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Storing sticks for firewood

 
gardener
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I love the idea of heating our house with the sticks from our yard, as presented in the Build a Better World in Your Backyard book! And now that we have our Walker cookstove built, we can actually do it. We have an overwhelming abundance of Asian bush honeysuckle sticks and I am eager to turn this problem into a solution. Trouble is, I haven't figured out a particularly efficient way of storing said sticks. I have tried a few things so far, but with not great results. Just setting them on the firewood rack leads to them falling off. I made a bay on the firewood rack out of plastic pallets, thinking I could just heap them in there so they didn't fall off. However, their curved shapes and extensive branching makes them not stack efficiently and tangle up, making a mess when I try to pull from it. Cutting every single individual stick so they're all separate would take forever, so not the best option. I've tried roughly stacking them off the ground where we cut them and gathering them as needed, but it doesn't feel that practical to have to go gather sticks daily, especially when they get snowed or rained on. I'm considering tying them together in bundles, possibly with twine, but more likely with Euonymous vines that need to be removed anyways. Then putting those bundles on the firewood rack. I realize finding a solution would probably be easier with sticks from a different species, but we have tons of the honeysuckle that needs to be cut down and no other practical way to get rid of it.

If you're heating your home with sticks, I'd love to hear what solutions you have found for storing them efficiently!
 
pollinator
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I use 55gal barrels for small bits of wood, though mine is mostly construction scraps. The space efficiency isn't great, but it's quick and easy. Your stuff might tangle to much... if so some sort of larger bin might still work.

Ibc with top removed, old fish tote, pallet with plywood sides...

If covered space is lacking a square bit of steel roofing with 2x4s screwed around the edges makes a dandy individual barrel lid..
 
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Idea: a narrow v-trench could be made with old pallets. Stack in enough sticks for a convenient size fire bundle (i.e., right size for your stove). Have one person stand on them while the other ties them. If needed, it's easy to cut them in half while they're compressed.
 
pollinator
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Not the best video, but it gives the general idea. You want to make faggots - a traditional technique for making firewood bundles from brash wood. They were used historically in the uk for things like fueling bread ovens, where the whole bundle would be burned as is.

 
Michael Cox
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ok, so it thinks "faggot" means something else.

Try searching directly on youtube
 
Michael Cox
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Heather Sharpe
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Michael Cox wrote:Not the best video, but it gives the general idea. You want to make faggots - a traditional technique for making firewood bundles from brash wood. They were used historically in the uk for things like fueling bread ovens, where the whole bundle would be burned as is.


Thanks! That definitely paints the picture of how I might go about the bundling. Burning the whole bundle as is what I was imagining, so this is perfect. Too bad about the video title making it not display right in the thread. I was able to get it to play by clicking "watch on youtube" under the age-restricted bit.
 
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We use the 27 gallon black plastic totes with flat yellow lids from Home Depot. Fairly cheap. They stack full or empty. They withstand freezing.

Like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Tough-Storage-Bin-in-Black-HDX27GONLINE-5/205978361

We haul leaves to the dump's leaf dump in them when we have extra leaves too.
 
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I try to keep anything for firewood as dry as possible under cover or a roof.
having problems right now with wet firewood
where is that shivering imogee?
 
Heather Sharpe
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Jennie Little wrote:We use the 27 gallon black plastic totes with flat yellow lids from Home Depot. Fairly cheap. They stack full or empty. They withstand freezing.

Like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Tough-Storage-Bin-in-Black-HDX27GONLINE-5/205978361

We haul leaves to the dump's leaf dump in them when we have extra leaves too.


I bet those would work well for straighter sticks. But the honeysuckle's wacky shape doesn't stack or compact well. It'd be all air space, very little wood stored and a ton of totes needed. They could well be a solution for someone else working with different sticks though! I've always wondered if those holes for tie downs in the lids cause these totes to leak. Have you had an issue with that?

bruce Fine wrote:I try to keep anything for firewood as dry as possible under cover or a roof.
having problems right now with wet firewood
where is that shivering imogee?


Good call, that is essential for sure. Sorry to hear about the wet firewood struggles, I know them all too well. Hope you get that sorted so you can stay warm!
 
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Imvadive honeysuckle  covers the hill i live on.
I have heard that honeysuckle isn't a good firewood.
Because of that, I've thought biochar was the preferable way to use them.
Chippers get a bad rap but I think chipping them would make storing, drying and burning them pretty easy.

 
Heather Sharpe
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William Bronson wrote:Imvadive honeysuckle  covers the hill i live on.
I have heard that honeysuckle isn't a good firewood.
Because of that, I've thought biochar was the preferable way to use them.
Chippers get a bad rap but I think chipping them would make storing, drying and burning them pretty easy.


It isn't the best firewood, certainly. It can hold on to moisture for a long time. If it's dry enough, it works okay, especially in the spring and fall when it's not as cold. At first we burned it for biochar and may do that some more. There's just so much! Alas, a chipper has proven somewhat impractical to get in and out of our property. Might do that when we get to the stuff out by the road though, good idea!
 
D Nikolls
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Heather Sharpe wrote:

Jennie Little wrote:We use the 27 gallon black plastic totes with flat yellow lids from Home Depot. Fairly cheap. They stack full or empty. They withstand freezing.

Like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Tough-Storage-Bin-in-Black-HDX27GONLINE-5/205978361

We haul leaves to the dump's leaf dump in them when we have extra leaves too.


I bet those would work well for straighter sticks. But the honeysuckle's wacky shape doesn't stack or compact well. It'd be all air space, very little wood stored and a ton of totes needed. They could well be a solution for someone else working with different sticks though! I've always wondered if those holes for tie downs in the lids cause these totes to leak. Have you had an issue with that?



Those totes do leak if rained on but it is quite minimal. No good for things thst need to be *really* dry unless under a roof imo.
 
D Nikolls
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Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Idea: a narrow v-trench could be made with old pallets. Stack in enough sticks for a convenient size fire bundle (i.e., right size for your stove). Have one person stand on them while the other ties them. If needed, it's easy to cut them in half while they're compressed.



With some fuss, I could see setting something pallet-based up to do this with one person; some sturdy branches on bolts as big levers to compress the bundle, locking in to a simple notch, perhaps?

Make it long enough to do bundles 3 or 4 times the desired stove size... compress in several points, tie them off, buck into set lengths with chainsaw..


Tbh I would probably spend the time on a charcoal making setup, or building hugels with the honeysuckle instead.. but if you don't have good access to better fuel, this is maybe a good way to handle it...
 
Michael Cox
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We used to have a smaller chipper. The one thing it reliably couldn’t cope with was honeysuckle. It is too flexible and ended up getting tied in knots around the blades.

Biochar does sound like a good option to me.
 
I agree. Here's the link: http://stoves2.com
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