minimum sensible wood size for gasifier?

[pybyr]

Hello all- I've previously asked about "ideal" size of wood for a gasifier, and also asked how big is too big-

I'm busily cutting wood for future use, and one thing that I am doing, that I'd never have bothered with with my prior wood/ hot air furnace, is cutting the treetops and branches-- anything as large or larger than a half-dollar coin- into firebox length pieces to mix in with the other wood.

What are others' experiences with small wood- other than handling a lot of little stuff, is there any downside to it?

Thanks

 

[flyingcow]

Like you, i never would mess with small branches or tops, unless I could reach them easyily. But with the gassifer, I'm finding I am cutting the little stuff. The down fall is i have to pay attention. If i get into a tangled mess, I quit. Might go back later, but I never have been very graceful, and sure haven't gotten any better. I where chaps, good boots, etc. But I'm not excited to put myself out of work because of a few limbs. And as you know, it's a lot more dangerous cutting the little stuff, versus big blocks. To me that is a possible downside. Especially, as I'm getting a taste of being out of work due to an injury. Not a whole lot of fun, plus damn expensive on the wallet.

 

[mcote]

I normally don't bother with the little stuff either, but this year I am also mixing in smaller pieces planning for the gasser. Seems to me a lot of people mentioned they load with smaller wood on the bottom and larger on top. It's nice to use a smaller saw to cut up the branches after you have dropped the tree, easier on the body.

 

[Gooserider]

No gasser experience, but I've long tended to be the kind of cheap SOB that doesn't want to leave any heat laying out in the woods... What I have found, at least with the maple and oaks that make up most of my supply, is that you can see a pretty clear point on most branches where they start splitting out into really small limbs, and the number of limbs per firewood length starts going up drastically. I use this point as my stopping point where it isn't worth continuing to cut.

What I usually do once the tree is on the ground is buck it up at least part way through, as I work my way up from the stump towards the crown. At each branch, I will follow that branch out, slicing off anything too small to make into rounds (i.e. under an inch or two, or really "fuzzy") or following out secondary branches if they are big enough to be worth while. When I reach the point where it isn't worth going out any further, I'll cut off the end mess, and work my way back to the previous branch point, bucking as I go. I keep following this pattern as I work my way up the stem. It means that I end up with about as much wood per tree as it's feasible to collect, and that the remaining branch bits are short and flat enough that it's relatively easy to stack them up into a brush pile.

It does mean that I end up doing a lot of walking on the cut off brush and previously cut rounds, but I find that lays down pretty flat, and isn't bad as long as you move slowly and watch where you step. The other advantage of doing it this way is when cutting up the branches, one end is still attached to the tree, which reduces the problem of the branch moving around under the saw (doesn't eliminate it, but it helps....)

Obviously this is just kind of general, I will vary it on occasion depending on the individual tree... I have also had trees where I cut off many branches initially, and just bucked up the main stem, then came back with the little saw and worked up the branches later. I find I tend to do this when dropping several trees into the same general area, and the footing gets difficult to do the full workup on the later trees.

Gooserider

 

[altheating]

I have been using a gasser for 3 years now. I split anything that I can't pick up by the ends with one hand. I guess 6-7" diameter limb wood is great. Anything bigger gets split. It helps get it dried out better and keeps the wood from rolling against another causing bridging. You will also find that you get a much better gas jet with smaller firewood. As for the real small stuff 2.5-3" it stays in the woods.

 

[jebatty]

2-3" on the bottom end for me; get's a little difficult to cut up anything smaller than this. The small stuff on the bottom produces lots of coals quickly, which really gets the gasser going.

 

[Duetech]

I cut down to 1 1/2 or 2". Felled trees get cleaned of the limbs by starting out to the smallest I want to go and then work in towards the trunk. I eyeball/estimate where the last good cut will be for the least amount of waste and start. I don't cut any large limbs that would cause the trunk to shift or rotate until I get the small stuff out of the way and sometimes that means loaded in the trailer. Small limbs dry quickly and make great second layer "build" for starting fires. The small limbs are a lot of handling but will usually fit nicely between larger splits in the fire box as well and will burn quicker than the larger splits giving gasification sooner and for a longer period of time per load. Bigger stuff is the goal but if you have to split stuff for kindling and building fires you might have been better off grabbing some of the smaller stuff while you were there.

 

[leaddog]

One of the reasons I bought the eko 80 was the fire box would take 40in wood. I like to cut the smaller pieces long as they are light and take less cutting. I cut them 24 to 36in long and because of this I will cut down to 1in. The other option is to chip the small stuff after they have been drying all summer. Even better would be a wood chunker that would chunk up the small stuff into 4to 6in chunks. I havent come up with something to do that but I'll run into something someday. Now I use an old corn chopper to chip with.
leaddog

 

[Nofossil]

I cut the small stuff as long as it's hardwood. Smaller pieces help in starting fires, which I do almost every day.

You don't want to do a whole load of small dry wood, though.

 

[Northwoodsman]

I just went through my first year with my EKO40 system and now that it is spring I am going approx. 2 days between fires.

I have been cleaning up my woods and have discovered that the small stuff (down to about 1" or so) is great for starting fires.

I put 3-4" of the small stuff on top of the newspaper and then load up the remainder of the firebox with progressiveley larger wood, light the newspaper and let everything burn for 20-30 minutes (witht the fan on and the boiler in non-gasifyer mode). After this, I pull the gasifyer lever and I'm all set for the entire burn.

NWM