A Better Firewood Measuring Stick (And It's Not a Stick...)

Do you cut your own firewood?

Do you also have an unnaturally strong desire to make things have more than one purpose whenever possible?

Well if you answered yes to at least one of those things today is your lucky day!

Long story longer later, but the TLDR is I made a firewood measuring stick that's actually a tape measure. And I like it. Is it overkill, probably, but have you googled "firewood measuring stick?" it's like the how to build a better mouse trap of the firewood world, so of course I had give it a go.

Inexpensive tape measure - This fits the 25 foot Harbor Freight "Pittsburg" tape measure.

Strong magnets - I used two of these https://amzn.to/4bmxYIl (affiliate link)

Screws - (came with the magnets)

11" Zip tie - Also came from HF

Screw driver - To attach the magnets

Side cutters - To trim the zip tie

3D Printer - Should print pretty well on most 3D printers

PETG filament - I used orange PETG from Zytech

*Filament dryer - Where I live, this is necessary, PETG is hygroscopic (absorbs water). I have one of these next to each of my 3D printers https://amzn.to/3QGm2Ym (affiliate link)

When I first started cutting firewood, I only used my trusty eye-crometer. This mostly worked fine. But my firewood stacks sometimes ended up a little unstable and totally lacked visual appeal. Something about a neatly stacked and organized anything's is oddly appealing isn't it? I'd also occasionally get a log that was too long to fit into the woodstove. But whatever right?

Eventually I gave in and started trying to make more consistent log lengths. If nothing else they stack better.

The first thing I tried was making a mark on the chainsaw bar. This "worked" but was annoying to turn the saw 90 degrees after every cut.

After that an Uncle convinced me to "upgrade" to a 16 inch stick and piece of chalk (that's what he used). But I also hated this since now I had to keep track of more junk. (I know, I know, Goldilocks stuff right there).

Then I saw there were magnetic sticks you can put right on the chainsaw bar (like this one https://amzn.to/4kqM3II affiliate link). But again, where does the stick go when you're not using it? Some collapse down pretty small, but I haven't seen one that you can put in your pocket or store somewhere on the saw when not in use. So while the magnetic stick might be faster to use, it's another thing you have to carry around that only has one very specific job... and yep, you guessed it, I didn't like it.

We can do better.

So instead of just continuing to not like things, I decided to make something I do like. Something that's easy to carry and can be used for more than just one task.

Enter, the retractable, adjustable, pocketable, magnetic firewood stick. AKA a tape measure with a thicc magnetic butt! 🤣

I absolutely just screwed a magnet to a tape measure for the proof of concept run. It worked well enough that I knew it would be worth improving. IE - It didn't immediately fall off when the chainsaw was running and the tape measure tongue stayed rigid enough to be useable.

But it had some problems. Like you can't really get a long enough screw into the housing to hold the magnet without hitting the tape mechanism. I might have ruined one of my free Harbor Freight tape measures and I don't have any pictures of this redneck phase of the development since I didn't know I'd be Instructabling it at that point. You'll just have to use your imagination 🤣

So naturally the next step was to jump into Fusion 360 and go overboard designing something that ultimately didn't work. It was at least fun and I got to play with my 3D scanner so that's not nothing...

Coming back to reality - lets focus on what this thingamabobber actually needs to do.

1. Stick to the chainsaw bar and not fall off.
2. Repeatedly measure the same distance.
3. Not damage the tape measure or the chainsaw.
4. Not take up a lot of space.
5. Be able to do more than one job.
6. Be easy to use.

You can see from the pictures in this step I ended up with four versions. Here's the breakdown of the versions

1. V1, way to complicated, only fit one of the three HF tape measures I tested...
2. V2, too many parts, KISS, this thing does not need screws.
3. V3 looking good, but broke during testing.
4. V4, beefed up the screw location and so far so good!

So how does V4 align with the design parameters?!

1. Stick to the chainsaw bar and not fall off. PASS
2. Found out from initial testing I will need two magnets. V4 has two magnets and sticks to the bar great.
3. Repeatedly measure the same distance. TBD
4. Also found out that the tape lock can wear out, one of the three tape measures I have is prone to slipping. Maybe this will accelerate lock wear, maybe not. It's worked well for this season's firewood cutting so far.
5. Not damage the tape measure or the chainsaw. PASS
6. V4 holds the tape measure and is squeezed in place with a zip tie. Magnets do not damage the bar and are strong enough to keep the measuring device from slipping into the chain.
7. Not take up a lot of space. PASS
8. Clips onto your pocket like a normal tape measure. Overall it adds 3/4" of extra length and 1/2" of extra width to a standard tape measure.
9. Be able to do more than one job. PASS
10. I find tape measures to be useful, I already had one in with all my woodcutting stuff.
11. Be easy to use. PASS*
12. Stick it on, stick it out, I'd call that easy.
13. *It's not quite universal though, so that might be a fail, it only fits the Harbor Freight tape measures right now.

Not bad! OK, time to get to actually making the thing!

(The raw Fusion file is a total hack and wack disaster for such a simple part, that's why I haven't shared it, I think it would be more confusing than helpful with all the suppressed and overwritten features...)

Since this will be outside and probably get dropped and beaten up a little, I'd recommend 3D printing it in PETG or ASA. Nylon would also work but would probably be overkill. PLA will work if it's what you've got, but may be more susceptible to warping if left out in the sun and cracking if dropped.

I 3D printed it in orange PETG from Zyltech. The .3mf file has my print settings in it if your prefered slicer supports that. I dry all my PETG before printing, if you run into issues like stringing or blobbing, try drying your filament.

On the Bambu X1C these are my print settings: .4mm nozzle, .24mm layer height, 6 walls, 4 top surfaces, 4 bottom surfaces, 15% infill, 255*C hotend, 70*C bed. Speed is roughly 60-70mm/s

Print it on it's side as shown, no supports are required.

Assembly is easy - screw in the two magnets, drop in the tape measure, thread a ziptie through the top hole, head of the zip tie goes to the side with the step in it so it sits flatter, cinch down the zip tie and snip off the tail (yeah I know, I didn't snip the tail in the video, I forgot )

To use it, stick it to the bar of the chainsaw and make sure it's out of the way of the chain, the chamfers on the back are there so it can stick to a 2.5" and wider bar.

I also designed it to be 4 inches long, so just subtract 4 from whatever length you want your wood cut too (also embossed into the top in case you forget 😁). In this case I set the tape to 12 inches so I'll get 16 inch rounds. Why did 16" become the "standard" size for firewood? Anyone know the story on that?

Now the fun part, let's fire up the chainsaw and buck some wood!

There's a video of it in use. I think it works great and now I don't have a highly specialized stick I have to carry around, I can just clip the tape measure to my pocket when I'm not using it! I also found that you can leave it attached for cutting smaller branches.

So far thingamabobber not a stick firewood measuring stick V4 (I need to figure out a better name...) has been working great. We had a really cold February here so I've been working to restock the firewood shed for next winter and have found this new tool to be really useful. I kinda thought the bar might generate enough heat when cutting to warp the 3D printed part, but that hasn't happened.

Also, being bright orange makes it really easy to find (next project - bright neon orange 10mm sockets!).

I also like that it is adjustable if I wanted to make longer or shorter logs. I think somewhere around 20-24" is probably the maximum length before the tape measure tongue becomes too floppy though.

Funny firewood story - My FIL has a huge tree in the front yard that regularly drops large, like 6" diameter, branches. One day while helping him clean up (he doesn't have a chainsaw) he legit broke out his engineering ruler, you know the three sided one, and very precisely marked out how long to cut the branches that had fallen out of the tree. Mind you, he also doesn't have a wood burning stove or firepit, so he's marking it for me to cut and take home. I obliged, and cut it where he marked, I'm just disappointed I didn't have a square handy so I could make my cuts exactly perpendicular to the log... 😂

Anyhoo, there you go! Not quite sure how to end this one for some reason, so a cute picture of doggo photobombing it is!

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