I went up to the mountains in August to fall some beetle kill pine. I got about 2 1/2 cord and decided to get out the two different moisture meters I have today while I was splitting some of the bigger rounds which were about 16" across. I know that a lot of you have heard how you can cut this stuff down and burn it the next day. Well using both meters I read 12 to 15% moisture. Much lower then I had expected. No wonder I had no creosote last year.
Nice to be able to do that and not have to spend so much time fussin' and waiting on the wood. Good deal Mag.
It is nice to be able to cut and burn but I will admit to having a 3 year plan like a lot of you guys. The pine is only half of what I burn every year.
I just thought it was interesting that those standing dead pines were that dry. I do not know of any other wood like that.
Paul bunion pointed that out last fall. I feel bad for telling him otherwise, been out of the game for too long to know. Sorry Paul.
I met an older couple here about a month ago that have a wood burning stove in their home and I gave them half a cord cut and split. I stacked it in their garage. Maybe next year now that know I might put in for more permits and give them a full cord.
I get small amounts of dead standing locust that's pretty dry and can be burned right away. It will stand for years and years w/o any rot, just get tougher. Pretty hard on a saw blade. It's good stuff but just found randomly, not enough of to be a source. Other stuff like dead standing oak I've run into still needed time in the stacks.
There is other wood like that. Case in point is all the dead white ash we have. Most of it now is getting really super dry. Another is one we cut; elm. But, sometimes, depending upon the size of the tree and how long it has been dead, the bottom third will still be full of moisture. The top will burn super right away. There are a few others.
I guess I have not run into any standing dead around here with that kind if dryness. I remember getting some cottonwood one time that was in large rounds about 36" across and 4' long. It had been laying on the ground for about 3 years and when I went to split it I could still see the moisture squeeze out of it.
I was wondering about that. I really did not know if that had anything to do with it. I know that the inside of the wood has that grey color to it caused by the beetle.
We had a grove at our barn (12 trees at 40' tall) that began to shed needles excessively for several years, no sign of pine beetles. After a decade of drought that we attributed the needle sheds to we finally saw the bored holes. VERY sad to cut them down. The forest service warned us for years when buying cut permits for firewood but it eventually did years later.
According to all the literature that I get along with the permits that if the tree is dead and the needles are all brown or falling off then the beetles have moved on. They claim that harvesting those trees present no problem with transporting or spreading any infestation.
Lodgepole pine must be a strange tree to vary in BTU so much. I see BTU charts from 15 mil BTU/cord to 22.3 mill BTU/cord. Chimneysweep: Pine, Lodgepole 15.3 P'nD Logging: Lodgepole Pine22.3 Ponderosa Pine21.7 Oregon .Gov: 1 (one) cord of lodgepole pine20,000,000 Btu UtahState U: Pine, Lodgepole 21.1 The engineering toolbox: Lodgepole pine 19.3 I like the 22.3 million BTU/cord stuff in WA. P'nD logging stuff Better than red oak on chimneysweep 's chart of 22.1 mil. btu/cord
Initially, the trees start to bleed sap out of the tiny "bore holes", it's a defense mechanism. Doesn't work for those vermin. they just move out of the path of the sap. It doesn't take long before the tree is overcome. When the sap is gone, so are the bugs. Give it a year or two to be safe. Dead standing @ 6' above grade- MC is usually 18% or less. Around here, I have a lifetimes supply..... if you're good with working a 25 deg. + slope. It's there, but not easy.
