Time-saving tips for wood collection?

[ADK_XJ]

I'm figuring there's some hard earned time saving tips to efficient wood collection that you pick up simply from doing it so long...so, as a relative newbie, let's hear 'em!

I've had my father in law lending me a hand recently and that has obviously doubled my productivity but today we finally hit the point in snow depth where I couldn't get my old Jeep Cherokee and trailer past the horse pasture and into the woods. So, instead we cut, split and stacked mini stacks by the dead falls we've been cleaning up and it was amazing how fast we tore through things. It was so obvious but not having to load and haul the wood allowed us to focus on getting the most from having the saw running hot and the shoulders warmed up for the splitting maul.

Anyway, what do all you wood'geniuses do to speed up or maximize the time you have to grow your stacks for the next year?

 

[D8Chumley]

I'm far from a genius but as you have discovered, a helper is always nice. I would have to pay my son to help me haha but the family loves to be warm in the winter. I have a quad and an old Bantam military trailer that works great for in the woods around my house, and when I split I throw it right in the trailer and haul it to where I stack it. I try not to handle it any more than I already do

 

[Firefighter938]

I cut limbs and small trees into ~4ft sections. Then I stack them on too of a few bigger rounds and cut them into 3 sections.

Some guys make a log rack but I don't mind doing it this way.

 

[jeffesonm]

Skip the hard stuff. Any super knotty pieces or crotches I either leave in the woods or pile up for one day in the future I might rent a splitter.

Also I cut everything to 16", and if there's 7" left over at the end, I leave it. Some might say wasteful but I have more accessible trees than I do time to process it, and odd size pieces mess up my flow.

 

[Applesister]

☆Dont get your truck stuck in the mud.(Majorly serious waste of time)
☆Dont get your tractor stuck in the mud.
☆Avoid getting trees hung up. (Snags)
☆Avoid getting your saw stuck(pinched)
☆Have extra chains or even extra saws.
☆Keep the saws in excellent running condition.
☆Have all supplies well stocked.
☆Keep water, food, toilet paper with you.
☆Take the time to safeguard sound footing.
☆Avoid personal injury.
These things are all the obvious elements that can set you back hours or days or weeks.
Better to avoid delays than taking shortcuts.

 

[Knots]

It's useful for me to look back at how many times I moved and stacked the wood. It's easy for me to add intermediate stages of handling that start to add up.

I remember my next door neighbor holding up a split and saying "I will have picked this piece of wood at least 10 times before it makes the stove."

So, no real time-saving tips, just a thought about not making it worse...

 

[Apprentice_GM]

I too would love to hear experienced forum member's advice. I second the tip above about minimising the number of wood-handling steps.
Currently I:
1) Drop tree & de-limb, removing brush to bonfire seasoning pile.
2) Cut trunk & big branches into 2 foot rounds
3) Roll rounds to splitting area
4) Split rounds into splits and load barrow
5) Unload barrow and stack for seasoning
6) Load seasoned splits into barrow and move to porch before burning
7) Load woodstove from porch for burning
If cutting on another property I have to add a step of loading trailer with rounds after #2 or bring my splitter there and split / load trailer then carting home.
I could remove #6 but it allows a couple of weeks of wood to be under cover in case it rains and it's nice at night when it's cold to not have to walk to the woodpiles.
I have an 8 year old son who is getting good at dragging brush to bonfire, rolling rounds and operating the (hydraulic) splitter whilst I load / stack barrow. He drives my ride-on mower pretty well but that's relatively safe . . . How old before they can use a chainsaw do you think? 15? 16? It's such a dangerous tool.

 

[Knots]

How old before they can use a chainsaw do you think? 15? 16? It's such a dangerous tool.

That's a judgement thing based on the individual's ability to understand risk and follow directions. Some of the guys I grew up with never got old enough to run a saw.

My father had me running this old, massive, blue-smoke-belching Homelite around that age. I'm not sure I got enough safety instruction up front. Definitely should have been wearing chaps. Maybe you should have him attend a formal chainsaw safety course? I sometimes think I should...

Chainsaws are unforgiving.

 

[Dune]

Save lots of time; befriend an arborist.

 

[Fifelaker]

I have an OWB so my methods may differ a bit. I cut the rounds to what I can handle. Bigger stuff is shorter. I leave nothing behind, shorts and ugly's burn just as good as longer pieces (uglys better). If I take the time to cut it I use it. I split nothing under 8". I take my splitter to the woods with me so I split and load there. My sil and I cut, split and loaded just under two cords in 5 hours the other day. It was kind of nice being able to work right next to the truck.

 

[Dune]

View attachment 152939 View attachment 152940 View attachment 152939 I have an OWB so my methods may differ a bit. I cut the rounds to what I can handle. Bigger stuff is shorter. I leave nothing behind, shorts and ugly's burn just as good as longer pieces (uglys better). If I take the time to cut it I use it. I split nothing under 8". I take my splitter to the woods with me so I split and load there. My sil and I cut, split and loaded just under two cords in 5 hours the other day. It was kind of nice being able to work right next to the truck.

I think you have it down.
2.5 hours per cord and you also eliminate a lot of handling? Yeah, that is the way.

 

[Fifelaker]

I think you have it down.
2.5 hours per cord and you also eliminate a lot of handling? Yeah, that is the way.

I wish it was that easy all of the time.

 

[JustWood]

I think you have it down.
2.5 hours per cord and you also eliminate a lot of handling? Yeah, that is the way.

I agree. I see too many people handle it multiple times.
2 things I see a lot of that could save time.
Split and then stack right off the scrounge vehicle. Too many people unload then come back another day to split into a heap then reload and carry across property to stack.
Another is a small shed. Wood in ,, in the fall and right back out that winter.
Build a shed big enough to hold 3 years worth. Split and stack right out of scrounge vehicle.

 

[byQ]

1) Use gravity to your advantage. Like if you are parked on a road and can cut rounds at 1) a distance of 30 feet on an uphill, or 2) at a distance of 5 feet downhill. Which is easier? The uphill is easier even though it is farther away.

2) Always take into account whether the wood is semi-dry or green (wet). You may have to work twice as hard to transport wet wood compared to drier wood to get the same BTUs home (water is heavy).

3) Usually it is easier to process trees/rounds that aren't too big or too small - that is you can move them.

4) Take into consideration the numbers of limbs a tree has and how leafy/full they are. If the tree has many limbs it will take time to de-limb it. Conversely, a fallen tree with few limbs means you can start cutting rounds right away.

5) Have wedges and/or a backup chainsaw to unstick pinched chains (it's going to happen). Try to use the wedges before the chains gets pinched.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

We all do things a little different, but here are my biggest time savers:

* Cut only standing dead, beetle kill, lodgepole pine trees that are <20 % moisture content.
* Split and stack the wood directly from the truck to my woodshed that is literally only about 10 steps away from our wood stove.
* (It's a family ritual) I have two teenage sons and a wife that help with firewood collection.

Gathering enough firewood for a year can be a daunting, time consuming task, but by implementing the tips listed above we spend on average only about 4 days in the fall every year on the task of securing enough wood to heat the house for the season.

 

[Dune]

We all do things a little different, but here are my biggest time savers:

* Cut only standing dead, beetle kill, lodgepole pine trees that are <20 % moisture content.
* Split and stack the wood directly from the truck to my woodshed that is literally only about 10 steps away from our wood stove.
* (It's a family ritual) I have two teenage sons and a wife that help with firewood collection.

Gathering enough firewood for a year can be a daunting, time consuming task, but by implementing the tips listed above we spend on average only about 4 days in the fall every year on the task of securing enough wood to heat the house for the season.

I remember having sons that would help. Never asked the woman to help, was grateful if she bothered to throw a log in the stove now and then.
I highly suggest you waste some time stocking up an extra year or two worth of firewood in case of some kind of emergency.

 

[Fred Wright]

Agreed. The fewer times you handle or move things, the better. One thing I've learned to speed up wood processing ~ the closer to the others every step is, the less time I'll spend working it.

Also agreed with the tractor getting stuck. Done that a few times, it ain't a pretty picture. If the woods is pigged up, don't even bother taking the tractor in there. It can wait 'til the ground dries.

When I was working the woodlot I'd try to drop trees where I could get to them easily with the little tractor and cart. Limb first, move brush then buck. Load rounds in cart, tow to the yard.

Rounds are stacked beside the splitter. That's adding a handling step (out of dump cart to stack then off stack to splitter) but it's much faster than splitting rounds out of the cart piecemeal. Splitter is parked next to the woodpile. Split and toss to the pile. Arrange neatly and split some more.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I remember having sons that would help. Never asked the woman to help, was grateful if she bothered to throw a log in the stove now and then.
I highly suggest you waste some time stocking up an extra year or two worth of firewood in case of some kind of emergency.

I've never asked my wife to help, like me, she really enjoys our wood gathering outings, although she rarely helps with the stacking and splitting when we get home. Likewise she rarely brings the wood in the house, but she does maintain the fire. She was raised in a tropical country and likes it warm in the house.
As for preparing for some kind of an emergency, I don't have much extra room on my city sized lot to hoard much extra wood, however I always have a couple extra cords on hand that get carried through to the next year, and failing that I have a last resort emergency plan,,,,, turn up the temp on the heat pump controller.

Actually I consider the whole wood heating thing more of a hobby than a necessity, when I do the math and take into consideration the money we could make as a family if we were to all work at our day jobs for those 4 days a year instead of getting wood, I'm pretty sure if we were to just take that income and apply it to our electric heating (heat pump) bill, we would actually come out further ahead (money left over), but of course that wouldn't be nearly as fun, nor would it likely be as warm in the house as my wife likes it.

 

[ADK_XJ]

We all do things a little different, but here are my biggest time savers:

* Cut only standing dead, beetle kill, lodgepole pine trees that are <20 % moisture content.
* Split and stack the wood directly from the truck to my woodshed that is literally only about 10 steps away from our wood stove.
* (It's a family ritual) I have two teenage sons and a wife that help with firewood collection.

Gathering enough firewood for a year can be a daunting, time consuming task, but by implementing the tips listed above we spend on average only about 4 days in the fall every year on the task of securing enough wood to heat the house for the season.

You haul your whole load for the year in 4 days? That's pretty impressive. I have to work on Saturdays mostly and its limited light but my wife, FIL and I can usually pull in about a cord from WAY back in our woods in a 4 hour session.

Anyway, good points! A wood shed is high on my Spring build list.

 

[ADK_XJ]

I remember having sons that would help. Never asked the woman to help, was grateful if she bothered to throw a log in the stove now and then.
I highly suggest you waste some time stocking up an extra year or two worth of firewood in case of some kind of emergency.

That's my big focus right now - I'm probably just about good for next years actual burn supply but I have a rough idea to build a 12' wide lean-to the whole length of our pole barn and fill it to the gills by summer. I calculate about 18 cord if we pull that off.

 

[ADK_XJ]

I'm pretty sure if we were to just take that income and apply it to our electric heating (heat pump) bill, we would actually come out further ahead (money left over), but of course that wouldn't be nearly as fun, nor would it likely be as warm in the house as my wife likes it.

Well said, I agree. My wife is starting to understand this is somewhere between saving money and a very wholesome hobby.

 

[ADK_XJ]

1) Use gravity to your advantage. Like if you are parked on a road and can cut rounds at 1) a distance of 30 feet on an uphill, or 2) at a distance of 5 feet downhill. Which is easier? The uphill is easier even though it is farther away.

2) Always take into account whether the wood is semi-dry or green (wet). You may have to work twice as hard to transport wet wood compared to drier wood to get the same BTUs home (water is heavy).

3) Usually it is easier to process trees/rounds that aren't too big or too small - that is you can move them.

4) Take into consideration the numbers of limbs a tree has and how leafy/full they are. If the tree has many limbs it will take time to de-limb it. Conversely, a fallen tree with few limbs means you can start cutting rounds right away.

5) Have wedges and/or a backup chainsaw to unstick pinched chains (it's going to happen). Try to use the wedges before the chains gets pinched.

Interesting, so you feel it's easier to transport wood (rounds or split?) from 30 feet up a hill than 5 feet down a bank? Is this assuming your just huckin' those chunks down the hill to your vehicle?

The green vs dry weight ratio is a great point. It's very noticeable hoe much more energy goes into breaking down even a fresh fallen pine vs some of the 3-4 years deadfall maples around here that we have.

 

[ADK_XJ]

build a shed big enough to hold 3 years worth. Split and stack right out of scrounge vehicle.

Yes, this. I'm really hoping to be in a position to do that soon. This is our first 6 months in the "new" place.

 

[ADK_XJ]

Save lots of time; befriend an arborist.

Now, there's a seriously good suggestion. I have a friend who's on a logging crew but I think they're typically clearing old white pines that drop on people's houses. I'll have to put a bug in his ear about good wood.

 

[Valhalla]

Safety first on the use and operation of all tools for felling, including saws, splitters, axes, transport, etc.
Eye and hearing protection should not be overlooked and ever taken for granted.