Yeah the bark is stringy and before the logs froze, oddly slimy. I split a dump trailer load and gave it away for campfires. With how much wood I burned this winter I wish I kept it for next winter!
Good to hear it may be half decent. All BTU’s at the end of the day. Does it all dry relatively decently? I’m going to end up needing it next winter unfortunately.
It'll be plenty dry by next winter if you process it in the next couple months. The most I've pushed the envelope was splitting and stacking in April, then burning in October. It was all ready, even the thicker pieces. IME cottonwood, quaking aspen, and bigtooth aspen all dry within 6 months for me.
That’s almost worth restacking about 30 totes to separate it from the oak and maple so I can leave the better wood sit another year… Maybe if I run out of logs, but I have a lead on about 10 dump trailer loads for spring.
The last one I had all the bark fell off it as I split it. Split in March and burned 9 months later. Might of ran into a bigger piece or 2 that wasnt fully seasoned but it was almost all good to go.
Dries in no time. (thanks to WinonaRail for the tip) I just finished using some cottonwood I CSS around labor day and it was plenty dry. Started using some from a late October cut the other day. Both times stacked where it got good wind and sun. I've had it buried in stacks with minimal wind, no sun and was surprised how it dried in 6-9 months.
If our new house is done maybe I’ll just have two garage totes and sort it through the winter. Cottonwood/poplar into the stove, everything else in an empty tote for another year. I think a less picky stove will be in order as well. We ran an Englander 30NC and while the 3+ year dried wood was best it would burn the wetter stuff good enough. I think the big firebox helped. Need to get back to 5 years ahead!
When it comes to firewood I’m often a ‘mixer’, meaning I very well may add a chuck of dried pine in with an oak & maple piece. I may have a pile or two of one type, but don’t go out of my way to segregate wood types. I can identify later as seasoned wood, weight helps also. I will say, lighter wood like aspen, cottonwood or box elder seasons faster, don’t like to leave it piled too long. Again, it’s easier scrounging if one has a wider allowance for wood types. Right now my neighbor has a bunch of wood down. Once it warms up some I may cut some of the wood he doesn’t care for, it’s right next door. Even at these colder temps, I seem to average a pine chunk every 5-6 pieces of firewood. It helps with a hot fire. I’ve had a ‘purist’ near my pile, he’s on 100’s of acres of his own land. His firewood is nothing but oak & maple, but he understands when scrounging one should have a wider allowance. I’m only on 5 acres, but have never had a problem finding my own firewood, free or very minimal cost.
When I was far ahead I mixed whatever. As a test I grabbed three splits of this mystery wood and tossed it in the stove. These splits would have been from late summer/early fall 2025. Burns surprisingly well after cooking out steam for a couple minutes. I might start the task of sorting to burn this stuff next winter since it’ll be dry.
