Heres a pic of a few of the standing dead larch trees I like to drop. You can see the larch in our area have dropped all their needles now. Heres one of them after it hit the ground. They were in nice shape with the bark coming off easily in most cases. I cut my rounds to 18 inches using kids chalk. I prefer trees a bit on the smaller size. It saves my back, especially since I do most of it by myself. Not bad for a couple of hours in between work appointments! I like to fill the truck up but I was pleased with what I had done considering I had to run home, shower and head back to work. This is 5 minutes from my house.
This is on a fresh cut split. Of course its going to be a bit off as the wood is cold but you get the idea! This is the larch I cut down earlier in the day two minutes into my evening reload.
Nice. I (think)I have some Larch in the property. Was a pasture years ago that got planted with long tall pine trees. some are dead and standing like your pics. Never gave them much thought. Might just rethink that.
If it is larch that you have they are way better btus than pine thats for sure. More on par with white birch and better than some maples. If any of them are alive you will see that they have yellowish red needles that fall off about this time of year.
Yes a good size for sure. As it was I had to give them about three tosses downwards before I got them to the road by the truck. Some I could roll aways but its such good wood that its worth it for me.
Would be nice if All wood was very easy to get out but, we all know that's not the case, if you want it, you got to do, what you got to do
Love that stuff. Round here we call it tamarack. I can almost smell it looking at those great pics. Enjoy!
Dry ready to burn wood Good pics Nice to cut wood that don't weight a ton & is ready to burn !!! Used to be a lot in Alaska, bugs killed most of it off . Looks like several dead standing ones, you going back for more ? 16 Mill BTU/cord is pretty good .
It's been years since I burned any Larch, but I don't remember it being radically better then lodgepole pine or Douglas fir. I remember it splitting nice and doesn't ooze pitch like Douglas fir often does. But alas, I may never get to re-experience burning Larch again unless some benevolent soul from the Kootney area happens to be driving through this area with a load of Larch in the back of his truck and drops some off for me to try.
Okay so that's what kind of pine it is. I never heard it called larch before though. But maybe that's because it isn't as wide spread here.
Yes I like the smell as well. It has a very distinct crisp, fast crackling sound when it burns, quite a bit different from lodgepole pine.
Thanks. Most of my wood that I put up is done by early July but I still like to go out in the bush until the snow falls. My technique changes a bit though. If I drop trees that are in a stand of dense trees they will have a higher moisture content and require more time to dry of course. I cautiously say Im done for the year but we will see. Those trees have been standing dead for who knows how long so hopefully they will be part of next years falling. Its funny how different btu charts give different readings. On chimney sweep, Sweep's Library - Firewood BTU Comparison Charts It has larch at 19.5 and birch at 20 mbtus. I never quite understood why the charts vary.
You know I would if I was passing through! I guess I should test it and see..... Last nights larch was put in at 11 pm and at 10:30 am when I left for work there was still a good bed of coals for my wife to put some pine splits in. When it gets cold out and the draft increases we are reloading at 8:30 or maybe 9:00 am. Im hesitant to load my firebox to the gills with lodgepole to do the test but on a 3/4 load Im pretty sure Im reloading at 6 hours.
I remember when a friend of mine moved out here from Thunder Bay Ontario. I hadnt heard of Tamarack before ( I was new to the kootenays) He was calling them tamarack and I was arguing with him that they were called larch trees. Turns out we were both right!
I didnt want to like your sad face..... On my end I get to drool over all the neat hardwoods that I dont get to burn. I would love to try some ash, and find out what all the fuss is about osage..... I guess Im lucky to have my larch considering my lower btu options are pine and fir.
Ak tamarack could be different. I think wood varies in areas, growing seasons & conditions must have an effect on BTUs The BTU chart for AK was done by the University of Fairbanks 1996. That's the one I use, closest to me
