Just sharing some pics of my latest acquisition - some dead standing chestnut oak. Research shows that this is a type of white oak so I can't wait to get to try it out down the road. Didn't bother measuring moisture yet, I'm going to monitor it over the course of next summer and next fall to see how its doing. If it needs it, it will sit for 2 summers. What a smell this stuff has!
I would say thats some good looking chestnut oak....can't say I've heard of that much on here. And you say it was dead standing, I'd be curious of what the MM says too.
Dripping wet when fresh cut and HEAVY. I delivered a cord of it a few months ago and boy my truck was feeling it.
Nice looking wood! Looks like you got a bunch of it too! I like your stacks nice an high off the ground and in the sun I think too.
Just finished up a load of that myself a few weeks ago. I'll bet it generally split well but was heavy as chit..lol.. Nice score.
Thanks guys, I agree, you don't see much chestnut oak on here, at least compared to red oak and white oak. It has the thickest bark of any of the oaks, very deeply furrowed. It prefers poor, rocky soil, earning its nickname - rock oak. Its often found on ridge lines where other trees may not grow well. Top cover - I suppose I'll top cover it for the winter to keep the snow and such off it, might peel it back for the summer, might not. I haven't figured out the whole top cover vs no top cover thing yet, maybe this will be my experiment. So since the tribe is restless (myself included) I grabbed the moisture meter after work and headed out to the stack. I split two pieces - one of the smaller branches (3" diameter) and a piece from the lower trunk. The moisture isn't super high and seems well distributed throughout as there was not much difference. The small diameter upper branch read 28% on a fresh split. The split from the lower trunk piece read 30%. So figure 29% average for this stack. Not too bad! I'm anxious to see how the summer treats it. And since its not one of the common oaks on here, I've included a few pictures of some splits. Has the classic oak meddulary rays, the sap wood is lighter than the heartwood, and the bark is deeply furrowed.
here is my chestnut oak realization for some more pics http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/threads/what-kind-oak.4162/#post-98541 i had cut this stuff before i learned exactly what it was
Same boat here. A week later I came across a live one with leaves still on it. After some searching I had one of those ah haaaaaaaa moments. Pleasently surprised when I found out it was a type of white oak.
Razo, I could never see the need to uncover a stack once you top cover it. Wasted work for sure. The wind will dry the wood in fine shape. Having said that, what we do is cut in winter, split and stack in spring and then top cover usually around December 1. Those wood stacks just simply stay put as is until it is needed and that can vary from 3 to 6 years or more. It has worked for us for many, many moons. We did try an experiment a few years ago when we cut some and did not top cover it. The only reason was that we had not done that for many years and just wanted to refresh our memory, especially after several said top covering is not necessary. Well, they are right; it is not necessary. However, we did find that the wood was not nearly the quality of the wood that had been top covered. (We left the wood 3 years in the stack.)
Do you think that first summer uncovered is important? So if I CSS now and covered right away, do you think that would have any negative effect? I haven't had any of my stacks covered but I think I'm going to. I have some soft maple that that has been sitting almost a year. I re split some pieces to check moisture and for whatever reason the wood is almost starting to get a little punky inside! The outside looks fine, a nice dry gray color. But inside there is some punk, maybe it was in the tree the whole time but the punky parts measure in the 30's on the MM, if I find a dry inner section it is 18%. I wonder if I cover this wood to stop it from getting wet it would help? I really don't have a good area were I could get it under a roof. Maybe I'll put a few splits under my roof for a week or two and see if it helps them dry out.
I think it depends upon your location and from what I've seen in PA (lots and lots of rain), I would probably top cover the wood as soon as it got stacked. It will do no harm. Soft maple will go bad on you quickly if not handled right. In fact, it is about the only tree I know of that can be cut down and then left for 2 years and the whole tree will be dry enough to burn. Three years and it is turning punky. But, if you cut the wood, split and stack it right away and top cover it, you can burn it in as little as 6 months! That is, if you cut in spring and burn in fall or winter. The summer weather should dry it quickly.
Backwoods Savage I think I'll cover the chestnut oak I just CSS then, I'm really worried about my maple, I don't want to end up with a half cord of camp fire wood. I'll see how the top cover treats it. I started top covering last night, a rick of black birch and the soft maple in question. How is my overhang looking? Is that too much? Not enough?
Any way to get it tighter? Looks like thin plastic, Im afraid youll get lots of pooling when it rains
