To Limb or not to Limb?

[aktaylors]

Ok here is my question. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and supplement my boiler with my wood stove. I burn about 6 cords a year. I have been lucky for the last three years that I've had a large supply of downed birch and spruce to burn. But this year I'll have to fell my own trees. I'm going to start cutting this week before the sap starts to run. I plan on just dropping about ten cords and come back in the spring to cut and split them. My question is should I limb them when I fall them or wait till I split them.

 

[gtstang462002]

That is more personal preferance than anything. I prefer to fell, limb, and buck all in one shot. As I have 9 acres over at my brother-inlaws place that I am clearing for him. I make it a family thing typically and there are about 3 saws running at one time after we take down a dozen or so trees. At the end of the day we have mountains of firewood length rounds and other mountains of branches waiting for the chipper...

 

[aktaylors]

I guess the real question is if I leave the limbs on will that help it dry faster?

 

[cjcocn]

I agree about this being a personal preference.

The seasoning will be slow until you buck and split them (as far as I know).

The only other determining factor would be safety or care of equipment.

With the amount of snow we generally get here, I don't mind limbing immediately as the snow is (usually) not so deep that it affects my stability to the point where operating a chainsaw is unsafe.

As long as you get back to the trees early enough in the spring so that you beat the new growth. Otherwise you may end up trying to limb in a sea of new leaves from surrounding willows, etc. - that could negatively affect your safe operating.

Spring/Summer = mud (already mentioned).

As far as I know, bark retards the seasoning process. Having more wood exposed to the air will speed up the seasoning so limbing now would be better in that respect.

 

[ak4195]

Hi taylor,
Limb em and buck them now,if your current supply is large enough,split them next winter.Green birch doesnt split to easily,but it can be done,wait for another cold snap,thatll help.I like 2years of seasoning on my birch,so I have to think 2 years ahead.

ak4195

 

[avalancher]

I dont live in the cold climate like you do, but I will have to agree with several points. The wood will dry faster if its cut into lengths, and I hate plowing through spring time brush to get my wood. The only concern that I would have is a big one in my mind. How secure is your woodcutting area? Nothing more frustrating than to down a tree, cut it into lengths, and then come back in a month to find someone rode off with all your hard work.

 

[windthrown]

Easier to cut most types of trees when the wood is green. Once dry (limbs will dry out first and fast) they are harder to cut and more of a pain to crawl along the logs and cut through. I usually limb and buck when I drop them, and then block cut them into firewood size later on. However, it depends on the species and the time of year. We have a lot of grand fir (AKA: piss fir) here, and often times I will fell them and then wait a month before limbing and bucking, so that there is not so much sap. If the sap is not running, I would cut and limb them at the same time.

 

[SpiralAcacia]

If seasoning is the issue

cut to firewood length, as the wood dries the most through ends.

I take this info from an experiment I read about in an article:

Blocking the wood shorter has the larger effect on drying time.
Splitting will hasten the process just by a small margin.
**

+ , as mentioned above, it's easier to cut fresh than dry.

Good luck!

 

[windthrown]

cut to firewood length, as the wood dries the most through ends.

Good luck!

This is something to take into account in Alaska, where the dry summer season is short. The dryer the wood by fall/winter, the more heat you will get out of it.

Here I leave some dead standing alder, oak and maple snags for easy felling and cutting if needed in winter. We just dropped an oak snag to get us through the end of the firewood season here (got about 1-1/2 cords of dry wood out of it this week). Dulls the chainsaw blades faster, but its ready available semi-dry seasoned firewood.

 

[user 19670]

I guess the real question is if I leave the limbs on will that help it dry faster?

I have 5 20"+ poplar dropped out back and they are going to wait until spring to limb. The buds go to leaf and that draws a lot of moisture out of the tree. My experience with birch and poplar is that you can cut to 8' or buck to stove length but if you don't at least split the bark end to end it won't last long before it rots. Don't dry well through the cut ends for me. Have had 8' grow shelf mushrooms and start to rot in the pile by the time I got around to processing it.

 

[czar800]

cut to firewood length, as the wood dries the most through ends.

I take this info from an experiment I read about in an article:

Blocking the wood shorter has the larger effect on drying time.
Splitting will hasten the process just by a small margin.
**

+ , as mentioned above, it's easier to cut fresh than dry.

Good luck!

He's right, but if that's not a option leave the limbs a lot of times they will hold most of the big wood off the ground tell you can saw it later.

 

[cjcocn]

I have 5 20"+ poplar dropped out back and they are going to wait until spring to limb. The buds go to leaf and that draws a lot of moisture out of the tree. My experience with birch and poplar is that you can cut to 8' or buck to stove length but if you don't at least split the bark end to end it won't last long before it rots. Don't dry well through the cut ends for me. Have had 8' grow shelf mushrooms and start to rot in the pile by the time I got around to processing it.

I dropped about 6 cords of poplar 2 years ago and just let them sit in 8' lengths. When I went to buck them up last fall they were getting pretty punky. The only reason why I had them for firewood is that they were standing in my front yard when I cut them down. It seems that with those poplar I would have been better off bucking them up right away. My late buddy's dad use to burn only poplar and I don't recall any punky stuff in his pile, but he bucked and split his as soon as they were on the ground.

One question here ... with the birch, do you try and get the bark off of them right away or just stack them bark side up after you split them to keep the water from sitting in the splits? I have a line on a cord or three of birch and want to know which is the best way to process them.

aktaylor

What kind of wood are you falling? I suppose that if you are bucking and splitting them this spring it doesn't really matter, but just thought I'd ask.

Thanks

 

[user 19670]

I dropped about 6 cords of poplar 2 years ago and just let them sit in 8' lengths. When I went to buck them up last fall they were getting pretty punky. The only reason why I had them for firewood is that they were standing in my front yard when I cut them down. It seems that with those poplar I would have been better off bucking them up right away. My late buddy's dad use to burn only poplar and I don't recall any punky stuff in his pile, but he bucked and split his as soon as they were on the ground.

One question here ... with the birch, do you try and get the bark off of them right away or just stack them bark side up after you split them to keep the water from sitting in the splits? I have a line on a cord or three of birch and want to know which is the best way to process them.

Some like to remove birch bark. I don't. I like to buck and split before the snow is melted and the biting flies come out. With birch you have to cut the bark or split to get it to dry before it gets a chance to rot (at least around here anyway).
The 5 poplar out back are bonus and I won't get to them for awhile. They were up wind of the new chicken house and I got worried so . . .
There are 3 dry standing jackpine there too for me to take.

I already have 20 1/2-ton loads of stove length poplar / spruce / jackpine /black ash / balm on the lawn and have at least 4 more loads to buck and bring out in the next few days.
Had a pro logger clear a space for a future shop on our property and I get all the tops and branches left over after shipping the logs. Some dangerous poplar with woodpecker holes and shelf mushrooms are on the landing for me too. Will end up with at least 3 years supply of firewood and since I have only had one year at a time until now this is a real shot in the arm. Am busier than a one legged man at a butt kicking contest these days.

 

[cabinman]

Question was?

Iam no pro, But started thinkin I read the Question wrong, If all I was doing was felling,the trees, and either cut the limbs off or not? I think cutting the limbs off and leaving the log lay on the ground,..Or leaving the limbs on, and keep the log off the ground,..is a no brainer, I probably missunderstood his question,..E,J,

 

[cabinman]

Question,..

Ok here is my question. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and supplement my boiler with my wood stove. I burn about 6 cords a year. I have been lucky for the last three years that I've had a large supply of downed birch and spruce to burn. But this year I'll have to fell my own trees. I'm going to start cutting this week before the sap starts to run. I plan on just dropping about ten cords and come back in the spring to cut and split them. My question is should I limb them when I fall them or wait till I split them.
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[aktaylors]

Chris, I burn a mix of about 60/40 birch and white spruce. They are the really the only two good options in interior Alaska. With the birch I always split it as soon as possible. It seems to dry the best. I find that about 9 months is what it takes for a split piece of birch to be fully dried. Anything sooner and it's a pain to burn. Water will literally run out of the wood in my stove (Harthstone Heritage). I find it's necesary to remove the bark for it to dry. And small rounds will dry out nicely too. But if left on the ground for more that a year it will be punky. There is a reason they used to make canoes out of birch bark.