sticks in the wood pile

[newatthis]

I bet this is a dumb question, but I am going to ask anyway. I see these beautiful wood stacks on this forum, but what I don't see is small sticks in the stack pictures. I have been cleaning up sticks from my yard and inserting this yard debris into the pile. It's a habit from years of keeping the yard clean and using the sticks for the fireplace. I still like to use them to start the wood stoves. Any down side stashing the sticks right in the pile?

 

[Firefighter938]

Only problem I could think of is of you pack it very tight you would decrease some air movement maybe.

I say burn it.

 

[tomc585]

Mine are hidden within the pile when I stack. Comes in handy when I need to start a new fire.

 

[legrandice]

One of my relatives in town cuts any branch that he can into sections for me to burn. Every year I head over and take it all home and add to the stacks. I am currently burning wood he cut after Sandy. It's a mix of wood starting at 1" and going up to about 5" in diameter as anything larger I split. It's kind of a pain to fill the stove with and produces more ash with all the bark, but it's free wood and puts out good heat! I kind of like it for filling in around the larger splits for super full load on cold nights.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I tend to keep my smaller stuff (2-3" in dia) in separate stacks. I don't like to put small ones mid stack as, in my experience, they tend to make the stack a bit unstable after awhile. I have used them as "filler" on top of stacks to smooth out the top of stacks though before I top cover.

 

[Woody Stover]

I just grab a small, dead Tulip Poplar, split it down small and stack it separate. I've also got a dead Red Pine in the yard that will end up as kindling and outdoor firewood....

 

[Fred Wright]

Last year I made a separate stack just for little stuff. Took a nice bushy pin oak down and couldn't bear to leave all that heat behind so I cut it up and stacked it.

We keep a pile of brush at the edge of the woods just for kindling use. In fall I'll drag a few branches up to the stacks and break it up as needed. I don't put it in the wood piles, makes stacking too iffy.

 

[Jon_E]

Free wood is free wood. I cut and burn it all the way down to about 2" diameter.