Slicing off the bark

[MoDoug]

On some of my rounds I'll slice off the outer bark to speed up the drying time of splits, this helps to season it a little faster, and of course the slices become kindling. It is a little more effort, and is best when splitting in squares. Most of the wood I split, like white and red oak, hickory, ash and maple are pretty easy to do this, and of course the bark helps to be straight. Ash will pop off very easy, and I make sure to slice it away from me. Just wondering if anyone else bothers to do this?

The pictures are maple.

 

[Caw]

I like to split squares whenever I can. It's especially easy to do with ash and oak and they are also much easier to load than the usual wedges. I dont actively peel the bark like that but I do save it for burning down coals when it falls off. A bunch of bark will burn hot and fast and take care of coal mountain pretty quickly.

 

[Lakeside]

I am not a fan of bark, it can make a mess of your house when bringing in the firewood for one.
I target two woods Black locust and Black birch. I will sit on the Black locust rounds for a least 6 months / even a year before spitting and most of the bark is loose by then making the de-barking very easy. As for Black birch I will sit on it ( much less time ) to to help remove the bark. My last score the bark popped off very easy even though it was fresh. See link https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/scrounge-free-firewood-sweet-deal.181327/

 

[peakbagger]

On big beech I slab the wood with my splitter. It stacks a lot easier and dries quicker. I end up with two shallow slabs with lot of bark but one good thing about beech is the bark is tight.

 

[Jags]

I prefer to let the drying process shed the bark. Most (but not all) wood shrinks enough when drying that the bark will just fall off.

 

[stoveliker]

For oak I often do slice off the bark if I go for wedges, but without a bit of wood as in your pics. I have done your method with ash, but I don't use the slabs for kindling - I use it to fill holes at the top when playing tetris

 

[MoDoug]

I am not a fan of bark, it can make a mess of your house when bringing in the firewood for one.
I target two woods Black locust and Black birch. I will sit on the Black locust rounds for a least 6 months / even a year before spitting and most of the bark is loose by then making the de-barking very easy. As for Black birch I will sit on it to to help remove the bark. My last score the bark popped off very easy even though it was fresh. See link https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/scrounge-free-firewood-sweet-deal.181327/

That was a nice score, that wood looks naked without the bark like that, are you burning it yet?

 

[MoDoug]

I prefer to let the drying process shed the bark. Most (but not all) wood shrinks enough when drying that the bark will just fall off.

I'm hoping to use these slabs for next winter, so that is a big reason behind slicing the bark off. I'm going to kiln them throughout the summer, and I'm really hoping they'll be ready by winter. I think the maple will be, but I also have some white and red oak slabs that I'm hedging on. I'm splitting on the slim side and loosely stacking.

 

[MoDoug]

For oak I often do slice off the bark if I go for wedges, but without a bit of wood as in your pics. I have done your method with ash, but I don't use the slabs for kindling - I use it to fill holes at the top when playing tetris

These slices are kind of big to really be called kindling, they'll go on top of the real kindling, and as fillers.

 

[Lakeside]

are you burning it yet?

No not yet-- maybe in two years -- I still like to be 3 years ahead.

 

[Lakeside]

An old timer gave me a tip -- Peel the bark off -- much easier.

That's how this was done

 

[stoveliker]

An old timer gave me a tip -- Peel the bark off -- much easier.

That's how this was done

View attachment 274049

With what tool? It was fairly easy to get bark off of ash rounds that had been stacked for half a year. But that doesn't work for all wood...

 

[MoDoug]

An old timer gave me a tip -- Peel the bark off -- much easier.

With what tool? It was fairly easy to get bark off of ash rounds that had been stacked for half a year. But that doesn't work for all wood...

I don't think any wood I get would do that.

 

[Lakeside]

With what tool?

In this case - the black birch pooped very easy for some reason it seemed like the sweet sap was ozzing out of it , early spring these trees where dropped. The tool was my fiskar's hatchet, just sink the tip in the side and twist a little. I have also used an ice chipper for better ergonomics.

 

[stoveliker]

Hm, maybe that is a black birch thing...
Maple, red oak, cherry don't work like that for me, when they are fresh.

 

[SpaceBus]

It depends on when the tree dies. If you fell a live tree in spring the bark usually comes off easier. In summer or dead of winter and I find the bark stays on and autumn trees seem to be the middle ground.

 

[Montanalocal]

This is a thread about my bark chipping tool that I use for extra thick P. pine bark.


Ponderosa Pine bark chipping tool