My neighbors cut their fallen limbs into 12-18 in lengths and stack them beside the road. I pick those bundles up and add them to my wood collection along the back fence. I'm slowly building up a supply of firewood in case I lose power.

I won't be expending gasoline then because of the work I'm doing now.

It's come to my attention, yesterday, that I'm not the only one in the neighborhood that is prepping in this regard.

I've never tried that. In theory it could work, but in practice I suspect it would take a LOT of effort and be quite inefficient.

A bow saw would be my choice every time. A couple of these saws and a good stock of replacement blades will get you through a big pile of wood.

They aren't as effective as a properly designed, bi-directional pocket chainsaw, no. But they do work- and you're right, they can be made into a bow saw in theory.

Mostly I was extolling the very excellent bow saw for its merits in this situation. Inexpensive, efficient and effective even in the hands of a novice.

I never thought of putting a chainsaw chain into a bow saw frame. If it were put in an oversized 2-man-operated frame, with a turnbuckle tensioner, it might work. Better still, cut the chain in half and rivet the two sections together so each person had a cutting section on part of their pull stroke. It's just crazy enough to work.

Well, for one, if you have a wood stove, you cut wood all spring summer and fall...or at least you should.

Each time I cut up trees/logs, I make sure I ax-cut some of it. I also have this neat tool, made by Sandvik, called a Sandvik Brush Ax: http://www.terratech.net/product.asp?specific=jqjngon0

This thing is AWESOME and it's a great way to collect small branches and stuff, which work fine for burning.

I would go after lumber and pre-dried material to keep "wet" wood burning. There is always some new construction somewhere near by and if I was desperate enough, I would leave a note saying, "I took this due to the emergency, Please call me to settle the debit"

The issue of how to cut it, is answered by the three axes that I keep in my truck at all times (which is odd because I am a computer geek) I also keep a small folding bow saw. If the wood was too big for that, then I can use one of the Axe's that I have.

keeping all of this in mind there is always a way to turn a table saw into a foot saw that could cut wood. (attach a large spinning wheel and a peddle and you are good. for that matter why not retro fit a chain saw blade to a bicycle to cut wood if you think that the issue is going to be that long.

while I am very proud of my ax collection, I have to add that once a log is chopped you have to split it and the ax leave a very pointed end so you cant really easily split the wood thus making it harder to burn the wood. So you are rather stuck with smaller pieces that can be cut with bow saw.

Having actually heated a cabin with a bow saw and ax I can tell you that it is no small feat. So I would again go back to a bow saw and nice kiln died wood that you find at construction sites. I don't condone stealing and advocate that you try to find lumber by other means, but if push comes to shove I would be going to the lumber pile for my supply of wood.

Here's the problem: green wood won't burn. You need to have left it out a season for it to be dry enough to start a fire with. You need a supply of various sizes of tinder that is old and dried out and smaller logs and limbs that are dry, then a nice green log as your backlog.

I suggest this as an alternative:


I suspect this guy will have a nice fire in his house pronto.

"Here's the problem: green wood won't burn."

Wood has been my sole source of heat for the last 12 years. I know that green wood doesn't burn.

But to get seasoned firewood, you have to plan ahead. Planning ahead STILL entails cutting down a tree. In a long-term, no-power situation, all the lower branches will have already been removed, and all the old buildings either demolished or are being lived in.

After all, in this kind of situation, I will not be the only one with the problem.

Now THAT'S the acerbic Sue we've come to know and love. You've been so silky nice recently that I was getting paranoid and looking over my shoulder.

Back on topic:
While it's true that green wood doesn't burn well, it can be burned in a hot fire if it's split very fine. But because of the moisture, a lot of the heat will go out the chimney as steam. And that cooling action leads to very rapid deposits of creosote. A chimney fire is pretty much a disaster, so if you're burning green wood, you need to run a brush or bundle of evergreen branches (pioneer trick) up the flue once a week or so.

Green wood has a lot more heat value if it's even half-cured. When I prune green branches in spring and leave them in a pile in the sun, I can burn them passably well in 2-3 weeks.

If I was stuck with a lot of green wood and an oncoming winter, I'd probably build a sort of enclosed outdoor dryer with a small, hot fire slowly pulling the moisture out of finely split green wood. If it had maximum sun exposure, all the better. Neither ideal nor efficient, but if there's no other option I believe it would work.

With green wood you could always convert a proportion along with waste scrap wood from construction sites etc into Charcoal.

Making Charcoal

The ratio of green wood to waste scrape wood would be chosen to get the charcoal process to be self sustaining.

Then use the Charcoal as a direct replacement in your wood burner.