The firewood I have is 18-20" need 14-16 for new stove. Is there a ez way to cut shorter? The wood was cut for my old home which had a wood furnace and could take large pieces.
logs to long
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PipNH
New Member
DaveInPhilly
Member
Just re-cut a bunch of wood myself. Chop saw/Miter saw is your best bet. It'll be a pain to try and use a chainsaw.
There are several folks on the tube that have built racks(bucking or cutting) to shorten several pieces at once with chainsaw
+1 on the sawbuck.
Search: H-FRAME SAWBUCK
Instead of the typical "X" shaped sawbuck, I like the H-frame design for cutting the ends of many logs at a time. You can build a dedicated sawbuck, but the gentleman pictured below simply put a couple eye bolts for anchoring a ratchet strap or bungee cord on an existing log rack. I saved a couple of his pictures years ago because I liked the idea so much.
![[Hearth.com] logs to long](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/02logstrap-webp.201426/ "[Hearth.com] logs to long")
![[Hearth.com] logs to long](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/01logstrap-webp.201427/ "[Hearth.com] logs to long")
Search: H-FRAME SAWBUCK
Instead of the typical "X" shaped sawbuck, I like the H-frame design for cutting the ends of many logs at a time. You can build a dedicated sawbuck, but the gentleman pictured below simply put a couple eye bolts for anchoring a ratchet strap or bungee cord on an existing log rack. I saved a couple of his pictures years ago because I liked the idea so much.
Supersurvey
Feeling the Heat
bfitz3
Feeling the Heat
-1 on the sawbuck. Seems like too much work even before the time and expense of making the thing. Cutting a huge pile then dealing with/stacking lots of "right sized wood" and cut offs...ugh! Use a miter saw on the 5 logs for each fire and burn the "right sized" and short pieces immediately. I'd rather spend an extra minute cutting the five logs for every fire than spending hours doing the whole pile at once.
Then again, do whatever makes you happy.
Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
What blade do you use? Every one I've tried in the sawzall was very slow and laborious.
Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
I agree with the sentiment of: Just get it done in whatever way seems the least painful to you. I've done cords and cords, I prefer the 12" chop saw for straight pieces, for big and uneven chunks, I bungee them in the sawbuck and use the electric chainsaw. Not fun when I get too aggressive with the chopsaw, and so monotonous. But, better the alternative!
Here's a discussion with a good example of 1) another H-frame and 2) a simple design with a milk crate on top of a large round:
H-Frame for cutting splits to length (PICS)
H-Frame for cutting splits to length (PICS)
How about an ad on Craigslist to see if someone will trade you shorter for longer. You lose a little wood but save quite a bit of effort. I am quite often surprised at what I can accomplish though Craigslist.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I bought two BK Ashford 30's at a time when I had about 25 full cords of wood cut, split, and stacked 3" too long to fit it them. My last two seasons have been spent re-cutting most of it, and the job will be done mid-way thru this season. I think I've come up with about the best way it can be done, without specialized equipment, but it is still a frustrating process.
I have opted to shorten the sticks one cord at a time, as I move those cords from my wood lot to my house. This isn't always the most convenient, in terms of timing, but it does result in the least overall work, as I'm not moving the wood an extra time to cut and re-stack. I built a saw buck, which is a more highly-engineered version of what Tree-Pointer shows, and I fill it with about 1/3 of a face cord before before taking one big swipe with a 28" bar on an 85cc saw to take them all down from 20" to 17" in one pass. This is the easy part.
The hard and frustrating part is dealing with cords upon cords of 3" cubes of wood, the off-cuts. First, I have to sift them out of the saw chips and snow on the ground, toss 'em into my trailer, and then pick them out of the trailer and dump them into several 35 gallon drums. Then I have to haul a bucket with me every time I load the stove, to bring some of these cubes in, and stuff them into every crevice in the stove. I really hate dealing with those little cubes, but over the course of 25 cords they make up almost 4 cords of wood on their own, an there's no way I'm throwing out 4 cords of good 3-years dried oak and ash.
The process of moving wood from the stacks to the rack, and then dealing with these little cubes, roughly doubles the time it takes me to move a cord of wood from my wood lot to the house. If you don't mind time outdoors in the winter, it's not all bad, but I'm getting a little tired of the process by now.
I have opted to shorten the sticks one cord at a time, as I move those cords from my wood lot to my house. This isn't always the most convenient, in terms of timing, but it does result in the least overall work, as I'm not moving the wood an extra time to cut and re-stack. I built a saw buck, which is a more highly-engineered version of what Tree-Pointer shows, and I fill it with about 1/3 of a face cord before before taking one big swipe with a 28" bar on an 85cc saw to take them all down from 20" to 17" in one pass. This is the easy part.
The hard and frustrating part is dealing with cords upon cords of 3" cubes of wood, the off-cuts. First, I have to sift them out of the saw chips and snow on the ground, toss 'em into my trailer, and then pick them out of the trailer and dump them into several 35 gallon drums. Then I have to haul a bucket with me every time I load the stove, to bring some of these cubes in, and stuff them into every crevice in the stove. I really hate dealing with those little cubes, but over the course of 25 cords they make up almost 4 cords of wood on their own, an there's no way I'm throwing out 4 cords of good 3-years dried oak and ash.
The process of moving wood from the stacks to the rack, and then dealing with these little cubes, roughly doubles the time it takes me to move a cord of wood from my wood lot to the house. If you don't mind time outdoors in the winter, it's not all bad, but I'm getting a little tired of the process by now.
I've cut some longer wood with a chop saw . . . I cannot fathom doing a lot of wood this way . . . or with a Sawz-All or any other means other than a chainsaw.
I would either build a rigging to buck up a whole bunch at once . . . or most likely . . . being the lazy sort of person . . . I would simply cut up the wood one stick at a time.
I would either build a rigging to buck up a whole bunch at once . . . or most likely . . . being the lazy sort of person . . . I would simply cut up the wood one stick at a time.
WoodyIsGoody
Minister of Fire
Good job TreePointer! That's the best setup I've seen yet to shorten a large amount of splits. And I like all the cut-offs, they burn hot and are handy for packing the stove more solidly.
My wife calls them little "heat chunks", LOL!
I scored some free splits that were about 4" too long for my stove. I just stacked them with the rest of my wood about 4' below the top of the stack. My stacks are 6' tall. I made sure all the overhang was on one side so they stuck out about 5" past the rest of my properly sized wood. Then I just use my chainsaw with a 20" bar to cut them flush with the rest of the stack. Pretty quick and easy but you do need at least a 4:1 ratio of proper length splits/long splits for this to work.
I used my blower to clean the wood chips out of the stack after chainsawing.
More heat chunks!
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Here’s the Ashful wood-shortening apparatus rev.a undergoing initial testing. I built this when I installed my Ashfords in 2015, and built a bigger better rev.b in 2016. They only take an hour (or less) to knock together, and it allows me to cut about 1/6th of a cord from Jotul 600 down to Ashford 30 length, in a single pass of my big saw.
Note those chunks on the ground... I have a love/hate relationship, with those thousands of chunks it generates.
![[Hearth.com] logs to long](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/201/201556-4047005a18e655cd2cba25d71f4fb874.jpg?hash=-vQug4bORR "[Hearth.com] logs to long")
Note those chunks on the ground... I have a love/hate relationship, with those thousands of chunks it generates.
Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
Real nice, Ash. I think there is a powerful metaphor for life in this.
There is an enormous amount of monotonous work involved with heating with wood, particularly if someone else has cut the rounds to length.
It'd be way easier to just let free flowing natural gas, oil, or electrons warm up the joint. Just a couple of fingers to move the thermostat.
Yet, here we are.
I'm moving a bunch of shorts and uglies today, so they dry out in the sunny spots in the yard.
I guess it gives us the excuse to be outside in this glorious fall weather, and is a welcome reprieve from being inside our heads, as much paying work requires.
Ashful, I was just going to suggest what you have built. I can take a picture of mine, but picture this: Build this frame or raise yours up 14" or so. That way you can slide a box, tote, or milk crate next to it to catch the "heat chunks". Saves one more step.
Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
What a great idea. Simple and elegant.
I pick up walnuts off the lawn every fall, and hated the back breaking job. Ran across one of those "picker uppers" and don't have to bend over to snatch them up. Now it's just a few walks around the yard with a bucket.
Next step- place a conveyor to catch the chunks and feed right into the stove.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I have a rig for that, too, Ed!
![[Hearth.com] logs to long](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/201/201580-06a5a2fea76ac31c4b570ff2b4b0d1ba.jpg?hash=3iQMC9aEmu "[Hearth.com] logs to long")
Think driving range golf ball picker, and you have the idea on how they work. One in front to get right around structures and trees, one behind for the rest. Might move the trailing one to belly mower location, someday.
On the wood shortening rig, catching the offcuts in the tub would eliminate that chance of separating them from the pounds of saw chips this process generates, although I guess we could find a way to manage that, too. Do not under-estimate how much chip you’ll generate when cutting down a full cord or two at a time!
Think driving range golf ball picker, and you have the idea on how they work. One in front to get right around structures and trees, one behind for the rest. Might move the trailing one to belly mower location, someday.
On the wood shortening rig, catching the offcuts in the tub would eliminate that chance of separating them from the pounds of saw chips this process generates, although I guess we could find a way to manage that, too. Do not under-estimate how much chip you’ll generate when cutting down a full cord or two at a time!
Easy Livin’ 3000
Minister of Fire
Your nut cleaner is awesome. Love it!
I picked up a used lawn sweeper late summer with the idea that it might work when dragged behind the old Wheel Horse to clean the nuts, but it needs some work, and when the temporary flash of common sense hit me, and I figured out to use the picker upper, I put off fixing the lawn sweeper. I figure it might take me 30 minutes to fix the sweeper, and it would probably have saved me a couple of hours of manual labor, so you can see the flash of common sense was temporary. Another "next year" project.
I hear you about the sawdust. I bet you make a ton with that monster chainsaw. I think you need something akin to an old school metal milk crate that vibrates or shakes some. I've been trying to figure something like that out for years to sift the heaps of compost I make. Currently using a manual sifter that is just a wood frame with 1/4" hardware cloth stapled to one side.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
This is my favorite sentence ever posted on this forum. Period.
