Warm weather has me doing some woodpile maintenence. Seems like I have a lot of 3-4 inch wide rounds that I never split. Methinks I was just getting lazy at the end of burning season last year. Anybody else suffer from this malady?
Why didn't I split these last year?
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Nope, I spit everything that can be split right down to 2" stuff. Always have. What I get lazy about is stacking. For years I convinced myself that wood dries just as well or even better in a heap so I only stacked when it went in the shed. Now I stack twice.
I leave rounds bigger than that. For the past 3 weeks or so we've burned some bigger rounds that I stacked up 5 years ago. They are nice for holding a fire at night.
I cut all wood, or almost all, in the winter and then just make a stack and wait for Spring to start splitting. This year I have quite a good stack of rounds that I just threw in a pile by themselves. Those I'll just stack along with the splits. I try to do this every year but some years I don't seem to have enough. I have no problem with putting a 6 inch log in the stove as long as it has had time to dry.
I cut all wood, or almost all, in the winter and then just make a stack and wait for Spring to start splitting. This year I have quite a good stack of rounds that I just threw in a pile by themselves. Those I'll just stack along with the splits. I try to do this every year but some years I don't seem to have enough. I have no problem with putting a 6 inch log in the stove as long as it has had time to dry.
Ja, 5 years is about how long those bark sausages take to dry too. I have large splits that are about the size of your rounds and they didn't take no 5 years to dry.Backwoods Savage said:
Nope. They are dry before 5 years. It is just the case of that is how much wood we have on hand. Actually more now.
OK, 4 years then. I don't sit down to split either. I split all of mine standing at the horizontal splitter.
Rounds are well... round and aside from taking longer to dry, they don't stack as well and tend to roll up against the glass in the stove. I don't see any upside to leaving it round except well... laziness.
Rounds are well... round and aside from taking longer to dry, they don't stack as well and tend to roll up against the glass in the stove. I don't see any upside to leaving it round except well... laziness.
LLigetfa,
No trying to hijack the thread but can you post a photo of your woodshed? Is that it in the background of your avatar photo? I am looking to build a large woodshed that will hold at least 20 cords and I am looking for design ideas.
Thanks,
Mike
No trying to hijack the thread but can you post a photo of your woodshed? Is that it in the background of your avatar photo? I am looking to build a large woodshed that will hold at least 20 cords and I am looking for design ideas.
Thanks,
Mike
LLigetfa said:
Okay, call me lazy.
I have no problem with the rounds rolling but then I put most of the rounds on the bottom of the stove. I also have no problem with them in the stack. It is all in the technique you use while stacking. Now my wife, she is good at a lot of things but I do not want her stacking wood! I'll do the stacking, thank you.
Most rounds will dry in 2 years with no problem. Small ones we burn even after one summer if need be. As for me, I like them.
Occasionally I run across a round or split that is bigger than I am accustomed to . . . usually I am like Dennis. I keep these kept aside for the overnight burns. My more frequent problem is running across a split or round that is a bit longer than normal . . . ones that appear as though they may not easily fit into the firebox. Since I just eye-ball the wood when I'm bucking it up this happens occasionally . . . not enough for me to start using tape measures or fancy doo-dads, but usually I do have a half dozen pieces of wood tossed aside however to cut down at some point.
Last weekend , worked on some different colored birches that got cut down last Summer, Some white (they don't get very big here) some a goldish yellow and a silver one. Seriously would consider a splitter if I had a lot of this stuff. Not THAT hard but I guess I'm spoiled with all the red oak that pops right open with just a wedge and a tap from a big hammer. There was also some russian olive in there and that's not seasoning too well.
Didn't really want to cut that gold color birch tree down, but it was in the way.
I have mostly oak , cherry and pine here, so I keep the different unfamiliar stuff seperate just to see how it seasons and burns.
Didn't really want to cut that gold color birch tree down, but it was in the way.
I have mostly oak , cherry and pine here, so I keep the different unfamiliar stuff seperate just to see how it seasons and burns.
billb3 said:
Your gold-colored birch is most likely yellow birch . . . while you might not have wanted to cut it . . . you will find it burns very well and is a good hardwood for the stove. The silver-colored birch could be gray birch.
I like the rounds for overnight burns - I'll save them in round form up to 5" diameter. I burned some very dry hard maple rounds this winter and they are great for overnight. I put them in the back of the stove and they hold coals for a long time. I have some 5" bitternut hickory rounds meadow drying now - probably save those for two more years to make sure they are really dry.
I am really deciding on what to do here as well. I was left alot of red oak ends, branches on my property from a neighbor logging and skidding out via mine. Anyways, I bucked everything I could down to about 3". I have alot of 4" rounds and need to decide on what to do, leave them or split them... I guess it will be based upon wether or not I need to burn them come October of this year or not
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