Wood splitting, what do you do with your slag?

[Dead Horse]

I note that no matter how careful, splitting wood always generates a significant amount of slag (small bits of wood and bark). I hate the fact that there be labor in those bits and that I can't use them. I know some guys put them in a wood stove or fire pit right next to where they are splitting, for warmth and such, but My splitting chores are designed to be done by the end of October so there is no point in doing this.

I have often thought if I could bag up the stuff in burlap sacks I could then toss them into my outside wood fired boiler. At some point in time I may make up some sort of contraption with a plastic barrel to do just that.... right now I am only dreaming about it. I pitch fork the rakings up into the tractor loader and dump them where they can turn into mulch and are not in my way.

What do you guys do with your slag.

 

[murphy1244]

Burning it makes a lot of ash, but I do use some for starter wood.

 

[Oaktree]

I've found that not many pieces split evenly, so a lot of those oddball "slags" end up as shims on row ends to make them sit somewhat square and not rock back & forth.

The assorted bark and the like gets raked up and dumped in the woods.

 

[radioman]

I throw mine in tire ruts. It give the mud stability to drive over.

 

[RickB]

Many folk call it kindling.

 

[BethelHntr]

We use it to start fires.

 

[Clint S]

Same here as above, some of the pieces are saved for kindling and the rest is dumped in ruts on the road in the woods.

 

[MossRoad]

I put it in a plastic 55 gallon drum that has no lid and holes in the bottom. Then I put it in my tractor shed for a year. That dries it out, and it's next year's kindling. :thumbsup:

 

[SPYDERLK]

I save the big plastic dog food bags and bag most remanent splittings too small for the pile. Great kindling.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

We call that "Granny Wood". Back in the ole' days when the guys were done splitting, Granny went out to the wood yard and gathered her wood for the kitchen stove and as fire starters. Easier for Granny to control her oven heat using small pieces. Still do that today. Same granny wood and a couple sheets of newspaper and you have a fire going real quick.

Ron