I know this is a dumb question, but why leave wood in the round?

[laynes69]

When my wife is helping, I'll cut as much as possible and bring the trailer to the splitter. As she starts splitting, I head back into the woods and cut. When I'm back, I hook up the empty trailer and off to the woods I go. Usually we are whooped by the end of the day, but working that way it gets processed and stacked right away. Now, if it's me......I'll still cut a load or two, but it stays in round form until I get a chance to get to it. I don't pull out the splitter for a small amount. I can always split wood at the house, but I may not always be able to get into the woods.

 

[Little Digger]

Thanks everyone for giving me a greater understanding of why people leave their wood in the round or even in log form.

I just can't do it, as much as I've tried, I just can't. The dump truck loads of pine, elm, walnut, cherry, and residential ash just wouldn't let me leave them alone. The hardwood I split right away, but the pine is usually best if you wait a minimum of a few months before splitting. So I had all these 4 foot logs waiting to be bucked into 16 inch rounds, and wouldn't you know it, as soon as I started bucking them, I'd split them shortly after. Sure I buried the axe many times in the rounds and they spit like crazy, but it sure was fun. That was about 7 cord worth, and here's a picture of MY splitters! I think they were taking a break.



And after the shed was full, stuffed to the ceiling! Does that mean I'm obsessive compulsive? That chunk of ash was my splitting block.

 

[English BoB]

It takes less rounds to stack a cord than splits.

bob

 

[Steaming Pile]

My boiler was designed to burn rounds so most of my wood stays that way.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

The only reason it's still in a round is because you just couldn't get to splitting it just yet..... That's the only acceptable answer, IMO...... Rounds are meant to be split, splits are meant to burned.....

 

[OldLumberKid]

My back can only handle so much at a time so I leave it in rounds then split with an ax, which I find fun, as I get around to it.

You took a bunch of the words right out of my mouth.

I try to split them as soon as I can. The sooner they get split the sooner they dry. But if my back is hurting, I'll leave them in the round until I'm ready to split again.

 

[Mr. Jones]

I leave them in the round for all nighters. It tends to burn slower and longer, so I don't have to get up in the middle of the night and re load. No, I don't have an expensive and fancy catalytic stove. I've got an old school one that has a large firebox to accommodate rounds.

 

[Rossco]

Depends on what you cut.

Snag cut wood will benefit from CSS but it can be left in round's until it's time in the oven.

 

[mass_burner]

For me, it's a time factor. There is so much wood to cut and it's fastest to cut to length, store in a dry area and split when you have time.

That and room, I only have so much room for stacking/processing. So stacking some rounds off the ground for a few months is OK.

 

[SawDawg]

Thanks everyone for giving me a greater understanding of why people leave their wood in the round or even in log form.

I just can't do it, as much as I've tried, I just can't. The dump truck loads of pine, elm, walnut, cherry, and residential ash just wouldn't let me leave them alone. The hardwood I split right away, but the pine is usually best if you wait a minimum of a few months before splitting. So I had all these 4 foot logs waiting to be bucked into 16 inch rounds, and wouldn't you know it, as soon as I started bucking them, I'd split them shortly after. Sure I buried the axe many times in the rounds and they spit like crazy, but it sure was fun. That was about 7 cord worth, and here's a picture of MY splitters! I think they were taking a break.

View attachment 163248

And after the shed was full, stuffed to the ceiling! Does that mean I'm obsessive compulsive? That chunk of ash was my splitting block.
View attachment 163252

Looks like a lot of sweat and work went into a stash that large doing it by hand. Impressive.

Sometimes part of me is sad when I see all of my hard work go up in smoke, literally.

 

[owingsia]

I leave gum in rounds for up to a year so that I can split it more easily... it works for me. I have not intent of burning it that season I just find it easier that way. I dont leave it on the ground though, I put it on pallets.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I've left wood in the round until I can get to it. I try to stack them on something to keep them from being in direct contact with soil. For me it was just a time thing, that and rounds take up less room. Once split you gotta stack the wood (hopefully) in it's final resting place. I'm several years ahead so no rush.
People that leave it in the round then split just before they plan on burning the wood most likely just don't know any better.

Exactly. I'm harvesting some hazard trees this weekend for a friend because he needs them down NOW. I don't have room for them in split form, so they are going to get bucked and stacked as rounds for now. That's the only reason I do it.

I know some who use wood boilers basically don't care if it's dry or not, so you'll probably find those people leaving it uncut until the last minute. (I will refrain from expressing my opinion of people who burn green wood because they are lazy and don't care about what comes out of the stack.)

I've read a few university studies about the movement of moisture through wood. Basically, most of it moves along the fibers to the cut ends, while some does move across the fibers to the outer surface. The result is, leaving it in log form does almost nothing for drying. Bucking it really gets the drying process going, but then when we split it, we exponentially increase the surface area, so that's the fastest way to dry firewood.

 

[Steaming Pile]

Glad I don't live near you fellas. My woodshed would be the talk of the town. "Look at all those awful rounds." "I bet it's not even been seasoned two years"................

 

[Little Digger]

Looks like a lot of sweat and work went into a stash that large doing it by hand. Impressive.

Sometimes part of me is sad when I see all of my hard work go up in smoke, literally.

I C/S/Sed all of that while the temperatures here were in the mid to upper 80's. Definitely a lot of sweat!

Have you ever found that even a few years later you can identify which tree the actual split came from? I know I can. I guess that comes from being so intimate with the tree, studying it for how to make the felling cuts, felling it, limbing it, then bucking it into usable rounds, and splitting them. Then ultimately sacrificing them to the god of fire!

 

[maple1]

My boiler was designed to burn rounds so most of my wood stays that way.

A boiler might turn rounds into ashes, but it would get more heat out of the same amount of wood if it was split & dried. And likely make less creosote.

 

[Steaming Pile]

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Not all wood burners are the same. In my boiler rounds burn to powder and splits turn to coals and they produce way less heat. The rounds will get reasonably dry just takes longer. I don't check them with a meter because I don't really feel its necessary. As for creosote I haven't had to run a brush through my chimney since it was installed in 2008.

 

[maple1]

The facts remain that drier wood will make more heat, and wood that is split dries better.

No matter what it is burned in.

If the amount of heat that your boiler makes meets your needs when burning less than optimum m/c wood, that is fine.

 

[Steaming Pile]

The facts remain that drier wood will make more heat, and wood that is split dries better.

No matter what it is burned in.

If the amount of heat that your boiler makes meets your needs when burning less than optimum m/c wood, that is fine.

Here's a little info you might find helpful. Pulled this from Arboristsite so take it at face value.

Here is some good information published by the US Forest Products Laboratory.Regarding Seasoning of Wood.

Freshly cut wood has a very high moisture content. As much as 60% (or more) of the weight of a tree is water. At least some of this water must be removed before trying to use it as a fuel wood. See Amount of Energy in Wood, for a discussion of why that is necessary. Several bad results can occur from burning wood that is not fully dried to below 25% moisture content. (Such wood is referred to as "green" wood). As that discussion mentions, the effective available heat is MUCH less, not just because there is less wood fibers in each pound of wood put in the woodburner, but that a good percentage of that heat must be used to evaporate all that water before those wood fibers can burn. Another VERY important consequence of burning green wood is that the presence of all that moisture tends to keep "putting out" the fire, and therefore making it burn very poorly, which tends to produce a lot of creosote and pollution. Don't Do It!<br />Generally, the way this drying is accomplished is by "seasoning" it. Firewood is cut to length and then seasoned (dried) in a stack, with air being able to get to it, for at least 9 months before burning. The natural 60%-70% moisture content must be reduced to about 20% to burn well. The wood cells don't lose much moisture through the bark; the moisture is most effectively removed through the cut cells at the ends of each piece. That's why logs which have lain in the woods for years may still have a lot of moisture and may not burn well (unless cut and dried.) We have heard of people cutting up these downed trees and immediately putting them in a woodburner! And the wood burns poorly! Now you know why! OK! So, sometimes, it turns out to be NECESSARY to burn some green wood. Which species would be best under those conditions? It turns out that the desirability is NOT the same as for seasoned wood! While they are living, various species of trees have different moisture contents. If you suitably dry them all, that difference rather disappears. But, while still green, it becomes significant. It is possible to correlate both the heat-content of the wood fibers and the green moisture content to form a table of desirability for those situations when green wood must be burned.There are people who insist that wood should be dried (seasoned) for at least one or two years. Experimental evidence has established that that is nearly always unnecessary, as long as the pieces of wood are cut to length and stacked. Natural airflows through the stack, and particularly through the cut cells of the pieces of wood themselves, dries them sooner than that. Experimental evidence has established that one-foot long cut pieces generally dry to acceptable levels in just two or three months. Two-foot long cut pieces take about six or seven months for similar acceptability. Four-foot long cut pieces DO require at least a year.Associated with this, covering the woodpile with a tarp slightly improves this, but probably not enough to make the expense of a tarp worthwhile, except in a climate where rain and very high humidity is common. Similarly, split pieces of wood tend to dry slightly faster than full diameter logs, but again by minimal amounts.There appears to be no value in drying firewood more than about nine months. If wood is stacked in four-foot or longer lengths, the drying process is greatly slowed. In other words, if wood is cut to four-foot length and stacked, for nine months, and then cut to shorter burning length just before use, it will probably not burn well because it is still to wet (green).

 

[Babaganoosh]

I don't understand what you are trying to get at steaming pile. What point are you making or trying to disprove?

 

[Steaming Pile]

I'm not trying to prove anything. Just trying to provide information to help answer the questions from OP.

 

[Little Digger]

Steaming Pile: I did a quick search and found that listed on multiple forums and firewood sites. For what it's worth, here is the complete article. It allegedly came from the Forestry Service, but I haven't found it listed so far.
http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

There is a firewood ratings chart at the top of the page so you will have to scroll down for the actual in depth article

 

[Steaming Pile]

Steaming Pile: I did a quick search and found that listed on multiple forums and firewood sites. For what it's worth, here is the complete article. It allegedly came from the Forestry Service, but I haven't found it listed so far.
http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

There is a firewood ratings chart at the top of the page so you will have to scroll down for the actual in depth article

Yep looks like the same info just from a different source.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I think some of that information is outdated

 

[Little Digger]

I think some of that information is outdated

No doubt. I see it was posted on forums and firewood sites since at least 2009.

All I know for sure is my stove likes the firewood seasoned to perfection. 15% or below moisture content though it will grudgingly accept up to 17% if it's absolutely necessary. For where I live, that means keeping the wood covered year round and off the ground and don't plan on burning it for at least 3 seasons.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Yeah. I'm not sure how they can say just a few months of seasoning is fine. A few months in Washington state will yield different results than someone in Arizona.