Sticks in shoulder season

[tigger]

I get a fair amount of my wood from my local golf course. The greens keeper sets aside wood when they take down a tree. He bucks it all up. He even stacks all of the sticks, cut to 16 inches. There is probably almost 2 full cords of sticks(1-2 inch diameter) does anyone burn these for shoulder season?

 

[BigCountryNY]

You can certainly use them, but they need time to season just like regular splits. I have two pallets of smaller branches/sticks that I'll use for the shoulder season and fire pit. If they were from a standing dead tree, they could even be dry enough to burn. Best to split them with a hatchet and check them for moisture content.

 

[CountryBoy19]

heck yeah I'd use them. I'm sure season time on small sticks is drastically reduced because of the surface:volume ratio. Free BTUs, already cut to size and neatly stacked for your taking? You'd be crazy not to take them and burn them...

Edit: small story: In July 2010 my neighbor had several trees cut down, I decided to cut some of the wood for camping. I got addicted to cutting wood and ordered my stove in August 2010. While some of the wood was Ash, poplar, and silver maple, quite a bit was oak. I was really pushing the limits on burning properly seasoned wood. But red oak loses bark like crazy if it's dried a bit before splitting. Seeing as how my wood wasn't really seasoned by October/November and I didn't have much "good wood", I didn't want to burn my good wood for shoulder season. I burned nothing but red oak bark the entire month of October and most of November because that was my only realistic option. I made it through that first winter just fine and here I am several years later still burning and I have a 7 year wood stash out back (no need to worry about seasoned wood again, my only concern is wood that rots before I can get it burned).

 

[jatoxico]

I've heated with stuff like that, that I collected from yard fall for a weekend at a time. If I'm home and there to feed the stove it's kind of fun and feels extra free somehow.

 

[Poindexter]

Oh yeah I would burn those. I would be hooking the greenskeeper up with a case of beverages every couple months too.

Season first yes. At the end of summer I would split 5 or 6 of the little ones and ass\u\me the rest were about as dry.

At my house I expect the one inchers to be dry in one summer

 

[DoubleB]

And of course those little guys fill in the gaps between the big guys to help pack the firebox full of Btus during the cold parts of winter, too.

 

[Fred Wright]

Yes, absolutely. We use 'em to start (and resurrect) fires. Small stuff burns quite well. Hotter than splits from the main stem, according to some accounts. Guess branches are more dense?

Got a face cord of 1" to 2" from a pin oak a couple years back. Playing pick up sticks in the woods isn't my choice for amusement but I just couldn't leave that oak to rot. It'll be used this winter coming.

 

[AmbDrvr253]

I burn anything made from wood......