I moved a 1/3 cord of white oak from the barn to the porch. It was standing dead C/S/S 21 months in the barn. Sizzled and blacked the glass on a long slow burn. I didn't MM it, thought it would be as good as the 21 month red oak out in the field. Wrong. The red is 16-19% after two heat wave, "exceptional" drought summers. Its single stacked on poles. The white oak was stacked tight in the barn, just not enough air circulation. The white oak went on top of next years supply. Lesson learned.
Good post for standing dead trees & moisture. Even standing dead has moisture & need seasoning time. Tight stacked to season & still lots of moisture shows the importance of air circulation
the red oak and chestnut oak I'm burnin' this winter was split and stacked 4 years ago....it's real nice burnin' stuff, and the stinkbugs add to the delight!
I don't have too much white oak, but I've burned some in the past and it was near the finest burning stuff I've ever had. You be patient cuz when it comes time to burn that stuff I predict you'll be wishin' you had more!
Fine wood no doubt, but prefer Red Oak (and I got lots of both).Red Oak splits better, which makes it stack better, feels like it has more BTUs (depends on the BTU chart), and makes less ash IMO. I lot a lot of White Oaks over the last two dry hot summers, so I'll be burning it after 2016.
I have a little Red Oak. Not ready yet though. Lessoned learned. Maybe it will be ready next year. Plenty of Ash to burn though!
As mentioned low moisture is the key to great burning regardless of the species. It could have lots of BTU potential but if it isn't dry, enough said.
We look forward to burning 3+ year CSS white oak next winter. Have burned 3+ year CSS red oak and it was great. Eager to see if one is better than the other or if there's any noticeable difference between the two.
Burning red oak right now split n stacked in Sep. 16-18% Definitely not the norm, long dead rounds I picked up at a CL scrounge
