What to do with all the small stuff ....

[firegal]

What do you all do with all the small stuff/bark/chips/scraps that are left over after wood is delivered? I had over 3 cords delivered this season, and I've got a big pile of the stuff sitting on what is supposed to be 'lawn' come spring.

Yes, I know, BURN IT FOR KINDLING. But how do you pile it/store it in the meantime?

firegal

 

[Molson]

I just toss it in some rubbermaid containers, cardboard boxes, or burn it in my outdoor stove.

 

[billb3]

My local forest recycles those things for free.
Shredded paper, too.

My local forest abutts my rear prop line so I don't have far to go.

 

[Hanko]

decisions decisions,

 

[kalevi]

I put the stuff into a card board box in my sun room and use it for kindling. Make sure it is dry before you put it in the box.

 

[BrotherBart]

I keep the stuff for kindling in three of these car top carriers.

 

[Jags]

I get a big piece of paper, throw a bunch on it, roll it up tight and put a twist on one end and li.......... whoops, wrong forum.

 

[RedRanger]

I built a seperate woodshed just for that crap. My attitude is if it`s burnable,may as well burn it in the stove or insert.

Also, it is something to burn in the shoulder seasons as well.

 

[BotetourtSteve]

I have created an artificial "hill" beside my woodshed along my property line privacy fence (I'm a townie, a country town but still .3 acres w/neighbors on all sides). Each spring for the past 11 yrs, I rake all of the wood chips, bark, etc onto the hill I have created. It is roughly 3' tall by 15' long. Also occasionally put grass clippings and garden waste on the hill, so have a defacto composter, albeit a very natural, low maintenance one. The new "soil" has decomposed enough to where there are now trees and shrubs growing on the hill, along with a few wild flowers. It makes for a nice little "wild" area in my otherwise manicured yard.

 

[begreen]

After splitting up a lot of wood I clean up the small stuff and put it in boxes for clean stacking. Banana boxes are my favorite. I have a section of the woodshed stacked floor to ceiling with boxes filled with kindling. We never run out.

 

[savageactor7]

I mostly burn it in the garden...a couple of boxes of kindling is all we need. Matter of fact this winter we're still on our first box.

 

[firegal]

Thanks for all the responses!

yes, I'd like to save it to burn it, as some of you do, since I did pay for it, and it was part of the 3 cords I had delivered-- and there is quite a lot of it. But it's very wet, and I think I have to figure out a way to pile it so that it dries out somehow.

Banana boxes might be a good idea since they have holes in the sides and they would allow some air to get into it to dry it. But, as I said it is VERY wet stuff right now. I'd really hate to 'recycle' it in the woods ....

When I built my house I saved EVERY SCRAP of wood because I knew I'd be getting a wood stove and I knew that KD stuff would make great kindling, so I am not short of kindling by any stretch .... but my philosophy is that if it's burnable (and OK for the wood stove), then I want to use it. I am very frugal about many things-- and wood is certainly one of them!

Anybody have any experience with drying out this small stuff? Or do you think I should just try banana boxes? I probably have maybe 7 or 8 (?) banana boxes worth of stuff out there, if I remember the size of them correctly.

firegal

 

[SPED]

I use old laundry baskets, ones too broken to be used for clothes. They let lots of air in, and don't rot. i stack them under the overhang of my shed so they can get some sun, but not a lot of rain.

 

[RedRanger]

Should have mentioned earlier that the shed I built for the scraps has a plywood floor. This allows me to go out there with a tote box and a flat shovel and a broom and scoop it into the box with out having to bend down to pick up hundreds of tiny pieces by hand.

 

[Henz]

this forum is very humerous. ITs interesting to see what kind of "Clampett" things people come up with!

 

[sixminus1]

I get a big piece of paper, throw a bunch on it, roll it up tight and put a twist on one end and li.......... whoops, wrong forum.

...just make sure you pass it

Seriously, that sounds like a great idea. Now I'm considering making "paper logs with a kick".

 

[BrotherBart]

this forum is very humerous. ITs interesting to see what kind of "Clampett" things people come up with!

Well heck. I have to heat our apartment complex somehow.

 

[DriftWood]

Well heck. I have to heat our apartment complex somehow.

WOT!! Thats great, call the Homeland Security they have a few extra trailers, you could stare a sub of those stacked trailer dwellings things. When you look out the window and see that you know you are a. a... .. rich

Small dry splinters, saw dust chips of bark go into brown paper lunch bags. I use them as fire starters when needed by stacking splits around the bag..

 

[billb3]

I never found enough heat value to bark.
Not bother carrying it in.
So little that I would peel it off if it was loose.

I used to split in the Winter because it seemed easier, the bark usually came off then.

I burned sawmill oak slabs heavy with bark for a bit and had creosote build up.
Used up the slabs and that went away.
Coincidence. Maybe.


I've used all sort of things for pieces. 5 gal paint buckets. Fruit boxes. The extra wheelbarrow that might sit in the shed unused all Winter. The cracked garbage barrel with duct tape to hold it together. Anything. Lots of cardboard boxes will last one season in the garage.

 

[ControlFreak]

I stack the small stuff in with the pile of wood. In the fall and spring, there's a lot of kindling needed because of the frequent restarts, so I mix in the little stuff so I get into the kindling at the times I'll need it. There are a lot of small, free spaces in the pile, so it doesn't eat up any extra space.

 

[jadm]

this forum is very humerous. ITs interesting to see what kind of "Clampett" things people come up with!

Well heck. I have to heat our apartment complex somehow.

Well heck. To think my husband complains about my mere stacks of firewood. Thanks for the idea of a whole new stacking obsession. :coolgrin:

 

[johnnywarm]

decisions decisions,

Hi Hanko


I need to ask you a question on your avatar. In the pic you have your wood uncovered. I live where it snows also and have just started a wood pile and was wondering if i should cover or not?


It gets good wind.

Thank you John

 

[RedRanger]

this forum is very humerous. ITs interesting to see what kind of "Clampett" things people come up with!

Well heck. I have to heat our apartment complex somehow.

I have been waiting to see if anyone was gonna ask ya? Do people actually live in those trailers? Is it just art work? Or what? I just know there has to be some kind of story behind that pic?

 

[BrotherBart]

I have been waiting to see if anyone was gonna ask ya? Do people actually live in those trailers? Is it just art work? Or what? I just know there has to be some kind of story behind that pic?

It is a set at the Openluchttheater in Amsterdam where plays are performed in the summer months. It is from the production of Ivanov.

 

[theora55]

That bark would be terrific mulch for the garden, or would compost nicely. Got a muddy area? Fill it in w/ bark.