More wood in a pickup bed, split or unsplit?

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OMFG...great job Curlcherry!

I think that post somehow needs to be made a sticky to become the definitive "split or unsplit?" answer.

I was worried that because I used dowels that I had actually made myself that they would be too straight grained and the wood would not be "natural' enough. But the black cherry was perfect, knotty, twisted, just like real wood. The pine 1/2" dowels were straight as an arrow but even those split off kilter just like real 4" wood splits.

Edit to add: I wonder how many nights I am going to be able to heat my house with that face cord of wood?
 
I was worried that because I used dowels that I had actually made myself that they would be too straight grained and the wood would not be "natural' enough. But the black cherry was perfect, knotty, twisted, just like real wood. The pine 1/2" dowels were straight as an arrow but even those split off kilter just like real 4" wood splits.

Edit to add: I wonder how many nights I am going to be able to heat my house with that face cord of wood?

enough to light a good box of cigars, nice job by the way!
 
Ok, I tried to answer this question once and for all yesterday and just when I hit submit I opened up a worm hole and AS went into it and died. Sorry, I guess I messed with the Zen and so the universe could not take it. Anyway, here it goes again.

I made up a face cord rack scale model and I cut up some 1/2" and 1" dowels to simulate average firewood blocks and I filled the rack.

PA050022.jpg


Then I got out the Barbie woodsplitter that she got in the divorse settlement from Ken and I split the wood up. The pieces came out looking just like real firewood complete with knots, and twisted and weird shaped pieces. The photo shows the pieces to look like real firewood.

PA050025.jpg


Then I repiled the wood into the rack being careful to get it as reasonably tight as I could and I even shook the rack to vibrate the pieces together. I did the same with the round pieces also.

So there you have it, question solved once and for all - split wood takes up more volume. What do I win for solving this conundrum?

PA050026.jpg


You should have waited for AS to go down before:cheers: you started your project...Can't rep you...YET...
 
Up here we buy maple or birch in logger's cords (96 inch lengths stacked 4 feet high and 4 feet wide, for a standard cord dimension). The wood suppliers say you lose 20 percent off logger's cords after cutting and splitting. I'd say that's about right. We get 8-10 logger's cords a year for our home heating and split and stacked it tends to run 20 percent less by volume. Not quite the same as rounds (what I grew up calling block), because 8-footers stacked next to each other contain a LOT more air because they are not particularly straight.

Great site, by the way!
 
Up here we buy maple or birch in logger's cords (96 inch lengths stacked 4 feet high and 4 feet wide, for a standard cord dimension). The wood suppliers say you lose 20 percent off logger's cords after cutting and splitting. I'd say that's about right. We get 8-10 logger's cords a year for our home heating and split and stacked it tends to run 20 percent less by volume. Not quite the same as rounds (what I grew up calling block), because 8-footers stacked next to each other contain a LOT more air because they are not particularly straight.
Great site, by the way!

That is the reason why pulp mills buy their logs by weight, not volume. Long crooked logs will have gobs and gobs of air around them, where as short straight logs will pack much tighter.
 
This thread is a riot!

Curly's scale mockup makes me think of the professor in Back to the future: "forgive the crudity of this model, I didn't have time to build it to scale or to paint it"


Oh I am sure a doubting Thomas will be along soon enough...

Curly if you still have the setup can you please try it again only with two 4" diameter dowels? I have a hunch the results will change with the larger rounds.

pi*2"*2" x qty 2 rounds = 25 sq.in. face area
8*4" = 32" available area in the rack

Line #1 will always be smaller than line #2, but that difference is a lot bigger if you start with bigger rounds.
 
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Great. Mathematics. The usual way to ruin a perfectly good practical thread is with formulas. When did a mathematician ever enter the real world, anyway? :buttkick:
 
This thread is a riot!

Curly's scale mockup makes me think of the professor in Back to the future: "forgive the crudity of this model, I didn't have time to build it to scale or to paint it"

Curly if you still have the setup can you please try it again only with two 4" diameter dowels? I have a hunch the results will change with the larger rounds.

pi*2"*2" x qty 2 rounds = 25 sq.in. face area
8*4" = 32" available area in the rack

Line #1 will always be smaller than line #2, but that difference is a lot bigger if you start with bigger rounds.

Do I have the setup? Pechaw! Of course I have the setup! I can probably do it this weekend. Stay tuned.
 
Curly if you still have the setup can you please try it again only with two 4" diameter dowels? I have a hunch the results will change with the larger rounds.

pi*2"*2" x qty 2 rounds = 25 sq.in. face area
8*4" = 32" available area in the rack

Line #1 will always be smaller than line #2, but that difference is a lot bigger if you start with bigger rounds.


Do I have the setup? Pechaw! Of course I have the setup! I can probably do it this weekend. Stay tuned.

The results will be the same in that the splits will not fit in, the difference might be less but I doubt even that. I just layed a 6 1/4" coffee can lid on a white sheet of paper folded to a tight square fit. Not much space in the corners. Too late tonight to shoot a pic, upload, etc on dial-up.

Harry K
 
In Medieval days the Vatican held High Convocations of the learned Cardinals to determine scientifically (sic) how many angels would fit on the head of a pin.:bowdown::bowdown:
 
That is the reason why pulp mills buy their logs by weight, not volume. Long crooked logs will have gobs and gobs of air around them, where as short straight logs will pack much tighter.

An old trick amongst scrap metal folks is to hit the scrap yard after a rain - especially if you're dealing in extruded aluminium with all those furrows where water's surface tension will help it collect.

Some of the old timers I've srapped with estimate they get anywhere between 1-3 'bonus' lbs per hundredweight if they make a drop after a rainstorm.

Wonder if this is the case with pulpwood? :)
 
Wonder if this is the case with pulpwood? :)

No WB. The mills know all the tricks and compensate for it. Carriers will try to fool the inspector by putting the red rot logs inside the load....doesn't work. The high end paper makers don't want diseased softwood.
 

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