The plan for tomorrow is to get this small Sugar Maple and two topped off American Hophornbeam. I don't have pictures of the American Hophornbeam but we have two topped off and another two that are down.
That's for sure, we might also get some strong wind gust. This is well below us, I hope we don't get the winds but I'm thinking we will. A DEEPENING AREA OF LOW PRESSURE AND STRONG COLD FRONT CROSSING THE GREAT LAKES MAY PRODUCE STRONG WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ESPECIALLY NEAR AND NORTHEAST OF LAKE ONTARIO SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT.
That ironwood is sure worth getting. Wish I had more. Haven't had all that much but I like it a lot. See the weather finally arrived up there. Nice time to be in the woods.
After putting in some firewood, I took off cutting. In picture 9721 are the first two American Hophornbeam, picture 9724 is the wood from the first two trees, picture 9725 is the third American Hophornbeam, picture 9726 is the wood from the third tree, picture 9728 is the wood from the fourth American Hophornbeam and 9730 is the stump.
Hi guys and gals. Joined a while ago but have never posted. We bought a 13 acre property a couple years ago and I'm still learning the ins and outs of heating with firewood! I've always loved burning out in the open (fire pits, brush), but the house we bought has a real nice insert and it puts out a lot of heat in the winter. My personal goal is to keep our heat pump from kicking on as little as possible! Having fun trying to meet that goal! My question is about burning standing dead wood. I've cut up some trees that look just like the picture in 9734 and I just assumed that since it was obviously dead for a while and starting to kind of rot that it would be bone dry when burned. But I noticed just this year a smaller piece of dead branch I'd had in a pile out in the back was oozing out water and steam when I put it in the burner. It hadn't been rained on recently and had been covered for probably a year or more. Does punky wood like that "suck up" more moisture from the air than a more dense, well seasoned split would? I live in NC and it has been crazy humid this year (we lost probably 1/2 our hay to mold). I'm asking because I have several fallen trees I'd like to use for firewood and wonder if I need to store it with the fresh cut stuff or if it's ok to burn as is. Thanks guys. Hope to learn how to post some pics of my wood stock. Haven't had to dig into it much so far this year so I'm way ahead!
The majority of the time, we're burning wood that has been seasoning for 2-5 years, I did cut some American Hophornbean a few months ago that had been down for years, I've had it inside since I cut it so it's ready to go. The only other dead stuff I cut to use in a couple of weeks would be some small dead Elm.
The worst of the Maple will go in the outside fireplace and the rest will get s/s tomorrow, all the Ironwood was good.
Hey Timberlake, welcome. What kind of insert? Newer ones are pickier about wood than the older ones. Dead standing trees seem to be hit and miss. Most guys do like thewoodlands and let the wood dry for 2 yrs or more after it has been split.
I had some sugar maple like the worst stuff you had, and I was pretty impressed how it burned despite bit being prime. It didn't last as long as it would've if I would've gotten to it a year or so earlier, but it was pretty decent.
Standing dead wood is not necessarily dry wood. It needs to be treated much like most other wood and seasoned after it has been cut to length and split. While it may be ready to use sooner than green wood you still need to check that it is dry enough before using it. Punky wood will readily absorb moisture unless you can keep it absolutely dry.
Dead trees, standing or sideways can vary all over the moisture content map. Either year it as we, give it a couple years, or break out the moisture meter to verify. I burn a lot of dead standing wood, some of it's dry right away, and some needs to sit a summer or more in split stacks to be ready.
Welcome aboard Timberlake! There is an advantage of drying time with standing dead trees. Once the wood starts to turn punky, thats pretty much it for firewood purposes. Use it for the outside pit. Over the years I have encountered the same described conditions as what you have posted. The "lesser" punky stuff, I have tried to burn inside the wood stove but with noticeable "lesser" results. And of course, the more punky wood goes directly to the firepit/brush pile. Good idea on learning how to post pics, we like pics here. (makes you wonder how many of us can actually read???)
