Show us your jigs!

[MagraAdam]

Hey guys, I live on about 85 bush acres and cut all my own firewood. As such, I tend to burn a lot of stuff the commercial blokes wouldn't even bother to cut.. I try and burn 100% of the tree, because anything I don't burn is just mess I need to clean up later. I let the ends of the branches with all the leaves dry out then break them up by hand to make fire starting size kindling (leaves included if any stay on), but I also have a jig set up for 2 person use where one person (the Mrs) feeds in long skinny wood and the other person (me) uses the small saw to cut the wood to length. We cut about 0.5m3 today from about a tank of fuel in he ms170. The jig was made from scraps and part of an old pallet.



And here's the pile of smaller wood that we'll use throughout the year



The other jig that I use is a box in the ground. If I have cut a round too wide then find out later the split sections are too long for my heater or alike, I put it so it hangs over the left side of the box and stand on the wood with my left foot to steady it and then use the saw to cut through it knowing it won't move and I won't hit the ground, so it's quicker and easier than just cutting on the ground. Longer bits I'll pull along to make multiple cuts.



Both of these save me heaps of time and effort and mean that nothing goes to waste.

I'd love to see what jigs you've got for cutting firewood.


Thanks,

Adam,
Tasmania

 

[homemade]

Nice pile of kindling.

I don’t understand the second jig though. It’s for wood too long after it’s is cut. But how do you use it? Maybe a pic with the wood in it.

And it’s not just the commercial guys that don’t like handling the small stuff. I usually don’t mess with anything 2-3” (50-75mm) and smaller. The rest of the branches will stay and rot as wildlife habitat or gets pushed into a pile and burned. It’s my time vs btu gathered also. I don’t want to waist my time with little stick to get little wood. I can put that same effort into stuff with more btu’s.


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[Sandhill Crane]

MagraAdam, Tasmania. I enjoyed your post.
On YouTube I've seen machines that chunk small wood fed into them, and imagine that stuff coals up very well, and gives good heat.

 

[MagraAdam]

MagraAdam, Tasmania. I enjoyed your post.
On YouTube I've seen machines that chunk small wood fed into them, and imagine that stuff coals up very well, and gives good heat.

I'd love some sort of machine to do it for me

 

[MagraAdam]

Nice pile of kindling.

I don’t understand the second jig though. It’s for wood too long after it’s is cut. But how do you use it? Maybe a pic with the wood in it.

And it’s not just the commercial guys that don’t like handling the small stuff. I usually don’t mess with anything 2-3” (50-75mm) and smaller. The rest of the branches will stay and rot as wildlife habitat or gets pushed into a pile and burned. It’s my time vs btu gathered also. I don’t want to waist my time with little stick to get little wood. I can put that same effort into stuff with more btu’s.


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Here's a couple of shots showing how they get used. For the box I've shown how the bar can go past the wood and not hit the ground.

If you don't cut anything under 2-3 inch, wht do you do for kindling? Split bigger wood down? I find that smaller wood has a higher heat output than split big wood, and it doesn't require splitting. I guess a machine could make splitting less of an effort, but that's still more bug wood that you need to cut and then make small, rather than just cutting small wood to begin with.

 

[trains]

Either use the Fergy saw bench on the tractor, or the log holder and small saw.
ive tried many and varied saw horses, and things to hold wood for sawing, and these two are the best by far.

I really like your hole in the ground idea for keeping the saw out of the dirt, but when the wood gets smaller, im not so convinced its a good idea to have the saw right next to my leg/ foot.







Hey, hows the stove draw issue going, did you make any head way on it in the end ?

 

[MagraAdam]

The only other thing of note I have is my sharpening station. Nothing fancy..

 

[MagraAdam]

Either use the Fergy saw bench on the tractor, or the log holder and small saw.
ive tried many and varied saw horses, and things to hold wood for sawing, and these two are the best by far.

I really like your hole in the ground idea for keeping the saw out of the dirt, but when the wood gets smaller, im not so convinced its a good idea to have the saw right next to my leg/ foot.



View attachment 888399

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Hey, hows the stove draw issue going, did you make any head way on it in the end ?

Hey mate, that's a cool holder! Especially for working alone. How stable are they?

A neighbour makes a log roller with a foot for getting the wood in the air. I've got one on order as that'll help when in the field felling.

Never solved the draw issue. Still need to get around to replacing the seal and extending the flue. I've had a lot of health issues get in the way of doing anything that isn't fairly critical. I still have 8m3 of wood to find before winter.. and winter is 9 months of the year here! (The fire is going now!!)

Good to hear from you

 

[SS396driver]

I had to make this one to cut off 2 to 3 inches off my stacked wood. 5 cord cut for the old stove 23 to 24 inches new stove max is 21. Doing by myself I used one side with a helper stacked one side I would cut the other. Then kept going front to back

 

[trains]

Hey mate, that's a cool holder! Especially for working alone. How stable are they?

A neighbour makes a log roller with a foot for getting the wood in the air. I've got one on order as that'll help when in the field felling.

Never solved the draw issue. Still need to get around to replacing the seal and extending the flue. I've had a lot of health issues get in the way of doing anything that isn't fairly critical. I still have 8m3 of wood to find before winter.. and winter is 9 months of the year here! (The fire is going now!!)

Good to hear from you

Yeah, pretty stable, once a bit of wood gathers around the base, its solid. it folds away flat, so easy to put up out the way.
Also use the stump vice quite a bit, or just the back of the ute tray.

I looked at those log rollers but just went with a basic cant hook from sneddens fencing back when they made the longer handled ones, and just roll the log onto a few smaller logs and have at it.

We had the wood stove going last week as we needed to top up the hot water as we had 4 days of overcast conditions, but little rain. grrrr. our burning season is usually april thr till late nov, early dec about here.
Also cooked up the Christmas turkey in the wood stove last Christmas as it was a cooler few days.

Be good to sort out the draw, then your larger bits will burn well with good heat too.

Appreciate how health issues can waste lots of your time.

 

[sean donato]

Nice pile of kindling.

I don’t understand the second jig though. It’s for wood too long after it’s is cut. But how do you use it? Maybe a pic with the wood in it.

And it’s not just the commercial guys that don’t like handling the small stuff. I usually don’t mess with anything 2-3” (50-75mm) and smaller. The rest of the branches will stay and rot as wildlife habitat or gets pushed into a pile and burned. It’s my time vs btu gathered also. I don’t want to waist my time with little stick to get little wood. I can put that same effort into stuff with more btu’s.


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Tbh I largely do the same thing. I'll keep the smaller 2 and 3 inch stuff if I dont have to work my tail off to trim it up. And never have to split kindling, get plenty of that laying around the splitter after a days work. Some of the bigger rounds get noodled and we keep that as well, although not always for kindling. Makes nice much for her seedling plants and whatnot.

 

[Philbert]

There have been some threads on cutting smaller branches and limbs. The fixtures that I like are in this thread:
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/cutting-the-small-stuff.316404/especially Posts #28, #35, and #43

You should find some ideas in there.

Philbert

 

[MagraAdam]

There have been some threads on cutting smaller branches and limbs. The fixtures that I like are in this thread:
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/cutting-the-small-stuff.316404/especially Posts #28, #35, and #43

You should find some ideas in there.

Philbert

Thanks mate

 

[ETpilot]

I made one of those smart holders out of wood. Worked good but too slow for me. This is my current wood holder. I can cut many limbs at one time. Large logs too. If I can lift it, I’ll put it on the holder. Since this picture was taken I have added wood pieces to the rails to recut pieces that may be too long. Also a rope with a cam action cleat to help hold the wood stack. When I get a chance I’m going to change the flat wood rails and change them to a V shape. It will hold the wood better.

 

[MagraAdam]

I made one of those smart holders out of wood. Worked good but too slow for me. This is my current wood holder. I can cut many limbs at one time. Large logs too. If I can lift it, I’ll put it on the holder. Since this picture was taken I have added wood pieces to the rails to recut pieces that may be too long. Also a rope with a cam action cleat to help hold the wood stack. When I get a chance I’m going to change the flat wood rails and change them to a V shape. It will hold the wood better. View attachment 888799

Nice mate

 

[homemade]

Here's a couple of shots showing how they get used. For the box I've shown how the bar can go past the wood and not hit the ground.

If you don't cut anything under 2-3 inch, wht do you do for kindling? Split bigger wood down? I find that smaller wood has a higher heat output than split big wood, and it doesn't require splitting. I guess a machine could make splitting less of an effort, but that's still more bug wood that you need to cut and then make small, rather than just cutting small wood to begin with.

View attachment 888396

View attachment 888397

View attachment 888398

The action shots make it easier to visualize thanks. For kindling, I have a silver maple block about 3ft tall and 12” round in the basement. A fiskars x7 makes a handful of kindling easie enough. I’m still burning cardboard boxes and wrapping paper from Christmas. It also helps having this
https://magtorch.com/products/outdoor-torch/

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