Tree sizes for firewood.

[Cami]

I was reading the wood splitter thread in this section that featured a pretty cool firewood processor. There was talk of what sized logs different processors could handle and it got me to thinking...

How has the quality/size of wood changed in your area over the course of your life?

I'm from the Nootka Sound area of Vancouver Island and the logs we used for firewood when I was growing up were 3 feet at the butt and would be considered prime wood today. The crazy thing is that I'm only 34 years old.

Locally split shakes could be two feet wide and a shed roof went up pretty quickly...Not anymore. There's lots of big trees left but they're either protected or so remote that harvesting isn't cost effective....assuming there are any buyers for them...

What about where you live?

 

[niemeyjt]

Around here there are two sources of wood (at least for me).

Firstly trees that have been taken down for whatever reason (safety / dead / diseased etc) which I guess can be any size. As these are growing in the open, they do not have the long trunks of trees growing in woodlands and striving for light, so I guess the trunks are not sufficiently long, straight and knot-free for timber.

Secondly, historically when land was cleared for farming, wet area were left as woodlands. The wood is taken for firewood on a rotation - 15 to 20 years or so for firewood (less for Hazel areas) - called coppicing where a tree is cut above ground to leave a stump from which regrowth appears. This regrowth is then cut again 15 to 20 years later and so on. This gives many trunks of relatively small diameter used for firewood which is ideal for a processor. I suppose in olden times, these smaller trunks were also easier for felling etc with hand-tools.

Whether this is the same elsewhere in Europe (from where many of the firewood processors originate) I do not know - I guess so. As this has been going on for hundreds, even thousands of years, little has changed in my life, apart from a massive grubbing of woodlands post WW2 in an attempt to become self-sufficient in food.

J

Edit - just to clarify - grubbing started post WW2 and carried on into 70s - WW2 was not "in my lifetime".

 

[keegs]

Most of the wood I burn here in Jersey, and I burn a good bit every year, I pick up along the side of the road, left there typically by the contractors the local power companies hire to trim around the lines. I prefer the limbs, about 6 inches in diameter because they're easier/lighter to transport and require little or no splitting. If I had to guess, it burns the same or maybe even a little slower. Wood isn't the primary fuel I use to heat the house though.

 

[magicheater]

Since I have a boiler I am not fussy about what I burn as long as it is dry enough. I scavenge wood when I can, just saved two trailer loads from a burn pile. Have 10 acres that I pull out dead and down trees for processing. Also recycle old pallet wood through my masonry stove (home built). The pallet wood is free and easy but it does have nails to deal with, since nether on my wood burning devices has a grate it is not so much of a hassle, just can't spread on the garden. When I do cut a live tree it is either for lumber or is damaged/nuisance. Most of the old growth white pines are gone here but I do have a 250+ year old red oak in my yard that is nearing 4' in diameter!

 

[jimmyj]

From time to time I buy loads of logs to cut and split. They are culls that the sawmills reject. There are still some pretty big ones, say 20 to 24 inches at the butt, but no monsters. It seems the really big trees are hollow or rotten in the heartwood so the mills don't want them. For firewood I actually prefer what I call "2 splitters" which are rounds about 16 inches across, split them like an X and you have 4 nice pieces.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Since I have a boiler I am not fussy about what I burn as long as it is dry enough. I scavenge wood when I can, just saved two trailer loads from a burn pile. Have 10 acres that I pull out dead and down trees for processing. Also recycle old pallet wood through my masonry stove (home built). The pallet wood is free and easy but it does have nails to deal with, since nether on my wood burning devices has a grate it is not so much of a hassle, just can't spread on the garden. When I do cut a live tree it is either for lumber or is damaged/nuisance. Most of the old growth white pines are gone here but I do have a 250+ year old red oak in my yard that is nearing 4' in diameter!

A good strong magnet gets the nails out of the ashes well.
larry

 

[captaincrab55]

A good strong magnet gets the nails out of the ashes well.
larry

I'll second that....:thumbsup: I used pallet boards to heat my house for 5 years... I had a pallet rebuilding company located about 20 minutes from my house & they paid me to haul the bad boards away.. Boards were cubed on a pallet and the loaded them on my pick-up and 16' landscape type trailer. Nails, Nails & more Nails, so I purchased a Magnet from Northern that would release the nails from the magnet so I could clean the ashes....

Currently, I getting logs from a local tree trimmer for Free (delivered free too).. The logs are mixed woods, mostly pine... The pine burns fine in my outside boiler (water furnace)..

I use any size logs for firewood that are Free....

 

[LBrown59]

WW2 was not "in my lifetime".

I was born near the begining of it 1940.

My wife was born near the end of it 1945.

 

[Marveltone]

Here in northern Minnesota we primarily heat with Tamarack and Poplar. Both species grow relatively fast, and much of the Tamarack I burn is from second growth reforested areas where selective harvesting is practiced and maintained. The poplar grows like weeds up here, so it's plentiful and I can get plenty of good firewood by just thinning out the dead standing trees.

Whereas most of the trees I cut are probably 16" diameter or less, I really don't feel the need for anything bigger, as it gets too hard to handle. I also prefer the "two split" sizes to the bigger stuff.

I guess My point is, I burn about 12 cords a year as my primary heat source, and I don't mind cutting from the smaller second growth forests, as they serve my needs just fine.

 

[Highbeam]

There's a reason my primary chainsaw has a 20" bar. We still run into the 3 footers here in the NW, doug fir of course with the occasional cottonwood or red cedar that burn just fine in modern stoves when you dry your wood.

I prefer the smaller second or third growth stuff that is 1-2 feet at the base since the huge rounds are just so heavy to lift to the splitter. I don't waste wood though so I spend lots of time cutting to the tip and anything reasonably straight goes into the stack.

I heat 100% with wood and due to insulation and a fancy soapstone wood stove am down to less than 5 cords per year.

 

[grnspot110]

I prefer trees not more than two feet in diameter for the safety aspect, I've cut 4' Oaks & it's more difficult to control that big of a tree. I also like a 16" bar, although my saw will easily handle a 20". I have an endless supply of Oak, Hickory, Honey Locust, & various other timber, so I can afford to be picky about what I cut! ~~ grnspot110

 

[Skyco]

I prefer wood about 12" or so diameter. I use anything I can get.
Problem with the big stuff is moving it out of the woods. I have a hickory (I think) blowdown right now in a difficult spot. If I cut a 16" length out of the butt end it will weigh 300+ lbs...I can't pick that up and ground is too steep to roll it uphill to the trail, can't get the splitter to it either. Yet I hate to see such a great tree with a huge amount of firewood in it rot away on the ground...

 

[om21braz]

In the process of getting a friend of mine ready for winter. He heats entirely from wood and likes a combination of 4"-6" up to maybe 16" dia. pieces. The large pieces are to go thru the night with. We gave his splitter a workout (us too) with some stumps I cut off in the 30" to 40" range last week. Hopefully he'll be in good shape this year and not having to burn unseasoned wood for a change.

 

[ToadHill]

Before I bought my forest land it had been "High Graded" and since beech isn't of much value it was left to grow. I'm trying to bring the forest back to a harvestable condition buy encouraging Sugar Maple and Black Cherry so I've been clearing out beech for the last 6 or 7 years.

Much of it had beech bark disease and that is being cut first. The beech that I harvest ranges form 12" to 34" at the butt.

I'm leaving a few good larger beech to produce mast for the wild turkeys.

 

[dave1949]

I prefer wood about 12" or so diameter. I use anything I can get.
Problem with the big stuff is moving it out of the woods. I have a hickory (I think) blowdown right now in a difficult spot. If I cut a 16" length out of the butt end it will weigh 300+ lbs...I can't pick that up and ground is too steep to roll it uphill to the trail, can't get the splitter to it either. Yet I hate to see such a great tree with a huge amount of firewood in it rot away on the ground...

Ditto on messing with the big stuff. But, maybe you could get some cable and log chain and use them to pull the cut pieces of that big hickory up to the trail with your tractor. If you have to buy the cable and maybe a pulley if you need to turn a corner, it probably won't be worth it for a one-time use.

If you have cordless drill to make a pilot hole, you could sink a big eye bolt lag screw into the hickory to hook onto.

And, there are splitting wedges and mauls that can be thrown down the hill :laughing: You need to get all the possible warmth out of that hickory
Dave.

 

[RickB]

There's a reason my primary chainsaw has a 20" bar. We still run into the 3 footers here in the NW, doug fir of course with the occasional cottonwood or red cedar that burn just fine in modern stoves when you dry your wood.

The reason I have a 20" bar on my saw is so I don't have to bend over so far!

 

[beenthere]

The reason I have a 20" bar on my saw is so I don't have to bend over so far!

I second that reason.
But I also find the 20" bar is good for reaching when knocking down tops, and for the range of tree sizes I have to cut.
As far as preferred size of tree for firewood....they all burn and only my back and stamina limit the sizes I prefer.

 

[wolc123]

I dont have a preference for size since getting a horizontal/vertical splitter and will cut anything between 6" and 40" diameter or so. I would get bored with cutting the same size all the time. I split the big pieces in the vertical mode and just roll them over to the splitter and work from a seat, while the splitter bed-height is perfect for standing up and working on smaller pieces in the horizontal mode. I use a smaller saw (14" bar) whenever I can because is much lighter and easy on my back. I will cut anything over 12" or so diameter with my larger saw (20" bar), but when the trees are down I do most of the limbing with the smaller saw. I use the big saw to cut the larger pieces most of the way thru, then roll them over and finish them off with the small saw. I can sharpen the blade real fast on the smaller saw, but it dont hold an edge quite as long as the big one. I enjoy making firewood and having the right equipment: Saws, Splitter, Tractors, loader or boom, carryall, log tongues, chains, and cables takes most of the drudgery out of the job. Having a nice woodlot at the back of my farm and never needing to haul wood over the highway is a great benefit also, as is having a big woodshed where I can keep several years worth stacked.

 

[Marveltone]

We're planning on some home improvement projects this summer. A new basement with lots of wood storage is big on my list. I'm tired of my firewood getting rained on.

 

[dave1949]

We're planning on some home improvement projects this summer. A new basement with lots of wood storage is big on my list. I'm tired of my firewood getting rained on.

Maybe if it is a walk-out basement with plenty of ventilation. A basement wouldn't be my first choice for firewood storage. I'd be worried about hosting insects and mice inside the house. If the wood was fully cured when you put it in the basement, then it's not so bad.

You could consider a bulkhead-type basement entry designed to allow you to dump ready to burn wood from your FEL bucket into a wood bin in the basement. When you can eliminate handling the wood a stick at a time where possible, wood is more fun.

I always said the next house I build, the wood shed slab will get poured same time as the house foundation. Never happened The tarps and such do get old. Finally, I realized that the wood will cure just fine (here) dumped in a pile from the FEL bucket in the open with no tarps. Rain and snow on the outside is not the same as moisture content on the inside. I wait for a spell of good drying weather in late summer/fall and bring enough inside the garage for the season.

I would still like to have a small wood shed
Dave.