What to do with sawdust, noodles, wood chips, n smalll twigs.

[FLHX Storm]

I decided to do some cleanup in the area I had been processing most of my firewood Saturday. I also had a good sized pile of punky, way beyond prime pine that had been cut n stacked a couple of years ago. The larger rounds I went ahead and split so that I could use them for another round pile. Those proved to be difficult in that being so punky n wet, the axe head would almost disappear into the wood up to where the handle meets the head and water would literally squirt out of the round. All that meant was I had a more interesting workout.

Cleaning up the area though, I ended up with some fair sized piles of sawdust, noodles, wood chips n chunks, and small twigs. The question was what to do with all the debris. It was too wet to burn and the same applied to the punky wood that I split. That stuff would take at least a year to dry if it were raised and covered. Then I had an idea. Why not make another round pile out of all the unusable stuff.

So I went about constructing another round pile right over the remaining stump from the white pine I had felled a couple of years back, which most of the now punky wood was from. I made the outside wall from the splits and a lot of the branches that I cut to size, and then proceeded to fill the inside with everything else. Mind you the pile isn't complete since I have another area with the same situation that I will need to clean up so the walls will become higher and the inside will continue to be loaded up with any remaining wood debris.

My idea was to construct a round pile so that it would accelerate the rotting process. I'll be adding a bunch of egg shells, coffee grounds, and some nitrogen to the mix before I cover the pile. Not just the top, but the sides too. I may even dig a small trench all the way around so I can bury some of the plastic and basically seal the pile. I'm figuring it might take a year of possibly two for total decomposition of the wood in that pile using the same principle of a bagged food item left in the back of refrigerator that has remained there for several weeks or months. Or the same for a sandwich in a baggie left out in the weather for a few weeks. Wrapping the entire pile in plastic should slow cook n rot everything inside including bugs and the potential rodent that might have decided to make it's home there before I seal the pile up. I won't know if this will actually work as I intend, but you'll never know until you try. I hope to end up with a pile of nice rich dirt when all is said and done. That round pile is about 8 feet across.

And the pine from a couple of years back. (I realize the back cut is angled but it wasn't an effort to keep the tree from falling backwards. It was more of a convenience cut since it was easier to hold the saw that way. That tree btw fell though a 5 foot opening between the rose of sharon and the other pine trees. The rose of sharon is about 10 feet from the house shown in the last picture on the left side of the screen)

 

[FLHX Storm]

That reminds me. I also checked the moisture content of some of the splits in the round piles. On the outside of the splits, the moisture reading averaged about 16%, but the inside of the splits i checked ranged from 25% for the oak, 30% for the black birch, and 38% for the poplar. It was the first pile (the one to the right of the screen) that had the highest moisture content reading. It's construction was about 4 months ago. :msp_scared:

 

[Gavman]

Piles look awesome once again, I'm thinking with the amount of weather they will get there you wont have much to worry about for dryness come next winter.... Do keep us updated though on that.
I filled a wood shed to the roof with green wood and and it sat for a year, shed was 15 feet deep, 12 feet wide and 10 high with open sides and almost every split in there is dry properly so based on that yours should be great...

 

[FLHX Storm]

Just to be on the safe side I also now have a cord n a half inside part of my shed. That part is about 12 x 11 x 8 to 10 feet in height (sloped roof). I cleaned out and moved what I wanted to keep towards the door to make plenty of room for the wood. I also kind of put together a bin for uglies n short pieces using various pieces of scrap I had in the shed. I figure I have enough room for at least another 2 to 3 cord in there.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for the round piles since we are heading into the rainy season. I'm tempted to put a tarp over the tops since some of the rains we get here tend to be pretty wicked. The bridge and the road up from me tend to get washed out at least a half dozen times during the spring rains.

I do still have the cord stacked in rows at the end of my driveway too. :msp_biggrin:

 

[zogger]

You put twigs and rotten branches, etc in your compost pile

If you can have two garden spaces, just rotate, use one for a garden then allow the other to lay fallow and rot the compost stuff out. Just alternate then., Put all your splitter trash and twigs there, leaves, whatever, let it rot. Just depends on your area and pile, might be one year is good enough, maybe two years, then rotate.

I tried last year heaping up old hay and manure in a garden space, then covering with heavy plastic over winter, that worked well too. Just rotted down and had one buhzillion worms. I didnt put any little branches, etc there but I could have.

 

[flashhole]

Storm you are a stacking fool ... I mean that in a good way. I keep a burn pile, two actually, and set them off once a year. Our "compost" pile is wood shavings and horse manure. It takes about a full year for it to decompose to the point of use. Great to use in the grow boxes and the worms love it. Covering your pile should accelerate things. Are you going to use clear plastic or black plastic?

 

[Iska3]

I like the looks of your set up. Your idea with the black plastic will work in time. I still do some of that with the old plants that I remove from my garden in the fall but found that here in Minnesota I need to turn the mulch over a few times and keep it moist..

Several years ago I started planting on what would be called a mound system. It’s a lot of work at first but worth it in the end. For my garden rows I dig trenches and fill them with old hay and manure, saw dust and wood chips and then cover them with the dirt and plant on top of the mounds. Between the rows and throughout the growing season, I’ll put down my sawdust, small chips, old manure and ashes. This seems to work as mulch; it keeps down the weeds and retains the moisture and by planting on mounds,. Because I water the garden between the rows and not on the plants, my plants seem to have a stronger root system and go down to the moisture. In the late fall (after the growing season) I reverse the process. I take the dirt from my mounds and put that between the rows over the sawdust and old mulch. Our area is mostly clay type soil so I had to mix in a lot of sand and the decomposed sawdust, chips and manure really improved my soil.

Several weeks ago someone told one of the members to use the noodles as traction so he could split his rounds on the ice. Remembering his idea I kept several piles of my sawdust when I bucked up my last load of logs. Last week we had a freezing rain and the path to the OWB and pasture were frozen over with thick ice. As an experiment I poured the sawdust along the path and soon found out that the sawdust floated to the top of the water and froze during the night. In the morning I could walk safely on the ice and during the day the sawdust would heat up from the sun and melt the ice. The ice would turn to water and the sawdust would float to the top again. I found that the sawdust works much better than sand.

 

[chadihman]

Thems are some nice stacks ya got there. If only I could get my brother on the same page as me. I like the wood to be all the same length so it stacks nice and fills my woodstove. He still cuts short ones. The bigger the rounds the shorter he cuts em. :bang: My brother and I do it all together from cutting to splitting. I enjoy it that way so I'll put up with his flaws.

 

[zogger]

Thems are some nice stacks ya got there. If only I could get my brother on the same page as me. I like the wood to be all the same length so it stacks nice and fills my woodstove. He still cuts short ones. The bigger the rounds the shorter he cuts em. :bang: My brother and I do it all together from cutting to splitting. I enjoy it that way so I'll put up with his flaws.

Well, split the wood up that way then, you get your size, he gets his. Every other tree, trade off on the size. Mark the logs with a tap marker, mingo, tape measure and small cut, whatever.

 

[Ayatollah]

I acquired a bunch of insulated blankets that were previously used to cover up the food overnight in frozen food coffin cases. I laid a couple layers of those on my redwwod compost pike, and my leaf pile. Holds both heat and moisture for longer periods, especially so in winter. When it dried out, I added warm water to keep the thing going

 

[H 2 H]

To get rid of

Twigs; rotten stuff and saw dust/chips I use diesel and a match


Cookies I use milk and my easy chair

 

[Blazin]

Soup...make Soup!

 

[Oldmaple]

Soup...make Soup!

Sawdust soup, mmm. Probably good for the ole digestive system.

 

[Blazin]

Sawdust soup, mmm. Probably good for the ole digestive system.

Bah.... some onion, garlic, and chicken stock. And then keep a saw in the crapper with ya

 

[stihl023/5]

Nice stacking in the shed, any more shed pics?

 

[Preston]

Saw dust I don't know other that burning. Twigs would probably best be included. But the the little pieces left from the splits, I'm piling those in boxes for kindling. Those little frayed pieces dried, I've found nothing I like better to start my fireplace ti burning. If I have one piece of coal left, those pieces will start up every time.

I considered one of those "round house" piles but right now I don't have a place dry enough that size. Everything now would be piled on leaves. Around here that's termite food.

 

[Guido Salvage]

If you have splits and rounds in your pile don't expect it to rot in a year. Ever wonder why a forest floor is littered with debris and stumps? Decay takes time, back home one can still find chestnut logs left from when the blight hit 80+ years ago.

 

[Butch(OH)]

If we are processing when we should be the splitting froth goes into a 55 gallon drum with lots of holes punched in the side and we use it to keep warm and occasionally to cook a quick lunch UNLESS we are processing Ash, then we spread the froth in a special place at the edge of the woods and here in a month or so we will be plucking mushrooms by the arm load from that area:msp_smile::msp_smile::msp_smile:

 

[zogger]

If we are processing when we should be the splitting froth goes into a 55 gallon drum with lots of holes punched in the side and we use it to keep warm and occasionally to cook a quick lunch UNLESS we are processing Ash, then we spread the froth in a special place at the edge of the woods and here in a month or so we will be plucking mushrooms by the arm load from that area:msp_smile::msp_smile::msp_smile:

which mushrooms?

 

[zogger]

Hey Storm!

How do you drag your wood in? If you say your harley with a trailer or a choker cable, thats cool...