Zero temperatures coming this weekend and low supply prompted a run to Amish mill territory in the next county. Saw some big chunks loaded in a dump trailer at the first mill. Stopped in and they sold me a big load for twenty bucks and helped load it. some of the mills sell the small pieces of actual slab, but this one does railroad ties. Good mix of oak and maple. They also have bundles 4 to 6 foot long slats or what you call the edges of the log when the mill Is squaring it up to begin cutting it into lumber. Five dollars a bundle. Maybe bring my trailer down for a load of it to cut into boiler length. I will report how it burns. Here is hoping!
I bought a load of those big blocks like that about 15 years ago for the same price...self load though. It was the first and last time I bought it though, as I found it to be a pain to stack/store/dry...if you stack it tightly then it doesn't get air flow/dry...and if you don't stack it then it takes up too much space and is just laying on the ground. But that was for an indoor furnace, so it needed to be dry (<20%) but if you are using it for OWB chow, it will probably work great in that.
brenndatomu yes as i was contemplating getting some occasionally to have a supplement, the stacking would affect seasoning. And think of how tedious it would be to stack. the young man in beard and fedora, said the dump trailers belong to a man who sells firewood east of Indy . One trailers full of this stuff and the second was parked at the loading area. Seemed like workers either free time would occasionally thrown in these end pieces as the mood struck them , then give th3 guy a call. I think if i get a load of the bigger cubes, i can split them and make holsen houses to dry through the summer and Fall.
I get a loads of oak blocks not quite that big (long) and stack them like firewood splits in spring, and burn them the following year. Moisture content is 15% .
JDU how do the blocks burn? I am wondering if the load is exclusively those big blocks, hey will smolder rather than butn hot. Will be checking the batch of blocks and splits soon to load for the night.
Way out here. Little mill has out priced itself for me. 200 a dump trailer load and you back in and load it. Used to be 50 a trailer. Loading was like pick up sticks with nothing over 12” wide. Mostly green lodgepole. Nice reasonable score for you. And help loading
Burn well. I use them for overnight'ers in my wood stove at the cabin or split them in 1/2 to use in my insert at home.
WaddleRemodel , the place i go, you wont drive a mile without passing a mill with a sign for slab wood.
I get 4x6 and 6x6 blocks from my son's work. They don't dry great, but they get dry enough. I find it works best if you mix them in with "conventional" firewood.
Neighbors get a dump truck load every year. Stack for a year and burn the next. Seems to work well for them.
For the price I would think it would be worth the effort needed to get them into a ready state to burn. Mixed into a pile with other splits would well if stacking by themselves would take up too much space.
I used to burn some slabs in my old smoke dragon. I wouldn't mind trying some in my cat stove but haven't seen any around lately.
Curious, but that is a little farther than I want to travel. The Amish for quite a few years had something going around here within 10 or 15 mile radius.
Been burning well. As some have expressed, i mix it either split (maple) wood . I had a concern it might just char on the outside forever and not give much btu. Enough red coals i put a large square and couple smalls with a couple splits. Think it will work for nightime until morning. the cold front will hit about dusk tomorrow. -2 by daylight Sunday . I feel better having this stuff
