limb wood/small rounds

[tiggere]

Hey guys quick question for ya...I have a "Little" Buck 26000 that is gonna have the chimney inspected next Friday...it has not had a fire in it for at least 15 years so here's hoping nothing is drastically wrong...but the owner of the house was my wife's grandfather and he was a stickler for keeping things up so I bet its clean...in the mean time I have been thinking about where and how to start gathering firewood...I have alot of trees in the 5"/6" diameter that I have been given permission to cut all I want...is this worth messing with or should I look for larger diameter trees...I have his maul and wedge so I can split wood if need be but the wood I am referring to is practically in my back yard...

 

[Jags]

What type of environment are we talking about? Is it forested or fence row, etc. How many acres? The reason I ask is that there are different theories of woodlot management that should be considered.

Nothing you cut now is gonna be burnable for this winter, unless you get lucky and find a standing dead/dry tree. Even being dead doesn't mean it is dry.

 

[Exmasonite]

Is the wood live or dead? If it's live, definitely want to avoid... too much moisture in the wood that'll foul up that hopefully clean chimney. Even if it's standing dead, it's probably not seasoned enough. I don't think the wood will season until it's cut into manageable pieces.

Hopefully some more experienced people will chime in but i'd imagine you'd at least want some splits... in fact, i burn about 90-95% splits and only use the occasional round on overnight burns, etc. At the least, you'll need to scrounge some pallet wood or something to get the fires started and get a good enough coal bed to burn a round.

 

[pyper]

Small (i.e. 1 inch) rounds burn hot and fast.

They're great in our climate, because we have a lot of days when it gets pretty warm during the day, but still cools off at night. When I cut anything with straight limbs, I'll cut it down to 1 inch, or even 3/4 inch. Building a fire from small rounds gets the stove hot quickly.

With as much humidity as we have, wood doesn't always season as quickly as I'd like, but little rounds seem to season sooner. An unlimited supply of 5" to 6" trees sounds like a great opportunity. Easy to cut and easy to split.

 

[tiggere]

its about an acre and a half of scrub and pine...I'm at the beach and we have ALOT of pine...scared to burn it though...yes I know...properly seasoned its fine...I'm just not experienced enough to do that yet...this will definitely be for next year so no worries on burning green wood...but its free and about 30 yards from where it will eventually be stacked ...do they need to be split or can I leave them as rounds...thats what was alluring about them is that I would not have to split them like the bigger stuff...I have cut a 12"/14" oak off the property already...its down and waiting on me to limb it and cut it up...

if the chimney doesn't get a good bill of health we are considering a pellet stove to go in a different room...so I'm hoping the already paid for option works meaning the chimney is ok...

 

[pyper]

Get a splitting axe and you can split a 6" pine round with one hand. You barely notice you hit the thing they split so easy.

They catch better if they're split. I split pine down to about 3" rounds.

I keep some of the 3/4" and 1/2" rounds too, for kindling.

Mainly I burn hardwood because that's mainly what I have, but I like burning pine.

The fiskars axe is highly recommended, but I couldn't find one locally so I got one like this and it works well:

(broken link removed to http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100387771/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053)

 

[Remmy122]

Small (i.e. 1 inch) rounds burn hot and fast..

How do you go about storing a 1 in round? can you really call it a round or at 1 in is it just a stick?

I have been having a inner debate on how small I should be going and every time I start chopping up a split for kindling I start wishing I would collect smaller limbs for the job. If you have any pictures of how your storing the small stuff Id love to see it.

 

[Kenster]

I think most of us would not define something has been split up as a "round." A "round" is a piece of trunk or limb that has not been split. I think Pyper probably meant "1/2 inch, 3/4 inch, or one inch splits, not rounds. When I'm splitting rounds I toss the small pieces and splits to the side and keep them in a separate stack for future kindling use. I have an old vegetable crate that I keep kindling sticks of various sizes in.

I would not hesitate to go to town on all of that five and six inch trees. Buck them into the right size for your stove. Split them right away, then stack them up off the ground in a sunny, windy spot. On that size of round, I might split it in half, then split ONE of the halves again, giving you three splits out of a round. The smaller ones will help get a fire going quickly. The larger, half-round will give you a longer burn. If you don't split a six inch round it could take a lot of time before it is dry enough to burn whole. But you could always lay aside another stack left in the round to be used in a few years.

For small rounds like that, get yourself an old auto tire and put several rounds into it and split away. The tire keeps the wood upright and stops it from flying away and causing you to keep stopping and standing the wood up. Five and six inch rounds might be hard to stand up by themselves anyway and you might be tempted to hold the round in one hand while you swing that axe in the other. Not a good idea.

Get after it now and you'll probably be good to go next winter, since you're starting off with such small splits.

 

[tiggere]

Thanks...didn't think about the increased surface area helping it to dry faster...I'll split them...I have a Fiskars splitting axe also...it was out in the shop with the maul and wedge...I grew up in a house that had an insert only for the house heat so I have split wood but we always used a maul and wedge so I didn't even think about the splitting axe...

If I decide to cut some of this pine that we have down here...and we have a crap load of it...how long does it need to season before I can burn it without the fear of creosote buildup...I saw someone used a moisture meter and it showed 17% and people said burn it...what are the main dangers with burning pine or why do most people avoid it like the plague...

 

[shawneyboy]

Thanks...didn't think about the increased surface area helping it to dry faster...I'll split them...I have a Fiskars splitting axe also...it was out in the shop with the maul and wedge...I grew up in a house that had an insert only for the house heat so I have split wood but we always used a maul and wedge so I didn't even think about the splitting axe...

If I decide to cut some of this pine that we have down here...and we have a crap load of it...how long does it need to season before I can burn it without the fear of creosote buildup...I saw someone used a moisture meter and it showed 17% and people said burn it...what are the main dangers with burning pine or why do most people avoid it like the plague...

People fear pine because they think it makes creosote. Actually if you load up an older stove (when the pine conspiracy started) with pine you would have to choke it way down for an overnight burn, it would smoulder and indeed create creo. Then you do a half load with pine and open her up and it burns super fast and hot, this ignites the creo and boom, you get the "Don't burn Pine" stories.

Pine is fine.

Shawn

 

[Thistle]

Small (i.e. 1 inch) rounds burn hot and fast..

How do you go about storing a 1 in round? can you really call it a round or at 1 in is it just a stick?

I have been having a inner debate on how small I should be going and every time I start chopping up a split for kindling I start wishing I would collect smaller limbs for the job. If you have any pictures of how your storing the small stuff Id love to see it.

I'm always getting,saving & using small branches down to 3/4"-1".If its hickory or any fruitwoods,I save them in lengths from 8 to 15 inches in a couple cardboard boxes in the garage for further use in smoker & BBQ grill.Other species are saved also,but in a couple 30 gallon metal trash cans with lids,outdoors for kindling.I rarely split any of it,unless I run low on twigs,corn cobs & slender strips/cutoffs from my cabinet shop.When I have space,I'll keep a couple boxes of the same in the shop also.Most all of the branches get cut shorter if needed on bandsaw or stepped on & broken in half if they're really dry.

 

[Wood Duck]

I'd cut that small wood, and I would split anything over about 4 inches. I find split wood lights up more easily and seasons faster. If you cut the pine this winter or early spring and stack it is a nice, windy spot it should be fine to burn next year.

Creosote buildup is the sort of thing you can observe just by looking at the chimney, and it is something that can happen as easily with hardwood as with pine. Take a good look at the clean chimney before you start burning and look again every week or two at first. You can find a few threads in the Hearth Room forum on this site with pictures of chimney creosote and opinions from experienced woodburners about which look good and which need cleaning. once you get the idea what the chimney should look like you can burn away and be confident that the chimney is OK (or not OK, and then you can clean it.)

 

[JoeyDe]

Hey Folks, New Member The talk that takes place is a great help especially when you hear all the horror stories of what wood to cut and how to burn ...Good advise Thx!!

 

[48rob]

People fear pine because they think it makes creosote.

I "knew" not to use pine, but it wasn't because of creosote, it was because of experience burning it in a fireplace and while camping.
Pine spits burning embers much like popcorn when you take the lid off while cooking it.

Now that I have a wood stove, Pine is my favorite kindling, and the wood I choose for a hot fast fire to warm the room on a cold morning.

Rob

 

[Joe in MI]

I keep everything down to about an inch or so - mostly because I'm cheap. I hate to see BTUs just thrown away like....like......garbage!

 

[shawneyboy]

I keep everything down to about an inch or so - mostly because I'm cheap. I hate to see BTUs just thrown away like....like......garbage!

I do the same thing, I only burn the smaller stuff in shoulder season, but no need to waste free BTUs, right ?

 

[pyper]

Small (i.e. 1 inch) rounds burn hot and fast..

How do you go about storing a 1 in round? can you really call it a round or at 1 in is it just a stick?

I have been having a inner debate on how small I should be going and every time I start chopping up a split for kindling I start wishing I would collect smaller limbs for the job. If you have any pictures of how your storing the small stuff Id love to see it.

Stick, round, whatever ;-)

How small I go depends on the tree. Flowering pear and pine both have really long straight branches. So I just stack a bunch of them together and cut them 16" long and stack them in with the other wood. This stack has some smaller pecan or maple on top that isn't so straight. With the pecan about 1.5" started to get too small to be worth messing with -- too twisty.. Here's a pic. You can click on the thumbnail for a better view. Everything smaller than 2" is gone from that pile now; the larger pieces will be for next winter.



And yeah, there are a few pieces in that pile that should have been split, but my wife paid someone to cut and stack part of it when I wasn't home, so when I get to those I'll split them and put them aside for the winter after.

Oh, and this is a "before" picture:

 

[Remmy122]

Im sorry for highjacking your thread.... ADD is taking over.

I got ya, i do the same with my pieces, didnt know if you (or any one else) had a secret style to staking small limbs so theyre easily accesable. perhps Ill make a ministack with the smaller stuff...

Is a "flowering pear" what we call a 'bradford pear"? Theyre down here ALL the time! If theyre any good for burning Ill be 4-5 years ahead after one good hurricane!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum to both tiggere and JoeyDe.

5-6" diameter trees are good to cut but you will notice that your wood pile does not grow very fast. It always seems to me that it takes at least double the amount of labor and time to cut up the small stuff. Still, some of it needs to be done. As for drying and burning, it naturally depends upon what kind of wood you are talking about.

Should it be split? To dry faster, yes. Still, I like to have some rounds in the 4-6" range because they are good for holding fires longer which is appreciated in the coldest part of winter during the night time.


As for pine. Cut this year, burn next.

 

[Lumberjacks Wife]

Speaking from a wife's point of view, my DH leaves the smaller rounds (2" to 5") for me to use during the day while he's at work. I have bad shoulders so have trouble lifting the heavier splits. We even keep most of the limbs when we down a tree - great starter stuff and shoulder season wood. Can't see ditching good BTU's.

 

[tiggere]

well at this point I am just about ready to build a darn fire without having the chimney inspected...its frickin' 60 degrees in here and cold...I sucked it up and turn the oil heat back on and now its a nice 68 degrees...tolerable with a sweatshirt on...Oh I so hope the chimney is ok...cause if they give me the go ahead I'm gonna fire it up...

Now some stove questions...its a "Little" Buck 26000 model...I am seeing a replacement for a catalytic combustor...is this what you guys are calling a CAT...if so I'm assuming this is a good thing...the stove was not used very much and I'm guessing her grandparents didn't like the mess or hassle so the CAT (if thats the right word) should be good for quite a few more years...loading N/S I understand but is this what you guys recommend for fires or do I need to play with it both ways to figure it out...being that its an insert can I get by with a thermo from Condar like the new Inferno model they have?...will that be accurate enough to go by? Do I need to use the firedogs or build on a coal/ash bed directly on the base?

 

[Heaterhunter]

I keep everything down to about an inch or so - mostly because I'm cheap. I hate to see BTUs just thrown away like....like......garbage!

+1 ;-)
Way too cheap, I can't stand leaving anything but twigs. It's nice when the limbs are sticking up in the air after dropping the tree, makes for real easy dicing. I haven't been burning wood too long, I did as a kid but didn't pay much attention then. I'm amazed at how well a stove stuffed with 1 1/2 to 3" rounds holds up over the coarse of the night. Lot of work but I bet that's gotten me through 10 nights of burning this year %-P

 

[gerry100]

If you've got a year to season, all you need for 5/6" diao is cut to length ( N S length is shorter and a little better).

I often run the nose of the saw along the length making a groove thru the bark. Seems to help speed drying.

 

[gzecc]

well at this point I am just about ready to build a darn fire without having the chimney inspected...its frickin' 60 degrees in here and cold...I sucked it up and turn the oil heat back on and now its a nice 68 degrees...tolerable with a sweatshirt on...Oh I so hope the chimney is ok...cause if they give me the go ahead I'm gonna fire it up...

Now some stove questions...its a "Little" Buck 26000 model...I am seeing a replacement for a catalytic combustor...is this what you guys are calling a CAT...if so I'm assuming this is a good thing...the stove was not used very much and I'm guessing her grandparents didn't like the mess or hassle so the CAT (if thats the right word) should be good for quite a few more years...loading N/S I understand but is this what you guys recommend for fires or do I need to play with it both ways to figure it out...being that its an insert can I get by with a thermo from Condar like the new Inferno model they have?...will that be accurate enough to go by? Do I need to use the firedogs or build on a coal/ash bed directly on the base?

Its interesting that your buck has a cat. I didn't know it was available. I have a 28000. I would use the fire dogs. I put a cheap magnetic thermo on the upper left of the door. Its just for reference, you don't need to bet your life on it. Or maybe you do?
Does the insert have a full liner to the top of the chimney, partial or non?

 

[tiggere]

don't really know yet...I have yet to open the stove because my son's tv and Wii are right in front of it and we have a project going on for his school in that room thats taking up the majority of the space...I am hoping to get things in shape and get the piano out of that room by Wednesday of next week so we can clear the way to the stove...the chimney sweep/inspector will be here next Friday...I should know more then