Why split to 48", stack/season, cut 16" later?

[EdK]

This seems to be a reasonably popular method here in the Northeast. Large stacks of 48" split firewood seen drying are rather common. I get the feeling this method has been around a long time - probably longer than hydraulic splitters. Tractor mounted buzz saws for cutting up the splits are also common. I can see some advantage in splitting 48" one time instead of three 16" pieces three times. Other than that I don't really see any advantages. What's more, since firewood dries primarily toward the ends this should slow down the drying process.

Any fans of this process care to enlighten me? Always open to learning something new...

 

[Haywire Haywood]

In Germany it's called Meterholz or meter long stacks. I dunno why it's done tho.

Ian

 

[tatra805]

Meterholz

Meterholz ist - forstwirtschaftlich gesehen - die Vorstufe vom Brennholz. Es werden Baumstämme in möglichst genau 1 Meter lange Stücke geschnitten (meist mittels Motorsäge). Diese werden dann mit einem Holzspalter gespalten und anschließend zum Trocknen aufgeschichtet. Nachdem das Holz trocken ist, wird es oft mit einer Wippsäge in kleinere Stücke geschnitten, was dann das Brennholz ergibt.

Die Verarbeitung zu Meterholz hat diverse Vorteile. Die einzelnen (gespaltenen) Stücke sind gut durch eine Person zu tragen und können leicht weiter bearbeitet werden. Durch die Länge des Holzes lässt es sich vorzüglich stapeln, ohne daß der Stapel instabil wird und deswegen umkippt. So gestapelt kann das Holz schnell und gut trocknen, oft auch ohne Abdeckung. Außerdem wird Holz zumeist in Festmeter oder Raummeter verkauft, was sich bei genau ein Meter langen gestapelten Stücken gut abmessen lässt. Abschließend kann der Endnutzer auch nach Spaltung und Trocknung noch bestimmen, ob das Holz in Stücke zu 25 cm oder 33 cm geschnitten werden soll, wodurch die Nachfrage für unterschiedlich große Öfen oder Kamine befriedigt werden kann.

Meterholz wird im professionellen Bereich nahezu immer mit einem Reißmeter abgemessen und zum schneiden markiert.




So multiple reasons of which the most important:

In europe we sell wood in something as a cubic meter (+- 3ftx3ftx3ft) by cutting the 3ft lengths and stacking it 3ft high they made a standardized system for easy measuring a quantum of wood. (wood is stacked at the sides of a forest road for pick-up by the trucks, so longer would also cause a place problem)
xxxx running meter of stack = xxxx cubics

Also (but i think this is more a result) the wood can be easily cut into the 2 main commercial wood sizes: 25cm and 33cm.

A wood trader does want to be as fast/effective as possible: cutting 1 meter pieces and splitting them is reducing the handling time by factor 3 or 4 compared to resp 33 and 25cm pieces.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Meterholz

Meterholz ist - forstwirtschaftlich gesehen - die Vorstufe vom Brennholz. Es werden Baumstämme in möglichst genau 1 Meter lange Stücke geschnitten (meist mittels Motorsäge). Diese werden dann mit einem Holzspalter gespalten und anschließend zum Trocknen aufgeschichtet. Nachdem das Holz trocken ist, wird es oft mit einer Wippsäge in kleinere Stücke geschnitten, was dann das Brennholz ergibt.

Die Verarbeitung zu Meterholz hat diverse Vorteile. Die einzelnen (gespaltenen) Stücke sind gut durch eine Person zu tragen und können leicht weiter bearbeitet werden. Durch die Länge des Holzes lässt es sich vorzüglich stapeln, ohne daß der Stapel instabil wird und deswegen umkippt. So gestapelt kann das Holz schnell und gut trocknen, oft auch ohne Abdeckung. Außerdem wird Holz zumeist in Festmeter oder Raummeter verkauft, was sich bei genau ein Meter langen gestapelten Stücken gut abmessen lässt. Abschließend kann der Endnutzer auch nach Spaltung und Trocknung noch bestimmen, ob das Holz in Stücke zu 25 cm oder 33 cm geschnitten werden soll, wodurch die Nachfrage für unterschiedlich große Öfen oder Kamine befriedigt werden kann.

Meterholz wird im professionellen Bereich nahezu immer mit einem Reißmeter abgemessen und zum schneiden markiert.

Translated by some site I googled.

Meter wood

Meter wood is - forest economic seen - the initial stage of the firewood. Tree-trunks in if possible exactly 1 meter are cut long pieces (usually by means of power saw). These are split then with a Holzspalter and are stacked up subsequently for drying. After the wood is dry, it is cut often with a Wippsäge into smaller pieces, what yields then the firewood.

The processing to meter wood has various advantages. The single (split) pieces are to be carried and are to be can easily further processed become well by a person. Through the length of the wood, it lets itself especially piles, without that the pile unstabilely becomes and tips over therefore. So gestapelt can dry the wood quickly and well, often also without cover. Moreover wood is sold mostly in festival meter or cubic meter, what can be measured in exactly a meter long gestapelten pieces well. In conclusion the end user yet can determine also after split and drying whether the wood is supposed to be cut into pieces to 25 cm or 33 cm, by what means the demand can be satisfied for differently large ovens or fireplaces.

Meter wood is measured in the professional area almost always with a tear meter and cut marks to that.

 

[TJ-Bill]

I'm getting my wood like that this year. Apparently the guy slpit 40 cord in 4' length all by hand!

 

[EdK]

Nice responses! I find this quite interesting. The use of the meter and the way it goes together with sales of cubic meters makes good sense. Likewise here in the US 48" split/stacked pieces 48" high would make it easy to measure a cord. Just peel 8 feet off the big pile when cutting to length prior to delivery. Of course handling individual 48" pieces is about 22% more weight than one meter. Wonder why more don't use this method?

This is still unanswered: isn't the dry time considerably longer? Oak aside, in this area we typically process (to 16-20") and burn maple, birch, ash, beech in the same season. I can't imagine doing this with 48" of length. I wonder what moisture content this would result in after a single summer of drying?

 

[tatra805]

EDK:
Drying time vs meterholz

What i see...

people buying meterholz are cutting it up themselves at home making their own woodstack.

A lot of meterholz is sold wet and early in the season (cheaper). and stacked in the gardens to dry for next year. (People dont cut it with a chainsaw)

You can buy dry (a bit more expensive), and a lot of people do because they are cutting it with a circular saw for use the same year. Circular saws just work better in dry wood and it processes faster than with a chainsaw.

The third variant are the dry cut to lenght pieces. These are processed by the wood companies themselves, and despite the nice woodprocessors available a lot of companies cannot afford this type of investments and are doing it manually. For them the weight and easy to handle aspect is very important (or the newbies or the old ones are doing this work)



It does not answer your drying time question but with this purchasing strategy the drying time becomes less important.
So maybe you are right but it is not important to the user.

 

[tatra805]

Just some extra thought

I think all started with a practical issue.
We are talking firewood so mainly branches. Logs are long gone by the time firewood guys come in.

You bring your wood to the side of the road. What can you carry all day? What can you easily stack all day?

Add the point of the comercial unit of a cubic meter.

Add the fact that you dont have a lot of place next to a road.

Wood was loaded on some type of trailer (pulled by tractor or horse) these are in the neighbourhood of 2 meters wide. So people are loading them from both sides simultanious.


It just works better i think

 

[shokidq]

its also easier to build your stacks with the longer lengths, when you see some with the sides all proped up with rope and strutts when the logs aren't stacked against a wall. what we dont process into our drying cubes in the spring I split into 2 meter lengths and stack to around 20ft high then it goes through a processor around september. but we are cutting to 10" long and only rarely get orders for 16"/18" logs

 

[Bruce Hopf]

its also easier to build your stacks with the longer lengths, when you see some with the sides all propped up with rope and struts when the logs aren't stacked against a wall. what we dont process into our drying cubes in the spring I split into 2 meter lengths and stack to around 20ft high then it goes through a processor around September. but we are cutting to 10" long and only rarely get orders for 16"/18" logs

I started cutting wood this way, last spring. I found it a lot easier to do it this way, instead of cutting it into desired lengths of 12" or 16" lengths. I found that you can clean up your wood quicker this way.
Instead of picking up pieces of wood 12" or 16", you are picking up 48" pieces instead. You don't have to bend over as much picking up the wood. Sure you are going to have shorter pieces to pick up, from where you finished your 48" cuts. After all, trees don't grow to exact lengths.
Then I just load my wood onto the Tine Bucket I use to load manure with my Loader Tractor. I then load it Ont a wagon, and take a wagon load at a time up to my buildings, and pile it, behind the barn.
I purchased an old PTO Driven Buss Saw, that I am going to cut the wood into length with. I stacked my wood onto runners to keep it off the ground. When I cut the wood with the Buss Saw, I take the loader tractor, with the tine bucket again, and scoop up a bucket load, and take it to the Buss Saw. I pull one piece off the loader, at a time. Cut the 48" lengths, into 12" or 16" lengths.
I have a PTO driven Bale/Grain Elevator, when the cut blocks fall into, the wood is elevated and dropped into a pile. After when I pick up the cut wood, I then use my wood splitter to split into desired widths. Either I load it when it is sold, or put the wood in my wood storage bins for my own use to heat my house with.
When I get set up, I will post pictures of my whole operation. From the pile, to the Buss Saw, to the Elevator, to the Pile, to the Splitter to being Measured for sold fire wood.
Bruce.

 

[b1rdman]

This seems to be a reasonably popular method here in the Northeast. Large stacks of 48" split firewood seen drying are rather common. I get the feeling this method has been around a long time - probably longer than hydraulic splitters. Tractor mounted buzz saws for cutting up the splits are also common. I can see some advantage in splitting 48" one time instead of three 16" pieces three times. Other than that I don't really see any advantages. What's more, since firewood dries primarily toward the ends this should slow down the drying process.

Any fans of this process care to enlighten me? Always open to learning something new...

Yep, it is common in this area and I have to admit that I do most of my wood that way as well. I think a lot of it can be attributed the old days when manpower was used more than horsepower.

If you split by and 4' lengths take a lot less swings of the maul. There's always a portion that requires a few wedges and some extra time but in the dead of winter most wood pops right apart much like it would at stove length.

Also, the whole process typically requires less "touches" than other "homeowner" methods. Split it where it falls and stack it within a few steps. Let it season on the wood lot. When you're ready to buck it, transfer it to the trailer (no steps), then from trailer to buck saw (no steps) then the catcher on the other side of the saw tosses it into the shed (or barn or what have you).

If your selling the wood take out the trailer and drive the tractor/bucksaw to the stacks in the wood lot. The four footers come off the stack then right onto the saw and quickly tossed into the delivery truck.

This is no match for a skidder and processor of course but a man/boy combination can put up a whole lot of wood this way with minimal investment.

 

[turnkey4099]

This point has been covered several times but sorta buried.

Cutting and splitting 4 ft lengths does make a lot of sense but only if you are using a buzz saw or similar circular saw to cut it to final length later. No way do I want to be fooling around using a chaisaw to cut split sticks to length even with the fancy saw bucks that have been posted here. I also built a version of one back when that worked well, but it is still a real nuisance cutting small stuff with a chainsaw.

Harry K

 

[Bruce Hopf]

This point has been covered several times but sorta buried.

Cutting and splitting 4 ft lengths does make a lot of sense but only if you are using a buzz saw or similar circular saw to cut it to final length later. No way do I want to be fooling around using a chainsaw to cut split sticks to length even with the fancy saw bucks that have been posted here. I also built a version of one back when that worked well, but it is still a real nuisance cutting small stuff with a chainsaw.

Harry K

I had a guy come my place a few years ago with a portable Band Saw Lumber Mill. to saw a bunch of logs into lumber for me. Over 30 logs where cut.
Prior to getting my logs cut, I built a fair sized Saw Bucking Horse that was
24" wide at the top of the V, and it was 6' long, for cutting the slab wood, from the logs. It was well braced around the bottom as well.
I built the frame like a big X using 2" x 4" x 5' long. The bottom of the top V was 2 1/2' off the ground. I used 2" x 6" around the whole bottom, and at the top of the bottom V, for support. I spaced the associations in between at
14", so that I would be able to cut 12" or 16" lengths, with out too much interference from the sections.
As the logs where squared up, we pulled the slab wood off the top of the log, after the saw had went through. We placed each slab after it was cut, into the bucking horse, to get it out of the road, of the saw, and the operators.
After we loaded the bucking horse, with about 10 to 20 pieces of slab wood, pretty even at one end, I then took a measuring stick, and marked the load with a small liming axe, I then took my McCulloch 700 Chain Saw, with a 24" bar on it, and cut through the whole stack.
One cut made a pile of wood in a hurry. As I cut, one side of the bucking horse got a little heavy, so I switched sides, and cut until the other side got heavy, and switched back and forth.
I had my wood hauler, an old manure spreader with the back beaters removed, and with the unloading apron intact for unloading with use of the tractor, and PTO, parked for loading the 16" lengths of slab wood into to haul away.
There was no problems what so ever because the slab wood bind ed itself tight into the V of the Saw Bucking Horse, from all the weight. The length of the slab wood was from 10' to 21' in length, prior to cutting.
If you build your Saw Bucking Horse properly, and load it properly, you will be able to cut split wood safely, because it will bind itself into the V.
I split my wood with a splitter after I cut it into 12" or 16" lenghts. I'm no good swinging the axe any more. My back won't allow it. I like the Idea of pushing oil at high pressures, one way or another. Makes life, and work a little easier. Hope this helps. Work Safe. Bruce. :greenchainsaw:

 

[Marc]

This is the way my father and I have cut for as long as I can remember... not necessarly always 48" but about twice the length of the wood our appliance takes (some times 3 x)-

Two big advantages, already covered here, for the home firewood gatherer but are buried in long posts (no offense intended) that I don't really have the inclination to read through... boy doesn't that make me sound like an ass...

1) Much easier to stack.
We're always stacking on uneven scrounged wood like pine or cedar logs... old railroad ties, anything to keep the good wood off the ground. We start piles against trees, and one can stack longer and higher with longer length on uneven ground.

2) Much easier to collect
When we fell a tree or buck a down tree we throw the wood into piles about 10 feet apart... or twice the distance we can comfortably throw the pieces, naturally. We collect it with a tractor and wood wagon, and bring it out to stack it, so the longer the length, the fewer pieces to handle. I'd rather pick up one 60 lb piece than two 30 lb pieces or three 20 lb pieces.

We also tend to always be ahead of our need for firewood as well, so as it seasons a bit slower, we tend to have less loss to rot and insect damage.

 

[Marc]

And we split everything by hand, I should mention... good exercise.

 

[Bruce Hopf]

And we split everything by hand, I should mention... good exercise.

No offence taken here. We had our bush logged through the winter. Forty trees were fell out into the fields that surrounded the bush. I cut 15 tops into 12" pieces. Land is rented out, and was running out of time for corn planting. Cut the rest into 4' lengths. I used the manure loader to load onto a wagon. I set up 3" x 2 1/2" rails on planks with T fence posts brieven in, and braced, for the wood to be against, behind the barn. Loaded the wood of the wagon, onto the manure loader, and gently stacked the 4' lengths into a neat stack with the loader. Rails are spaced nicely to pick up from pile with the loader, to the buss saw.
Bruce.

:greenchainsaw:

 

[computeruser]

I can see the point of longer pieces for commercial or handling reasons, but I cannot imagine how long it would take to get a stack of 4' oak to dry out enough to be useful in a woodstove or fireplace! I've got some 18" pieces that are still a bit more damp than I'd prefer after 2 full years on the wood pile!

 

[Bruce Hopf]

I can see the point of longer pieces for commercial or handling reasons, but I cannot imagine how long it would take to get a stack of 4' oak to dry out enough to be useful in a wood stove or fireplace! I've got some 18" pieces that are still a bit more damp than I'd prefer after 2 full years on the wood pile!

I just cut it this way, until I get time to cut into proper lengths for using. After I cut it, I split it , and pile it away to dry properly, under a roof.
Bruce.

 

[Marc]

I can see the point of longer pieces for commercial or handling reasons, but I cannot imagine how long it would take to get a stack of 4' oak to dry out enough to be useful in a woodstove or fireplace! I've got some 18" pieces that are still a bit more damp than I'd prefer after 2 full years on the wood pile!

Being split helps the drying a lot. We generally run probably 36-42" on average and it's plenty seasoned enough, even in only partial sun, to burn in 2 seasons, though we're typically on a 3 year cycle since we're always ahead.

 

[Zodiac45]

I understand the principle but for me and the many pickup truck firewood gatherers 3-4 footers are too heavy. In an ideal world with wood requiring 1 split it makes perfect sense, but many times, at least for me, I'm getting stuff that's been left because it's too big for the chipper and or unwieldy. Some of these (maple) rounds are bucked at 16" and still take two of us and ramp too get them on!