firewood length in bucking

[stihly dan]

How do you cut for length. I assume everyone has a length preference for there heating applications. What do you do if you like 18 inch splits amd you have a 43 inch log? 2 18's and a 7 in piece, just cut in half. I have been doing it both way's, and am not sure wich I like. Even lengths are easier to stack, look better, and a load is more consistent in burn time. The other is quicker to buck longer lengths for the cold nights, and a little less splitting. Oh crap I think I just answered my own question. So what do you do anyway?

 

[zogger]

Irregular rules!

How do you cut for length. I assume everyone has a length preference for there heating applications. What do you do if you like 18 inch splits amd you have a 43 inch log? 2 18's and a 7 in piece, just cut in half. I have been doing it both way's, and am not sure wich I like. Even lengths are easier to stack, look better, and a load is more consistent in burn time. The other is quicker to buck longer lengths for the cold nights, and a little less splitting. Oh crap I think I just answered my own question. So what do you do anyway?

I am not selling my wood, just burning it, so I have from ten to twenty inches long in the stacks! If I can fit it in, that's good enough! That's what I do with oddball size logs, just even them out some, or if there is a crotch piece, cut that off short, both sides, then the rest of the branch I more or less shoot for as close to 16 as I can guesstimate quickly. Oddball chunks, crotches, end off cuts, etc I throw in a big pile, burn a few every day when we bring in the more uniform wood.

My stacks are sort of three pieces wide, 48 inches. 16s fit perfect, shorter or longer I just adjust to keep them inside that overall width, because that is the width plastic top covers I have an abundance of. 3 -16s fit, two twentys will fit with an air gap betwen them, 4 tens will fit similar, etc. From the outside of the stacks, it all looks the same, it stacks perfectly fine, and the stove doesn't seem to care, it all burns.

If I was selling, I would nail the 16 (or whatever your local market customers wanted, using a marker or some technique of choosing) and just burn the oddball stuff myself. (and cut lots more of course).

 

[rmount]

:agree2:

 

[benp]

I am not selling my wood, just burning it, so I have from ten to twenty inches long in the stacks! If I can fit it in, that's good enough! That's what I do with oddball size logs, just even them out some, or if there is a crotch piece, cut that off short, both sides, then the rest of the branch I more or less shoot for as close to 16 as I can guesstimate quickly. Oddball chunks, crotches, end off cuts, etc I throw in a big pile, burn a few every day when we bring in the more uniform wood.

My stacks are sort of three pieces wide, 48 inches. 16s fit perfect, shorter or longer I just adjust to keep them inside that overall width, because that is the width plastic top covers I have an abundance of. 3 -16s fit, two twentys will fit with an air gap betwen them, 4 tens will fit similar, etc. From the outside of the stacks, it all looks the same, it stacks perfectly fine, and the stove doesn't seem to care, it all burns.

If I was selling, I would nail the 16 (or whatever your local market customers wanted, using a marker or some technique of choosing) and just burn the oddball stuff myself. (and cut lots more of course).

I fall in this category.

The firebox length is around 36". So, my pieces range from 30" to 20 something with a bunch of smaller 16" in the stove house.

I totally suck at length consistency.:hmm3grin2orange:

If I am cutting up for someone and they want it xxx length then out comes the tape and rattle can....

 

[Guido Salvage]

I measure mine out to 18" lengths and cut them all the same length. Cut around crotches and any short pieces go in the "chunk" pile. Allows me to have even rows and makes hauling it to the house that much easier.

 

[DSS]

I just load the shorts in the stove east/west instead of north/south. My stuff comes from a tree service so there's a lot of odd pieces.

The stove doesn't care. Really.

 

[Iska3]

I cut around 20 inches on the smaller stuff and 18 inches to 20 on the larger or what ever I can lift. Anything we sell gets cut at 16 inches and I'll burn the stubby stuff so I can play with most logs and work out what is best.

 

[Steve2910]

I aim for 18", measure w/ the saw bar. Any "shorts" or odd pieces get burned in the shop stove or go into the "free to good home" pile.

 

[roger m]

24in. for my owb,it seems like the best for me,i usually keep the big stuff,my fil gets my smaller stuff and i try to cut it 15-18in. for his woodstove and he does vice -versa for me and it works out good! this winter has been so mild i have a few cord on reserve even though i burn year round for hot water and save that $50-$53 a month :msp_biggrin:

 

[Whitespider]

16 inches using the bar, or marks on the bar as a gauge. Probably 90% of my cuts come within an inch either side of 16, a few end up within two inches. I’ll often cut crotches short, and at the end of a log I don’t worry about “splitting the difference”… if the last piece is short, it-is-what-it-is.

I don’t haul anything until it’s been split… cutting on my own land allows me to leave rounds lay where cut until I go in to split. I’m just about done cutting for this year… did my falling in January-February, started bucking late February, when that’s all done I’ll start splitting, hauling out’a the wood lot and stacking. My splitter has adjustable stroke; I set it for about 18 inches and anything that won’t drop in gets trimmed (especially now that my new firebox will only accept 18 inch max), which provides me with a few more cookies and chunks. As I’m splitting, the “shorts”, chunks, cookies, odds and end cuts get tossed in a pile, full length get tossed in the trailer, hauled and stacked. The last thing I do is go back and retrieve all the “shorts” and odds (or have the kids do it with the golf cart, they’re always looking for an excuse to run around on it)… they get thrown in a pile on pallets or whatever… eventually burned in the fire-pit or mixed in with standing-dead I burn early in the heating season.

 

[stumpy75]

I am not selling my wood, just burning it, so I have from ten to twenty inches long in the stacks! If I can fit it in, that's good enough! That's what I do with oddball size logs, just even them out some, or if there is a crotch piece, cut that off short, both sides, then the rest of the branch I more or less shoot for as close to 16 as I can guesstimate quickly. Oddball chunks, crotches, end off cuts, etc I throw in a big pile, burn a few every day when we bring in the more uniform wood.

If I was selling, I would nail the 16 (or whatever your local market customers wanted, using a marker or some technique of choosing) and just burn the oddball stuff myself. (and cut lots more of course).

:agree2: too!

 

[greendohn]

I just "eye-ball" the cuts and they come out pretty close to same length. An inch or two long/short doesn't matter. I run a big ol' greedy OWB and the monster doesn't care what length I feed 'im. I guess I shoot for about 18", generally and cutting with a buddy it keeps it simple for all involved to cut "standard" length. I'll split in the woods or wait 'till I get home and it all stacks up in the wood shed.

 

[SPDRMNKY]

I cut all my rounds to 17" measuring from the bar tip...and it goes better when I can find straight trees

chunks get tossed into a pile, then moved under the lean-to last...burnt first in the fall

 

[Como]

I have been cutting to 16" for the stove, otherwise it is the longest the Splitter will take.

 

[Somesawguy]

I cut 16" give or take. I can fit 24" or so, and it's not critical. It is easier to stack if they are about the same length though.

 

[Fred Wright]

Yep, I buck 'em to 16" to 18" some odd by eyeballing. We don't sell firewood so it don't matter. It all burns.

I prefer to get as many 16"-18" lengths as possible. At the end there's often a short piece, it gets split last and goes on the top of the stack. Same for crotch splits... they're almost always weird shapes.

 

[fields_mj]

My furnace gets all upset and throws a fit if I try to feed it an oddball piece. It starts smoking, and pops and cracks, and spits sparks at me. I think I need to get it some counceling :hmm3grin2orange:

Seriously though. I just cut for myself. My box will take 26", but I've found that 22"~23" burns about the best. I mark the sides of my saws for that lenght and use that as a rough guide to help me make my rounds about the same lenght. It stacks well in the bed of the truck that way too.

As far as the odd ball pieces at the end, I don't worry about them too much. If I know I'm going to have a stubby piece I will either try to make my cuts closer to 23" so that their isn't a piece left at the end, or cut them closer to 21" so that I get a more nominal piece at the end. Honestly though, most of the time I forget all about it and when I get to the end, I just make a judgment call to chuck it in the brush pile, or put it in the truck. My deciision is normally based less on lenght, and more on the burn time of that odd ball piece (part of a crotch), and how many other odd ball pieces I've already loaded into the truck. When the weather is a little warmer (like it was this past winter), I cut a lot of the wood in half before I take it in the house. Burning the shorter rounds lets me keep the gas furnace turned down well into the upper 40s. This too will factor into what gets loaded into the truck and what gets left behind for mother natures composter.

 

[spike60]

I measure mine out to 18" lengths and cut them all the same length. Cut around crotches and any short pieces go in the "chunk" pile. Allows me to have even rows and makes hauling it to the house that much easier.

That's how I do it, except for going with 16". I like to have consistant sizes for stacking.

When I get to the end of the log I think it's better to get one correct size piece and toss the other in the chunk box than to "split the difference" and end up with both pieces being too short.

 

[BigE]

The wood stove in the house can take up to 20" pieces but prefers the 18" pieces, and really likes 16"-18". My wood stove in the shop maxes out at 18" and prefers 16".

The absolute worst thing is when I have people "help" me cut firewood and I end up with 22" pieces. I then have to cut off at least 2" just to get them into the house stove, which is a PITA in the middle of winter when it is pouring buckets of rain.

I've used all sorts of ways to mark the length.

• For a long time I had a marking stick and some crayons that I kept with the saw. These worked out as long as the log was nice and dry, but if it was wet, forget it.
• When it was wet, I tried the marking stick and a crappy short hand saw to make the mark. This worked OK as well, but sometimes the marks would get lost.
• I took a rope and started tying knots every 16". Do you know how hard it is to tie knots every 16"? I started using zip ties instead. Then I would take some orange spray paint and leave a mark every 16". This method sucked. The end of the rope kept coming loose, and it was messy coiling up a rope wet with paint.
• Finally I got the Mingo Marker, and this is by far the best method I have found. You can choose different wheels to mark every 14, 16, 18, and ? inches. It only takes me less than a minute to mark an 80' log, and it doesn't matter if it is raining or not.

I still use the bar length to guestimate if I am working on a short piece, but everything else gets the Mingo. Happy customer here.

I start at the big end of the log and work to the end. The short pieces either get stacked on top of the pile, or tossed into the chipper.

 

[Como]

I use the Mingo, just ordered the 6/12/24 wheel.

My Saw is being serviced and my Splitter arrives Monday, should be a busy week next week.