Splitter scraps for kindling...

[Fred Wright]

Folks,

The SheWolf gets credit for this one. She was out in the yard awhile back and said something about the mess where I'd been splitting wood. You know, the little bits and chips, the splinters and bark fragments that accumulate around a wood splitter.

She suggested that it would make for good kindling. I figured the stuff wouldn't burn. It had been rained on and was OK where it was. But you don't just tell the missus no. Ya gotta prove her right... or wrong.

Last weekend I took a leaf rake and gathered a tote load of it. Put it next to the wood totes for the stove. Let it dry for a few days. Started a fire this evening, laid a handful of the stuff on some crumpled newspaper and lit.

Man, it got to burning quick. I laid some starter wood in and had a nice fire in a few minutes.

Thoughts?

 

[TreePointer]

I get more splitter droppings than I can use for kindling, so I can be selective. Usually, the kindling I keep is made during the summer. During really hot weather, I'll spread the droppings on the hot blacktop driveway for at least an entire day for rapid seasoning and taking care of the few bugs that may be hiding in the wood. Works great.

 

[Tim in NY]

I don't bother picking up the mess from the splitting - just haul it to the brush pile up back. I do cut several rounds of either ash or poplar short - like 12", and then split it fine and store it in potato crates in the shed. Ash doesn't work too great; I'll try the poplar this spring when it dries. Had some scotch pine blocks last spring and did the same with those - worked great.

Tim

 

[poloman]

I use the splitting splinters to start fires all the time. I also use the weeds that have dried during winter instead of paper. Burns fast and hot.

 

[Fuzly]

I hate to waste, but worried about moisture as well. Happy to hear it worked for you. I'll have to try some.

Still like conifers for kindling. My uncle found a big hemlock down across his road (would not drop a live one because they are pretty rare in our area). He blocked that up and put it in his garage, then split it up small and gave us some. Probably the best kindling I've used. A little newspaper will fire it right up.

 

[howard270]

I started using the splitter scraps for kindling this year as well. The first few times I did just as you did by raking it up a few days or weeks after I was done. Was concerned about moisture so now I just take a bucket or tub out there with me and throw the scraps straight into the tub as they are made and carry it inside when done.

Also, I only split seasoned rounds here at the house so I can use the kindling immediately. Split a trailer load of hedge today that I cut last year and the wettest one was 20% M.C. per my
moisture meter in the middle of a fresh split, mostly around 17%.

 

[jasult]

The big splits go in here

The scraps are burnt in this relic in my work trailer

 

[Whitespider]

I stopped rubbing two sticks together in the mid twentieth century… like, around 1970 or so.
I now live in the twenty-first century… I use flammable liquid accelerant and a Bic lighter to start fires.
Besides, we don’t get a newspaper.
Splitter trash gets left in the woodlot for Cub Scouts to use as kindling… after all, they like rubbing sticks together.
I find that a tuft of clothes dryer lint and a tablespoon or two of accelerant will get a full firebox roaring in less than five minutes.

What? No dryer lint? No problem. Anything that will absorb the accelerant works as well, like a wick… used cotton balls, a chunk of shop rag, piece of that old sock, your worn-out glove, tear up those stained and holey undershorts your wife wishes you’d quit wearing…

Used motor oil thinned with just enough diesel to make it free-flow through a squirt bottle makes a fine, easy to light, hot burning liquid accelerant that soaks into cloth (and lint) readily.

 

[Bushmans]

I will pick up my splitter scraps occasionally. Mostly when I'm hand splitting in the garage. Sometimes I don't feel like pulling the splitter out so I back up to the garage and get my "stump block" and maul out. Whatever falls off of those I will keep for kindling. I sweep it up and pick it up with a pitchfork. If it falls through the tines I don't want it. Put it in a plastic tote and haul it into the den. More often than not I pile a couple logs in the fireplace and whip out the propane torch. I have just about finished one 1lb bottle of propane so far this year and in case I need to do any plumbing I always know where the torch is.:angry2:

 

[StinkyBunny]

I use most of my scraps in the smoker. The stuff I don't gets soaked in my biodiesel/diesel blend to start fires.

 

[ponyexpress976]

As stated before, I have more splitter turds that I could ever use. I do gather them. I've found copy paper boxes to be perfect. Fill a box, put it in the top of the shed and it's ready to go come fall. I've also been giving a box to people when they buy a cord of seasoned wood. Several people have called back and bought more specifically because of the "gift".

 

[BSD]

we put a milk crate or 5 gal bucket under the table on the splitter and sweep them in every few passes. cheap and less waste.

 

[Preston]

I stopped rubbing two sticks together in the mid twentieth century… like, around 1970 or so.
I now live in the twenty-first century… I use flammable liquid accelerant and a Bic lighter to start fires.
Besides, we don’t get a newspaper.
Splitter trash gets left in the woodlot for Cub Scouts to use as kindling… after all, they like rubbing sticks together.
I find that a tuft of clothes dryer lint and a tablespoon or two of accelerant will get a full firebox roaring in less than five minutes.

What? No dryer lint? No problem. Anything that will absorb the accelerant works as well, like a wick… used cotton balls, a chunk of shop rag, piece of that old sock, your worn-out glove, tear up those stained and holey undershorts your wife wishes you’d quit wearing…

Used motor oil thinned with just enough diesel to make it free-flow through a squirt bottle makes a fine, easy to light, hot burning liquid accelerant that soaks into cloth (and lint) readily.

I'm just the opposite. I live in the 21st centry but I'm not part of it. Now I don't rub two sticks together, although I know how, but as close as I come is to modern I suppose is a match. I like the kindling and fat lighter. I only use the strike anywhere matches either. I've bought a bunch of those before the government takes those off the market. Anyway, the fat lighter, kindling, and wood is free, the other thing cost. I'm cheap. :msp_smile:

 

[alleyyooper]

As a kid in the 1950's I was taught waste not want not. When you cook on a wood stove and it is summer time you soon learn that the spliting scraps and bits of bark in the wood shed will get moms stove hot in a hurry and with just enough wood to cook the meal it soon cools off again.
In the latter stages of spring and the early part of fall when the temps are high during the day and you don't want a fire but cool at night those splitter scraps fill the bill getting a fire set up to heat the house during the night.

Part of the problem with children of the 21 century is they tend to be wastefull and only seem to build crap that can't be repaired.

Al

 

[Dalmatian90]

I switched this year from splitting in the woods to hauling the rounds down first and split later.

I like the work flow MUCH better, and a side benefit I get lots of debris for kindling use.

To Alleyyooper's comment...my 2nd Dutch Oven loaf of bread is baking on top of the woodstove right now

One thing I plan to do next year is make sure I make a supply of extra small splits to use specifically for "cookwood" so I can get a quick, hot fire going anytime.

 

[ken45]

During really hot weather, I'll spread the droppings on the hot blacktop driveway for at least an entire day for rapid seasoning and taking care of the few bugs that may be hiding in the wood. Works great.

Putting them on the blacktop on a hot summer day is a great idea!

 

[alleyyooper]

Putting them on the blacktop on a hot summer day is a great idea.

Here in Michigan that would get you a ticklet, Its not legal to place objects in the road way, that includes the snow some people like to push across the road.

Al

 

[ray benson]

We have been using splitter scraps for kindling. Put them in paper grocery bags and stack in shed. A little motor oil on the kindling gets the fire cranked up quicker.

 

[mikereynolds]

Kindling? NAH I heat my home with that stuff!

I'm too cheep to burn the good stuff at my house That's the "money wood" I don't burn money either. I heat my home with the scraps and chunks I con't sell. I keep the chumks in a half dozen 50 gal trash cans with lids to keep them dry. One can lives by the stove at all times.

 

[stihly dan]

I rake all my scraps and put them in a couple 55 gal black plastic drums, cuy sum wedges out of the top ring then cover. A few weeks in the sun there ready to go. great for the chiminea, start bonfires, and plenty left for the stove. no bugs survive that dry heat either.