The brush pile

[wg_bent]

This summer I decided to get rid of the substantial brush pile I had in the yard and built a makeshift brick oven to burn it all. I'm down to the last roughly 1/2 a cord of brush, and decided that it's all still wood, and began tossing punky, and old crappy but dry sticks in the wood stove last night... well folks, I wouldn't want to do this in January, but for this time of year... that crappy stuff still produces a nice amount of heat, and the stove burns it cleaner than the oven. So don't waste the brush folks... let it sit a few years, then burn it. I think I can heat the house through October with my brush pile alone.

 

[jqgs214]

I use all mine too, well at least anything bigger than aobut 3/8" in diameter.

 

[cbrodsky]

I've been way too lazy about this - lots of little piles all over the places and with 19 acres of woods, it's just too easy to go to the next tree. Figured the tops would breakdown and be good for the soil eventually... supposedly good places for rabbits to live.

Anyone ever try chipping them after they've dried out and then burning the chips mixed in with cordwood? If I could find a way to make it a little easier to use them, I'd be more inclined to do so.

-Colin

 

[kevinlp]

Warren,
All I have been burning the past two weeks are the scraps. I had lots of splits I had cut to 17+ inches. After realizing my stove is best with 15 at most, I had to cut these bits off. I put them all on a pallet and using the my big kindling box to get things started.

I also need to get that scrap pallet cleared so I have more room to stack. Existing pallets are full and I have 2-3 cords in rounds waiting to be split.

 

[wahoowad]

I have a modest brush pile that has seasoned into great kindling. Converting it to kindling tends to be a PITA. I wish I had a magical chipper device that I could shove the 1 and 2 inch limbs into and instead of chipping it cuts them off at 8 inch lengths. I've gone at it with a chainsaw, chainsaw+chainsaw_buddy, pruning shears and bow saw but everything ends up being cumbersome given the nature of the jumbled pile. The fastest has been to pull out long limbs and whack them against a stout tree trunk or break them over my knee. This usually breaks off nice chunks the quickest but is still not the optimal method. I want to build a device to whack them up easier.

 

[cbrodsky]

I have a modest brush pile that has seasoned into great kindling. Converting it to kindling tends to be a PITA. I wish I had a magical chipper device that I could shove the 1 and 2 inch limbs into and instead of chipping it cuts them off at 8 inch lengths.

Why so long? I can't say I've ever tried it, but any reason you couldn't throw a bunch of finer-chipped/crumbled dry stuff in with your cordwood? Main concern I could see would be the fire running away - but as something to toss a couple cupfulls on the coals with fresh wood during reloads. On a cat stove I could see using it as a supplement when you've got a slow controlled fire as the burn rate is very tightly regulated. Maybe a coarse chipper would work and you could just have a pail near your stove to work your way through it over the winter.

I'm sure someone's tried it but if I don't get a good answer I know what I'm doing when I get home tonight ha ha...

-Colin