Wood Cutting Question

[upnut]

A carpenter friend of mine uses an eight foot piece 1x4 firring strip drilled at desired length with a 1" spade bit, then paints thru the hole to mark exact lengths on the logs. I used his method on a pile of logs in the yard to make sure I had maximum length chunks that still fit in the splitter. Ran out of paint, so used the spade bit to mark cuts. A bit cumbersome, but uniform lengths. In the woods I use the chainsaw bar to measure cuts on the main body, tops get the eyeball method.

Scott B.

[mart]

I'm OCD enough about my firewood to want it all pretty close. My new stove is pretty tight with a 16" piece so have dropped back to 14". I just use a story stick and a piece of driveway chalk, the kind kids use to color on the sidewalk or driveway to mark each cut down the log.

[albirk]

I have a stick that fits in the stake pocket of my truck limb wood is all different lengths between 2 to 4 feet once I get to the log grab the stick out of the stake pocket and a can of spray paint and walk down the long making marks and yes you will have a short or long piece at the end. Once I get a load of limb wood it gets loaded in the truck and goes in the stove all week long. My stove does not care if it is a foot long or 4 feet long. All of the crotch pieces get tossed in with the limb wood.  

[Al_Smith]

I just guess at it

[zinc oxide]

 I tried a variety of ways, but simple is always appealing. I first started out using half-inch EMT conduit, mash the ends flat in a vise , close with a hammer, and then bend to 90° in the vice. Actually started making one leg longer, this one would catch in the saw kerf, and the shorter tab hit the log at an angle, leaving just a point on the 90 where the saw body would rub and not interfere with the set of pruning saw.

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In a 'Eureka' moment, (none of my various length conduit pieces were with me) I just screwed a fender washer into the end of a scrap piece of wood that I cut to length. It works so well that I made several of them for different lengths. It never hurts to pre-drill to avoid splitting. Don't have to worry about  hurting the set/dulling the teeth on the wood.

You can make a mark at least halfway around the circumference of most logs with one pull swipe. Very handy for when the log rolls when you're cutting if that is the case. With very little practice, you can mark the whole length in very little time. Don't even need to look at the washer, with a little practice, it will just automatically 'catch' in the kerf from the previous cut and you will be done in no time.  actually better that the saw is a little dull now,  a deep kerf did catch the washer too much from time to time, but still lightning fast comparatively speaking.

It certainly doesn't hurt to paint them a bright color either, still  end up hunting for them sometimes when I get in a hurry.


 


But probably the most productivity enhancing contraption I slapped together was this:
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Of course, the idea was stolen from the Internet. ( The version I saw), It looked like an orange newspaper tube that had triangular tabs punched inward, I believe on all four sides.


 

I had some off cuts from a lumber drying rack I made out of an old house trailer frame, and the 1/8 inch flat bar and 1 inch angle were in the scrap pile. I sharpened the angle iron on the top to give my prototype some chance of success, but I didn't even clean everything else as I would normally before welding, 'just a proof of concept' I was thinking to myself. I sort of had my heart set on constructing one that worked on the cantilever principal, I think 'Wranglestar' had a pretty good build video, and I like complicated, .

Don't pay attention to the hole being in the wrong place where it slides into the receiver, probably was alcohol involved there also, but to tell the truth it's been so many years I can't remember.


 

I think it's like a six-inch opening on the big end and goes down to approximately 2 inches, these dimensions are allowing for the teeth, etc. 'in the way'.

there is a lot of perfect firewood in branches, but they are difficult and dangerous to cut even with two people to some degree.

Without going on and on, anything that you can fit in there it will at least hold securely. Even  bowed branches will 'bite in' and hold 'upright' fairly securely.

I'm glad I made it swivel. You can build up quite a stack in just a hurry to the point where it is dangerous. Just swing the mouth over a little bit... Clear ground.  it works so well that I never built another... Properly.

really long branches sometimes touch the ground. At that point I just put a log (I use to carry around Jack stands but too heavy) to provide clearance. I generally use my body to brace the log anyhow, at least until I get a nice 'bed' of logs down which helps immensely.

[armechanic]

I personally don't worry about length, I have been cutting wood since 1962, so I cut what I cut.  Has anyone tried one of those measuring tapes loggers use ? It attaches to the belt and has a hook on the end to hang on the end of the log.  

[mike_belben]

I eyeball firewood but for bucking sawlogs i use a beat up carpenters tape with a sheetrock screw threaded through it.  Tap that into the butt with my hatchet so it holds, and then just use hatchet marks in the bark for cut marking. 

I prefer the carpenter tape over a loggers tape so that i dont have to do any math to mark out every log on a whole tree.  

[woodworker9]

I mark my bars with a red thick sharpie at 16".  I'm selling firewood, and I want neat bundles and stacks.



 

[Tacotodd]

WW9, I saw that red mark on your bar in another topic in the chainsaw threads, and was thinking " that has to be for measuring!" 

If my joints worked that way, I'd give myself a pat on the back, but in private.

[gspren]

My OWB will take 44" long and the splitter 24" but I've settled on 18" being my target length. Early in the cutting season I will mark some at 3' and it's easy to eyeball the middle to get 18". After I've cut a few I quit marking and just eyeball, it's usually pretty close but not a big deal when I wander off a bit.

[woodworker9]

WW9, I saw that red mark on your bar in another topic in the chainsaw threads, and was thinking " that has to be for measuring!"

If my joints worked that way, I'd give myself a pat on the back, but in private.

Yeah, I've been doing it that way for as long as I can remember.  Works well for me, and nothing in the way of working.  I don't think I'd like one of those long measuring rods in the way, but I shouldn't really say, because I've never tried it.  All 3 of my saws have the 16" mark......

[Spike60]

Lot's of interesting ideas here; fun to read. When I want to measure I do the same as mart; just use a stick and some playground chalk. I don't like any gizmos hanging of the saw though. OK on a clean log maybe, but if your in the woods or doing a top, it's bound to get in the way. And if you cut with several saws, then what? I'd also guess any of those paint can devices would require that the spray nozzle has to be cleared frequently? But whatever works is cool.

But after 30 years of cutting to 16", my eye is honed in to the point where it's very accurate and there's no need to measure. This probably applies to most guys. But the reverse is also true in that if cutting to a different length than you are used to, it's hard to stay on target. This usually comes up when guys are helping each other and I've never seen anyone that won't drift back to what they normally cut. Not too much help when the "helpers" wood won't fit in the stove.

[doc henderson]

I use the mingo marker some and shoot for a 16 inch log.  If you cut at a slight angle some will be longer after split than others.  my stove will take 24 inch sideways and up to 18 inch wood front to back.  I put a fire started in the middle of the stove or a little to the front where my air intake is.  then the wood can rest on the air intake box, and allow some space under the sticks to get the fire going.  at night I can stack to the top of the stove, and shut down the air, to burn all night long.  If I mark the central area of a top, it gives me the visual for the rest of the limbs.  if a limb looks 4 feet, it gets thirds to shoot for 16 inches.  my big log roller saw buck, is spaced 16 inches apart, so if I cut in the middle they come out ok.  and occasionally longer piece will go in when the fire is not too hot sideways.  



 

holding tree top over baskets



 

 

goes fast on standing dead trees.  ready to burn.



 

 

[mike_belben]

I spy belt conveyor giblets.  :laugh:

[Nebraska]

Depending on what device I cut for I shoot for a footish(small wood burning insert) or  from16 to 30 inches (wood furnace) depending on how heavy it's gonna be to handle to split. The fronts of my piles look fairly uniform,  just don't look at the back of the stack. :D
I have cut a stick and marked by one means or another before but not often.

[Nathan4104]

I had a pulp measuring whip mounted sideways on a bar nut.  Helped me eyeball until trained.   Then I bought a processor.   Now it comes out exactly the same, every time.  And adjustable in 1" increments!    (I love burning the short bits that are leftover) I've got some customers who were trained to be fussy, so now they 'need' 14", or 15", or 17", or heaven help us if we can't get 18".   Makes it hard to keep ahead on seasoned wood without preorders!  I love throwing in a stick that's an inch or two longer every now and then to the special customers, knowing they'll be fighting it as their stoves won't take anything a 1/4" longer than they asked for! 

[cutterboy]

 I love throwing in a stick that's an inch or two longer every now and then to the special customers, knowing they'll be fighting it as their stoves won't take anything a 1/4" longer than they asked for!

:D :D :D Nathan, shame on you.  :D :D :D

[mike_belben]

I routinely disrupt, scramble and interfere with my childrens plans so they can adapt to normal life and avoid snowflake syndrome.   


Drill instructors loved to flip your whole foot locker.  And in hindsight it was good for me to learn how to deal with that early on.  Crises are pretty easy for me to manage. 

[SFires]

I spy belt conveyor giblets.  :laugh:

I've never heard them called that before. Always known them as traughing rollers 

[carloscs]

I use this to mark my cuts: #91 Perfect Stick Firewood Measuring Tool Review - YouTube