Estimating the length of a 4ft stick of firewood.

[KBforester]

Anybody cut their firewood into 4ft sections for easy handling before they process it further? I'd like to incorporate this into my firewood cutting, but I'm not sure how to accurately estimate 4ft lengths. Do you measure each piece? I don't think they make a quick stick in a 4 ft length  ;D
I'm tiered of ending up with lots of short pieces.

[Radar67]

Make your own quick stick. A piece of oak will last a long time as a measuring device.

[beenthere]

Two ways I do, to cut my 18" firewood length. Use the saw bar as a measuring tool...it is a 20" bar and just waving the bar along the log/branch to be cut will get it pretty close. The other way is to fell the trees, and cut a measuring stick in the woods that is 90" long. Buck and haul the 90" wood back to a landing for splitting, where I piece out the 18" lengths. When stacked in a pile, it is easier to spot where the 18" lengths are at from previous cuts. It has ended my short lengths.

As radar says, a stick 4' long will work too. Maybe the full length of the saw (blade and handle comes close to 24" which could be used to get a quick estimate for 4' length. Carrying a stick is sometimes a nuisance.

Pacing may be another way...all foresters can pace.

[SwampDonkey]

Thousands of cords of 4' pulp were measured and cut with a stick of 4' fir or spruce about 1" on the big end that when dried is very light and strong and doesn't snap off like a dry piece of aspen. A lot of fellas will pile up a bunch of logs and cut the 4' sections on maybe 6 logs all the way along and only measure one log in the pile. The buts are kept fairly even, there is always nubbins no matter how you do it.

[snowstorm]

has no one ever had a tail on there saw?

[MrPete]

I was thinking the same thing snowstorm. Most any saw shop sells fiberglass tails for your saw so you can mark your 4 ft.  At least here in Maine.

[isawlogs]

 I have had a fiberglass tail on a saw for a long time. They still carry those and are really easy to put on, only need two holes drilles and then you cut the tail to what ever number suites you. 

[wheelinguy]

mingo marker, we cut our firewood two feet, two marks from the marker = 4ft.

[SwampDonkey]

Never see them ever used here, but I know what they are. Never complained about a stick that didn't cost anything. ;)

[UN Hooker]

  I built "tails" for my saws that screw on. I remove the front bar nut and replace it with the tail. I used 1/4" nylon rod, that comes in 6' lengths.
  If you look at the two saws on the left, you can see the tails.



 
 

[shelbycharger400]

when i went on long hauls , i would "pace" the log,   making a small cut mark,  then cutting through on the next piece  . I would have 2 section long pieces all the way up to around 8 to 10 in diameter.  after this size , no matter the type of wood it became just to heavy to handle. I learned this after cutting several at 3 sections.     best to just cut 4 inch and under to length  because to length pieces of polewood are ready and done,  i hate recutting a large pile of polewood, worse yet is you have half a row of just polewood cause you already stackd the good stuff, and your now trying to clean up the mess .   It did cut down on the time cutting and loading, and saw maintence time, its way easier to resharp the saw at home, taking your time than when your in the field  be it 5 miles or 200 miles away from home.

[isawlogs]

 There is also the body of the saw that you could use, most are 16" long, three lenght of the saw and you have your 48. The tail is just so much faster to mesure the 48.

[wheelinguy]

If you have a partner, in my case its my wife, they go ahead of you marking the log and all you do is walk along cutting on the paint dots that the mingo puts out.  Its pretty inexpensive and its flourescent green so its hard to loose, we love ours.

[thecfarm]

I just use my saw for two feet. But I think a tail would be easier for 4 feet. Just have to measure once instead of twice.

[NWP]

Use the inverted marking paint and a 4 ft stick.  Wouldn't take long to mark a tree in 4 ft lengths.  I'm not sure that 4 ft. pieces and easy handling go together though.  How do you handle it after it is 4 ft long?

[KBforester]

Use the inverted marking paint and a 4 ft stick.  Wouldn't take long to mark a tree in 4 ft lengths.  I'm not sure that 4 ft. pieces and easy handling go together though.  How do you handle it after it is 4 ft long?

Well if I were just ordering tree length wood every year, your right, there would be not point in going 4ft first. But what I plan to do in the future is cut my own, in my wood lot, and load 4ft sticks on a trailer and pull it out with my little tractor. The tractor doesn't have enough power to make skidding terribly productive. I can load a lot more wood, in one trip with a trailer.

THIS year though, I've got more complex problems. I had my woodlot logged last year and I had them leave me a couple of years worth of firewood. I of course bit off more than I could chew, and didn't have enough time to process more than what I needed for this winter. So I figured I have to go through it, get some air circulating as fast as possible. So taking apart the tree length piles and stacking the 4ft should prevent too much rot. I'm dealing with larch firewood here, so its already a little rot resistant. But its a wet climate, so I got to get to it. I'' have all I need for next winter split soon.

[macpower]

Come on guys, duck tape and a piece of old garden hose. Tape the hose to the handle, measure 4' from the bar tip and cut it off. Zero investment, no holes in your saw, and you cut it off with your pocket knife when you're done.

[GoStumpy]

Estimating the length of a 4ft stick of firewood.

I'd estimate it to be around four feet!  :D :D :D

[John Mc]

I started out doing what you are proposing. I dropped the trees, cut them to 4 foot lengths and loaded them into my trailer for further processing back at home. I dropped that idea after one season. Cutting to 4 foot lengths just added more handling to my processing. I also ended up with a good mess o bark, wood chips and such piling up around the house.

I now drop the trees, skid them to trailside with my tractor (the logging winch helps a lot with this, but I was able to do quite a bit of this even before I got the winch) I cut to length trailside. Sometimes it gets stacked in the round by the trail for a while, other times it gets split and thrown in the trailer to haul back home.

Generally, it doesn't move much from where it fell until it's split. I could skid the logs to a central location for further processing, but it's easier to just bring my splitter and trailer to the wood. No mess at home, and minimal dirt loading up the logs and dulling my chain. My woods trailer only holds about a half cord anyway, so it doesn't take much of a pile to fill it. No point in dragging multiple cords worth into one location

[KBforester]

I started out doing what you are proposing. I dropped the trees, cut them to 4 foot lengths and loaded them into my trailer for further processing back at home. I dropped that idea after one season. Cutting to 4 foot lengths just added more handling to my processing. I also ended up with a good mess o bark, wood chips and such piling up around the house.

I now drop the trees, skid them to trailside with my tractor (the logging winch helps a lot with this, but I was able to do quite a bit of this even before I got the winch) I cut to length trailside. Sometimes it gets stacked in the round by the trail for a while, other times it gets split and thrown in the trailer to haul back home.

Generally, it doesn't move much from where it fell until it's split. I could skid the logs to a central location for further processing, but it's easier to just bring my splitter and trailer to the wood. No mess at home, and minimal dirt loading up the logs and dulling my chain. My woods trailer only holds about a half cord anyway, so it doesn't take much of a pile to fill it. No point in dragging multiple cords worth into one location

Yeah I've thought about that too... trouble with my woodlot is, I have to cut it in the winter, so pulling the splitter out through the snow would be a pain, not to mention I'd rather not split in the snow in general... too much standing around getting cold. But what I intended to do was cut it 4ft and bring it to the "Landing" and processing it there. I suppose I could cut it into rounds in the woods... but I'd rather use  the http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=15730&catID=  on the landing. I could bring that in the woods on the trailer too... I'll give both a try, see what I like. The landing is a good 600 ft from my house. Unfortunately the lot is long and narrow.

But like I said, right now I'm cutting firewood my logger left me, which is right next to the house in the hay field. So I have to deal with the mess for a little while.

[KBforester]

Estimating the length of a 4ft stick of firewood.

I'd estimate it to be around four feet!  :D :D :D

Yesnoooow You are correct Sir!

[r.man]

If you use the marking stick method make sure you paint the ends. This will let you know if you nip off some of the end of the stick without noticing at the time. I once cut a bunch of logs 7 ft 6 inches long because I didn't notice I had cut a bit off my measuring pole.

[Al_Smith]

Try as I might I can't see what the advantage could be with 4 feet lengths of firewood fodder .Unless it were skinny little fence post sized stuff or something .If it had any size to it like over 12" you couldn't  lift them anyway at 4 feet long .

Years back we did cut long lengths of 8-10 feet of little stuff later to be fed through a buzz saw .Still have the old buzzer but haven't used it for 30 years .

IMO you're better off to leave the mess in the woods and haul the wood home in cut lengths ,maybe split it at home .

[SwampDonkey]

I wouldn't mess with 4 foot either, when it's hardwood. But it sounds like it's small softwood sticks to me , like tamarack. Well, with a pulp hook in one hand and the other to aim the throw, this was the old way that many used up until mechanization of the 80's. I guess the sticks must be standing, because if it's winter that your going to buck the firewood and worried about taking a splitter in, then trying to locate the stick under 3 feet of snow should be fun to. ;D So I assume it's all standing. Still seems like a lot of work for softwood firewood.

[John Mc]

When I tried the 4 foot length method, I was dragging or carrying hardwood from where it dropped to the trailer parked on the trail. I used the one-handed log tongs to grab them. I went up to about 8" diameter, occasionally more. if the diameter was much less, I would drag longer pieces.  My thinking was that dragging 4 footers was less work than cutting to 16" and making multiple trips carrying those.  In retrospect, dragging those was a lot of work. Fortunately, it was generally a slight downhill slope.

Then I got a tougher trailer that I could get closer to the logs, and also hooked chains to my tractor to drag tree length short distances. Now that I have a logging winch, my methods have changed a lot. Even when I don't have the winch on the tractor, I never go back to dragging 4 ft lengths.