firepit and want 16" pieces. When you cut, especially if it's a limby or gnarly tree, you can end up with lots of short, leftover pieces, crooked pieces, chunks, y's, etc. Do you keep those? How do you 'stack' something like that? Those IBC Totes look appealing for something like that. If you use one of those, do you keep the plastic container inside the steel mesh cage, or remove the plastic container and just throw them into the cage? Anyone found a simpler (less expensive, those Totes are not free) method? Keeping these makes sense from a wood-burning perspective (they burn) but they seem problematic to stack/store.

The plastic containers can be cut diagonally to make a pyramid style roof for the cage to keep the rain out. Works brilliantly.

 

[HItz]

They go on top of my wood stacks then I burn them when I am home since I have to refill the stove more often due to the odd sizes/shapes.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Put really bad ones out by the road for people who really need wood. If they are there for more than a few days they go to the dump. I've already got a full bin seasoning so I don't need more bins.

 

[7acres]

I do what HLtz does for shorties that end up in my main stacks. But as a rule I don't like oddball stuff in my stacks.

I throw it over in another area behind the stacks and use it to make hardwood lump charcoal for the grill. No waste!

 

[saewoody]

They go on top of my wood stacks then I burn them when I am home since I have to refill the stove more often due to the odd sizes/shapes.

Same. But I will often use them for the fire pit wood in the nicer weather.


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[Woodsplitter67]

I put them on the top row in the wood shed.. i use them to burn during the day..

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I also put them on top of my stacks, but I know people put pallets together to make a square "stockade" to store them in which I think is a great idea as the open slats in the pallets allow airflow.

 

[Tar12]

I figure if I am going to take the time and effort...not to mention the expense...I am going to burn it! When I get home from work I get rid of ashes and save the coals and will grab a few uglies and crank the stove up to bring the house temp back up...by the time I am ready for the overnight load I have a nice bed of coals to work with.Then we burn them all weekend and this saves my "straight" stuff for stuffing the stove for those bitter nights and it simply conserves wood! If you figure in all of those weekends and evening hours it adds up big time! Pallet cubes work well or any good size 3-sided box/shed with a roof works.Its not hard to do.....

 

[HisTreeNut]

I keep most of what I process. The small stuff is cut into kindling by the kiddos, the uglies get put on the top of stacks to be burned first, or to hold tarps down. Even then they get burned when the stack is gone or in the fire pit.
BTU's are BTU's...

 

[firefighterjake]

Chunks and ugliest go on to the top of my stacks ... they're the first wood I burn in the Fall and my go to wood for camp fires in the summer.

 

[Dobish]

everything i burn is an ugly I think....

 

[Dobish]

part of my ugly pile went away the other day.

 

[Jeffm1]

Let's say you cut for a fireplace and/or firepit and want 16" pieces. When you cut, especially if it's a limby or gnarly tree, you can end up with lots of short, leftover pieces, crooked pieces, chunks, y's, etc. Do you keep those? How do you 'stack' something like that? Those IBC Totes look appealing for something like that. If you use one of those, do you keep the plastic container inside the steel mesh cage, or remove the plastic container and just throw them into the cage? Anyone found a simpler (less expensive, those Totes are not free) method? Keeping these makes sense from a wood-burning perspective (they burn) but they seem problematic to stack/store.

Get rid of them so you don't have to deal with them. And by get rid of them I mean burn them.

 

[Corey]

The real ugly stuff, I just keep in a pile. I try and burn it up during the first of the season, and/or during the days when I'm relatively free to stoke the stove. They typically make too loose of a fit in the stove for a good overnight burn. I try to make another 'clean up' run at the end of the season and get rid of any other accumulated uglies.

Conversely, I typically try to separate out the nice, straight, square blocks of wood for the overnight runs.

 

[Tar12]

We are usually home on the weekends and thats all I burn is the uglies then and of a evening when I get home I take ashes out if need be and throw a few uglies in and let her rip till I load for the overnight burn..works for me and saves a lot of wood.

 

[BamaScroungr]

Hol hausen? Shorts and uglies go in the center and the clean and straight stuff is used to make the walls. I'm going to build my first one this spring. But I like the idea of the pallet cubes. Anyone got any pics of those?

 

[Tar12]

Hol hausen? Shorts and uglies go in the center and the clean and straight stuff is used to make the walls. I'm going to build my first one this spring. But I like the idea of the pallet cubes. Anyone got any pics of those?

You get the concept...I have seen some pretty elaborate set ups..I h

ave seen them painted and set atop treated landscape timbers...they last a long time if the top is covered...

 

[Dobish]

Hol hausen? Shorts and uglies go in the center and the clean and straight stuff is used to make the walls. I'm going to build my first one this spring. But I like the idea of the pallet cubes. Anyone got any pics of those?

This is the base, i wish i had made it a little bigger. its about 5 feet around, ended up at between 6-8 feet tall. I definitely put lot of uglies in the center. I also stacked some straight pieces straight up. I had to build this one on a slight slope, so I couldn't put it up on pallets.