Man! It's a struggle for me to come up with right words to convey even the simplest of ideas.... It just flows out of you and with the greatest ease and comfort. Talk about skills??? ... Such a skilled communicator, friend. Thanks!
Thanks David. Some of it is probably nature, but mostly it's not an accident. It's been a long and intentional journey to be someone that can do that. I still can't do it as well as I'd like sometimes, but I just keep myself pointed in that direction. RUclips has been good for developing that skill more for sure... and thank goodness for editing! :)
I didn't even know people were so worried about wood chips. I usually just burn them. Use them as kindling to get the fire nice and hot to ignite the logs. Then I take the coal and ash, and throw them on the compost heap. As the summer goes by and the heat reduces the compost and the rain leeches the carbon and minerals throughout the heap, I keep adding more biomass and charcoal. In autumn, after I rake and burn the leave, I lay the compost all over my land, and spread the leaf ash over it. People laugh that it looks like a wasteland. But in the spring, when the snow melts and the rains come, all that goodness leeches into the soil and my land is a vibrant green weeks ahead of everyone else's. I enjoy cutting and splitting with axes. It's relaxing, I don't need a gym membership, and I have always enjoyed it since I was little and was first given the respect of being competent enough to use an axe.
People are surprisingly concerned about wood chips. Strange, but it's one of the most common comments or concerns I see. It provided some good talking points anyway.
Thank-you for letting us see the chickens, my wife's follow me around too. Doesn't help that I turn over rocks & others items laying flat on the ground & watch them gather the bugs n critters then the moist new sprouts that creep along the edges. Thank-you again, I learn by watching you.
Best advice I gleaned "If I'm a chicken never follow someone with an axe, especially into the woods" Now back to the point You presented all sides very well! Hard to argue for either side on this one Good Video BeSafe!
Im really enjoying your channel. I have started work on thinning out my ravine using my axe as much as possible. Your "flipping the axe vs swinging the axe" comment was a GAMECHANGER! Thanks for putting the content out there. I was also wondering what to do with the chips, so this helps!
Awesome, stay safe. Those people back east don't know how easy they have it with all those tall straight trees not covered in branches close to the ground.
Really enjoying watching your videos, learning plenty, and in a way it's improving my understanding of my own immediate environment. which in a way is giving me a new stream of consciousness or at least a way to re-evaluate my environmental thinking, and a chance to pause and take stock of the resources in my own back yard. Like wise I want to maybe share or extend my gratitude, I don't have much money, but I do have spare tools that I've collected over the years, and I'd like to pass along a few files to you. I just don't know how I could arrange that, let me know, and thanks so much for the hard work you're putting into these videos you are putting on RUclips. Cheers.
Cool, thanks! That sounds interesting. Best way to contact me is through the contact link on Skillcult.com, or send me a private message on RUclips by going to my channel page and clicking About.
I have a simple fire starting chimney, and once dry, those wood chips are pure gold. Super easy to get a good grill going right now with that stuff. The sawdust from using a crosscut saw, to mill logs...that stuff works really well too.
I enjoy your common sense, down to earth discussions. Who else would even think that discussing axe cut wood chips is a worthwhile use of the limited time we all have? Good food for thought! BTW: when chopping or carving hard woods or fruit woods, I always save the chips for grilling and smoking meat! Don't have to buy commercial smoker chips that way. Keep em coming!
I know mills use them for pellets for a pellet stove. I was very impressed with how efficiently those burn. For my camp I was thinking about transitioning from wood to a wood/pellet stove.
Bees! I think there's a positive connection between woodchips and bees. I *think* the mycelium in the woodchips provides bees with some kind of immunity boost. That may have been from Paul Stamets.
I enjoy your videos. Seems kinda petty for people to ask about wood chips. I just leave em be. I been using chainsaw four years but your videos inspire me to go axe only. Fitness alone completely worth it. I have a lot of tree too but all mines on the side of a mountain. Any advice for chopping on a steep incline?
For some reason the chips are a very common subject to bring up. It does add up to a lot of wood. Be careful felling on inclines. You might want to do some book learning (or video learning) on that if you are not very familiar with felling. Felling uphill can be especially dangerous. I've chopped on steep inclines. It's very dangerous sometimes and requires special attention. If you stand with a leg on either side of the cut, like you would on level ground, the downhill leg can be especially vulnerable, since it's so easy for the axe to go over the top of the log. The other side is not so much a problem, but it's also real easy to stick you axe in the dirt for the opposite reason. It's all awkward. If it's pretty steep, I will almost always buck into the biggest sections I can handle and either carry them somewhere else, or turn them to follow the contour of the land. Still awkward, but much less so. Stay safe.
Some great perspectives and advice and even when familiar with the different approaches, you have a way of presenting the arguments really eloquently that's a joy to listen to. Out of interest, does the process of creating your videos ever make you re-assess your previous process at all? I've had that happen in the past, so was curious.
I've had that happen for sure. I think I've noticed more often that it refines my views on stuff and helps me understand things better or deeper. Especially stuff that I sort of know, but haven't articulated to myself if that makes any sense, but also new stuff. It's because of the process of putting it into language. I'm a pretty intuitive thinker and sometimes "know" things are true or that there is some truth lurking about, but I haven't articulated it yet. Putting it into language that someone else can understand forces a different and more logical, or mechanistic, understanding that can be explained. A lot of people do stuff that they are very good at and "understand", but try to get them to put it into words for someone else and they might find it rather difficult. Trying to do so though forces another level ,or angle, or type of understanding. All of that often begs new questions and re-examination as you say and that's why there is that saying that the teacher learns as much as the student.
Thank you for your reply and nicely put, and yes that somewhat reflects my own perspective and experience about it. A lot of my work has involved a heavy dose of problem solving. When bogged down with an issue, I and others would often get midway through explaining a problem to someone else, only to find that the act of consoldiating it enough to communicate it, would lead to the answer becoming self evident. This happened so often, I set up a stuffed bear in a corner and before you bothered anyone else with the problem, you had to explain it to the bear. Most of the time this worked as a solution :)
I would be very interrested about some of your experience and tips on forestry improvement/cleaning/helping/whatever we should name the act of helping the woods and forests to be in good shape. Regarding chips it's also handy to crave them as small wedges on the field, I often do that on small or mid sized trees and it worked fine so far.
Good stuff Steven. Practical. An underlying topic in this video is efficiency of motion and material handling- from the forest to your homestead. I've been wondering about your methodology for quite some time. I would only pick up those chips if they meet a specific need though other than firewood (like charcoal) and saved me time over my normal methods- otherwise it's not worth bending over 2-3 times as much. Another caveat would be that I would need a method of hauling that does not require more than 1 trip back to to the homestead- so having large poly supersacks (or some other solution) that could go right onto the truck/rig so that I don't have to handle the wood chunks again individually. With all this in mind how do you move your firewood wood efficiently back to your home(stead)? Carts, Vehicles, a tractor or atv hidden away we don't know about? If you covered this in detail already let me know as I missed it. I personally would love to hear your take on motorized and non motorized machinery (maybe a video idea) and if there is something that you think you would purchase or you will purchase when the financial outlook brightens? What types of moving and hauling devices motorized and non do you find most useful on your land? Any of them that you made? I love seeing people powered machines and hauling devices. One that comes to mind that can do an amazing amount of work is a log arch. My other favorites are a repurposed 5 ft by 20 inch wide nursery flat cart with 10" pneumatic casters and a hand truck with large wide pneumatic casters. My context (other than firewood) often is i need wood left in log form so i can make axe handles or mill the wood into lumber etc. I'd love to hear more about others people powered material handling machines.
I will almost always favor hand methods over machines if I think I can get away with it energy wise. I have a small tractor here. I think the scoop holds 1/8 of a cubic yard. Still very handy for moving heavy stuff which is mostly what it gets used for and not very often. Mostly when there is a lot of dirt to move. There is a full sized pickup that can haul a lot. It has a granny gear and 4WD, so it's very handy. I've moved very little of the cordwood challenge wood with it and none this year. I usually carry it by hand or use the wheelbarrow. I"d like a good garden cart, but the ones you can buy pretty much suck. If you haven't seen it, the Cart Book by David Tressimer (not sure on spelling) is really cool. it's basically about building a heavy duty garden cart. Always wanted to do that. If I really thought about it much I might haul logs home and cut them up so the chips are all in one place and carrying logs might often be better than going down steep hills with a wheelbarrow pulling me along, and I do occasionally carry them home. I started out that way last season, but I really like just dropping trees and processing them in the woods. I like being out there more than in my yard.
Yes, true. Better to make it by a method like the edible acres woodstove method in that case rather than the open trench, which makes soft charcoal for the most part.
if you had a mulcher thats and idea and you could bundle up you hickory,oak stuff they use for smoking meats and sale them could also turn it in charcoal bricks for the grill sooooooooooooooo many uses my friend
I've always mainly picked up the big chips and used them with kindling. A few months ago I had decided I wanted to grow Winecap mushrooms in the summer and when I thought about it I wished I'd save all the chips I made from a severe storm that knocked over big trees on the property that i cleared. At least mulch is cheap.
I might try to set up a bed here. There is a mushroom innoculation class going on right this minute at my next door neighbors. I'm going to get off here and go over there to see if they know anything about growing stropharia here. later :)
I'm choosing the winecaps for my first venture into growing mushrooms as I heard they are very hardy and resilient so I figured it would be harder for me to mess them up.
Maybe one could build a quick structure to provide some shade but to help keep some moisture in. Maybe with saplings cut and bent over and some clear plastic sheet and some wooden stakes to hold it all down. Kind of like a quick and dirty mini greenhouse and you might only need to water it every week or few days. I don't remember how much but they don't need a lot of water. They don't take long to grow either.
Usually they spray or do hack n squirt on hardwoods to encourage softwoods and they sometimes replant, not a lot else though. The forests are still really big and the perception is that it's not worth it and the stuff will just grow back. and now we have a lot of really poor quality wood since some is being cut a third time in unmannage and frankly abused forests.
@@SkillCult it's a real shame because you'd think they'd have at least come up with a plan by now. There's allot more they could have done over the last century, especially with companion planting and whatnot.
Hey trees aren't just carbon and micro nutrients, they are also made of lignin which is a protein. Meaning there is also valuable nitrogen in those trees that was fixed by microbes in the ground. Just giving you a hard time lol. What do you think about conifer biochar vs. hardwood biochar? I cut a lot of wood this year with my axe to make into charcoal and it is all from conifers because that is basically all I have. I'm intending to use most of it for blacksmithing, but I am interested if you have any experience with the pros and cons of conifer biochar in the garden.
Interesting. I never think of wood as a source of nitrogen. I could have talked more about the carbon aspect though and all the stuff that eats it, which are ultimately responsible for releasing the nutrients back into the system. I don't have anything useful to say about that. It seems more porous and easy to crush? dunno. I think we should all just use whatever we got.
Many Conifer's actually make excellent charcoal because they"coal" into larger lighter pieces and this supports an airy structure so that the metal is more evenly heated heated. Personally, I have found a combo of hardwoods and softwoods give me the fastest most even heats. But any wood will work so just use what you have and you'll find what works. I think it says something that most japanese blacksmiths forge almost exclusively with Pine- Red pine I believe is a preferred favorite.
Ben Griswold Yeah for forging softwood charcoal is great. It is a bit less energy dense than hardwood charcoal, but it also burns faster so you don't have to wait as long between heats. I was more interested in Skillcult's experience with it as biochar though. I have heard that conifer biochar retains some tar and pitch which may impede plant and microbial growth, but this may just be a myth. Do you happen to have any experience with conifer charcoal as a soil amendment? I am very interested in anyone's real world experience with conifer biochar vs. some people's theories. Anyway, thanks for the reply my friend.
I just mix it all together, but I do burn a lot of fir which is variably pitchy. Most of it is limbs. I'd have to segregate to find out and it probably depends on the burn method too. In a retort, I wonder if there would not be less tar burning off. There are people that say creosote is bad and will kill soil life, but I've seen other people say it's a fertilizer. I also have two old accounts of using creosote as a very valuable fertilizer. Who knows I guess. I can just say so far so good!
It's understandable that they don't though. There is so much info required that is just not in the average persons lexicon. I'll keep doing my part to fix that.
SkillCult it's easy to see the difference when you have been around a properly managed forest (or an old one that wasn't messed with at all) and one that was logged then left alone. I guess a lot of people just haven't done enough of it. thanks for educating people.
Upvoted, great video If it was me and I had softwood I would destructive distil the wood to remove the terpenes. Its how the old turpentiners used to do it with white pine. Use the turpentine as waterproofer and the high end charcoal for perhaps a grill or a forge. White oak charcoal in the form of bichutan goes for around 30$ a pound, which sells pretty easily to artists and high end restaurants. I would honestly keep a good majority of wood for smoking however, as carcinogens really make everything taste better haha. That being said I would like to start a forge as stock removal is not enough for me.
I'm not sure there is enough terpenes or resin in the fir unless it's pitchy for injury etc. I'm SUPER interested in Bintochan production and have been thinking or the last couple of years about building a bintochan kiln. There are some great videos about it on youtube, though the most detailed ones are in Japanese.
Very true, when I tried to make the stuff at camp all I got is charcoal. I think with bichutan its probably about species and temperature but im not sure. Its all conjecture until its tried you know.
They get it really hot at the end of the process, I know that. If I try it, I'll find someone that can help translate some of the Japanese stuff. I was thinking it could be a cottage industry around here, but they smoke is an issue. The clean air board etc would never approve.
You know, if you found out the process I heard hardwood pellets are made from oak. They use them with bran to grow mushrooms. I'm willing to bet with the increased surface area to unit size you would get bichutan with minimized emissions. Thats a theory mind you lol, maybe I'll run it by my bushscience group got a bunch of bushcrafter scientists that might be able to tell me something.
As it is with mulch, wood chips will leach nutrients from the soil until they decompose then it’s all released that’ll take almost a year to do. I wouldn’t chop multiple trees at once.
If they are on the surface, there is no significant tie up effect. That is one off those phenomenon that is regularly blown out of proportion and propagated as a gardening fact. Heavy carbon mulches on the surface are used regularly to good effect by many people. Burying large quantities of undigested carbon can tie up nitrogen, but beyond that it doesn't seem to be an issue as many experienced gardeners and orchardists will tell you. I"ve used mountains of wood chips here as much as 6 inches deep with only good results and without extra fertilizers.
As far as I've been able to tell. I use any heavy carbon in any quantity on top of the soil. Buried I think it really can be an issue, though small amounts are okay. You can also add extra nitrogen. People actually garden directly in wood chip beds, but they use extra nitrogen.
Pull them up with a farm jack and bust hammer handles out of them lol, or you could build a fire around them and turn them into charcoal. I just leave my stumps hoping that some animal can find a use for them. Surely termites will leave my quality firewood in favor of a sappy stump, right?
thank you for your commen sents. chipping limbs from logging and wood cutting and leaving them on the floor of the forest return then back to soil and mulch. leaving small wood and chips is vary beneficial for the forest as long as fuel loading doesn't get excessive. Awesome video!!
I pretty much think any wood debris is okay to leave on the forest floor as long as it is pretty flat to the ground. I chop brush and leave it flat sometimes. chop and drop. I should do one of these on what to do with brush too.
Yeah, I'm sure that doesn't help. I don't feed them like that much, but they definitely see me as a food dispenser. I would have to go greatly out of my way to not have them see me that way, like prohibitively out of my way. I'm always tossing them greens out of the garden or rotten fruit, feeding the pig etc. All free range chickens also learn that people turn things over and pick things up and there are bugs underneath. I go anywhere and the chickens follow waiting for me to move something.
I seriously hate those things lol. I feel like I'm always fast forwarding through someones generic spiraling, exploding name branding transition. I've actually thought of making a standard intro, but it will be super short and interesting, I promise :)
Oh yeah, they are like little bears, super strong and big sharp teeth, they'll bite them and run off into the nght with a screaming chicken. they're little bad asses. I wouldn't want to tangle with one lol.
Man! It's a struggle for me to come up with right words to convey even the simplest of ideas.... It just flows out of you and with the greatest ease and comfort. Talk about skills??? ... Such a skilled communicator, friend. Thanks!
Thanks David. Some of it is probably nature, but mostly it's not an accident. It's been a long and intentional journey to be someone that can do that. I still can't do it as well as I'd like sometimes, but I just keep myself pointed in that direction. RUclips has been good for developing that skill more for sure... and thank goodness for editing! :)
@David West you got a good channel too.
I didn't even know people were so worried about wood chips.
I usually just burn them. Use them as kindling to get the fire nice and hot to ignite the logs. Then I take the coal and ash, and throw them on the compost heap. As the summer goes by and the heat reduces the compost and the rain leeches the carbon and minerals throughout the heap, I keep adding more biomass and charcoal.
In autumn, after I rake and burn the leave, I lay the compost all over my land, and spread the leaf ash over it. People laugh that it looks like a wasteland. But in the spring, when the snow melts and the rains come, all that goodness leeches into the soil and my land is a vibrant green weeks ahead of everyone else's.
I enjoy cutting and splitting with axes. It's relaxing, I don't need a gym membership, and I have always enjoyed it since I was little and was first given the respect of being competent enough to use an axe.
People are surprisingly concerned about wood chips. Strange, but it's one of the most common comments or concerns I see. It provided some good talking points anyway.
They also make great wedges for stabilizing a wobbly stack of firewood.
yeah, or stabilizing logs while you chop them.
I've always used them to stabilize the chopping bloc or for odd pieces to wood to be chopped.
Thank-you for letting us see the chickens, my wife's follow me around too.
Doesn't help that I turn over rocks & others items laying flat on the ground & watch them gather the bugs n critters then the moist new sprouts that creep along the edges.
Thank-you again, I learn by watching you.
I move stuff all the time whenever I'm working and they know it. Always following me around in case I move something.
Best advice I gleaned
"If I'm a chicken never follow someone with an axe, especially into the woods"
Now back to the point
You presented all sides very well!
Hard to argue for either side on this one
Good Video BeSafe!
lol
Im really enjoying your channel. I have started work on thinning out my ravine using my axe as much as possible. Your "flipping the axe vs swinging the axe" comment was a GAMECHANGER! Thanks for putting the content out there. I was also wondering what to do with the chips, so this helps!
Awesome, stay safe. Those people back east don't know how easy they have it with all those tall straight trees not covered in branches close to the ground.
Your videos are getting better and better. Keep it up!
Not sure I think so, but thanks :)
Really enjoying watching your videos, learning plenty, and in a way it's improving my understanding of my own immediate environment. which in a way is giving me a new stream of consciousness or at least a way to re-evaluate my environmental thinking, and a chance to pause and take stock of the resources in my own back yard. Like wise I want to maybe share or extend my gratitude, I don't have much money, but I do have spare tools that I've collected over the years, and I'd like to pass along a few files to you. I just don't know how I could arrange that, let me know, and thanks so much for the hard work you're putting into these videos you are putting on RUclips. Cheers.
Cool, thanks! That sounds interesting. Best way to contact me is through the contact link on Skillcult.com, or send me a private message on RUclips by going to my channel page and clicking About.
I have a simple fire starting chimney, and once dry, those wood chips are pure gold. Super easy to get a good grill going right now with that stuff. The sawdust from using a crosscut saw, to mill logs...that stuff works really well too.
LOL. "Any wood you ever see anywhere". Great video Stephen.
yep, resource scape, they're everywhere!
I enjoy your common sense, down to earth discussions. Who else would even think that discussing axe cut wood chips is a worthwhile use of the limited time we all have? Good food for thought! BTW: when chopping or carving hard woods or fruit woods, I always save the chips for grilling and smoking meat! Don't have to buy commercial smoker chips that way. Keep em coming!
That's a good idea Martin. I started using oak bark for smoking recently, otherwise I'd do it when cutting oak wood.
That’s funny, I was asking the same question in my head.
I know mills use them for pellets for a pellet stove. I was very impressed with how efficiently those burn. For my camp I was thinking about transitioning from wood to a wood/pellet stove.
Oh damn, I forgot they're good for throwing at loud roosters! ruclips.net/video/mN3ReYxCSB0/видео.htmlm48s
Thanks for that, which cracked me up :)
wish I'd remembered to put that in the video. That would have been fun.
You should 'pinned' that one
Bees! I think there's a positive connection between woodchips and bees. I *think* the mycelium in the woodchips provides bees with some kind of immunity boost. That may have been from Paul Stamets.
Fine job, Steve! Chicken silencer is my fav, lol.
Yeah, except it doesn't work lol.
I enjoy your videos. Seems kinda petty for people to ask about wood chips. I just leave em be. I been using chainsaw four years but your videos inspire me to go axe only. Fitness alone completely worth it. I have a lot of tree too but all mines on the side of a mountain. Any advice for chopping on a steep incline?
For some reason the chips are a very common subject to bring up. It does add up to a lot of wood. Be careful felling on inclines. You might want to do some book learning (or video learning) on that if you are not very familiar with felling. Felling uphill can be especially dangerous. I've chopped on steep inclines. It's very dangerous sometimes and requires special attention. If you stand with a leg on either side of the cut, like you would on level ground, the downhill leg can be especially vulnerable, since it's so easy for the axe to go over the top of the log. The other side is not so much a problem, but it's also real easy to stick you axe in the dirt for the opposite reason. It's all awkward. If it's pretty steep, I will almost always buck into the biggest sections I can handle and either carry them somewhere else, or turn them to follow the contour of the land. Still awkward, but much less so. Stay safe.
Great content, every sentence full of sound wisdom .
Wow you are quick at picking up those chips!!!
beautiful education
Some great perspectives and advice and even when familiar with the different approaches, you have a way of presenting the arguments really eloquently that's a joy to listen to. Out of interest, does the process of creating your videos ever make you re-assess your previous process at all? I've had that happen in the past, so was curious.
I've had that happen for sure. I think I've noticed more often that it refines my views on stuff and helps me understand things better or deeper. Especially stuff that I sort of know, but haven't articulated to myself if that makes any sense, but also new stuff. It's because of the process of putting it into language. I'm a pretty intuitive thinker and sometimes "know" things are true or that there is some truth lurking about, but I haven't articulated it yet. Putting it into language that someone else can understand forces a different and more logical, or mechanistic, understanding that can be explained. A lot of people do stuff that they are very good at and "understand", but try to get them to put it into words for someone else and they might find it rather difficult. Trying to do so though forces another level ,or angle, or type of understanding. All of that often begs new questions and re-examination as you say and that's why there is that saying that the teacher learns as much as the student.
Thank you for your reply and nicely put, and yes that somewhat reflects my own perspective and experience about it. A lot of my work has involved a heavy dose of problem solving. When bogged down with an issue, I and others would often get midway through explaining a problem to someone else, only to find that the act of consoldiating it enough to communicate it, would lead to the answer becoming self evident. This happened so often, I set up a stuffed bear in a corner and before you bothered anyone else with the problem, you had to explain it to the bear. Most of the time this worked as a solution :)
That's hilarious. Yes, the youtube audience is definitely my bear now lol.
I would be very interrested about some of your experience and tips on forestry improvement/cleaning/helping/whatever we should name the act of helping the woods and forests to be in good shape.
Regarding chips it's also handy to crave them as small wedges on the field, I often do that on small or mid sized trees and it worked fine so far.
Someday I'll get around to doing vids on forests and forestry. Mostly self taught and observation.
@@SkillCult Thank you Steven, that would be great.
Very precise cut!
Good stuff Steven. Practical. An underlying topic in this video is efficiency of motion and material handling- from the forest to your homestead. I've been wondering about your methodology for quite some time. I would only pick up those chips if they meet a specific need though other than firewood (like charcoal) and saved me time over my normal methods- otherwise it's not worth bending over 2-3 times as much. Another caveat would be that I would need a method of hauling that does not require more than 1 trip back to to the homestead- so having large poly supersacks (or some other solution) that could go right onto the truck/rig so that I don't have to handle the wood chunks again individually.
With all this in mind how do you move your firewood wood efficiently back to your home(stead)? Carts, Vehicles, a tractor or atv hidden away we don't know about? If you covered this in detail already let me know as I missed it. I personally would love to hear your take on motorized and non motorized machinery (maybe a video idea) and if there is something that you think you would purchase or you will purchase when the financial outlook brightens? What types of moving and hauling devices motorized and non do you find most useful on your land? Any of them that you made? I love seeing people powered machines and hauling devices. One that comes to mind that can do an amazing amount of work is a log arch. My other favorites are a repurposed 5 ft by 20 inch wide nursery flat cart with 10" pneumatic casters and a hand truck with large wide pneumatic casters. My context (other than firewood) often is i need wood left in log form so i can make axe handles or mill the wood into lumber etc. I'd love to hear more about others people powered material handling machines.
I will almost always favor hand methods over machines if I think I can get away with it energy wise. I have a small tractor here. I think the scoop holds 1/8 of a cubic yard. Still very handy for moving heavy stuff which is mostly what it gets used for and not very often. Mostly when there is a lot of dirt to move. There is a full sized pickup that can haul a lot. It has a granny gear and 4WD, so it's very handy. I've moved very little of the cordwood challenge wood with it and none this year. I usually carry it by hand or use the wheelbarrow. I"d like a good garden cart, but the ones you can buy pretty much suck. If you haven't seen it, the Cart Book by David Tressimer (not sure on spelling) is really cool. it's basically about building a heavy duty garden cart. Always wanted to do that. If I really thought about it much I might haul logs home and cut them up so the chips are all in one place and carrying logs might often be better than going down steep hills with a wheelbarrow pulling me along, and I do occasionally carry them home. I started out that way last season, but I really like just dropping trees and processing them in the woods. I like being out there more than in my yard.
Great info. Thanks!
Steve
Thanks.
I use the larger ones for carving and then smaller ones for kindling.
Charcoal making is a great idea, if you are cooking on a BBQ, or similar type of wood stove or grill.
Yes, true. Better to make it by a method like the edible acres woodstove method in that case rather than the open trench, which makes soft charcoal for the most part.
for the pine chips could boil the resin out and use for many natural things one being bug repellent
Thank you for these great points!
You're welcome :)
Related to what to do with the chips, is what to do with the stump? Are there things to be done to help it break down faster?
if you had a mulcher thats and idea and you could bundle up you hickory,oak stuff they use for smoking meats and sale them could also turn it in charcoal bricks for the grill sooooooooooooooo many uses my friend
What a great video
I've always mainly picked up the big chips and used them with kindling. A few months ago I had decided I wanted to grow Winecap mushrooms in the summer and when I thought about it I wished I'd save all the chips I made from a severe storm that knocked over big trees on the property that i cleared. At least mulch is cheap.
I might try to set up a bed here. There is a mushroom innoculation class going on right this minute at my next door neighbors. I'm going to get off here and go over there to see if they know anything about growing stropharia here. later :)
I'm choosing the winecaps for my first venture into growing mushrooms as I heard they are very hardy and resilient so I figured it would be harder for me to mess them up.
I hear they are pretty easy, just not sure about for around here with our hot dry summers.
Maybe one could build a quick structure to provide some shade but to help keep some moisture in. Maybe with saplings cut and bent over and some clear plastic sheet and some wooden stakes to hold it all down. Kind of like a quick and dirty mini greenhouse and you might only need to water it every week or few days. I don't remember how much but they don't need a lot of water. They don't take long to grow either.
Winecap beds are best kept watered regularly
If you're Out West they don't manage their forests at all anymore.
I'm glad you're out there thinning and leaving mulch behind.
Usually they spray or do hack n squirt on hardwoods to encourage softwoods and they sometimes replant, not a lot else though. The forests are still really big and the perception is that it's not worth it and the stuff will just grow back. and now we have a lot of really poor quality wood since some is being cut a third time in unmannage and frankly abused forests.
@@SkillCult it's a real shame because you'd think they'd have at least come up with a plan by now.
There's allot more they could have done over the last century, especially with companion planting and whatnot.
use it in a wood stove or small camping wood stove!
burning a fir tree will not turn it into a white ash
Hey trees aren't just carbon and micro nutrients, they are also made of lignin which is a protein. Meaning there is also valuable nitrogen in those trees that was fixed by microbes in the ground. Just giving you a hard time lol. What do you think about conifer biochar vs. hardwood biochar? I cut a lot of wood this year with my axe to make into charcoal and it is all from conifers because that is basically all I have. I'm intending to use most of it for blacksmithing, but I am interested if you have any experience with the pros and cons of conifer biochar in the garden.
Interesting. I never think of wood as a source of nitrogen. I could have talked more about the carbon aspect though and all the stuff that eats it, which are ultimately responsible for releasing the nutrients back into the system. I don't have anything useful to say about that. It seems more porous and easy to crush? dunno. I think we should all just use whatever we got.
Many Conifer's actually make excellent charcoal because they"coal" into larger lighter pieces and this supports an airy structure so that the metal is more evenly heated heated. Personally, I have found a combo of hardwoods and softwoods give me the fastest most even heats. But any wood will work so just use what you have and you'll find what works. I think it says something that most japanese blacksmiths forge almost exclusively with Pine- Red pine I believe is a preferred favorite.
Ben Griswold Yeah for forging softwood charcoal is great. It is a bit less energy dense than hardwood charcoal, but it also burns faster so you don't have to wait as long between heats. I was more interested in Skillcult's experience with it as biochar though. I have heard that conifer biochar retains some tar and pitch which may impede plant and microbial growth, but this may just be a myth. Do you happen to have any experience with conifer charcoal as a soil amendment? I am very interested in anyone's real world experience with conifer biochar vs. some people's theories. Anyway, thanks for the reply my friend.
I just mix it all together, but I do burn a lot of fir which is variably pitchy. Most of it is limbs. I'd have to segregate to find out and it probably depends on the burn method too. In a retort, I wonder if there would not be less tar burning off. There are people that say creosote is bad and will kill soil life, but I've seen other people say it's a fertilizer. I also have two old accounts of using creosote as a very valuable fertilizer. Who knows I guess. I can just say so far so good!
Do you know if those Japanese smiths use the trunk or limb wood? or both maybe? They could be very different.
I was thinking something like for cooking in smoker etc
you get this comment enough that even I get tired of seeing it when I look through the comments. Also I wish more people understood forest management.
It's understandable that they don't though. There is so much info required that is just not in the average persons lexicon. I'll keep doing my part to fix that.
SkillCult it's easy to see the difference when you have been around a properly managed forest (or an old one that wasn't messed with at all) and one that was logged then left alone. I guess a lot of people just haven't done enough of it. thanks for educating people.
Listening on headphones and that mosquito had me swatting air lol
Upvoted, great video
If it was me and I had softwood I would destructive distil the wood to remove the terpenes. Its how the old turpentiners used to do it with white pine. Use the turpentine as waterproofer and the high end charcoal for perhaps a grill or a forge. White oak charcoal in the form of bichutan goes for around 30$ a pound, which sells pretty easily to artists and high end restaurants. I would honestly keep a good majority of wood for smoking however, as carcinogens really make everything taste better haha. That being said I would like to start a forge as stock removal is not enough for me.
I'm not sure there is enough terpenes or resin in the fir unless it's pitchy for injury etc. I'm SUPER interested in Bintochan production and have been thinking or the last couple of years about building a bintochan kiln. There are some great videos about it on youtube, though the most detailed ones are in Japanese.
Very true, when I tried to make the stuff at camp all I got is charcoal. I think with bichutan its probably about species and temperature but im not sure. Its all conjecture until its tried you know.
They get it really hot at the end of the process, I know that. If I try it, I'll find someone that can help translate some of the Japanese stuff. I was thinking it could be a cottage industry around here, but they smoke is an issue. The clean air board etc would never approve.
You know, if you found out the process I heard hardwood pellets are made from oak. They use them with bran to grow mushrooms. I'm willing to bet with the increased surface area to unit size you would get bichutan with minimized emissions. Thats a theory mind you lol, maybe I'll run it by my bushscience group got a bunch of bushcrafter scientists that might be able to tell me something.
As it is with mulch, wood chips will leach nutrients from the soil until they decompose then it’s all released that’ll take almost a year to do. I wouldn’t chop multiple trees at once.
If they are on the surface, there is no significant tie up effect. That is one off those phenomenon that is regularly blown out of proportion and propagated as a gardening fact. Heavy carbon mulches on the surface are used regularly to good effect by many people. Burying large quantities of undigested carbon can tie up nitrogen, but beyond that it doesn't seem to be an issue as many experienced gardeners and orchardists will tell you. I"ve used mountains of wood chips here as much as 6 inches deep with only good results and without extra fertilizers.
So it only effects the soil if they’re buried within it then?
As far as I've been able to tell. I use any heavy carbon in any quantity on top of the soil. Buried I think it really can be an issue, though small amounts are okay. You can also add extra nitrogen. People actually garden directly in wood chip beds, but they use extra nitrogen.
Subbed i jave watched about a half dozen videos and to my suprise there was no fluff just plain common sense
That's what I aim for!
OK, we've got the chips. Now, what do you do with the stumps?
Pull them up with a farm jack and bust hammer handles out of them lol, or you could build a fire around them and turn them into charcoal. I just leave my stumps hoping that some animal can find a use for them. Surely termites will leave my quality firewood in favor of a sappy stump, right?
thank you for your commen sents. chipping limbs from logging and wood cutting and leaving them on the floor of the forest return then back to soil and mulch. leaving small wood and chips is vary beneficial for the forest as long as fuel loading doesn't get excessive. Awesome video!!
I pretty much think any wood debris is okay to leave on the forest floor as long as it is pretty flat to the ground. I chop brush and leave it flat sometimes. chop and drop. I should do one of these on what to do with brush too.
i think you could sell the tan oak chips for smoking and cooking purposes on ebay for a bit of income.
There's an idea. I'm sure they work better when cut with an axe :)
loved the video waste not want not
what about untreated lumber?
Which what?
can I use untreated lumber in the same way? charcoal for my garden?
Oh yeah, for sure. I would use just about anything except glued/painted/treated etc. Any kind of wood in any shape. Go for it. It all goes in the pit!
I gather them up & set them on the sun for a long time, then feed it into a fire when I'm grilling outside.
science, logic and common sense :)
I always use chipps to start my fireplace....easy peasy
You could just throw them in the charcoal barrel and turn them into forge fuel
With all the good information you give us there are still people that have to bitch and whine about something.
Didn't know that trees were made of sunlight
I have a private letter for you, how should it be sent?
You can message me on youtube through my "about" page or use the contact link at skillcult.com
I wish we could turn them into Crispy Chicken Sandwich from McDonald's.
You burn more calories with a saw too. So in a survival scenario burn less calories to conserve. Let the head of the axe do the work.
I have used them a lot and they are rather tiring. But not all saws are created equal either. I'm not sure about that.
Grow mushrooms
Did the chicken cross the road ? Heheh srry
Why in the world would a chicken who sees you feed chickens by hand like little puppies ever want to follow you? Odd.
Yeah, I'm sure that doesn't help. I don't feed them like that much, but they definitely see me as a food dispenser. I would have to go greatly out of my way to not have them see me that way, like prohibitively out of my way. I'm always tossing them greens out of the garden or rotten fruit, feeding the pig etc. All free range chickens also learn that people turn things over and pick things up and there are bugs underneath. I go anywhere and the chickens follow waiting for me to move something.
SkillCult they should be more chicken.
Fancy transition... Lol
I seriously hate those things lol. I feel like I'm always fast forwarding through someones generic spiraling, exploding name branding transition. I've actually thought of making a standard intro, but it will be super short and interesting, I promise :)
@@SkillCult Good idea. Go for it!
chick magnet!
Oh, that's what they meant when they said chick magnet!
Those type of chocks may be less effort anyway lol
cant believe racoons hunt/eat live chickens
Oh yeah, they are like little bears, super strong and big sharp teeth, they'll bite them and run off into the nght with a screaming chicken. they're little bad asses. I wouldn't want to tangle with one lol.