Advice on chopping logs for wood stove

celerity

I have well over five tonnes of wood that I've felled from my garden, and am in the process of chainsawing it to size and storing it for a year or two of seasoning.

The chainsaw is fine for chopping up logs that are less than say, 10cm in diameter. However, some of the wood is tree trunks, which are more than twice this thick. I can still cut it (it just takes longer and makes the chainsaw rather hot!) but the resulting logs are too thick to comfortably burn in our stove. Is there any reasonably easy way to split them like commercial seasoned wood?

I did see a "log splitter" tool a while back, which was like an oversize "spear head" which you pound into a log with a sledgehammer and it supposedly splits it four ways. At the time I was too tight to buy it though - they wanted about twelve quid for it . Has anyone used one of these, and are they any good?

Also, much of my wood is (unfortunately) leylandii, which is oozing horrible resin. I'm hoping that after a year or so it will be ready to burn without gumming up my flue. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Cheers,

/\dam

Gloomendoom

I think you are referring to a log grenade. I use a log splitting maul. It's rather like a sledge hammer with a wedge shaped head. It works well once you get the knack and is very satisfying to use.

Leylandii doesn't make the best firewood but it will burn. I've not had a problem with gummed up chimneys... but then I haven't burnt five tons of it.

Sobraon

I use steel wedges, like a thick 2" wide cold chisel along with a 20lb sledge hammer. Wedges will cut a section cleanly in half. I have looked at the "grenades" but on the principle that simplest is often best I have stuck with (cheaper) wedges.

BTW if your chainsaw is getting hot (checked oil feed?) then you might consider putting the £12 toward an electric chainsaw sharpener (got mine of ebay) which are great bits of kit and and produce a nice uniform and really sharp chain compared to sharpening a chain using a file.

celerity

@ Gloomendoom - cheers, I've just ordered an 8lb maul and a "log grenade" from Screwfix. Should give me a good workout next week .
re: the leylandii, I have so much of the stuff I'll almost certainly be burning it. It's nasty stuff to move around though as it oozes really sticky resin which is a nightmare to remove from skin - gloves are essential! I know it burns like fury even when green as we burned the trimmings and greenery once we'd felled them and the flames were a good 20' high...

@ Sobraon - a 20lb sledge hammer - are you built like Conan the Barbarian?! I'm quite new to chainsawing to be honest. Mine (which I think is this model, a few years old and a bit battered) gets very hot* near the handgrip if I rev it up fully for even a short amount of time. The oil I've used is car diesel oil, but the engine is unleaded petrol. I was told this would work fine, is that correct? I'm talking about the separate oil tank by the way, the fuel also has some kind of oil mixed with it but this was supplied by the company that maintain the chainsaw for us, so I'm pretty sure that is OK.

I have a spare chain but haven't looked into sharpening them. If you are happy with your sharpener purchase could you post the model you bought please?

/\dam

* as in, it burns my hand, even through gloves.

Mankysteve

Leylandii leave for as long as you can to dry out 2years plus and then burn in a hot fire dont slow burn it. Don't burn anything green you'll end up gumming up your cinema.

zeupater

Hi

If the Leylandii have only recently been felled you'll be better off not trying to burn them this winter, so there's no rush to split them yet. Leave the splitting until late autumn, that way you can get away with not putting the heating on so early .... swinging a splitting maul provides a good work-out and will cause you to break into a good sweat even when it's well below zero ...

When dry, the Leylandii logs will burn hot and quickly ..... 25x30 foot(+) trees with 18" to 24" diameter bases lasted me around 3 seasons when I had them taken down a number of years ago. I found it useful to leave some logs which would just about fit within the burner combustion chamber whole as these are good to keep a well set fire ticking-over for hours, or even overnight.

HTH & happy splitting ....
Z

greyteam1959

Sounds to me like the chain is very blunt.
It should be cutting that sort or timber like butter.
If you have 5 tonnes of wood to saw up you should be sharpening the chain nearly ever day !!

zeupater

mervyn11 wrote: »

Sounds to me like the chain is very blunt.
It should be cutting that sort or timber like butter.
If you have 5 tonnes of wood to saw up you should be sharpening the chain nearly ever day !!

Hi

10cm blade and the unit becoming hot sounds like an electric saw to me (?), and they're not designed for anything other than light & occasional use.

I have a petrol saw with a 400mm bar and an electric allegator with a 100mm cut. The allegator does seem to get a little warm when pushed, but that's not very often.

HTH
Z

celerity

zeupater wrote: »

When dry, the Leylandii logs will burn hot and quickly ..... 25x30 foot(+) trees with 18" to 24" diameter bases lasted me around 3 seasons when I had them taken down a number of years ago. I found it useful to leave some logs which would just about fit within the burner combustion chamber whole as these are good to keep a well set fire ticking-over for hours, or even overnight.

Cheers, that's really good to know as I have dozens more leylandii I'd like to get rid of over the next few years (DIY, in relatively inaccessible positions, so it needs some careful planning).

/\dam

celerity

mervyn11 wrote: »

Sounds to me like the chain is very blunt.
It should be cutting that sort or timber like butter.
If you have 5 tonnes of wood to saw up you should be sharpening the chain nearly ever day !!

Cheers, I haven't used a new chainsaw before, so have no reference point as to how much better that would be. I will put the new chain on so I can compare, and then probably order a sharpener.

/\dam

celerity

zeupater wrote: »

10cm blade and the unit becoming hot sounds like an electric saw to me (?), and they're not designed for anything other than light & occasional use.

It's a petrol chainsaw (albeit only a small one - a link to the model is above) - I only mentioned 10cm as that is the kind of diameter that it is very easy to cut. The thicker stuff is still doable, it's just a bit harder.

/\dam