Firewood cutters - Don't be lazy!

I cut pretty much as I go. A couple of hours a week keeps me in wood under most circumstances.

Fortunately my stove holds 32 inch logs. I never cut it that long. I aim for 24 but on the big monster logs they tend to be shorter. Hey I have to load them in the trailer, unload them, set them on the chopping block, and then split. I cut up a dead poplar today that was close to 18 inches across...saw bar barely cut through. I'd hate to lift those big monster logs if I cut them too long!

Mike

I just eyeball it,our stove'll take 30" wood so I can get away with some long ones.

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I Live Back In The Woods You See,The Woman,The Kids,The Dogs an Me.

The old stove is fussy for lengths alright; but, the boiler isn't so much. We aim for 40 inches or so but sometimes that's a little big to piclk up.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup........

We only have a wood burning boiler for heat and I can fit about 7' in if I can lift it. I prefer about 4 1/2 ft lengths because they burn evenly and are manageable. Right now we are burning mostly square flax bales because that's what the crop was and it was worth a try. At -10 or so I will go through 2 or 3 every 24 hrs. It is around -45 with the w/c right now so I have been going through 4 loose (light) bales during the day and I put 1 tight bale and about a 1/2 a loose bale along with 8-10 pieces of 4 1/2' lengths of poplar deadfall. That lasts me through the night (about 11 hrs total ).

Funny you should mention this. Last year a cuz and I was gonna go into the wood cuttin business. We only cut about 3 ricks and decided to end our job adventure. The first rick he was using a little measuring stick and marking his logs out that he was gonna cut. I, using my chain bar as a guide, was sawing away leaving him in my dust. Well he got upset cause when we started splitting the wood, using a hydralic woodspitter, my blocks were varyed in lenghts. He wanted all the blocks to be exactly 16 inches.

So the next rick I decided to use a measuring tape to measure with and used a roofing hammer to mark the logs. Well when we took all the blocks home to split, all my blocks were 1 1/2 inches longer then his. Once again he was all upset about it.

On the third rick I started measuring my logs out and had started cutting a few blocks when he came over to use his little stick to see if my measurements were right. Still my measurements were longer then his stick, so he asked me "Are you measureing these to be 16" long or 18" longs?" I told him I thought I was measuring them 16 inches. I got my measuring tape and measured one right before his eyes and it measured 16 inches. Then I stuck the tape measure up to his little stick and it measured only 14 1/2 inches long.

Well after we got that rick cut and split, he decided he wasn't gonna cut wood to sell anymore. So that was the last of our wood cutting partnership!

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r.h. in oklahoma

Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.

guess it goes back to the saying your never to OLD to learn. just stack it up and cut it in half that way you get several pieces at one cut.

I had a co-worker who would purchase a dump trailer load of oak slab wood from a sawmill that they would dump in his driveway. He had thick dowel and yellow tire crayon and would mark the ourside slab in 3 - 4 places and use them as guides to cut into the pile making a lot of right sized sections for his insert. After starting the cut the length would be evident as he cut in deeper.

I guess I have been lucky to have a close eye on lengths, I never measure I just cut what 'looks right'. If anything I cut short, might be more work and cuts but it all works out the same time wise, no measure='s faster cutting. I cut for my parents and never get any complaints other than 'we could use some more when you can. They never run out and have wood left over from year before last! lol
I do like the magnent and dowel rod idea, that sounds pretty neat. I used that method for a nut/bolt pick up tool while changing my starter a couple months ago and still have it.

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Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.
Ronald Reagan
We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
Ronald Reagan

Dh is an eyeballer too. Doesn't miss too often.

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May all your weeds be wildflowers.

http://www.democratsforlife.org/

LOL thats funny! Honest none of the rest of us have ever done that. no really we havent.........

I tend to cut a bit on the shorter side...makes it easier to handle.

I'm an eyeballer...

with our outdoor wood furnace, the problem last year was that our wood was too small and we ended up using 40 cord of firewood (but we did have 3 extra months of winter too with the hardest winter since 1952)..but this year we had our wood cuts much much larger, yeah they are fun to PUT INTO the stove..but they fit..and they sure burn longer being larger..should ahve even got more larger ones than we did !!!! so yeah..size matters

I do pretty good eyeballing it, measure with the chainsaw bar but not real careful. Generally get it right, but I do the wood handling by myself.

I remember as a kid being in the middle of those discussions between dad & mom - dad cut, mom would feed the furnace in the basement. Ah, the difference of opinion on how to get there from here.

You 2 make this a fun place to visit.

--->Paul

Marked stick and a machete whack.

If you took off say 6", instead of cutting in half, you might find those small hunks handy.

You can't say that and not post a pic!!!!

40 cords!?!?!?! That's roughly four semi-loads!

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

We used to have a good sized Franklin WS. It would take 20+".

Fianlly got a nice airtight, it will take a 16", but I have been cutting the new stuff to 14" Have had to cut a lot of old wood to short lengths myself.

In the spring,

Look for fireplace gloves on clearance. GREAT investment! No burned hands arms.

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We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....