Back in the saddle with another birch

I typically don’t hoard much in the summer anymore, but I made an exception for this black birch. It came down a couple days ago in a thunderstorm. The power company hastily sectioned it and pushed the logs off of the roadway. Tonight I had a short sweat-a-thon loading them up. It’s not much, but enough to scratch the itch.

 

OH YEAH!

I little BB is worth a little sweat! Nice to see you hoarding. FHC aint the same unless you are!

 

Thanks Brad. It definitely felt good to grab a quick load again. I can only watch others have fun for so long before I have to give in to the temptation myself. I can wait for the weather to break before processing this though

 

Did you jump in the pool?

I did 3-4 hours SS in the wood yard this afternoon. Most of the time in the shade even though it was mostly cloudy. Still not a pleasant experience.

 

Nice grab! Definitely steamy out there, but worth it for the BTU value of those rounds.

 

Dennis, I agree 100%. Still seeing primo wood available on MP but it’s just too sultry outside. Current dew point is 72. I came in drenched from harvesting my garden and mowing (on a rider).

Looks like a relatively easy get Eric. I’d love to ad some BB to my stash. It’s a rarity in my neck of the woods though.

 

So much for waiting on cooler weather. The birch is split, and while I was at it I split a few ash rounds that had been waiting in limbo, along with a couple black locust rounds, and one eastern red cedar.

 

A BTU saved is a BTU earned.

 

Don't you mean burned?

 

A couple days ago I scored a few dead/barkless red oak rounds along with the last 4 rounds of birch that I wanted:

Splitter trash is accumulating which will add to my kindling hoard:

Here are all my small recent scores stacked up as of this morning. It’s mostly black birch, with ash, oak and a little black locust thrown in. About 1/3 cord, maybe a hair more:

 

I mostly consider oak like that to be 'stove ready'.

 

I can mostly agree with this. This one particular tree was standing dead for at least 5 years, and fell down this past week. The rounds that I cut felt pretty dry. If I absolutely had to I’d burn them later on this upcoming winter.

 

The storm this past weekend toppled some gray birches along the road, and they were hastily dropped to remove the obstruction. Birch of the gray variety is a rare score for me and although supposedly not great firewood, I’ll take what I can get of it.

 

That's a nice score...

 

It all burns, nice job. White is rare for me around here.

 

Same for me. I've gotten it once in 2020 when someone cut down a large-ish yard tree and dumped the rounds on a dirt road, and a few rounds last summer when a T-storm knocked over a dead one. It's nice looking firewood but nothing spectacular in the stove. I'll probably try burning some gray birch next month, which was a first time scrounge for me late last winter. I'm not expecting much but like you said, it all burns.

 

Good grab. Always nice to get a species you don't get often.

There's a big willow limb down close to me. I could grab that for you?

 

Funny you should mention that, in the Dollar General parking lot at the bottom of my road there are 2-3 good sized weeping willow limbs that came down over the weekend. Thanks for the generous offer but I think I'll pass. I haven't "scored" willow yet and have no plans to

 

Offer to clear them for free if they'll let you scrounge again?

Lemme know when a BL goes over in that parking lot.

Have the squatters moved on?