How to Burn Big Logs

[tracecom]

I am clearing out some trees and have created quite a lot of debris. Yesterday, I burned the smaller stuff and most of the larger logs, but I still have 5 or 6 really big logs (30" to 48" diameter) left. (A couple are beech and the rest are oak; all were dead or dying before they were cut.) What is the best way to prep the big ones so they will burn?

 

[roermo]

Maybe call someone that wants them for firewood. I go around and cut up trunks and haul them off for the wood, while not wanting to tops, which it sounds like you have disposed of already, sounds like easy picking.

Roger

 

[Skaning]

Sounds like good advice. When Isabel rolled through here there was a lot of firewood just left by the side of the road. It got picked up pretty quick even though there was a massive amount of wood available. Other answer is to split it, if you have a splitter available and burn it that way. I've taken stuff like that, taken it down to stovewood and chipped it.

skaning

 

[EddieWalker]

If you can't give it away, then cutting it down to smaller pieces makes a huge difference. I've had logs 40 feet long that wouldn't burn, but when I cut them down to ten foot lengths, they burn real good.

There's also a certain amount of time it takes for a log to dry enough to really burn well. It might be a few months, or it might be a year. They all seam to be different for me, but when that day arrives, it will burn down to nothing after months of trying.

I just had a pine do this to me. It's been down for a year and a half and just wouldn't burn. It was huge and just about too big to move with my dozer. I burned all sorts of 12 inch logs and trees under it without it ever catching on fire. Then the day the county passes a burn ban, it catches fire. It burned for a day and a half until it was all gone. It just wouldn't stop burning and I was a nervous wreck that I was gonna get fined for having a fire during the ban.

Thankfully, nobody caught me, or said anything.

Eddie

 

[turnkey4099]

If you can't give it away, then cutting it down to smaller pieces makes a huge difference. I've had logs 40 feet long that wouldn't burn, but when I cut them down to ten foot lengths, they burn real good.

There's also a certain amount of time it takes for a log to dry enough to really burn well. It might be a few months, or it might be a year. They all seam to be different for me, but when that day arrives, it will burn down to nothing after months of trying.

I just had a pine do this to me. It's been down for a year and a half and just wouldn't burn. It was huge and just about too big to move with my dozer. I burned all sorts of 12 inch logs and trees under it without it ever catching on fire. Then the day the county passes a burn ban, it catches fire. It burned for a day and a half until it was all gone. It just wouldn't stop burning and I was a nervous wreck that I was gonna get fined for having a fire during the ban.

Thankfully, nobody caught me, or said anything.

Eddie

I have several 'working'. Pile my brush on top of them and will burn in the winter. Usually it will eliminate that portion that is uinder the brush pile. Next brush pile just moves down the log. I have one brush pile this year that will finally finish up one that I have been working on for 4 years.

Harry K

 

[firemanpat2910]

Big logs? BIG FIRE!!!! Cut a fire line around the pile,twice as big as you think it should be. Get all the dirt off that you can. Pile the logs so that there is air flow between them. use a blower, A leaf blower with an added on metal tube will work but the stronger the blower the better. cover with smaller logs and brush, douse it with diesel,NEVER USE GAS. Have water or tractor ready to chase flying embers, Light early in the morning,plan on staying there all day and watching it. Turn the blower off an hour or so before you want the fire to die down. leave the ashes in place,the coals will be hot for days, KEEP CHILDREN and pets away.(One of my fellow firemans grandson fell in a ash pile 3 days after a burn and lost several fingers and toes.)

 

[Deadman]

Drain oil works WONDERS!
Slow HOT burn.

 

[dmccarty]

Pigging backing on what Eddie said. Cut it up in smaller logs. I had a tree that had been downed by Fran back in the 90s. When I cleared the land for the driveway to the house I cut this tree into logs. This would have been in 2002ish and Fran was 1995/1997ish. I put the logs from the trees on some big rocks so they where off the ground....

In 2004/2005 I cut the tree into rounds so I could split it into firewood. That log was still wet.

The reading I did on a G'ment website regarding firewood said the smaller the length the quicker it dries. The width of the log is not the key in drying but the length. I have had some firewood rounds cut up since Jan/Feb. that I have been moving to split. Them things have 1/4 inch checks in them. I'll be somewhat surprised if they are wet inside. The website said 3-6 months should be long enough to dry them for burning.

NC states you should use diesel to start your fires. Not sure why since the stuff is expensive and just runs to the ground. Now one would think that used motor oil would stick real well to wood and not get on the ground. One would think this would be better to use.

DO NOT USE GAS. A cup of evaporated gas is the equivilent of a 1/4 stick of dynamite. Given than I once ,out of desperation, USED gas to TRY to start a fire, VERY carefully knowing full well how dangerous this was, I can attest to the fact that evaporated gas can make a VERY big boom, with a large flash ball. DO NOT USE GAS.

Later,
dan

 

[fireguy1451]

First and Foremost and i am shocked that firemanpat dropped the ball on is check with local fire officials to see if its legal to burn logs of that diameter. Here in NH its against the law. Using "waste oil" is a viloation of epa laws as well. but then again thats why firefighters have jobs. no one has ever called to tell us something they did right.

 

[firemanpat2910]

I have never heard of regulations of how big a log can be to burn. Would someone realy come measuure your logs? Then again Im from a small southern town. Heck we dont even have vehicle inspections, much less diameter/length/weight/forked or not/species/green or dry tree inspections Yall got too many rules for me. We do have burn bans when it gets dry, and you are supposed to call and get a permit # for burning land but thats the only rules I know of. The problem down here is getting the tree huggers to let you cut them down in the first place.