Am I the only one that uses the real small wood?

[Marc]

I noticed so many people I talk to about burning wood for heat and a lot of the people I see post on online forums will only make use of wood 4-6" in diameter or larger.

So here's a question and maybe conversation starter to throw out there: am I the only one that will use all of a tree down to about an 1" in diameter? The brush I discard or leave where felled, but I find burning in wood stove that is not kept stoked 24 hours a day and therefore, must be started at least four or five times a week, I can make use of everything from 40" rounds to 1" sapwood throughout the course of a burn. It also saves me from having to scrounge for kindling, I always have all I need.

Am I crazy or does anyone else do the same thing?

 

[bullseye13]

im right there with you, i prob go down to 1 1/2 inch stuff, works great for us.

 

[chainsaw kid]

I try to use every little last piece I can. It gets real tedious but I can't stand waisting anything plus it burns quick and hot.

 

[Locoweed]

Unless it is pretty darn cold out, I build a fire in the stove in the morning and that's it for the day. Therefore I start a new fire most every day. That requires more small stuff.

After heating exclusively with the wood stove for 10 years now I have a pretty good idea of how much wood to load in the stove to get to my desired temperature of 75°. Having a mix of sizes helps.

Even when it is real cold out (teens for me) I maintain the temp by regulating the amount of wood I feed the stove. I almost never reduce the airflow to the stove. Keeps the stove and the chimney clean and worry free.

 

[reachtreeservi]

I keep everything 3" and above and chip all the smaller stuff. I don't burn wood, I stack and season it and sell or give it away.

 

[ray benson]

im right there with you, i prob go down to 1 1/2 inch stuff, works great for us.

Same here - use everything down to an inch except some of the crotches.

 

[Wood Scrounge]

I use everything, I cut up the twigs and fill a drum in the garage for starters. I once bought a cord of wood from the Amish where nothing was over 3" it burnt fast and hot, was only $85 a cord.

 

[Marc]

Well, good to know I'm not totally crazy... or maybe I'm just not alone in being crazy.

 

[Lurch2]

I've got 20 acres of ice storm damage to clean up. Everything is 4" and under. I start tossing on the brush pile at about 1". Get tired of messing with all that small wood but can't just waste it.

 

[PB]

I started using 1" round poles this year to lay down to keep the stacked wood off the ground. I used to use old fence posts but they are coming harder to find. What i don't use to stack on gets burned for sure. Hate waste.

 

[avalancher]

Depends on the wood, but when it comes to hickory and the oaks, I take everything down to an inch or so. I have a little echo with a 16 inch bar, and that is my daughters job, cutting up all the small stuff and stacking it in the front of the trailer neatly in piles. I tie them up at home into bundles and use them for the morning burn. They catch fast, burn hot, and heat the living room and kitchen quick while we drink our coffee, read the news, and get ready for work. By the time they burn out the house is warm and we get dressed and leave for the day.
I have been considering chipping the hickory to use in barbecues but havent come up with an econmical way of chipping without buying a $1500 chipper.
Have a few BS engines sitting around, anyone build their own chipper before?

 

[iCreek]

Me too....

am I the only one that will use all of a tree down to about an 1" in diameter? Am I crazy or does anyone else do the same thing?

Nope, I thought that same thing. Most wood piles I saw pictures of are 6" to higher in diameter. I almost hated to take a picture of my piles, we keep up to about 1 1/2", works good on weekends when I can check the stove more often, we hate to leave anything but the small branches in the brush piles. I usually have 3 to 4 piles of the smaller stuff handy, also use it for filler when I cram the stove full for a cold night.

 

[HUSKYMAN]

I use everything from 12" logs down to about 2". I mix a few of the little ones in for getting the fire going and to give something for my three year old to carry.

 

[czar800]

I saw down to about 1 1/2 - 2" I really don't go smaller.

 

[ropensaddle]

I want a whole tree burning stove just drop it in and burn the
whole tree! Brush rakings stumps logs and all lol

 

[cmetalbend]

I determine the size by "if my fourwheeler will push it (the brush) into a pile to burn. generally this is 2'' and smaller. I'm sure there is an efficiency point where it takes more time,effort and fuel(EXPENSIVE) to process then the net result. I hate making a load of pole wood. I hunt only the trophy trees, but I clean them up when done too. You say tomato I say tomato. opcorn:

 

[avalancher]

I want a whole tree burning stove just drop it in and burn the
whole tree! Brush rakings stumps logs and all lol

Man, when you get that built, let me know. I will be over in a flash to take some pics.......
what an idea, a whole tree burning stove.........
Why didnt I think of that?
No more cutting, splitting, stacking, carrying wood in the house
Now you have got me thinking.........
Maybe just half a tree at a time, only one cut to make, and it wouldnt take up the whole backyard that way, only half of it......
Hmmm, need to price out a knuckle boom.

 

[JBinKC]

I use all wood sizes from twigs to pieces as large as 8" in diameter in my stove but it depends on the circumstance on the point where I bother to keep it if I am in a woodlot I usually stop at 2" unless it is wood I like to smoke meat with then I will take pretty much all of it and use the small stuff for smoking. If I am scoring wood in an area that requires 100% clean up I will take and use all of it. Twigs and bark will go in plastic garbage cans and anything larger than 1- 1 1/4" will be stacked. I go through quite a few twigs in a season because I live in a temperate region where I have to let a fire burn out quite often.

 

[Zodiac45]

It looks like the people with stoves that are lit once a day use the smaller wood. Myself, I have a 1909 Glenwood C cookstove in the kitchen that is lit in the morning and runs till I check out for the night. The Jotul at the other end of the house is a heater and so the firewood get specified as stove wood or heater wood. While the Glenwood has a smaller firebox than the heater, it is still a massive piece of cast iron and heats a large area. Just needs feeding every couple of hours or more.

:greenchainsaw: I keep down too 2" diameter if I have cut, limbed and bucked the tree, but most of my firewood comes from chipping and venier operations. They use a huge chipper that blows into the backs of tractor/trailor's. If a given tree is too gnarly as in wide crotches, etc. they pile those too the side and I get too saw these and haul them off on weekends. The venier deals are even better but don't occur very often. They only use the main log up too the first set of branches and even it must be just so. All the rest is set aside!

 

[ropensaddle]

Man, when you get that built, let me know. I will be over in a flash to take some pics.......
what an idea, a whole tree burning stove.........
Why didnt I think of that?
No more cutting, splitting, stacking, carrying wood in the house
Now you have got me thinking.........
Maybe just half a tree at a time, only one cut to make, and it wouldnt take up the whole backyard that way, only half of it......
Hmmm, need to price out a knuckle boom.

Yeah I already have the boom I need a stove that has a top
lid with an opening of say 12' square and a blower shroud of say
4' to insulate the heat and create a supply, monoxide detectors!
How thick would the furnace wall need be to handle the heat and
debris drop hmmm enginerrs chime in here! One time load for a week
I can get into that heat house shop and even a blower near the
loading area no sense getting cold feeding it:hmm3grin2orange:
I wander if an old incinerator would make a good candidate?