Branch logging.

[coppice cutter]

Have just acquired a secondhand branch logger which will be used for our own firewood only.

 

I'll be using it primarily on green wood and would hope to store the loggings in a pile under cover but I'm a wee bit worried that they might be very slow drying if the pile is too big.

 

Has anyone else using one found any difficulties in getting the processed material dried out properly?

 

*edit* - when I say "under cover" I mean under a roof, not a cover over the pile.

Edited August 27, 2023 by coppice cutter

[AHPP]

Yep. They dry badly. Net bags of 3" to twigs went mouldy for me. Trimmed out bigger stuff might be better. Milling scabs would fine I reckon. Straight into stackable supermarket shopping delivery crates would be one way of doing it. Depends on your arrangements and appetite for handling/moving things.

 

I suspect if you had a drying floor available you wouldn't be asking us.

Edited August 27, 2023 by AHPP

[trigger_andy]

30 minutes ago, coppice cutter said:

Have just acquired a secondhand branch logger which will be used for our own firewood only.

 

I'll be using it primarily on green wood and would hope to store the loggings in a pile under cover but I'm a wee bit worried that they might be very slow drying if the pile is too big.

 

Has anyone else using one found any difficulties in getting the processed material dried out properly?

 

*edit* - when I say "under cover" I mean under a roof, not a cover over the pile.

I used a branch logger fairly often. We log into 1.25m3 vented bags with zero issues. They dry super fast with a breeze. 

[scbk]

The guy "way out west" on youtube made his own branch logger, then a little railway system with cage wagons, and sidings in a polytunnel that is open at both ends, I bet that dries the wood in no time 

 

 

 

 

 

[slack ma girdle]

I've had no issues with drying in barrow bags.

[coppice cutter]

4 hours ago, AHPP said:

Yep. They dry badly. Net bags of 3" to twigs went mouldy for me. Trimmed out bigger stuff might be better.

 

I suspect if you had a drying floor available you wouldn't be asking us.

Correct Alex, any cereals grown were always for stock feed so preservation was the objective rather than drying.

 

I'm pretty happy dealing with stuff at present down to inch and a half or so, therefore it's primarily below this that I see the branch logger working for me as rather than trimming out or discarding fine material (time consuming or wasteful respectively), I'll just feed the last stuff in to it. Should do especially well with hazel and willow I'm thinking.

 

Also have a lot of crab apple to trim back this winter which is great burning but hardly a straight six inches on it so it'll just all get fed in. But I'd probably want to process every few days or so to prevent too much getting ahead of me however I'd have enough covered space to be able to hold that until it was at least surface dry.

 

The vented bags seems like a decent option as I have a drying alley in the hayshed for any hay that's rushed a bit and they could sit there with good airflow around them.

[AHPP]

I reckon the small stuff you're talking about is the hardest to dry. Good luck. I hope I'm wrong.

[coppice cutter]

17 minutes ago, AHPP said:

I reckon the small stuff you're talking about is the hardest to dry. Good luck. I hope I'm wrong.

No, I think you're probably right, but fore-warned is fore-armed.

 

A bit of experimentation required no doubt but I know some on here have done well with it as a method so will be worth the effort hopefully.

[david lawrence]

I have found that The fine twiggy bits may be more trouble than they are worth good for kindling or cheering up the fire but that’s about it

mine go in barrow bags or nets no bother drying stacked then covered above only in winter

if you just lie them in a heap may have to turn them a bit ??

[AHPP]

To continue pissing on your chips, net bags are miserable. The twigs get stuck in every hole.