What to do with small branches

[EPS]

I realize that I've started more than a few threads lately; forgive me, I am a teacher and we are on break this week, so I have been focusing on my wood pile!

This question is about what to do with those little skinny branches that I've been finding or result from cutting up the thicker parts of trees? What diameter is too small to split and stack? I never wish to waste, but also don't want to have one big stack of sticks.

Attached is a photo of my unprocessed wood, all of which I collected from the woods behind my house. I did not cut down any standing trees (that's for Springtime). By nature they are small and crummy, so no comments needed about that, but any IDing would be welcome.

 

[AmbDrvr253]

All looks like firewood, or starter wood, to me.

 

[TheBigIron]

I would personally cut those branches to size and stack them with your other wood. Those look small enough that you don't have to split, IMO. Then with the smaller stuff you could store and use as starter wood or even bonfire wood. I usually take lawn bags and fill them with small sticks for starter wood.

Dave

 

[Oldman47]

Most look like firewood but there is at least one large branch in the middle of your picture that looks pretty darned punky to me. I would return that to the woods to let it finish decaying.

 

[ElmBurner]

I always discard anything below 1". Anything below 2" is left in the woods if I am feeling lazy.

Typically I stack it into piles and let the animals use it for habitat. If it starts getting ridiculous in size, I will burn it.

 

[Riff]

Waste not want not. The vast majority of that would get cut and stacked here.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Anything over 2-3" gets cut and stacked here. Small limbs provide great heat.
I put them down onto a coal bed and then stack tightly on top of that. The air gets underneath nicely and touches everything off quickly.

Or campfire wood. Anything messy or dirty gets cut to 24" or so and stacked near the fire.

 

[Jags]

Wrist size is my cutoff size. Anything smaller than that is too labor intensive for the return, in my eyes. I guess if I was in heavy scrounge mode that could be different, but I don't have to look far or hard for the "next" tree.

 

[D8Chumley]

Waste not want not. The vast majority of that would get cut and stacked here.

Same goes here. I mix it in my stacks and it all gets burned I'd even cut that punky stuff up and put it in my shorty/uglies bins for shoulder season

 

[jatoxico]

Stacking that stuff is a PITA so I bagged it. I have another 3 barrels full too (ran outta bags).

 

[velvetfoot]

Stacking that stuff is a PITA so I bagged it. I have another 3 barrels full too (ran outta bags).

You put the little stuff in bags? Tell me more.

 

[CincyBurner]

Twigs make good grilling fuel. Sycamore, grape vine, fruitwood, and hickory have good aroma.
Dad would charge up an old burned out grill, stuffing it full of twigs & branches. With a big sycamore in our the yard, an endless supply of grill fuel.
Starts quick, coals quickly with enough direct heat for steaks and burgers. Throw in a few soaked chunks for transition to even, sustained heat.

 

[browneyesvictim]

Wood chipper! I've got way to much of it to deal with from what the winter storms bring, let alone what is left after woodcutting. I used to haul it to the burn pile, but now I just handle it once and the chips are handy.

 

[CincyBurner]

In the pic from the OP the branches looks like white pine - good for kindling.
I cut similar diameter branches from a blue spruce removal in my yard. The resin loaded spruce makes for great kindling for cold fire starts,especially during the frequent shoulder season fire-building when starting fires only in the evenings.
I stuffed branches in a quickly made V-shaped buck horse that I saw somewhere on the site, and cut in 2 batches. It really saved a lot of tedious cutting !; and stacked in a V-shaped rack (saw this on the site too), and had left-overs enough to fill 2 cardboard boxes.
* For small amounts of branches loppers work well enough.

For twigs and brush: I stack in a brush pile in a wooded part of my yard, and use chain saw to "chow-down" the pile, which really condenses its volume. Twig-size debris quickly decomposes back into soil.

 

[jatoxico]

You put the little stuff in bags? Tell me more.

Had a ton of branches on the property from all the storms we've had here. Had to do something w/ it and I was going to chip it but I knew I could make good use of it. So I cut it all up with up loppers and an electric chainsaw. Most is too small to stack. Even if you took the time it would catch leaves and wet so I bagged it.

Stuff is in the 3/4-3" range with most probably an inch, inch and a half. The bags are breathable and are stacked for drying. Should make good kindling and be useful for short hot fires during shoulder season. Starting next season I can just grab a bag and bring it in the house, no fuss no muss.

 

[velvetfoot]

May I ask where you got those bags? It's an intriguing concept to me.

My wife likes the chips for her garden paths when I chip up bark and branches. My chipper doesn't do very think branches though.

 

[jatoxico]

The bags were actually from some kiln dried wood I bought a while back. Someone said they seemed like seed bags, loosely woven, non-absorbent synthetic material.

 

[Vikestand]

I leave the tops of most trees for Mother Nature. Animals love the piles and it saves me on that work.

 

[velvetfoot]

Very nice! I've put scraps in garbage cans before and they don't dry.

 

[velvetfoot]

Very nice! I've put scraps in garbage cans before and they don't dry.

 

[heavy hammer]

Cut and stack all that is good wood. Why waste it you already have in a pile. Nice starter wood or for small fires if it was me.

 

[Jay106n]

I save them for the summer, either small campfire wood, or I toss them into the smoker for fun mystery flavors in my ribs

 

[billb3]

Some of those look like white pine.
I usually do one of two things with white pine branches.
1.) drag them into the woods and spread them out to rot and disappear
I've done that a lot in the past when I had lots of lumber cut-offs as fire starters
2.) pile them up so they dry out and 6 -12 months later come with a sledge hammer and smash them into bits against a log for kindling for fire starting. I'll fill several garbage barrels and call it quits. The garbage barrels go in the garage to stay nice and dry.


You could probably use your feet for smashing and/or break them on your knee but why get black and blue marks if you have a sledge hammer. They do snap pretty easy when they are thoroughly dry though.

 

[saskwoodburner]

I'd probably burn most of what I see there in my stove. As for what size to keep or leave, that's totally up to you. I'm a heavy scrounger (even with lots of wooded areas) and I cut down to about 2" depending. I mean I wouldn't cut 20 foot of 2 ", but when I top a tree I grab some of the small stuff. Great for those times you just need a little heat.

 

[jetsam]

I burn anything up to maybe 1/2", stack it with my woodpiles. I like having lots of little stuff next to my splits when I am fetching wood because:

1) If I get down to a low coals, I throw in a bed of sticks to jumpstart the new splits. Whoosh!

2) When loading for a long burn, there's always room for a few more sticks!

3) Once in a great while, I have to light a new fire, and they're good for that too.

I wanted the most convenient woodpile possible to ease my wife into wood burning, so I had one woodpile about 1.5 cord sized near the house this winter. It was all pine, about 50% big splits, 25% small splits, and 25% processed (stove length) branches and twigs.

I had expected that the small splits would be depleted first, then the big splits, then the little stuff... but it was little stuff, small splits, big splits. I lit maybe one new fire over those months, so it wasn't used for fire starters... It was all me jamming 1 and 2 inch stuff in the cracks for longer burns, or my wife choosing what was easiest to carry when she was reloading.